Fake Writer Girls!
By now, I assume most of you are familiar with the Fake Geek Girl phenomenon, in which women’s geek credentials are repeatedly challenged, because everyone knows girls don’t like geek stuff. (Isn’t that right, Big Bang Theory?) It gets even worse if the woman in question is traditionally attractive, because even if we acknowledge the possibility of the occasional female geek, we all know she has to be ugly and socially maladjusted, right? Fortunately, we have men who tirelessly volunteer their time to challenge and harass these wannabes.
Because do you know what would happen if we let Fake Geek Girls into the inner circle of geekdom? PURE, UNMITIGATED GIRL-COOTIES!
Well let me tell you, Fake Geek Girls have nothing on the Fake Writer Girls. You know the ones I mean. Those women who think they can write stories and books that are just as good and important and serious as the ones written by us men. It’s almost like they don’t even understand that their work is inherently inferior, because GIRLS!
One of the best ways to spot a Fake Writer Girl is by looking for Mary Sues, those unrealistically competent, know-it-all, oh-so-special characters who are the Best at Everything! They’re nothing but silly, estrogen-fueled wish fulfillment fantasies. Like a girl could ever be an active, competent character. Oh, those wacky Fake Writer Girls and their ridiculously super-special heroines. If only they could write realistic, heroic protagonists like Ender Wiggin, James Bond, Eragon, Lazarus Long, Clark Kent, Kvothe Kingkiller, Legolas…
And don’t get me started on how they’re ruining science fiction and fantasy with their romance cooties! Urban fantasy? Paranormal romance? Why don’t they care about the history of our genre? SF/F stories should be about spaceships! and swords! and fighting! and yes, the occasional hooking up, but only when it’s nubile young women throwing themselves at manly protagonists!
It would be nice if these Fake Writer Girls could just stay in the romance section, because we all know romance isn’t a real genre. I mean, sure, romance makes up 55% of all fiction sales, but a real man wouldn’t be caught dead reading that stuff, so it doesn’t count. Besides, ALL ROMANCE NOVELS ARE JUST FORMULAIC, UNIMAGINATIVE HACKWORK! (On a totally unrelated note, I just remembered that I have to write a review of this awesome book I read last week. It’s just like Lord of the Rings, except instead of a ring, it’s a cursed dagger! Brilliantly original stuff.)
You might laugh, but Fake Writer Girls present a real threat to real writers like me, writers who write while also being guys. Just look at this report from VIDA that shows how lady writers are stealing review space from hard-working men! They took 33% of the book reviews in The Atlantic, 36% from Harpers, 26% from the London Review of Books, 19% from the New York Review of Books, and 34% from the New York Times. And they want to take even more review space away from real (i.e., male) authors! Why can’t they be happy getting slightly more than half of the reviews in Romantic Times and leave the rest to us? Why do they have to hurt men’s careers with their Fake Writer Girl Agendas?
Here are just a few known Fake Writer Girls, authors whose work you definitely should not immediately go check out and buy and read and tell all of your friends about.
Please feel free to suggest others in the comments. Because the more you know…
Known Fake Writer Girls
- Jaime Lee Moyer – Wrote a perfectly good book about vengeful ghosts, then ruined it with relationships and romance!
- Seanan McGuire – Prolific and popular. Stole multiple spots on the NYT Bestsellers List from deserving boy authors.
- Nalo Hopkinson – Her first book was Brown Girl in the Ring. Yeah, right. Call me when you write Brown Alpha Male in the Ring, amirite?
- Elizabeth Bear – Not only does she sneak relationship-cooties into her work, I’ve even seen her brag about doing it!
- Laura Anne Gilman – Sure, she’s been an editor as well as a Nebula-nominated author, but she also wrote some books for Luna. Romance! Fake Writer Girl! Unclean!
- Nnedi Okorafor – We all know she’s an award-winning novelist, but she’s also writing a Disney Fairies book. Need I say more?
- Kameron Hurley – Not just a fake writer girl, but a militant fake writer girl who actively blogs about girl stuff like sexism in addition to writing books.
- Mary Robinette Kowal – Her work has been described as Jane Austen with magic. That’s another dead giveaway right there. And if that’s not enough, she also plays with puppets!
- Alethea Kontis – She’s doing fairy tale retellings. Hmph. Fairy tale books are only worth reading if they’re written by a man!
- Tansy Rayner Roberts – That’s right, even Australia has Fake Writer Girls!!!
- Amal El-Mohtar – Yep, Canada too!
- J. V. Jones – Sure, she was writing grimdark fantasy decades ago, but do we really have to mention her when we talk about grimdark fantasy? Can’t we just talk about the men?
heathergm
October 16, 2013 @ 7:31 pm
I haven’t seen Sheri S. Tepper mentioned yet either and she definitely needs to make the list
ZMiles
October 16, 2013 @ 7:36 pm
Lish McBride, of the “Hold Me Closer, Necromancer” series.
Sophie Jordan, of the “Firelight” series.
Annette Klause, of “Blood and Chocolate” and “The Silver Kiss”.
Rachel Hartmann, “Seraphina”
The list goes on…
Darcy Conaty
October 16, 2013 @ 7:48 pm
Shards is sci-fi, Paladin is fantasy. The audiobooks of both Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls are especially wonderful. But I think my favorite may be A Civil Campaign, which is rather like Pride & Prejudice in a science fiction setting.
Lexica
October 16, 2013 @ 7:51 pm
Be sure also not to mention Shelley Adina, Heather Albano, Apryl Baker, Marissa Burt, Gail Carriger, Kady Cross, Tina Folsom, Amy Garvey, Kelly Graham, Sarah Gray, Erin Hunter, Corrine Jackson, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Jayne Ann Krentz/Jayne Castle/Amanda Quick (SO many romance cooties she has to have three pennames!), Jillian Neal, Melanie Nilles, Phoebe North, Cindy Spencer Pape, S.M. Reine, Vicky Savage, Cidney Swanson, Sheri S. Tepper, or Jennifer Vale.
Elizabeth Schechter
October 16, 2013 @ 7:56 pm
Thank you! The novel is House of Sable Locks.
http://www.amazon.com/House-of-Sable-Locks-ebook/dp/B00DOHYD22
Sistercoyote
October 16, 2013 @ 7:57 pm
…
This sounds far dirtier than it probably is.
inappropriate minion is inappropriate.
Darcy Conaty
October 16, 2013 @ 7:57 pm
I don’t think I saw Karen Healey yet. Love her books, and it doesn’t hurt that they’re set in New Zealand, which is one of our favorite places.
Mary Bertke
October 16, 2013 @ 8:33 pm
Other great, er, fake girl writers:
Lois McMaster Bujold – wait, she’s trying to write LIKE A MAN! about spaceships and battles and stuff
Tanya Huff – Are you coming? Nope, not even breathing hard.
Jennifer Roberson – She does retelling of Robin Hood, and SPOILS it by adding another female character. Wasn’t one enough?
Raven
October 16, 2013 @ 8:39 pm
Gonna have to callout Lynn Fewelling, too. I mean, really, disguising her icky female protagonist as a man, and exploring gender in a fantasy trillogy? I mean, it might make people think or something…
Meg
October 16, 2013 @ 8:39 pm
Jacqueline Carey
Kelly Armstrong
Patricia Briggs
JD Robb
Mercedes Lackey
Michele West
Peyton
October 16, 2013 @ 8:48 pm
Do you mean Kelley Armstrong? I scrolled down to add her name to the list, but saw your entry. The unusual spelling of Kelley makes me think you do mean Armstrong, but just in case you don’t I want to make sure she gets a shout out because she’s awesome.
Jodi
October 16, 2013 @ 9:02 pm
Jacqueline Carey, Jacqueline Carey, and Jacqueline Carey!
Bill Stewart
October 16, 2013 @ 9:05 pm
Are you kidding? She can even get Scalzi to wear a dress (though I suppose Jim’s done that, too…)
Bill Stewart
October 16, 2013 @ 9:07 pm
(Ooops; my previous comment seems to have gotten detached from the “Mary Robinette Kowal plays with puppets” thread.)
And then there’s the other kind of Fake Writer Girl, like Emma Lathen (mystery writer, who is actually a collaboration between two men.)
Kerry aka Trouble
October 16, 2013 @ 9:37 pm
Almost forgot Kage Baker, Barbara Hambly, P. N. Elrod 🙂
Anne Burner
October 16, 2013 @ 9:54 pm
What about Anne Lyle, who writes gay/bisexual/cross-dressing characters? Or Emma Newman, she of the Split Worlds series (and the fantastic Tea and Jeopardy podcasts – seriously, I could listen to her read the phone book)? And Chloe Neill, CE Murphy, Cherie Priest, Ann Leckie, Laura Anne Gilman, and Lilith Saintcrow?
Whirlwitch
October 16, 2013 @ 9:57 pm
James Tiptree Jr! Actually Alice Sheldon, an ultimate FWG in that she wrote F/SF under a male pseudonym. The better to take people in. And had the nerve to be an amazing writer, too.
--E
October 16, 2013 @ 10:33 pm
Don’t forget my good buddy Karin Lowachee. Her male protagonists may fool you, but KLo is all up in the cooties.
And has no one mentioned Elizabeth Bear yet? STEALTH COOTIES.
Zanna Dobbs
October 16, 2013 @ 10:44 pm
I have read multiple books by multiple names on a lot of these lists One name that is missing is Lisa Shearin. I am sure there are more. I love the Fake Writer Girls Geek or not.
Kelllen
October 16, 2013 @ 10:47 pm
Sigh, it just goes to show you the corrupting influence of women… *quickly covers over the mirror that reveals her true identity.
I tried to double check all the terrible women on this list but I came up missing one of the ORIGINALS… The one who led me down this primrose path. So notorious that she wrote under a man’s name to hide it! Scandalous… None other than the infamous Andre Norton!
David Y
October 16, 2013 @ 10:53 pm
Real writer girls are all Scottish! I have whole shelves of books written by Mcettes and Macettes.
Corrina
October 16, 2013 @ 11:04 pm
Tamora Pierce is so much worse than that- she writes YA fiction! She corrupts the minds of innocent teenage girls into thinking that they can do something other than get married and keep house! And if you do get married, it could be to someone who respects you and your abilities! Even worse, that you can work outside the home and have a happy marriage and a family!
I mean, if she isn’t stopped, girls could get the idea that they can work in traditionally male jobs like being a knight, and that’s just not right. Even worse, they could work in traditionally female jobs like magic and weaving, and be happy and not oppressed at all. She must be stopped! (By which I mean she has a new book out so I have to go read now.)
J.A. Marlow
October 16, 2013 @ 11:04 pm
How about that big faker, Kristine Kathryn Rusch? She’s had the audacity of winning Hugo awards, Endeavour Award, Hugo Award as Best Professional Editor (for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction), World Fantasy Award, Sidewise Award for Alternate History, Nebula Awards, Asimov’s Reader Poll, Locus, Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award, and geez, so many others.
WHAT a faker, and in so many genres, too! 😛
Adrienne
October 17, 2013 @ 12:08 am
Jim, When are you ever going to come to GeekGirlCon?!?!?!!!
You know it is chock-full of Fake Geek Girls and even these Fake Writer Girls!
Jaime Moyer
October 17, 2013 @ 12:40 am
You can’t overlook the extreme Girl Cootie contamination lurking in the books of Rae Carson, Jodi Meadows, Sarah J. Maas, Diana Pharaoh Francis, Amanda Downum and that tricky FGW Sarah Monette. Exposure to their books can be enlightening!
Jaime Moyer
October 17, 2013 @ 12:42 am
Or I could mean Fake Writer Girl, instead of Fake Girl Writer. Hard to tell at midnight.
Kyndra Hatch
October 17, 2013 @ 1:49 am
Pippa Jay (le gasp), Misa Buckley (arghhh), Vijaya Schartz (insanity), Janet Miller (EEKS), Cary Caffrey (oh no’s), Diane Dooley (the horror), Tarah R. Hamilton (ahhhh), Melisse Aires (nooooo), Jessica Subject (whyyy), Greta van der Rol (the terror), Michelle Browne (the audacity), Pauline Baird Jones (OMG), K.S. Augustin (seriously), Arlene Webb (gah), Corinne Kilgore (grrrrr), Rachel Smith (nahhhh), Catrina Taylor (nail biting), Laurie Green (scary), Maria Sadowski (the sanity), Veronica Scott (erghhh) …The Science Fiction Romance Brigade (though some of the ‘real’ writer men have infiltrated)! How dare these wonderfully fantastic writer women inspire such imagination in others!
Laura Resnick
October 17, 2013 @ 2:03 am
I started my career writing romance novels. (gasp!)
When I entered sf/f, via short fiction, I won the John W. Campbell Award. (Yes, misogynistic hysteria is JUSTIFIED, because the Campbell Award went to a ROMANCE WRITER.)
I subsequently signed for three epic fantasy novels. The written, printed Marketing Strategy in the sales packet said: “The author is female in a traditionally male genre.” And it said nothing else. I protested that I was a Campbell winner, I had previously published more than a dozen novels in another genre, I had crossed Africa overland, I was trilingual, this was a good book… so surely there was SOMETHING they could say in marketing it besides just “the author is female.” They told me, no, no one cared about that; being a girl was what mattered. So, THERE, that should clear up any nonsense about my gender not being THE ONLY relevant thing about me as an sf/f writer!
My sixth urban fantasy is coming out in a few weeks from DAW Books. The series features a FEMALE PROTAGONIST, which certainly proves that I have polluted the genre and should go back to where I came from.
Laura Resnick
October 17, 2013 @ 2:05 am
(I should add that my “the author is female” experience was NOT at DAW. Since DAW is run by women, e.g. Fake Editors/Publishers, they would never have realized that my gender is THE ONLY relevant thing about me as an sf/f writer.)
Jenny
October 17, 2013 @ 2:18 am
JULIET MARILLIER!
Absolutely fantastic fantasy!
Barb Caffrey
October 17, 2013 @ 2:27 am
A few names you have left off the FWG list:
Rosemary Edghill/eluki bes shahar (“Hellflower” series was way ahead of its time; everything she writes is excellent in any genre)
Katharine Eliska Kimbriel (“Night Calls” was ahead of its time; her Chronicles of Nuala series is among the best SF I’ve ever read)
Holly Lisle
Debra Doyle
K.D. Wentworth
Just a few I hadn’t seen mentioned yet.
Patricia C. Wrede
Caroline Stevermer
Linnea Sinclair (romance and milSF *do* mix)
Patti L.
October 17, 2013 @ 3:56 am
Jane Yolen, Ursula Vernon, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald, Joan Aiken, a.k.a. Joan Aiken Hodge, Sharon Lee (and Steve Miller, oh noes, husband and wife!)
Elspeth Cooper
October 17, 2013 @ 4:06 am
Oh dear, I’ve been outed by another of the FWG sisterhood!
Here’s a few more names off the top of my head: Melanie Rawn, Karen Lord, Stephanie Saulter, Tricia Sullivan, Jaine Fenn, Justina Robson, Trudi Canavan, Liesel Schwarz, Kim Curran, Mary Doria Russell, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Lois McMaster Bujold, Naomi Foyle, Helen Lowe (she’s up for a Gemmell!), Elizabeth Moon.
Fake Writer Girls. They’re everywhere.
Liz Williams
October 17, 2013 @ 7:34 am
Thank you so much, Julia! In turn I’d like to give a shout-out to those shameless imposters Tricia Sullivan, Lisa Tuttle, Kari Sperring, Tanith Lee, Mary Gentle and many more on this side of the Pond. Occasionally we all get together for tea and buns and discuss how we’re next going to feign being as good as the blokes….
Liz Williams
October 17, 2013 @ 7:41 am
Also Gwyneth Jones, Leigh Kennedy…..
Jeanette
October 17, 2013 @ 7:43 am
I am shocked, I had no idea how bad it is and that the Fake Writer Girls had taken over, and now my to read authors has grown by 100’s. I suppose that means I am a Fake Reader girl? or does it just add more reasons I am a Fake Geek Girl?
Fake Writer Girls is not just a problem in the United States, Since so many I would name have already been listed I will add a few from across the ocean.
Glenda Larke who not only has the nerve to write non-fiction articles on conservation issues, but includes conservation issues in her fantasy.
Karen Miller’s who had the nerve to write a fantasy series with one of the most cruel twisted unlikable female protagonists I have ever loved to hate.
Fiona McIntosh, Who writes not only Fantasy, but history and Crime novels!
Kate Forsyth Who horrors mixes Fanatsy and fairly Tales with history!
Nalini Singh A Fake Writer Girl of Eastern Indian descent, born on Fiji, and lived in New Zealand! Has yet to figure out what genre is supposed to be, her Psy/Changeling series mixes paranormal, sci-fi, fantasy, mystery and romance.
Susanna Clarke For shame to write a fantasy alternate history in the style of 19th-century writers such like Charles Dickens. Along with a collection of short Fantasy Stories that focuses on women who gain power with magic.
Mary Stewart
Cornelia Funke
Angie Sage
Juliet Marillier
Trudi Canavan
Jennifer Fallon
Maggie Furey
Louise Cooper
Tanith Lee
Moyra Caldecott
Ekaterina Sedia
Diana Wynne Jones
Susan Cooper
Catherine Webb/Kate Griffin
Jim C. Hines
October 17, 2013 @ 7:44 am
Oh no, not only a Fake Writer Girl, but a Fake Editor Girl too???!!!
TheLemur
October 17, 2013 @ 7:46 am
Was surprised Jemisin wasn’t on the original list! Not only is she a girl, she’s NOT WHITE! Her well-written novels are a threat to WASP men everywhere.
John G. Hartness
October 17, 2013 @ 9:08 am
Oh geez,
Faith Hunter
Kalayna Price
Misty Massey
Lucienne Diver (who has the audacity to not only write but be an AGENT, too, doing double duty oppressing the man!)
Kim Harrison
Mari Mancusi
Diana Peterfreund
CL Wilson (hiding behind initials, the horror!)
Deb Dixon
Parker Blue
Lee Martindale
There are too many others, but since they outnumber me, I’m not calling out any more of them! 🙂
Katherine
October 17, 2013 @ 9:20 am
don’t forget Sharon Shinn!
Lisa Liscoumb
October 17, 2013 @ 9:42 am
Don’t think I’ve seen J.M. Frey mentioned.
Nancy Springer
Margaret Atwood (check out The Handmaid’s Tale sometime – great SF/Fantasy)
And, although not SF and Fantasy, Alice Munro. So what if she won the Nobel Prize for Literature? She’s a girl, and girls can’t write.
Liz Williams
October 17, 2013 @ 10:09 am
Munro is allmost certainly a man in disguise, Lisa….
mrchrstn
October 17, 2013 @ 10:12 am
Glad to see Tanith Lee and James (Alice Sheldon) Tiptree made the list. Two of my faves!
Karen Grant
October 17, 2013 @ 10:31 am
Well, since I’m working on it, I look forward to joining the ranks. I mean, c’mon. Fae creatures, historical settings, the fate of the world… and yes, there’s romance involved. Nope, nobody wants to see that!
Karen Grant
October 17, 2013 @ 10:40 am
Connie Willis, for heaven’s sake. And Rae Carson.
James Stevens-Arce
October 17, 2013 @ 10:41 am
Catherine Asaro
Margaret Atwood
Leigh Brackett
Pat Cadigan
Rae Carson
Eugie Foster
Karen Joy Fowler
Karen Haber
Zenna Henderson
Kij Johnson
Kelly Link
Karin Lowachee
Maureen McHugh
Andre Norton
Naomi Novik
Mary Rosenblum
Victoria Strauss
Joan Vinge
et al:
Eppu
October 17, 2013 @ 10:43 am
So many new authors to check out! Adding Margaret Atwood & Kat Richardson.
J.A. Marlow
October 17, 2013 @ 10:44 am
I know! How dare she, the sneaky little thing. 😛
WashuChan
October 17, 2013 @ 10:56 am
Patti, you ran out of space. Nor did you mention Robin McKinley, M.J. Engh or C.J Cherryh (the latter two being guilty of trying to hide their gender)!
Gaie Sebold
October 17, 2013 @ 11:00 am
Gasp! Horrors! I’m a fake! I didn’t realise! Is there a cure, or must I just stop writing? Also, please stop adding names to my already absurdly long reading list, kthanx.
esme mulligan
October 17, 2013 @ 11:09 am
Nicola Griffith (Ammonite and Slow River) is *GASP* NOT a Romanian man……
Marlyn
October 17, 2013 @ 11:20 am
AustEn.
Ana Ramsey
October 17, 2013 @ 11:53 am
Adding
Holly Black
Theodora Goss
Maria V. Snyder
Melissa Marr
Kendare Blake
Marie Brennan
Meljean Brook
C.S. Friedman
Jeaniene Frost
Yasmine Galenorn
Charlaine Harris
Kim Harrison
Leanna Renee Hieber
Nancy Holzner
Stacia Kane
Erin Kellison
Caitlin Kittredge
O.R. Melling
Erin Morgenstern
Allison Pang,
Nicole Peeler
Vicki Petterson
Adrian Phoenix
Diana Rowland
Nalini Singh
Rachel Vincent
Jaye Wells
and Terri Windling.
John D. Bell
October 17, 2013 @ 12:04 pm
I’m surprised that nobody has yet mentioned Cat Rambo. One of my first teachers, as well as an [“Fake Girl”] editor and Nebula-nominated author. She’s written just a bit of fantastic fiction. Excellent fantastic fiction.
Lark of the Bookwyrm's Hoard
October 17, 2013 @ 12:12 pm
I’m going to have to pore through this post and put all these amazing writers on a list. While I’m at it…
I don’t think I spotted the following yet: Shana Abe, Naomi Novik, J. K. Rowling, Gail Carriger, Zenna Henderson, Patricia McKillip, Deborah Harkness, Bee Ridgway, Patricia Kennealy, Mary Brown, and James Tiptree Jr. (aka Alice Bradley Sheldon). And for children’s & YA: Kate Constable, Rachel Hartman, Marissa Meyer, Jessica Day George, Shannon Hale, Jennifer A. Nielsen, Gail Carson Levine, Catherynne M. Valente, Juliet Marillier, Megan Turner Whalen, Jane Yolen, M. M. Kaye (for ‘The Ordinary Princess’). (Apologies if any of these were covered in the previous comments.)
And let me second these wonderful writers: Marion Zimmer Bradley, Kristen Britain, , Susan Cooper, Diane Duane, Diana Wynne Jones, Janet Kagan, Julie Kagawa, Katherine Kurtz, Ursula K. LeGuin, Madeleine L’Engle, Anne McCaffrey, Robin McKinley, Tamora Pierce, Sharon Shinn, Judith Tarr, Patricia C. Wrede, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a bunch of others I’ve read and enjoyed.
Jim C. Hines Rants About Fake Writer Girls | The End Of Nowhere
October 17, 2013 @ 12:13 pm
[…] And it is an epic rant indeed. […]
Elizabeth Schechter
October 17, 2013 @ 12:20 pm
Oh, I have another one!
Malinda Lo. Not only a Fake Writer Girl, but a Fake Writer Girl writing positive YA fantasy about LESBIANS!
Madd
October 17, 2013 @ 12:40 pm
Yay, someone mentioned Catherine Asaro!
I’ve gotten my husband hooked on her, Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews and Wen Spencer. In all fairness, he introduced me to Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey.
Pam Adams
October 17, 2013 @ 1:09 pm
Actually, I think ‘Emma Lathen’ was a collaboration between two women.
Katie
October 17, 2013 @ 1:13 pm
Now that’s a terrible thing to say about yourself. You’re at least a B+ author.
😉
Vanessa
October 17, 2013 @ 1:24 pm
Jacqueline Carey… MUST read!
Jan Murphy
October 17, 2013 @ 1:33 pm
I bet you didn’t get to dress up in her clothes either, like that Scalzi guy did. 😉
So unfair!
Len Roberts
October 17, 2013 @ 1:54 pm
Laurell K. Hamilton is a HORRIBLE Geek Girl. Not only does she write about weapons and combat like it was real but she also writes about sex like Anita Blake chooses what to do and who to do it with! And when there is a tough choice to be made she makes and actually carries it through! Schocking stuff.
Randi
October 17, 2013 @ 1:58 pm
What about Fake Writer Girl Melinda Snodgrass (Edge series, Wild Cards) and her alter ego Philipa Bornikova (Box Office Poison)? Not only has she dared to write for books, but even has written science fiction for (gasp) TELEVISION (Star Trek) and worst of all PLAYS AND ENJOYS VIDEO GAMES! The nerve!
Erin Tingler
October 17, 2013 @ 2:08 pm
I am surprised no one has pointed out the nefarious writings of Martha Wells or the one hiding behind the initials in R.A. MacAvoy. Both build incredible worlds, almost as if they were men! And Wells does this insidious gender twisting…no, it is too disturbing, I can’t describe it…okay, just a little. Women who write plays and fight wizards. Winged creatures that seem almost human, and yet the females are the rulers and think their mates, their “consorts” must be protected, even though they still tend to treat them like persons with thoughts and feelings…no, I can’t go on. You will just have to see this horror for yourself.
http://www.marthawells.com/default.htm
Cassy
October 17, 2013 @ 2:13 pm
I don’t think I can adequately express how much I love Tamora Pierce. I’ve been reading her stuff since I was 13 or so, and I’m now almost 22. Briar is my favorite 😀
Kristen
October 17, 2013 @ 2:44 pm
Yes, it was fantastic. Ellen Kushner did a performance piece/balladry/reading based on Thomas the Rhymer that just blew me away. Several other authors were also there … I tend to go every other year, and this year may have been the best yet. (sorry) Next year’s theme is “Hauntings” and the GoHs are listed on the Sirens web site.
Emtothejay
October 17, 2013 @ 2:45 pm
Robin McKinley. Sara Douglass. Jacqueline Carey. Donna Jo Napoli (mostly young adult though). All my favorite authors are female. Until I broke down and read Brandon Sanderson, I generally HATED male authors (James Marsden being the only exception).
KatG
October 17, 2013 @ 2:50 pm
LOL, it looks like everyone is on it, so I’m just going to sit back and enjoy the flood. (I’ve got the flu, curse it.)
I think before the Internet became this very established, authors talking, etc. network that it is, with smart phones, YouTube and all the rest, it was so much easier for SFFH fans to pretend that the reality that anywhere from a third to half of the fans and the authors were women was false. The amount of “I never saw them but now they’re everywhere, they must be coming in from romance” groaning is just bizarre.
And the female editor thing is even funnier. Females dominated book editorial back in the 1980’s. That’s thirty years of it. (And yet, of course, the top, executive positions still skew overwhelmingly male.) Females make up 70-75% of the reading audience for all fiction, and almost that much for all books. And yet book reviews desperately cling to the notion that female authors are rare, media that female authors are lucky to have gotten anywhere in the field, and SFFH speakers to the idea that their success has nothing to do with female fans, even though female fans have been instrumental in making bestsellers for SFFH. (Do people really think Stephen King became a phenomena with Carrie on the basis of male readers? Or George Martin? Or insert highly acclaimed and/or bestselling SFFH author’s name here?)
The boogey-( wo )man is not new. They’ve been freaking out about girl cooties since the 1930’s and before. But every time they want to go at her, they pretend she’s new. Joanna Russ’ book, How to Suppress Women’s Writing, remains as fresh now as it did when she wrote it back in 1983.
C.G. Powell
October 17, 2013 @ 3:11 pm
One of my all time favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy writers is Marrion Zimmer Bradley. If not for her Darkover Novels, I don’t think I’d be a reader or writer.
cwolf20
October 17, 2013 @ 3:12 pm
This.. is amusing after going to DragonCon and listening to numerous authors explain how some of the male-written novels had paragraphs and sometimes entire chapters written by a well-known female author who decided not to have her name on the book.
Then followed it up with some female authors have had male authors doing the same without expection of their names appearing.
Some of the “cooties” such as in the description of one author notation, may have been man cooties. Congratulations.
And finally “Gary or Mary stu” All novels have them. Welcome to fiction.
Erica
October 17, 2013 @ 3:39 pm
Laurell K. Hamilton
Yasmine Galenorn
Faith Hunter
Dianne Sylvan
Kaylana Price
C.E. Murphy
Sierra Dean
Julie Kenner
Jenna McClaine
Mercedes Lackey
Kaye
October 17, 2013 @ 3:41 pm
Shanna Swendson and Moira J. Moore will get all kinds of romance up in your fantasy.
Why would I read fantasy and romance at the same time when I could read books in one genre or the other and only get half of what I want?
Diane Duane
October 17, 2013 @ 3:42 pm
(just sitting here whistling innocently and being A GURL) 🙂
Ellen
October 17, 2013 @ 3:53 pm
My Mom was reading Anne MacCaffrey when her first books were coming out, and Mom gw up and became a biochemist, and she raised ME on Susan Cooper, Andre Norton and Madeline L’Engle! (and Diane Duane and Vondra Mackintire, although I only read their Trek novels back in the day.) And I grew up and became a computer geek and video game blogger! See? See how dangerous it is? This plague started back in the 50s in my family, at least!
Jim C. Hines
October 17, 2013 @ 4:15 pm
Not only being a girl, but doing it right here in my oh-so-manly blog!
::Sobs::
Vinity
October 17, 2013 @ 4:24 pm
How am I not seeing Ilona Andrews, or does she not get counted cause she’s corrupted by having her husband Gordon as a writing partner?
Lark of the Bookwyrm's Hoard
October 17, 2013 @ 4:39 pm
OK, so I started compiling a list using all the names mentioned here so far, and divvying them up by adult and YA/MG. I’ve spent several hours on it so far, and I’m still barely a third of the way through the first page of comments. If I’m duplicating anyone else’s efforts, please let me know, because I’m really supposed to be working right now!
Lark of the Bookwyrm's Hoard
October 17, 2013 @ 4:40 pm
(Whoops, this was supposed to reply to the thread, not to Diane Duane. Sorry, Ms. Duane!)
OK, so I started compiling a list using all the names mentioned here so far, and divvying them up by adult and YA/MG. I’ve spent several hours on it so far, and I’m still barely a third of the way through the first page of comments. If I’m duplicating anyone else’s efforts, please let me know, because I’m really supposed to be working right now!
KL W
October 17, 2013 @ 4:48 pm
You have my list. I would be interested in getting a copy of your list…all those nice new authors to try. <3
Suzanne Vala
October 17, 2013 @ 4:48 pm
Suzette Haden Elgin. I mean come on, linguistics, science fiction and a female protagonist, what is the world coming to?
Lark of the Bookwyrm's Hoard
October 17, 2013 @ 4:59 pm
As soon as I get a chance to finish it, I’ll post it on my blog and put a link here, if that’s OK with Jim. It’s way too long to try to post as a single comment!
Jim C. Hines
October 17, 2013 @ 5:20 pm
No problem at all. Link away!
Avilyn
October 17, 2013 @ 5:29 pm
Nice! Will you be linking the list on your website? And, uh, I don’t suppose you’re also including genre on it, are you? 🙂
Kay
October 17, 2013 @ 6:11 pm
Before I contribute my share, I would like to complain, severely, that this thread has tripled my list of authors to go find and read. The nerve of you people, signal boosting these fake writer girls.
Mary Janice Davidson (vampires, werewolves and mermaids who dare to be funny! With Romance! The horror!)
Esther Friesner not only writes but edits anthologies.
Carrie Vaughn – werewolves and vampires again! Who also are funny and have healthy relationships! Plus she corrupts young people with YA fiction!
Susan Erickson
October 17, 2013 @ 8:59 pm
Twice P.C. Hodgell was spelled Hodgsell on here
Kimberly Chapman
October 17, 2013 @ 9:35 pm
I’m so glad you posted this. I am, shamefully, one of these Fake Writer Girls and a Fake Geek Girl. I had the audacity to have my own usenet group back in the day (alt.pub.kacees) and it went to my head. Next thing you know I was a staff writer for a tech journal during the dotcom boom, writing about routers and servers and hubs oh my! My female editor and I up at Network World Canada could barely contain our boobies amongst all of that techie stuff. Sure, we reveled in the fact that for once the dudes were the ones lining up for the washrooms at the conventions we covered, but really, it’s not like anything we wrote counted. I mean female and Canadian…sheesh.
Now I’ve taken my books indie and all of the nice geeky men who have been writing those four- and five-star reviews are all white knights who totally need one of Scalzi’s Gamma Rabbit shirts. I mean come on, dudes who like some hot, equality-based sex in the middle of their scifi, fantasy, and superhero fiction? They’re probably actually just women in beards out for the stoning. OMG I just made a Python reference. Totally a fake geek girl.
Which is all my way of saying oh please please please add me to your list of geeky women writers. I write trope-smashing fiction that includes both hard-core science and hot sex scenes all within a feminist-based framework. I will send you cookies. Geeky cookies. CHOCOLATE GEEKY COOKIES. Like these only in any geekdom you wish: http://www.eat-the-evidence.com/2013/04/19/free-hugs-for-your-face/ Or better: I will send you some cookies and the next time you are doing one of your awesome fundraiser thingies, I will contribute cookies to some high donors or in some other way keeping in mind that I have a four-month-old (OMG FAKE GEEK GIRL MOMMY WRITER, the VERY WORST KIND) and also keeping international limitations of food shipments in mind.
And if Scalzi ever helps me sell a book I’ll make him some Gamma Rabbit cookies.
Doctor Science
October 17, 2013 @ 10:33 pm
I can’t believe no-one mentioned the fakest, or at least oldest, sf&f writer girl of them all:
Mary Shelley.
Kent Brewster
October 17, 2013 @ 10:47 pm
Two of my favorite Fake Writer Girls: Devon Monk and Diana Rowland.
Lisa Simpson
October 17, 2013 @ 11:00 pm
Rosemary Kirstein’s Steerswoman has the gall to pretend she’s interested in intellectual truth, rather than romance. AS IF.
I’m glad to see commenters have already called out Sherri Tepper and Joan Slonczewski. Because basing your worldbuilding on biology and anthropology is not SCIENCE Fiction. Science is Physics, duh.
Mystik Waboose
October 17, 2013 @ 11:34 pm
Let’s see:
Sara Hoyt
Sharon Lee
Jodi Lyn Nye
Sarah M Harvey
Stephanie Osborn
Not only “Fake writer girls” but some are actually *indie* published! Didn’t anyone ever teach them that only *traditional* publishing counts? ;P
Acrophile
October 18, 2013 @ 1:00 am
D.C. Fontana! A.C. Crispin! Hiding behind initials! Oh, the horror!
Katie
October 18, 2013 @ 1:16 am
I’ve seen Karen Chance and I would like to add Deborah Harkness, both of whom use their HISTORY degrees (*GASP* Is that evan a real subject?!) to write about VAMPIRES and TIME-TRAVEL. After all, it’s not like immortal, centuries old beings would have been shaped by history. And everyone knows time travel has to hit you over the head with theoretical physics and little things like historical accuracy are totally unimportant. Such fakers.
jas
October 18, 2013 @ 2:19 am
Holly Black and Sarah Rees Brennan both write fabulous YA
Tehani
October 18, 2013 @ 5:33 am
We Aussies sure do have our share of Fake Writer Girls. Why that Margo Lanagan has the nerve to win FOUR World Fantasy Awards that should have gone to MEN! I’m sure Kaaron Warren and Jo Anderton stole Angry Robot publishing contracts with their feminine wiles. And that Glenda Larke’s books sell so well in Germany means that less people will buy Jim’s own Goblin books there, right? Of course, you need to stay well away from Marianne de Pierres’ hard SF quartet, and Rowena Cory Daniells’ books which rival GRRM’s capacity for killing off your darlings!
I could go on, but I’ve come over all faint just thinking about all those girl germs in my SF&F…
Charlaine Harris
October 18, 2013 @ 7:08 am
Can I be a Fake Writer Girl? Please?
Jim C. Hines
October 18, 2013 @ 8:08 am
You’ll always be a Fake Writer Girl to me, Charlaine! 🙂
Erin
October 18, 2013 @ 8:10 am
I must bookmark this page so I can remember the writers I should definitely not look up. After all, as a female myself, my only duty is to find a husband and produce an heir or two. I shouldn’t be reading these books and getting these awful ideas about equality. I’m already one of The Gays…my existence is destroying society as we speak! I must get myself to a priest immediately to have these demons exorcised (not my priest, of course, since he thinks my girlfriend and I are quite adorable), then don my best apron and devote myself to the furthering of Mankind!
David Macinnis Gill
October 18, 2013 @ 11:11 am
Add Rae Carson to the list of Fake Writer Girls. She’s super fake because she used to be a beauty contestant and writes about gender expectations. Twitter: @raecarson. Aslo, Cindy Pon, who is a Super Fake Asian Writer Girl, a double whammy of fake. @cindypon
Erin Hamlin
October 18, 2013 @ 11:20 am
I’d like to add fantasy writer Micki Magee to the list! Definitely don’t look up this self published author or buy her books on Amazon. I mean, she worked full time while her husband worked on his Masters, WHILE raising 2 boys, AND she wrote and published amazing works of fantasy at the same time? And now she’s been excepted to the University of Edinburgh to continue her writing mastery? Pptttthh. Yeah. That’s fake. 😉