Spider Star
The human colony on the planet Argo has long explored and exploited the technology left behind by an extinct alien race. But then an archaeology team accidentally activates a terrible weapon...
Read More.Praise for Star Dragon
"Seldom does a storytelling talent come along as potent and fully mature as Mike Brotherton. His complex characters take you on a voyage that is both fiercely credible and astonishingly imaginative. This is Science Fiction."
-- David Brin"Star Dragon is terrific fare, offering readers a fusion of hard science and grand adventure."
-- Locus Magazine"Star Dragon is steeped in cosmology, the physics of interstellar travel, exobiology, artificial intelligence, bioscience. Brotherton, author of many scientific articles in refereed journals, has written a dramatic, provocative, utterly convincing hard science sf novel that includes an ironic twist that fans will love."
-- Booklist starred review"Readers hungry for the thought-provoking extrapolation and rigorous technical detail of old-fashioned hard SF are sure to enjoy astronomer Brotherton's first novel."
-- Publishers Weekly"Mike Brotherton, himself a trained astrophysicist, combines the technical acuity and ingenuity of Robert Forward with the ironic, postmodern stance and style of M. John Harrison. In this, his debut novel, those twin talents unite to produce a work that is involving on any number of levels. It's just about all you could ask for in a hardcore SF adventure."
-- Paul di Fillippo, SCI-FI.COM
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Women Writing Hard Science Fiction
March 21st, 2009
There aren’t a lot of them in my estimation, unfortunately, so let’s celebrate the women who do write hard science fiction and encourage others.
A few years ago, I wrote a blog entry about women in science. There’s not a lot of women in physics or other hard sciences, and the primary reason is not discrimination it seems, but according to the latest research (which I’ve also blogged about before, at least in Starlinks) several issues involving wanting families which hits the career hard, preferring working with people to machines/tools, etc. For science fiction, the story is likely similar, as women seem to avoid hard science fiction in the same way as hard science. [And hard here, for the record, means the physical sciences which are very quantitative and robust compared to softer sciences like sociology.]
In the linked post above, I referred to a review of one hard science fiction anthology edited by Hartwell and Cramer, in which Cynthia Ward wrote:
You may have noticed the lack of women in that list. It reflects the book: the 30-odd contributors (some with two stories) include only three women (Nancy Kress, Joan Slonczewski, and Sarah Zettel, with one story each). Some eyebrow-elevating omissions are Eleanor Arnason, Catherine Asaro, Nicola Griffith, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Connie Willis, all of whom have written hard SF stories in the period covered by The Hard SF Renaissance.
There, and here, I will disagree with her most of her omissions, as those writers don’t write much short fiction or much hard science fiction when they do write at short lengths, and usually not at longer lengths, in my opinion. Catherine Asaro definitely meets the bar, at least my bar, for what is serious hard science fiction. Willis and Arnason do not, Le Guin rarely if at all, and I haven’t read Nicola Griffith.
In general, I haven’t read enough of the field either to do a proper survey. What I want to do is to make a list of the women I know who write hard science fiction at least semi-regularly, as best I can estimate from my own reading or descriptions/reviews, and solicit input from you for more. So, here goes. I’ll try to link to at least one book that is, or looks like, hard science fiction.
Catherine Asaro. The Last Hawk.
Nancy Kress. Probability Sun.
Laura Mixon. Burning Ice.
Syne Mitchell. End in Fire.
Joan Slonczewski. A Door into Ocean.
Linda Nagata. Vast.
Chris Moriarty. Spin State.
Kathleen Anne Goonan. Queen City Jazz.
Brenda Cooper. The Silver Ship and the Sea.
Alexis Glynn Latner. Hurricane Moon.
Pat Cadigan. Synners.
Others? I’m sure I’m missing a few obvious writers who are only obvious in hindsight. Or some writers here that really aren’t all that hard about the science on closer inspection? I have a kindle to fill up and would like to add some hard sf above and beyond the usual suspects.
Please be encouraged to make corrections or offer other suggestions. I’m really looking for stuff with some science integral to the story and not an overwhelming amount of totally implausible stuff. Thanks!
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I’d definitely add CJ Cherryh (Downbelow Station, Cyteen, etc.).
Women writers are good in true to life stories.
Mostly I write stories based on linguistics — which I guess doesn’t count as “hard” sf? — but I have at least one genuinely hard sf novel: BIRDS (serialized in TomorrowSF and published by Wildside.)
I got more suggestions on my Live Journal mirror. Kay Kenyon (who I was trying to think of when I wrote this up originally), Elizabeth Moon, and at least Nicola Griffith for SLOW RIVER (she seems recently to be doing books very far from hard sf). Mary Rosenblum also came to mind.
Been a while since I read Cherryh (Downbelow Station) and honestly don’t remember how “hard” she writes. Wouldn’t mind reading more of her though.
Justina Robson (Natural History)?
I find that what is “hard” and what is “soft” varies so greatly in every list I see, that it becomes like chasing drops of mercury.
Yeah, “hard” and “soft” do appear in the eye of the beholder quite a bit. I tend to be on the hard end of this, being an astronomer, but there are those much more hardcore than me (some Analog writers and the Mundane SF movement).
Biology is definitely a hard science — however, stories based on biology/genetics tend to be overlooked. Possibly because of the handwavy tendency to often use viruses as one would magic (vampires? they are infected with a rare virus!); at the same time, I am puzzled that ‘hard SF’ conversations usually completely gloss over the fact that biology exists.
Sometimes biology in science fiction is a hard science, sometimes not (as you say, sometimes a substitute for magic). Biology has definitely gotten a lot more rigorous over the years, which is all to the good. Often Nancy Kress and Joan Slonczewski focus on biology, and I have a lot in my first novel (although it tends to be softer than the astrophysics in Star Dragon).
I think the explanation is that biology in the past was definitely much worse understood and had little quantitative to grasp, and even with that change it will take the sf community a lot of time to catch up. It’s a great area for new writers to exploit, in my opinion. We’ve had the breakthrough stories about black holes, pulsars, and orbital mechanics. Let’s have the same for genetics, pandemics, and more with the same level of rigor. That would be cool.
[...] Women writing Hard SF [...]
I always thought “The Left Hand of Darkness” was hard sf but we may have different criteria.
I would add Leigh Brackett, James Tiptree, Jr and Joan D Vinge to the list. Some of my friends would add Lois McMaster Bujold but I am never sure exactly where her work fits.
M. M. Buckner, “War Surf”
(Also “Hyperthought”, “Neurolink”, and her latest, “Wartermind”.)
Julie Czerneda — one of my favorites now!
[...] Historically women have been less likely to enter the hard sciences than men, and similarly less likely to write hard science fiction. Happily, some do, and do it well, in my opinion. [...]
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[...]Women Writing Hard Science Fiction[...]…