I think that Sheri S. Tepper is really quite the feminist’s writer. Personally, I have to re-read The Gate to Women’s Country every now and then, but I know that many SF readers don’t like Tepper’s message.
Time Enough for Love really should not be given to someone who hasn’t read a lot of Heinlein before. However, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress might be more accessible to a novice SF reader.
John Scalzi is my newest favorite author. I think that Old Man’s War or The Android’s Dream would be great for her. Spaceships, aliens, and deathrays in War, and a very odd, but hilarious weapon in Dream.
On the fantasy side, give her Barbara Hambly’s Dragonsbane. Magic, dragons, and an Evil Sorceress, as well as a Good Sorceress.
Agree, definitely Robert Heinlein’s Friday. Sci-Fi meets Harlequin Romance.
Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, then sequels. Perhaps the most accessible sci-fi ever written.
Also, Ken Grimwood’s Replay. Sc-fi in an only sort-of kind of way, and one of the most compelling stories I’ve ever read.
My opinion is that you don’t want to throw a reader trying SF for the first time into the deep end of the pool. Those of use who are familiar with the genre can accept a lot of the common SF ideas without a problem but a first-timer might get overwhelmed by it all. So I wouldn’t recommend anything set in some radically different far future or alien background - stick with something set in the near future where there’s a lot of similarities to our world.
I’d also avoid a lot of the classics. Those of us who are into SF can overlook the clinkers in them but let’s face facts - books written in the forties, fifties, and sixties are going to have some parts that are going to be off to a modern reader. Stick with something that was written recently enough that the author won’t seem dated.
Avoid anything that’s part of a series. Nobody wants to be introduced to a new genre by being told they should read this one great book - but to really appreciate it, they need to read the four books that came before it in the series to explain who the characters are and then read the three books that came after it that wrap up the loose ends.
And finally, target your audience. A person who reads Tom Clancy might enjoy S.M. Stirling. A person who reads Heather Graham might enjoy Lois McMaster Bujold. A person who reads Umberto Eco might enjoy Gene Wolfe.
Look, this is the right answer for a female non-sf reader. Some of the suggestions a kinda far out–c’mon, To Sail Beyond the Sunset? That is crazy talk.
Larry Niven. Ringworld. Easy, fun, imaginative. And given that she enjoys historical fiction, Farmer’s Riverworld series might be fun for her. And Andre Norton has hooked a lot of women on SF.
Awesome suggestions and I agree triple with that last part. Seriously. Between his peculiar ideas about women’s sexuality, and apparent desire to paddle the behinds of 13 year old girls, many of Heinlein’s books can be a bit distasteful on some level to an adult, female, reader. “Friday” is so bad it’s embarassing.
Robert Silverberg is another of my favourite, very accessible writers. I can’t think of any reason to not recommend the Majipoor series.
I’ll third Orson Scott Card as being extremely accessible (and also very entertaining).
I’ll throw something else into the mix here - how about a little post-apocalyptic fiction (my favourite type)? The Stand by Stephen King is one of the best examples of the genre, and extremely readable.
ETA: I forgot to say, but for God’s sake, not A Canticle For Liebowitz - if she gets her hands on that, she’ll never try another sci fi or post-apocalyptic book. The thing is dry as dust and virtually incomprehensible.
I’ve realized that while I’ve discussed what kinds of recommendations I’d make, I haven’t actually made any.
So, subject to the caveats I’ve already mentioned, I suggest these:
Buying Time by Joe Haldeman - People can buy life extension but it costs a fortune. This creates a two-tier society. The book is a little dated by some cold-war references. Conquistador by S. M. Stirling - WWII veteran discovers a portal to a parallel universe and sets up his own country. Gateway by Frederik Pohl - Story about an alien artifact. Can be something of a downer because Pohl loves flawed protagonists. The Harvest by Robert Charles Wilson - A surprisingly upbeat end of the world story. Millennium by John Varley. A one-volume book rather than Varley’s more usual series. A time travel story. The Practice Effect by David Brin - Borderline fantasy. A light read that verges into comedy. Rendevous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke - Somebody else suggested it and it’s a good idea. Discovery of an alien spaceship passing through the solar system. Resurrection Day by Brendan DuBois - Alternate history. The Cuban Missile Crisis turned into an actual limited nuclear war. Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin - A series of short stories that were revised into a novel. Space opera about a guy who discovers a highly advanced starship.
To echo what some others have said I would specifically not recommend Heinlein - he undeniably had his talents but he also undeniably had his quirks. I’d also be iffy on Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. Le Guin, or Spider Robinson - their styles can be hit or miss. And Bujold is great but her best work is multi-volume series - not recommended for a first timer.
Bradbury is an excellent idea. I wonder if it might be wise to first get her into being a Bradbury fan, by starting with The Halloween Tree. Not science fiction, by any means, but Lordy, can that man grab you by the throat and set you down in his world.
A Wrinkle in Time, anyone? A Wind in the Door, is also kinda good, but I wouldn’t bother with Many Waters of A Swiftly Tilting Planet.
As I’ve said, I don’t recommend Bradbury. I think he’s pretty far out of the SF mainstream - a person might like or dislike Bradbury without it saying anything about whether they like or dislike SF as a whole. Personally, I love science fiction but find Bradbury tolerable at best.
Plenty of good suggestions in there, couldn’t begin to comment on them all but suffice to say I’ll be picking some of them up myself.
Just to comment that the first Heinlein I ever read was ‘Number of the Beast’ and it was so embarrasingly bad that its one of the few books of any kind that I haven’t finished reading after starting, if it hadn’t been for picking of ‘Starship Troopers’ I’d have avoided him altogether.
That books sitting about two feet away from me but as I haven’t read it myself yet I don’t think I can give it to her…
David Brin is a good choice, I find his work optimistic and uplifting (hah!) unlike so much of the bitter and cynical work so common in the genre these days (Alastair Reynolds and Stephen Baxter I’m looking at you).
‘The Forever War’ is another good choice.
As much as I love Iain Banks I’m a little reluctant to use him as her first taster of science fiction, I lent my dad ‘Consider Phlebas’ and while he said he enjoyed it he hasn’t picked up any of the others…
Didn’t find ‘The Sparrow’ to be depressing myself, maybe I missed the point of the story, which is entirely possible.
I read this and my first thought was “better sat away from Joe Haldeman then.” And then this:
Seriously I love Haldeman’s work but he’s one of the bitterest and most cynical writers in SF. Which makes him atypical of SF. Most SF follows the theme that you can deal with your problems by facing them squarely and rationally. Haldeman has his heroes facing their problems squarely and rationally in typical SF fashion - and then having the universe crush them.
In my opinion, The Forever War was a good example of this. Mandella’s life just kept getting worse and worse despite any attempts he made to improve things. Yes, there was a happy ending but it was almost literally tacked on to the last page (and Haldeman wrote a sequel to make sure everyone saw that it hadn’t been all that happy anyway).
And, yes, I realize I recommended a Haldeman book in a previous post. Like I said, he’s a really good writer. And occasionally, he shakes off his bitterness and writes a novel or story that doesn’t have a depressing ending. Buying Time was one of these works.
I bought Friday strictly for the cover.
I wasn’t disappointed.
I would suggest Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K Dick or give her a good short story collection.
To pipe up again as a non-sf reading female (for the most part), what I know of the little Heinlein I’ve been exposed to isn’t particularly positive. I wouldn’t dream of speaking for other women or the OP’s friend, but I wince a little when I see his name suggested for a new reader of sf.