Science Fiction Recommendations

[Carolyn]

Please post your science fiction recommendations here.

[Carolyn]

My two favorites are:

The Handmaid's Tale- Margret Atwood
The Doomsday Book- Connie Willis (it's half historical fiction and half science fiction)

They're both fantastic.

[Tina]

Connie from Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time.

Almost all the women from any Octavia Butler novel, but especially Dana from Kindred and Lauren from the Parable series.

[Anna]

Carolyn I have to second your vote for The Handmaid's Tale. I love Atwood. I would also recommend The Penelopiad although I'm not sure if it would be sci-fi or fantasy. Her books are so hard to classify.

I actually came in this thread to say I've just found the Thursday Next series, which is a great sci-fi series with a strong female lead.

[Kelly]

I would second Olive's recommendation on the Thursday Next series - it is just a delightful read, very creative and if you love books and love strong female protagonists, this is a good one for you.

Another interesting sci-fi / futuristic read is "Gate to the Women's Country" by Sheri S Tepper.

[whichwaydidshego]

I agree that the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde (genius), which starts with The Eyre Affair is clever, witty, ingenious, cooky and a seriously fantastic ride. I HIGHLY recommend them!

[Nicole]

Anything by Suzette Haden Elgin but especially the Ozark Trilogy that begins with 'Twelve Fair Kingdoms'.
Her other works are more distinctly feminist and much darker novels. 'Native Tongue' explores the use of language and the role it plays in expressing socially biased perceptions.

[Cindy]

I love Dr. Clare Randall from the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. One gutsy woman.

[LaTrica]

I loved Cordelia's Honor! Great start to a great series.

I also like Remnant Population. It a quiet sort of Sci-fi more exploratory than action filled. However the story is great.

[Sheila]

Somewhat surprisingly, Military Sci-fi contains a rich vein of books featuring strong female protagonists. But be warned, these books are highly addictive - mostly, I suspect, because they're such fun to read! :)

David Weber's Honor Harrington series is an excellent introduction, although slightly hardcore on the military hardware side. I'd also highly recommend Elizabeth Moon's Serrano sequence, which is more action-hero with military origins and Vatta's War, by the same author, a futuristic swashbuckler.

[Laura]

As silly as this may sound, I am in the midst of reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It's great fun so far! Instead of the girls (and everyone else in their pretentious world) being judged solely on whit, temperament and attractiveness, they are now adding fighting ability to the mix! It just so happens that Lizzy and her sisters are wonderful fighters and clear the zombie hoards that were attacking the ball.

[Nicole]

James Schmitz wrote the great stories about Telzey Amberdon. I read this when it was published and fell for the story since there were never enough strong leading women in SF.
Telzey stands out from most other humans because she is a telepath, but she secretly stands out from her fellow Psi because she is a xenotelepath able to contact aliens. But what she really stands out from is the society the author knew when he wrote this book. Today we have lots of female fighters portrayed in film, we even have real women in the military not just in an office but in fighting units. At the time these stories were created women still wore only skirts in business settings and public schools did not allows girls to wear slacks. 'Telzey Amberdon' and stories like Alexei Panshin's 'Rite of Passage' stood out for few women starred in the SF written in the sixties and seventies. The books from that era that set the style for how women might act, and I still reread, are by Zenna Henderson and Busby as well as Schmitz and Panshin.
Z. Henderson wrote: 'The People: No Different Flesh', 'The Anything Box', 'Holding Wonder', 'Pilgrimage: The Book of the People'
http://www.adherents.com/lit/bk_Zenna...
FM Busby wrote: Rissa Kerguelen
http://rissa-kerguelen.com/

[Anna]

The Sparrow has some great, strong female characters, both human and alien.

[Bondama]

I originally joined this group when I was in the process of recommending "Doomsday Book" to a friend ... but then I saw the mention of Zenna Henderson -- who formed the majority of my teenage fantasies -- Oh, to be one of the People!! Pilgrimage: the Book of the People remained one of my favorite books for years... I grew up in New Mexico, where most of the People books are set, and they were among the very first books to "speak" to me. Thanks for a wonderful reminder!