Thursday, November 3, 2011

Gender in Fantasy and SciFi Challenge 2012


January 1, 2012 - December 31, 2012

This list will focus mainly on classical works in these genres, i.e. what everyone should read if they are interested in how SFF deal with questions of gender. It's a good place to start!

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The rules are simple and not very restrictive:

- It's a 2012 challenge, so it starts on 1st January and ends on 31st December 2012. Join anytime!

- The goal should be 6 to 12 books (feel free to do them in any order/format/way you like). If you're tired at 6 books, consider it done. If you want more, go ahead. 

- If it's an omnibus, count it as one book or as many as it includes - it's your call, really.

- The list might include multiple books from the same author. We think that it would be best if you read no more than one book from a particular author, so that you can diversify your reading, but feel free to read anything you like, as long as it's on the list.

- If you've already read one/some of these, great! Feel free to re-read them or choose something new. Whichever the case, we would like to see your reviews/comments.

- This list includes comics. Just keep in mind that all volumes of a comic will equal one book in this challenge, so that a balance is kept.

Friendly Reminder: if you consider reflecting on gender totally useless or think that feminism = man-hating, please refrain from patronizing critique. Unfortunately, ignorance is opinion, but I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about it. 

If you are a smart, open-minded, curious person, we'd love to have you around. 

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The list

Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale

Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Mists of Avalon

Octavia Butler - Kindred

Octavia Butler - Wild Seed

Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber

Suzy McKee Charnas - The Holdfast Chronicles

Charlotte Perkins Gilman - Herland

Nicola Griffith - Ammonite

Ursula K. Le Guin - Left Hand of Darkness

Ursula K. Le Guin - The Dispossessed

Anne McCaffrey - The Ship Who Sang

Vonda McIntyre - Dreamsnake

Marge Piercy - Woman on the Edge of Time

Joanna Russ - The Female Man

Mary Shelley - Frankenstein

Sheri Tepper - Beauty

Sheri Tepper - The Gate to Women's Country

James Tiptree Jr - anything you can find, actually

Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra - Y the Last Man (comic series)

Monique Wittig - Les Guerrilleres

Virginia Woolf - Orlando

Yoshinaga Fumi - Oooku (comic series)
For more information and to sign-up, please see this post.