My Wiscon Program – and call for help!

My Wiscon Program – and call for help!

E.J. Fischer (a most fabulous gent) and I hangout at the Wiscon Gathering. There was a marvelous calligraphy lady painting on people - at Wiscon she had many requests (including throat painting) she had never had before.

edited to invite comic creator suggestions too

Wiscon the World’s Leading Feminist Science Fiction Convention has given me my tentative schedule (four panels and a reading). There may be tweaks and changes.  I hope to see some of you there and regardless of whether you can make it to Madison Wisconsin 24-27 May I would like you help with the Karen Axness Memorial Panel: Women Writers You’ve Probably Never Heard Of.

This panel has a history to live up to, “A WisCon tradition (this year is the 36th!). Panel members will discuss the latest books by female SF and fantasy authors, emphasizing new female authors in these fields.”

I need your help! I want your suggestions for what new books and female authors or comic writers/creators to mention and bit about their work (post in comments please). This panel is so intimidating, there’s so much great stuff out there!

I also want to bend the panel a little and talk about short fiction writers – I think of short fiction as this wonderful experimental space and I’m excited by the voices coming up in those grounds. Given the pressure on writers for their first book to perform it’s strategically important to keep an eye out for the short fiction writers you love so they can keep bringing the experimental and the awesome.

Send me your suggestions in the comments, or e-mail if you prefer, pretty pretty please!

My full con schedule behind the cut:

Join the Mod Squad: Enhance Your Moderation Skills

Fri, 4:00–5:15 pm Assembly
Christopher Davis moderating, with Liz Argall, Alan Bostick, Betsy L, Victoria Janssen

Ever go to a panel and spend your time thinking, “With a good moderator, this would be a much better panel?” We will review several ways to be that good moderator, offer tips and tricks, and generally work on improving WisCon’s already high standards for panel moderation. We strongly encourage you to attend this panel if you are moderating at WisCon, especially if it’s your first time. It’s also a great experience if you ever have, or think you ever will, be a panel moderator anywhere.

 

None of Us Are Goats!

Sat, 2:30–3:45 pm Conference 2
Liz Argall, Jessica Eanes, Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Kelly Lagor, Grá Linnea

Four short readings (most likely all of them will be contemporary fantasy or weird fiction). In addition, Kelly will play music.

 

Gendered communication styles in the workplace

Sun, 10:00–11:15 am Room 629
Liz Argall moderating. Cat Hanna, Naomi Mercer, Talks-with-wind, Andrea L. Staum

Interpersonal communication styles are influenced by the cultural experience of gender, but add in office power dynamics and things get… interesting. Men finding themselves in a woman-dominated workplace may find how things work to be alien. Women entering a workplace that values a robust debate of ideas may find it intimidating. Unlike your social life, you *have* to work with these people, and that means finding out how to talk to them constructively.

 

Fear and Masculinity in SF/F

Sun, 2:30–3:45 pm Senate B
Gregory G. H. Rihn moderating, Liz Argall, Alex Bledsoe, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Michael Underwood

Many anti-feminist tropes in genre fiction, from women in refrigerators to saving princesses, portray men’s fears as residing exclusively outside the individual. When realistic inner lives are portrayed, as in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, it is often in the context of “gritty” or “dark” post-modern fiction. Some works, such as Steven Erickson’s Malazan Books of the Fallen series, and Michael Marshall Smith’s Spares, use military settings to explore the inner lives of masculine people. Others, like Jim Hines’s Libriomancer and Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan series, play explicitly with these tropes. What works have explored the inner fears and tension of masculinity? Which have gone to ridiculous lengths to avoid discussing the vulnerability of masculine characters?

 

Karen Axness Memorial Panel: Women Writers You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

Sun, 4:00–5:15 pm
Tom Porter moderating Liz Argall, Gail Leinweber, David Peterson, Sheree Renée Thomas

A WisCon tradition (this year is the 36th!). Panel members will discuss the latest books by female SF and fantasy authors, emphasizing new female authors in these fields.

Dear co-panellists, where possible I have linked to your websites/online presences (Please let me know if you have something you’d like me to link to or if you would like me to change an existing link.

35 thoughts on “My Wiscon Program – and call for help!

  1. Female authored fiction I’ve really enjoyed in recent years:

    The zombie trilogy by Seanan McGuire: Feed/Deadline/Blackout. She published as a pseudonym, can’t remember the fake name off the top of my head. I’d read McGuire’s urban fantasy and liked it as enjoyable fluff, but Newsflesh was surprisingly phenomenal.

    Cherie Priest’s steampunk novels (I hated her earlier horror stuff). Boneshaker won all the accolades, but Dreadnought is the one that really affected me.

  2. For women I’ve read in the last few years… of course there’s me. ;)

    I loved the classic Scarlet Pimpernel, which was written by Emmuska Orczy.

    Obviously Mira Grant and Suzanne Collins. Rob Thurman’s urban fantasy is pretty good. There’s an SF book called “Happy Snak” by Nicole Kimberling which was a delight to read. Going back aways, Anne Bishop is amazing. And don’t forget Nancy Kress.

  3. Thanks! New books or new folks are good there’s an emphasis on new folks, but being a mid-career author can be pretty hard too, so anyone you want to say, “She is awesome!” about.

    Even if they’re not appropriate for the panel it’s great to hear about them for my own personal reading list. Female authors don’t get reviewed as often as male authors, so it’s very easy to miss out on great work.

  4. I’d like to recommend Berit Ellingsen, whose book Beneath the Liquid Skin came out fairly recently. Her prose is unnerving, and she plays around with form and language – it’s one of those things you can put your finger on but is just delicious reading.

  5. Short stories: Siobhan Carroll (BCS, Lightspeed upcoming), A.C. Wise, Christie Yant, Ann Chatham (BCS), Marissa Lingen, Damien Walters Grintalis, Helena Bell, Aliette de Bodard, Sara Monette, Kelly Lagor (Tor), Nalo Hopkinson, Genevieve Valentine, Sofia Samatar, Rachel Swirsky, Margaret Ronald. Also Elizabeth Bear, Seanan, Kat Howard, Pat Cadigan, Carolyn Ives Gilman, Kij Johnson, Juliette Wade.

    Novels: Genevieve Valentine, N.K. Jemisin, Elizabeth Bear, Rachel Hartman, Catherynne Valente, Mary Robinette Kowal.

  6. Sandra McDonald – she’s been on the Tiptree list, but more people need to hear of her :) – Diana Comet

    Alison Goodman – Pretty much ditto :) – Eon/Eona

    Wen Spencer – I <3 A Brother's Price so much

    Susan Palwick – Her collection just hit me right in the sweet spot somehow. :)

    Rachel Hartman – Seraphina

    Jennifer A. Nielsen – The False Prince

    Kiera Cass – The Selection
    Lissa Price – Starters
    Richelle Mead – vampire academy series and others

    Okay, totally not sf/f, but everyone should be reading Mary Roach for science stuff!

  7. <3 you guys and my Goodreads loves you too. I’m also a little terrified!

    Hooray for more shoutouts of love to amazing female authors. It’ll be interesting reading the crowd and finding out who needs not mentioning and who does. I shall take nothing for granted!

    I’ve just started reading the Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia. I’m really picky about my urban fantasy, so the only reason it’s on the shelf is freebie from WFC and the pressure of this panel. I’m only a short way in, but I love love love it so far. It makes me so unspeakably happy to see urban fantasy mixed with urban environments and incredible literary history of Eastern Europe.

    Kaaron Warren’s collection “Through Splintered Walls” still gives me chills.

    N.K. Jemison made me love epic fantasy again (what have you done to me? Must I be badly read in every sub-genre? I don’t need to love again, even if the sensation is quite nice)

    Nalo Hopkinson – what she does with language, oh my how I love her work.

    Andrea Hairston – love how bold her first book was, I need to read more of her.

    Elizabeth Hand – for my gritty, grieving, subversive, here and now.

    Mary Robinette Kowal – I love how she uses elegance and clarity to paint interesting subtext.

    Genevieve Valentine – I loved her Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti.

    Is this where I confess I’ve only recently been reading Octavia Butler?… I wish my teenage self had had access to her. Talk about a scramble to catch up!

  8. I really enjoyed Jodi Meadows _Incarnate_ and I have her follow up _Asunder_ on my To Read list. Grace Lin’s _Where The Mountain Meets The Moon_ is lovely and a gorgeous work of art in print, as well. Cat Rambo’s short stories are great, I can lend you my copy of _Near+Far_ if you would like. Ruth Nestvold has been working for a while but I think her _Yseult_ is woefully under-appreciated.

  9. Oh and Julie Czerneda has a new novel out, I haven’t gotten ahold of it yet but she is always good and her world-building is stellar.

  10. Thanks Joy. I too have a copy of Near + Far, love the way it’s put together (it is a double – both sides are the front cover).

  11. Caitlin Kieran’s short stories are great fun, a friend describes them as “Was there really a monster, or was it just lesbians drinking absinthe? ” I’ve never read a Liz Williams book I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed, Bloodstrike, Winterborn, The Poison Master… (I’m probably managing the titles), oh and the graphic novels of Alison Bechdel.

  12. Livia Llewellyn (her short story collection Engines of Desire is brilliant!)
    Damien Walters Grintalis (I haven’t had a chance to read her novel yet, but love her short fiction.)
    Maria Davhana Headley (ditto the above.)
    Most of my other suggestions have already been covered.

  13. From twitter (thank you prezzey *Bogi Takács @tzniuswarrior and the #womeningenre hashtag)

    Benjanun Sriduangkaew (@bees_ja), Rose Lemberg (@RoseLemberg), Alex D MacFarlane (@foxvertebrae), Yukimi Ogawa, Sofia Samatar, Zen Cho (@zenaldehyde), Thoraiya Dyer and Brit Mandelo @britmandelo

  14. Wait, I have more :]

    Here is a nicer-sorted list:

    * Helena Bell – @helbell
    * Joyce Chng – @jolantru
    * Zen Cho – @zenaldehyde
    * Tina Connolly – @tinaconnolly
    * Thoraiya Dyer
    * Alex Dally MacFarlane – @foxvertebrae
    * Ada Hoffmann – @xasymptote
    * Anne Ivy (pseudonym of two women authors)
    * Ann Leckie – @ann_leckie
    * Rose Lemberg – @roselemberg
    * Rochita Loenen-Ruiz – @rcloenenruiz
    * Brit Mandelo – @britmandelo
    * Jennifer Mason-Black – @cosdrift
    * Amal El-Mohtar – @tithenai
    * Yukimi Ogawa
    * Benjanun Sriduangkaew – @bees_ja
    * Sofia Samatar

    And probably a lot more, these are just off the top of my head. There are also non-binary-gendered people whose writing I appreciate:

    * Polenth Blake – @polenth
    * An Owomoyela – @an_owomoyela

    Also, if you’re interested, here are my reviews of stories from 2012, also sorted by topic, including author categories like women authors. (Here’s how to get more specific, eg women of color)

    Hope this helps a bit! :]

  15. Thank you everyone. Looking at this list makes me grin from ear to ear. I suspect it will continue to do so for many months to come as I refer to it or more people add to it.

    I should add, comic creators are welcome suggestions. Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku: The Inner Chambers (volumes 1 & 2) won a tiptree award in 2009, so it would be particularly useful for Wiscon folks to find out more about amazing comics and manga (and my understanding is that work can only be nominated once, but it doesn’t have to be in the year it came out.)

  16. Oh good heavens.

    Michelle Sagara?, Tamora Pierce?, Seanan McGuire (aka Mira Grant)?, Kim Harrison, Patricia Briggs, Kat Richardson, Cat Valente, Laura Anne Gilman (aka L.A. Kornetsky), Lois McMaster Bujold, Maria V. Snyder, Cassandra Clare, Cherie Priest, C.E. Murphy, Robin Hobb (aka Megan Lindholm), Robin McKinley, Carrie Vaughn. (Please feel free to come browse through my bookshelves if you need more names!) Satyr would certainly add Nalo Hopkinson, Nnedi Okorafor, and Angela Korra’ti, and Andrea Jones. I’m sure he would have several female comic authors (both web and not) to add as well.

    I’m going to add a twist and add some of my favorite female artists, because their work often shows up in conjunction with (and significantly increases the effectiveness of) story-telling, or IS story-telling all by itself.

    Stephanie Pui-mun Law, Echo Chernik, Julia Jeffrey, and Tess Fowler.

  17. Urban fantasy female authors:
    Faith Hunter
    Jaye Wells
    Diana Pharaoh Francis
    Kelly Gay
    Patricia Briggs
    Michelle Sagara (West) YA author
    Illona Andrews – pen name for a couple but one of them is female.

    Gail carriger writes humourous steampunk.
    Patricia C Wrede – the first book of the series was called thirteenth child. Other than ‘fantasy’ I’m not sure how to categorise that trilogy.

  18. Ursula Le Guin, Fiona McIntosh (that woman is fucking sadist and her niece stalked me for a time), Hiromu Arakawa (creator of Full Metal Alchemist and illustrator of other works), Virginia Wolfe (I hate Mrs Dalloway), Peach Pit (two women who write and illustrate manga such as Rozen Maiden), need to look up the names of other Japanese authors and illustrators from the stuff I’ve been reading online or who use pseudonyms, Susan J. Napier (anime theorist), Mio Bryce (another anime theorist).

  19. Harry Markov ?@HaralambiMarkov recommends

    Theresa Bazelli has a small body of work for now, but she is wonderful.

    Gemma Files (adore her work), RJ Astruc, T.A. Moore (author), Adele Wearing (editor/publisher), Cate Gardner, Lou Morgan.

    Harry is also blogging about Women in Genre every day this month http://haralambimarkov.com/blog/

  20. I’m a little late to the party, but it looks like no one’s mentioned Martha Wells yet. She does absolutely glorious worldbuilding with awesome characters: still in print there’s Emilie and the Hollow World, which is steampunkish YA adventure, and the Books of the Raksura, which feature dragon-like shapeshifters. She’s got most of her back catalog available as e-books, though, and they’re also excellent. :)

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