# Recommend me some girly science fiction
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 22, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374 "2011-04-22T16:46:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374/41 "2011-04-23T21:16:53Z")
A have read a couple from **Melissa Scott** that were good.
> **[Melissa Scott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_Scott_(writer))**
>
> Melissa Scott (born 1960) is an American science fiction and fantasy author noted for her science fiction novels featuring LGBT characters and elaborate settings.
> Scott was born 1960, in Little Rock, Arkansas, studied history at Harvard College and Brandeis University, and earned her PhD in comparative history. She published her first novel in 1984, and has since written some two dozen science fiction and fantasy works, including three co-authored with her partner, Lisa A. Barnett.
> Scott's work...
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374/42 "2011-04-23T21:32:26Z")
_Mirabile_ by Janet Kagan is a good collection of connected biology-themed stories set on the world of Miribile with a strong female protagonist. Her _Hellspark_ was good too IIRC; sadly she died before being able to write much else.
> [@Tamerlane](#):
>
> Hell, I dig Zenna Henderson. Or I did when I was younger, I don’t think I’ve read any of her work since I was in my late teens. Her stories tend to be very…gentle, I guess. Her background as an elementary teacher often stands out.
I’m male too and liked her stuff, I have several books by her I inherited from my mother.
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### Author:  [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374/43 "2011-04-23T22:25:06Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#):
>
> Oh, not at all. There is sex ( not particularly explicit, but certainly suggestive ) in most of the dragon books. I think the popular _dragonsinger_ books were deliberately pitched to younger audience, like LeGuin’s Earthsea novels. But McCaffrey, like a lot of working sf writers I understand, even stuck her toe into the softcore sf short-story field when that was paying some bills in the 1970’s.
I think cringe-inducing softcore sci-fi fits perfectly into the young adult genre…
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374/44 "2011-04-23T22:59:08Z")
Author-- Zenna Henderson
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374/45 "2011-04-24T01:56:28Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#):
>
> Oh, not at all. There is sex ( not particularly explicit, but certainly suggestive ) in most of the dragon books. I think the popular _dragonsinger_ books were deliberately pitched to younger audience, like LeGuin’s Earthsea novels. But McCaffrey, like a lot of working sf writers I understand, even stuck her toe into the softcore sf short-story field when that was paying some bills in the 1970’s.
Ha, I read a few novellas by her in the 70’s, maybe? That were quite a bit more than softcore, at least I thought they were in ninth grade.
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### Author:  [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374/46 "2011-04-24T02:57:45Z")
I like Walter Jon Williams. His female characters are definitely girls and he is not sexist. I really liked Maureen McHugh but she is not writing any more - she’s doing some pretty cool stuff with alternate reality games. But go find her old books.
If you want girly, try Robin McKinley - but it is definitely fantasy, not SF. “Sunshine” was great.
I love LeGuin. Very worth getting yourself past the first chapter. “The Dispossessed” is still awesome. She is still writing and has tons of stories.
Have you tried Sheri Tepper? Some of her stuff is kind-of silly but “The Gateway to Women’s Country” is powerful stuff.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374/47 "2011-04-24T03:27:24Z")
> [@Zsofia](#):
>
> That were quite a bit more than softcore, at least I thought they were in ninth grade.
Yeah, I have no doubts :). I was being cautious as I only remember reading one or two of her racier stories and they weren’t Philip Jose Farmer explicit ( then again, I guess not much is ). But weird porn and near-porn was definitely one way to earn grocery money for younger authors back in the day.
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### Author:  [@lshaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lshaw)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374/48 "2011-04-24T17:47:22Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#):
>
> I haven’t read much Octavia E. Butler, but what I have read, I have really liked.
I had no idea she was considered a sci-fi writer, as I’ve only read one of her work - _Fledgling_ (which I enjoyed). Which of hers would you recommend?
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### Author:  [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374/49 "2011-04-24T18:57:54Z")
What about Joanna Russ? I’ve mostly read fantasy by her, but its definitely feminist works, although I don’t necessarily know about girly.
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### Author:  [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374/50 "2011-04-24T22:45:46Z")
> [@infinitii](#):
>
> What about Joanna Russ? I’ve mostly read fantasy by her, but its definitely feminist works, although I don’t necessarily know about girly.
I had forgotten her work. Shame on me. I liked her women.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374/51 "2011-04-24T22:55:52Z")
> [@lshaw](#):
>
> I had no idea she was considered a sci-fi writer, as I’ve only read one of her work - _Fledgling_ (which I enjoyed). Which of hers would you recommend?
My personal favorite of hers is **Wild Seed**. It’s on the border between SF and fantasy. **Lilith’s Brood** , a trilogy about humanity’s end as it’s changed irrevocably by contact with an alien race, is also pretty good.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2011, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374/52 "2011-04-25T07:44:45Z")
> [@lshaw](#):
>
> I had no idea she was considered a sci-fi writer, as I’ve only read one of her work - _Fledgling_ (which I enjoyed). Which of hers would you recommend?
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> My personal favorite of hers is **Wild Seed**. It’s on the border between SF and fantasy. **Lilith’s Brood** , a trilogy about humanity’s end as it’s changed irrevocably by contact with an alien race, is also pretty good.
_Seed to Harvest_ contains Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, Clay’s Ark, and Patternmaster. Oddly, Butler wrote Patternmaster first, and then kept working her way back through the history of the Patternist peoples.
I liked all of her books, and her short stories, and I was deeply saddened by her untimely death.
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### Author:  [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374/53 "2011-04-25T23:10:46Z")
I recently read [Origins Spinward Fringe](http://www.amazon.com/Origins-Spinward-Fringe-ebook/dp/B004EPYUXA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1303772668&sr=8-1) by Randolph Lalonde and _loved_ it. It’s a free download you can read on the Kindle or on the computer. I’m not a big space scifi fan, but I was engrossed in this from the beginning. There is great character development and the story was enthralling.
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### Author:  [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-girly-science-fiction/579374/54 "2011-04-26T03:39:21Z")
Bujold, Bujold, Bujold! Hard SF but with a twist that the technology is practical for women’s issues, a great sense of humor… brilliant stuff. I think she is somewhat like Connie Willis but better (although I love Willis as well).
I also concur with Zenna Henderson and the Lilith’s Brood Butler books.
If you don’t need your SF to be strictly, um, accurate, you could try Diane Duane’s books. As sloppy as all get out, but fun reads. Oh, same goes for Kate Wilhelm. Wince-inducing science, but good books.
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