Athena’s Daughters: kickstarting a collection of women in sci-fi and fantasy

You know who writes fantastic science fiction and fantasy? Women. Well, duh, you say. The entire concept of science fiction as a genre can be credited to one talented woman. Two of the biggest selling speculative fiction series of the last few decades – Harry Potter and The Hunger Games – are penned by women. Five of the last ten Nebula Best Novel winners were women. And yet, science fiction and fantasy is still somehow, amazingly, seen by many as a boys club, where men write for men and only for men. Well, nuts to that. Athena’s Daughters is a fresh project from the excellent folk at Silence in the Library Publishing that aims to produce a top-tier collection of science fiction and fantasy by women, starring women. Yes, it’s been done before. And yes, it’s necessary to do it again, and again, until the idea that women don’t belong in spec fic is dead and buried. The talent lineup is ridiculous: Mary Robinette Kowal, Gail Z. Martin, Cleolinda Jones, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Jean Rabe, Sherwood Smith, Janine K. Spendlove, Vicki Johnson-Steger, Cynthia Ward, and Jean Marie Ward. The cause is good, too: a portion of every book sold will go to RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), the United State’s largest anti-sexual violence organization. And, as a bonus, there’ll be a second companion volume of produced. Apollo’s Daughters will be all about spec fic by men, starring women. The talent there is just as extraordinary: Aaron Allston, Micheal Stackpole […]