SF Mistressworks

[altariel]

There's been a lot of discussion in recent months about the lack of visibility of women sf writers, particularly within the British context, and the ease with which classic sf texts by women can disappear.

Some of this discussion is linked from this post by Nicola Griffith, where she also suggests taking a pledge "to make a considerable and consistent effort to mention women's work which, consciously or unconsciously, has been suppressed". She calls this the Russ Pledge.

I'm not really interested in opening that debate here, rather simply to give some context for a great project that emerged from all the discussion: the SF Mistressworks blog. From the blog's FAQ:

This blog aims to be a resource providing reviews of science fiction books by women writers. It will demonstrate that:

a) women have been writing science fiction since the genre’s beginnings,

b) many of their books should qualify as classics, and

c) many of their books are, in fact, better than “classics” by their male counterparts, and have at least aged better.

The blog (run by Ian Sales), has been running since the start of June, averaging three reviews a week (switching soon to two), and already has built up a sizeable selection of reviews of books by more than 40 authors.

But it could really do with wider participation. If you think you'd like to review something (min. 500 words), do take a look at the site, and the FAQ, and consider contributing.

Comments

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Enjoy!

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link!

I'm far too uneducated when it comes to adult SFF, and especially to sci-fi written by women - mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa - so I certainly can't contribute, but it looks like an mazing resouce for future reading.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Enjoy! And I'm sure you're more than qualified to participate: I don't think there are any reviews of books by Bujold yet!

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

Gosh, you're right! I hadn't had a proper look at the tags before - I just assumed that there would be tons of LMB reviews already. I'll ask how I can submit a review for one of her Vorkosigan books, preferably her later ones. She is really the only SF women writer whom I think I know well enough to do her justice.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Go for it!

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

It sounds as though I'm not qualified to write a review, for one very fundamental reason, but it sounds like an interesting and worthwhile project and I'll certainly take a look at the site.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Just realised that I've had a moment of stupidity, and that that my initial interpretation of "reviews of science fiction books by women writers" as meaning that the reviews should be by women writers is probably wrong!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

:-D Yes, sf books written by women, reviews by all willing and interested parties!

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Having now read a couple of reviews of novels that I've read myself it's (1) reminded me of just how long a 500 word review is and (2) shown me that the reviews are far better and more penetrative than anything that I would be likely to produce. Combining that with the fact that my memory is now so bad that I could only produce a worthwhile review of a book within a week or two of having read it, I'm afraid that the chance of my writing any reviews is pretty slim.

Incidentally a couple of my all-time favourite SF short stories are by female writers (and I can still remember them pretty well many years after reading them), but the mention of "books" rather than "stories" in points b and c in the FAQ suggests that only reviews of novels - or conceivably short story anthologies by a single writer - are wanted. Also a 500 word review would be rather disproportionate for a short story.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yes, 500 words is quite a lot. Hope you enjoy reading there, at any rate!

[matildabj.livejournal.com]

I did an LJ feed for it at sfmistressworks because I'll never remember to look at the blog.

I should post a review or two, as I'm reading quite a lot of SF by women at the moment.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I hope you do some reviews, I'd enjoy reading them.

[six-old-cars.livejournal.com]

Interesting, but I'm no good at reviews.

Browsing those links I was mildly surprised to note that:
- Ian Sales admits a similar female author ratio to my shelves, despite my being vastly more "politically incorrect" than he seems capable of tolerating
- He doesn't seem to like any of the same authors as me, including my significant liking for Connie Willis
- I've not read any of the books that have so far been reviewed

Oh well.
(Actually, while in some places it would invite accusations of misogyny, I should probably point out that I have a fundamental distrust of "positive discrimination" in any form. If my list of suggested SF authors happens to start with a woman it's only because her books fit the requested profile better than any man's.)

[iansales.livejournal.com]

First, I resent the accusation of "political correctness", because there is no such thing. Unless you think sexism is acceptable.

Contribute a review of a book by a female sf writer you like. Providing it meets the criteria, I'm happy to publish it. There's no agenda here other than publicising sf written by women.

There are no such things as "positive discrimination" or "affirmative action", there are only imbalances which need to be addressed.

[six-old-cars.livejournal.com]

Sorry. I did not accuse you of anything, I accused myself. But if I say any more I'll upset altariel further so please just accept my apology.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

From my post:

I'm not really interested in opening that debate here, rather simply to give some context for a great project that emerged from all the discussion

I wonder where in this you read an invitation to reopen this debate on my LJ?

I posted because I wanted to widen participation in a project which I - evidently - think is worthwhile. And I posted with a clearly worded statement that I was not interested in opening a debate on the subject on my journal.

I'm extremely angry. I rarely say that on LJ.

[six-old-cars.livejournal.com]

I am terribly, terribly sorry. I had no intention of opening (or reopening) any debates. I merely noticed and commented on something that looked odd. That was stupid - I should have realised I could never do so without triggering something I never intended. I am sorry.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I appreciate that very much. Thank you.