Return of Reccs

[kilroy]

I was looking at last summer's Female Author List.

Adding in Zvi's, we've still got
Ilona Andrews
Kelly Armstrong
Elizabeth Bear
K.J. Bishop
Kristan Britain
Kate Elliott
Nicola Griffith
Elizabeth Hand
Tara K. Harper
Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Nalo Hopkinson
N.K. Jemisin
Dianna Wynne Jones
Mercedes Lackey
Margo Lanagan
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Susan Matthews
C.E. Murphy
Pat Murphy
Melanie Rawn
Wen Spencer
Carrie Vaughn
Paula Volksy
Kim Wilkin
Patricia Wrede

So... definitely still some work to do there. I'd also like to open the floor up to general diversity-related recommendations: I don't read nearly enough books by people of color, just to name an obvious one. Recommendations can either be books from diverse authors or that deal with subjects of diversity. How you define "diverse" is up to you-- the reason why you pick a book might be educational in and of itself.

I'm still looking for fantasy and scifi for the most part, but as long as the world has some element of alternity to it I'll probably still read it. Any suggestions not already covered in this list or the other?

Comments

[james]

I recommend Liz Williams' Inspector Chen series. It's a urban-style fantasy series set in a future China (and India, in a later book.) Magic is real, as are demons and angels and the main character is a cop. The books read more like police procedural novels, rather than fantasy - it's like she built the world with magic and demons and so on, then said "OK, but what I want to write is a crime noir book."

They're pretty awesome.

[kilroy]

That sounds amazing. Thank you!

[james]

If you're interested in the Clone series by Steven Kent, I have the first two books - I've read them, not going to be re-reading them so I'd be happy to forward them along. (But I understand if you don't want to give your address to a complete stranger!)

[kelaino_kalos]

I've enjoyed Patricia Wrede's books a great deal. I think I started with Marelion the Magician (sp?) and went on from there.

Melanie Rawn's books, starting with Dragon Prince, were good but they started feeling all the same to me by book 4 or so of that series.

For Mercedes Lackey, I'd recommend starting with Magic's Pawn, as that trilogy deals with both magic and subjects of diversity. That was the first book of hers that I read, at age 14 or so, and although I no longer think her writing is brilliant in the way I did 15+ years ago, I do think this trilogy is her best work. Much of her later stuff is worth borrowing from the library, but not worth keeping (IMO).

[kilroy]

That matches my notes in all cases. :-)