Respectable Females in Scifi
November 1, 2010 9:36 AM Subscribe
Could you recommend quality scifi that isn't "drama in space", but has well developed realistic female characters?
You haven't specified which medium, but if you're not opposed to a book, I can highly recommend Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. It's very high quality, earth-bound near-future science fiction with well-rounded, believable female characters.
I haven't seen the movie, so can't comment on that, but Rotten Tomatoes reckons it's so-so.
posted by bwerdmuller at 9:40 AM on November 1, 2010 [2 favorites]
I haven't seen the movie, so can't comment on that, but Rotten Tomatoes reckons it's so-so.
posted by bwerdmuller at 9:40 AM on November 1, 2010 [2 favorites]
What kind of sci-fi? Books, movies, TV, other? Unfortunately, the best females in sci-fi have generally been in space opera TV shows like Farscape / Star Trek, etc.
posted by Jairus at 9:41 AM on November 1, 2010
posted by Jairus at 9:41 AM on November 1, 2010
Red Mars (and presumably the sequels Blue Mars and Green Mars, though I have not read them) has several well developed and very much realistic female characters. It's hard scifi and definitely more than "drama in space" but whether it's "quality" scifi or not I suppose is up to the reader (I'm on the "it's pretty good" side, others aren't so much).
posted by radioaction at 9:43 AM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by radioaction at 9:43 AM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Easy peasy. Look for Octavia Butler. She plays with some of the traditional SF tropes, like aliens, but deals very frankly with difficult choices women must make in affecting the outcome of both themselves and greater humanity. Sherri S. Tepper is also great, but more spacey. Oh, and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Really terrific, grounded realistic dystopian SF.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:45 AM on November 1, 2010 [10 favorites]
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:45 AM on November 1, 2010 [10 favorites]
Say more about what you'd like from the SF--"not drama in space" doesn't really tell me much.
Nancy Kress, Tobias Buckell, Kage Baker, Connie Willis, and Julie Czerneda might do for a start.
posted by Sidhedevil at 9:46 AM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Nancy Kress, Tobias Buckell, Kage Baker, Connie Willis, and Julie Czerneda might do for a start.
posted by Sidhedevil at 9:46 AM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Also Atwood's most recent book, The Year of the Flood.
posted by hermitosis at 9:47 AM on November 1, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by hermitosis at 9:47 AM on November 1, 2010 [2 favorites]
I can't believe I am the first to mention Firefly. Four regular female characters (of nine regulars total) and each one so well-drawn that you can often look at a single line of dialogue out of context and tell which of the four would have said it.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:50 AM on November 1, 2010 [9 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:50 AM on November 1, 2010 [9 favorites]
Seconding ricochet biscuit: Firefly is really, really good. The female characters are well-defined individuals with distinct voices and stories. They sometimes talk to each other about topics other than men (cf. Bechdel's Law).
posted by AkzidenzGrotesk at 9:54 AM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by AkzidenzGrotesk at 9:54 AM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
A few books:
Lisa Goldstein: specifically A Mask for the General
Maureen McHugh: specifically Mission Child
Jo Walton: Farthing, Ha'penny and Half-a-crown. Tooth and Claw is an absolute hoot, but I'm not sure it qualifies.
Michael Swanwick: Iron Dragon's Daughter, half fantasy, half SF.
Paolo Bacigalupi: The Windup Girl
posted by bonehead at 9:55 AM on November 1, 2010
Lisa Goldstein: specifically A Mask for the General
Maureen McHugh: specifically Mission Child
Jo Walton: Farthing, Ha'penny and Half-a-crown. Tooth and Claw is an absolute hoot, but I'm not sure it qualifies.
Michael Swanwick: Iron Dragon's Daughter, half fantasy, half SF.
Paolo Bacigalupi: The Windup Girl
posted by bonehead at 9:55 AM on November 1, 2010
Not sure what you mean by "drama in space" but Battlestar Galactica (the newer one) had amazing female characters - tough-as-nails president, a hotshot pilot type, etc. The thing I especially loved was that they weren't just cookie-cutter badass-action-movie-heroine types. They were allowed to have human failings and vulnerabilities AND be total badasses sometimes, too, just like the male characters.
posted by lunasol at 9:56 AM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by lunasol at 9:56 AM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Early Sherri Tepper is great, but she's suffering from the SF brain-eater. I'd draw the line at about Grass, myself.
posted by bonehead at 9:57 AM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by bonehead at 9:57 AM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Contact by Carl Sagan
posted by Wolfster at 10:00 AM on November 1, 2010 [5 favorites]
posted by Wolfster at 10:00 AM on November 1, 2010 [5 favorites]
How can I forget:
Mary Gentle: Golden Witchbreed (a wee bit spacey), and (sorta-spoiler) Ashe: A secret history
Joan Vinge: The Snow Queen (also a little spacey).
Connie Willis: Doomsday Book
posted by bonehead at 10:07 AM on November 1, 2010
Mary Gentle: Golden Witchbreed (a wee bit spacey), and (sorta-spoiler) Ashe: A secret history
Joan Vinge: The Snow Queen (also a little spacey).
Connie Willis: Doomsday Book
posted by bonehead at 10:07 AM on November 1, 2010
Ursula K. LeGuin - The Dispossessed
posted by Joe Beese at 10:08 AM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Joe Beese at 10:08 AM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Thirding Firefly, and mentioning Dollhouse (another TV Series by Joss Whedon); both have complex female characters and are thought-provoking as well as artfully made.
posted by sninctown at 10:12 AM on November 1, 2010
posted by sninctown at 10:12 AM on November 1, 2010
It's an oldie, but the Gaea Trilogy (Titan, Wizard, Demon) by John Varley features a no-nonsense female spaceship captain, a conflicted lesbian science officer (? maybe she was the XO, I forget), and a deranged/senile alien intelligence who takes the form of a human woman when it suits her. (OK, so crazy Gaea isn't exactly a realistic character, but she's plenty interesting.) The first volume was published in 1979, so it was pretty rad for its day.
posted by Quietgal at 10:27 AM on November 1, 2010
posted by Quietgal at 10:27 AM on November 1, 2010
David Weber's Honor Harrigan series is a fairly-hard sci fi series of books about space warfare, with the principle protagonist (Honor) being a very strong female character.
posted by james.nvc at 10:38 AM on November 1, 2010
posted by james.nvc at 10:38 AM on November 1, 2010
Firefly is the definition of "drama in space" if you ask me.
posted by Plutor at 10:45 AM on November 1, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by Plutor at 10:45 AM on November 1, 2010 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Sorry, I meant to specify books, but other media is perfectly fine too.
posted by parallax7d at 11:04 AM on November 1, 2010
posted by parallax7d at 11:04 AM on November 1, 2010
William Gibson is a favorite of mine, not at all space opera, and his books feature many female protagonists and major characters. Seconding Ursula K. LeGuin and Octavia Butler as key sf writers with strong feminist elements in their writing.
posted by nanojath at 12:05 PM on November 1, 2010
posted by nanojath at 12:05 PM on November 1, 2010
The Rama Series by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee. The first book is stand alone and mostly about the ship dubbed Rama. The books that follow center around a very strong female main character and are driven by her development and experiences.
posted by Gainesvillain at 12:32 PM on November 1, 2010
posted by Gainesvillain at 12:32 PM on November 1, 2010
Star Trek Deep Space 9. It takes a season to really get into the meta-plot and develop deep characters. (remember when TV shows were allowed to develop before being cancelled?) If you watch to season 2, you'll be hooked. You do have my permission to skip every episode about the alternate universe. They were designed for Ur-Nerds, and aren't really tolerable to anyone else.
One of the leading characters, Major Kira Nerys, is second in command on the station. Her planet and race had been occupied and subjugated by the Cardassian empire for the last 50 years. She was born during the war and represents a generation of Bajorians who have known nothing but occupation and resistance and must now govern their own planet and find a way to make peace amongst themselves and other planets. Kira deals with her own actions in the past as a member of the rebellion and the often inglorious deeds therein, as she tries to fight for a new Bajor this time with diplomacy and policy. She grapples with her own spirituality and faith, the political implications of faith on her planet, the collision of faith (Bajor) and science (The Federation) as her planet's prophets (gods) are becoming understood as alien lifeforms, and later her commanding officer's role in her religion's prophecies. Kira also has several great romantic relationships, which are very much about a mutual respect and love.
posted by fontophilic at 1:22 PM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
One of the leading characters, Major Kira Nerys, is second in command on the station. Her planet and race had been occupied and subjugated by the Cardassian empire for the last 50 years. She was born during the war and represents a generation of Bajorians who have known nothing but occupation and resistance and must now govern their own planet and find a way to make peace amongst themselves and other planets. Kira deals with her own actions in the past as a member of the rebellion and the often inglorious deeds therein, as she tries to fight for a new Bajor this time with diplomacy and policy. She grapples with her own spirituality and faith, the political implications of faith on her planet, the collision of faith (Bajor) and science (The Federation) as her planet's prophets (gods) are becoming understood as alien lifeforms, and later her commanding officer's role in her religion's prophecies. Kira also has several great romantic relationships, which are very much about a mutual respect and love.
posted by fontophilic at 1:22 PM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Seconding the Rama series. Roughly equal numbers of male and female characters with, certainly in the later books, most of the emphasis on the viewpoint of one of the women. Damn fine science fiction, too.
Iain M Banks is quite good for this, too. Against a Dark Background focuses on a strong female character throughout, while Inversions and Matter each flip between male and female characters, giving roughly equal time and depth to each IIRC. Walking on Glass does a similar thing, although it flips between a female-led sci-fi story and a male-led current-world story. His The Business is pretty much set in the present world and so is not sci-fi, but it feels like a sci-fi book (if that makes any sense at all) and, again, has a single well-written central character who is female.
While I didn't like Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, it's popular enough that it might be worth a look. The action flips between the perspectives of a woman and her son. More steampunk than sci-fi.
Kazao Ishiguru's Never let me go has great female characters, and is a very touching book. It's clear that there's something weird going on throughout the book, but its sci-fi nature is much less overt than the vast majority of the genre.
posted by metaBugs at 1:34 PM on November 1, 2010
Iain M Banks is quite good for this, too. Against a Dark Background focuses on a strong female character throughout, while Inversions and Matter each flip between male and female characters, giving roughly equal time and depth to each IIRC. Walking on Glass does a similar thing, although it flips between a female-led sci-fi story and a male-led current-world story. His The Business is pretty much set in the present world and so is not sci-fi, but it feels like a sci-fi book (if that makes any sense at all) and, again, has a single well-written central character who is female.
While I didn't like Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, it's popular enough that it might be worth a look. The action flips between the perspectives of a woman and her son. More steampunk than sci-fi.
Kazao Ishiguru's Never let me go has great female characters, and is a very touching book. It's clear that there's something weird going on throughout the book, but its sci-fi nature is much less overt than the vast majority of the genre.
posted by metaBugs at 1:34 PM on November 1, 2010
It's been said already, but I'll say it again. With a huge ass capital O and a capital B, Octavia Butler all the way. She sort of gets lumped as a "feminist SF" writer -- which is not at all a bad thing -- but I think this label carries a lot of baggage for some people who assume it's not strong, entertaining SF unless you're interested in feminist SF -- and that is just completely not true.
(Sorry to nthing this to death, but Butler is the only not-related-to-me death I can remember crying at -- and this was, at least, in some part because I'd just read a bunch of her stuff and realized there was now a supply that would definitely not get any larger.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:36 PM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
(Sorry to nthing this to death, but Butler is the only not-related-to-me death I can remember crying at -- and this was, at least, in some part because I'd just read a bunch of her stuff and realized there was now a supply that would definitely not get any larger.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:36 PM on November 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
You might take a look at Spin State by Chris Moriarty. Possibly also Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age.
posted by unsub at 2:31 PM on November 1, 2010
posted by unsub at 2:31 PM on November 1, 2010
I can't get through it (not because it's bad, but because I find it hard to get into much fiction in general)... But I own and a few people have recommended The Female Man by Joanna Russ as a feminist sci-fi novel.
Maybe it's something good? I don't know if you want explicitly feminist stories or what. I don't even know what "explicitly feminist" even means, so, heh. But maybe check it out?
posted by symbioid at 2:45 PM on November 1, 2010
Maybe it's something good? I don't know if you want explicitly feminist stories or what. I don't even know what "explicitly feminist" even means, so, heh. But maybe check it out?
posted by symbioid at 2:45 PM on November 1, 2010
Sheri Tepper, The Gate to Women's Country and others. Octavia Butler is very good. I didn't know she died; that's sad news.
posted by theora55 at 3:13 PM on November 1, 2010
posted by theora55 at 3:13 PM on November 1, 2010
Two trilogies:
Elizabeth Bear's Hammered/Scardown/Worldwire
Joel Shepherd's Breakaway/Crossover/Killswitch
Another vote for Chris Moriarty Spin Control/Spin State (I am hoping there will be a 3rd part one day)
Banner of Souls and Nine Layers of Sky by Liz Williams (both are part SF and part fantasy)
Connie Willis - I am listening to her latest now (All Clear) during my commute, and I almost look forward to go to work every day.
posted by natalie b at 5:03 PM on November 1, 2010
Elizabeth Bear's Hammered/Scardown/Worldwire
Joel Shepherd's Breakaway/Crossover/Killswitch
Another vote for Chris Moriarty Spin Control/Spin State (I am hoping there will be a 3rd part one day)
Banner of Souls and Nine Layers of Sky by Liz Williams (both are part SF and part fantasy)
Connie Willis - I am listening to her latest now (All Clear) during my commute, and I almost look forward to go to work every day.
posted by natalie b at 5:03 PM on November 1, 2010
Terry Pratchett is fantasy more than SciFi, but scifi in that he muses on various scientific theories in the course of explaining "supernatural" phenomena in his books. Great women characters, especially in the later books. Try Carpe Jugulum or Unseen Academicals for some strong women characters.
Marge Piercy's Woman On The Edge Of Time is great scifi.
Anything by Ursula K. LeGuin is also guaranteed to have great women characters - she often muses on the role of gender in forming culture, as in The Left Hand of Darkness.
Katherine Kerr is definitely more fantasy than scifi, but interesting nonetheless. Start with Daggerspell, the first Deverry book.
Finally, N-thing anything by Connie Willis. Doomsday Book is one of my favorite books of all time.
posted by Susurration at 7:48 PM on November 1, 2010
Marge Piercy's Woman On The Edge Of Time is great scifi.
Anything by Ursula K. LeGuin is also guaranteed to have great women characters - she often muses on the role of gender in forming culture, as in The Left Hand of Darkness.
Katherine Kerr is definitely more fantasy than scifi, but interesting nonetheless. Start with Daggerspell, the first Deverry book.
Finally, N-thing anything by Connie Willis. Doomsday Book is one of my favorite books of all time.
posted by Susurration at 7:48 PM on November 1, 2010
Good lord, Connie Willis.
And, TV-wise, try season 5 of new Doctor Who. River and Amy are a couple of the best characters on television, male or female.
posted by you're a kitty! at 9:18 PM on November 1, 2010
And, TV-wise, try season 5 of new Doctor Who. River and Amy are a couple of the best characters on television, male or female.
posted by you're a kitty! at 9:18 PM on November 1, 2010
C.J. Cherryh's Rimrunners and Downbelow Station.
If you're happy with non-book Sci-Fi, Babylon 5's Susan Ivanova is a standout character, along with Lyta Alexander; Elizabeth Lochley, , Talia Winters, and Na'Toth are significant secondaries. Abassador Delenn is one of the pivotal characters of the series (although her aquisition of human characteristics gave her some difficulties, which is, I guess, one way to pass the Bechdel test).
Warning: the first season is quite clunky as the show finds its feet.
posted by rodgerd at 11:47 PM on November 1, 2010
If you're happy with non-book Sci-Fi, Babylon 5's Susan Ivanova is a standout character, along with Lyta Alexander; Elizabeth Lochley, , Talia Winters, and Na'Toth are significant secondaries. Abassador Delenn is one of the pivotal characters of the series (although her aquisition of human characteristics gave her some difficulties, which is, I guess, one way to pass the Bechdel test).
Warning: the first season is quite clunky as the show finds its feet.
posted by rodgerd at 11:47 PM on November 1, 2010
Terry Pratchett's 'Nation', which is alternate history, has a great female co-lead.
Pretty much everything Ursula Le Guin has written, although I think that 'The Telling' might be especially relevant. 'The Lathe of Heaven' also features a great female supporting character.
Nthing Octavia Butler, but especially her Exogenensis series, and 'Parable of the Sower' and 'Parable of the Talents'. Also one of my favourite short stories, 'The Book of Martha'.
Kelly Link may also work for you. Some of her work is closer to fantasy than sci fi, but she deals with some lovely female characters, and her stories are nuanced and subtle. Try Magic for Beginners.
Oh, and not to forget Ted Chiang, possibly the world's finest living SF short story writer. Try the Lifecycle of Software Objects or the superlative The Story of Your Life.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:05 PM on November 2, 2010
Pretty much everything Ursula Le Guin has written, although I think that 'The Telling' might be especially relevant. 'The Lathe of Heaven' also features a great female supporting character.
Nthing Octavia Butler, but especially her Exogenensis series, and 'Parable of the Sower' and 'Parable of the Talents'. Also one of my favourite short stories, 'The Book of Martha'.
Kelly Link may also work for you. Some of her work is closer to fantasy than sci fi, but she deals with some lovely female characters, and her stories are nuanced and subtle. Try Magic for Beginners.
Oh, and not to forget Ted Chiang, possibly the world's finest living SF short story writer. Try the Lifecycle of Software Objects or the superlative The Story of Your Life.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:05 PM on November 2, 2010
If I understand your criteria correctly, you probably will like Sewer Gas & Electric. Not set in space, as much a comedy as drama, and a lot of interesting and well-developed female characters.
Also, Rosemary Kirstein's Steerswoman series has awesome female characters.
The Steerswoman's Road
The Lost Steersman
The Language of Power
posted by creepygirl at 9:33 PM on November 2, 2010
Also, Rosemary Kirstein's Steerswoman series has awesome female characters.
The Steerswoman's Road
The Lost Steersman
The Language of Power
posted by creepygirl at 9:33 PM on November 2, 2010
Anne McCaffrey's Sassinak might work for you.
posted by galadriel at 7:23 PM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by galadriel at 7:23 PM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Plutor at 9:38 AM on November 1, 2010