March Reading List: Fearless Women Writing SciFi
March celebrates many things: spring, women's history, and reading. To honor this month, I wanted to put together a reading list of fearless women writing SciFi to accompany you into spring.
It is a sad and still latent misconception that women do not enjoy reading science fiction, let alone write it. When I'm looking to debunk this myth, I look over to these authors for inspiration.
1. R.H. Webster, Lucky
A space western with a tinge of romance, Lucky is a great read for fans of Firefly and Cowboy Beebop.
Life in the space lanes isn't the easiest, but for Trigg Donner, commander of the space freighter Rosebud, it's more than a steady paycheck—it's home. But when a routine landing on San Pedro unearths a mystery simmering on his own ship, Trigg comes face to face with his own fears and distrust.
After spending several years stranded on a distant mining colony, former graduate student Cassandra "Lucky" Luckenbach finally has enough money saved up to catch a spaceship back home to Earth. She boards the Rosebud unaware that she is walking into the middle of a life-altering interstellar conspiracy. Mystery, adventure, and romance await her on the flight home. Before she arrives on Earth, she will be forced to ask herself what it is that she really wants, and who she wants to be.
2. Julia Scott, The Mirror Souls
A YA romance tangled in an alien-controlled dystopia, The Mirror Souls promises a unique plot and strong characters.
Like the rest of the Gaian race, Alana’s life is ruled by the Avalon, the superior race who once created Earth and returned to reclaim it after humanity brought it to the brink of destruction. Because of the Avalon, every Gaian faces the risk of being moved from Region to Region, over and over, with no warning. Alana has no place to call home.
Fearing that she may be resigned to this life of control forever, the opportunity to explore the world outside of her Region is literally dropped into Alana’s pocket in the form of a small silver device.
Taking a leap of faith and teleporting to the unknown, Alana must discover who is pulling the strings in her life and why. But in her quest for answers and freedom, she’s thrown headfirst into a hidden battle for humanity alongside a boy whose life was destined to be entwined with hers from the start.
With the secret of who she really is starting to unravel and abilities she didn’t know she had risen to the surface, she becomes a commodity to whatever faction can keep her in one place.
But others around her are carrying secrets, too, and Alana must decide who to trust before she can change the fate of all the races.
3. Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Prime Meridian
Prime Meridian a novella about a bleak life, impossible dreams, and unreachable worlds.
Amelia dreams of Mars. The Mars of the movies and the imagination, an endless bastion of opportunities for a colonist with some guts. But she’s trapped in Mexico City, enduring the drudgery of an unkind metropolis, working as a rent-a-friend, selling her blood to old folks with money who hope to rejuvenate themselves with it, enacting a fractured love story. And yet there’s Mars, at the edge of the silver screen, of life. It awaits her.
4. Ann Leckie, Ancillary Justice
Ancillary Justice is a story rooted in a far and gritty future that embodies the true meaning of hard SciFi.
On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.
Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.
Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance.
5. Michelle Monárrez, Refurbished: The Clover Initiative
A superhero SciFi tale about immigrants fighting for what they believe in, Refurbished: The Clover Initiative is a novel perfect for fans of X-Men and Gene 13.
Eighteen-year-old academy graduate Alyssa is determined to start her military career as a GENE (Genetically Enhanced Entity) on her own terms. But after being transferred from her native London to America, she struggles to control her powers and find her place among a military unit of underdogs and other enhanced soldiers. When a rogue GENE is taken into custody, Alyssa's empathy for him forces her to choose between her carefully mapped out life plan, or a path that would put her in direct conflict with her superiors.
With the promise of superpowers and a green card on the table, thirteen-year-old Miguel signs a contract to become a GENE. Enduring the enhancement process is sure to be worth it with his refugee status at stake and dazzling dreams of becoming a superhero in the mix. But when he forms a psychic connection with a mysterious girl who could die without his help, he must decide what he's willing to risk in order to save her.
As Alyssa and Miguel embark on parallel journeys, their desire to choose their own individual paths transforms into a fierce battle for the rights of fellow enhanced people. The world might not be ready to find out about GENEs, but it had better brace itself. The protective barrier of secrecy will soon burst, and those called "Refurbished" will make themselves known.