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ladybusinessWhat would a theme week be without a giveaway? Free stuff is great! We decided to take this opportunity to shove books we found interesting at you with no remorse, chain you to a couch and make you read them share a chance to send copies of books featuring lady authors out into the world.
GIVEAWAY, starring:
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott
Kindred by Octavia Butler
QUALIFYING COMMENTS, a set of directions:
1. OpenID is for winners!
2. A comment from a logged-in Dreamwidth account.
3. An Anonymous comment, signed with your Name and URL.
4. An email sent to thisisladybusiness@gmail.com.
ENTERING, the rules for play:
1. To enter, please prepare a short book recommendation list (three to five items1).
2. Items should all be speculative fiction (bonus points for science fiction!2):
3. Each item should follow first two tenets of Lady Business: Stories written by ladies about ladies and Stories written by ladies about dudes.
4. Share why you like each title. No adherence to Lady Business tenet of tl;dr required; we're just nosy.
5. Post/email your list!
6. PROFIT!3
The giveaway will run through now to July 29th and end with us sending someone some free books and more importantly, end with lots of recommendations for us to drool over. This is awesome!
1 We're basically demanding homework. No shame.
2 These bonus points are not actually real and will be awarded in our hearts only.
3 No actual profit unless you win, although sharing lady-recs is very profitable in a mushy soul-warming kind of way.
GIVEAWAY, starring:
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott
Kindred by Octavia Butler
QUALIFYING COMMENTS, a set of directions:
1. OpenID is for winners!
2. A comment from a logged-in Dreamwidth account.
3. An Anonymous comment, signed with your Name and URL.
4. An email sent to thisisladybusiness@gmail.com.
ENTERING, the rules for play:
1. To enter, please prepare a short book recommendation list (three to five items1).
2. Items should all be speculative fiction (bonus points for science fiction!2):
3. Each item should follow first two tenets of Lady Business: Stories written by ladies about ladies and Stories written by ladies about dudes.
4. Share why you like each title. No adherence to Lady Business tenet of tl;dr required; we're just nosy.
5. Post/email your list!
6. PROFIT!3
The giveaway will run through now to July 29th and end with us sending someone some free books and more importantly, end with lots of recommendations for us to drool over. This is awesome!
1 We're basically demanding homework. No shame.
2 These bonus points are not actually real and will be awarded in our hearts only.
3 No actual profit unless you win, although sharing lady-recs is very profitable in a mushy soul-warming kind of way.
I don't really want any of the books, I just wanna rec some:)
Date: 2011-07-22 04:22 am (UTC)2. Andrea Hairston's Mindscape. Most people end their scifi war epics with the signing of a treaty. Hairston begins her at the signing thereof, when the one woman who had the tri-lateral respect of the three previously warring territories is assassinated. With her dead, the treaty backers find themselves in the position of having to fight in many and varied ways to convince the skittish territories that the treaty will actually be good for their national interests. This book is experimental in form, so you've got to pay attention in order to get everything. It's characters are deliciously complicated, there are so many badass women all over the place that I cannot even describe my delight, and the worldbuilding gave my imagination a workout. No. 1 on my list of scifi books right now.
3. Nnedi Okarafor's Who Fears Death is quite simply, badass. When a child is born of genocidal rape, both her and her mother are thrown out of their homes by their oppressed fellow-people because of the shame. Said child however is a powerful sorceress who has the power to end the war, though it might mean her death. This is a powerful powerful coming of age tale that deals with subjects like FGM and genocide as well as a subplot of romantic relationships with an assured and poignant touch. AGain, badass women all over the place, including on the quest (this ain't no one special woman to save them all among a pile of men) and the world building was engrossing.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-22 09:53 pm (UTC)Turnabout by Margaret Peterson Haddix - This story always stays with me. It takes place in the future where two women participated in an experiment. Basically, two elderly women were given the chance to become young again and it worked! Except. Yup, there is always an except. The women keep getting younger. They are teens at the beginning of the book and trying to find some family to take care of them before they become babies. It's an interesting premise and I've never forgotten this story.
Dust by Joan Frances Turner - This is a first novel and well, it's very good! I reviewed it earlier in the year here. It's about a female zombie and her kind. What I like is that the zombies have language and groups and sort of families. She does have a partner but romance figures little in this world where one is rotting and already dead and looking for fresh meat. Not for the faint of heart. I like the female antagonist and leader. She's scary! Jessie is strong and the prose is wonderful to read. I'm not sure if the ending lives up to the novel's beginning but I must rec it for such a novel and well-thought out premise.
My Soul to Keep by Tananrive Due - I read this years ago. I have to admit I don't remember the plot as well. I know that a woman is living her normal life when she discovers her husband is an immortal. I know it sounds like fan-fiction but there is something about the writing in this novel that you can't put down. I honestly don't remember how it ends but I remember this build of never-ending suspense until the last page. And then I had to go immediately read the sequel. :-)
Enjoy! It's hard to find speculative fiction written by women about women. I highly recommend the first two, especially if you like tales where the women are at the forefront. The last one is more from the husband's point of view, but to this day I remember how he described his wife, beautiful and young and just starting to age. It's a good novel where you remember moments like that. And hey, I must have some immortality interest. :-)
Also posted at my journal.
I love Tananrive Due
Date: 2011-07-24 05:23 am (UTC)Doret
Re: I love Tananrive Due
Date: 2011-07-24 12:45 pm (UTC)Ooh, I think I might reread the entire series! I haven't read her since book two but since the final one is coming out I'd like to revisit the entire series as a whole.
Thanks for the heads-up!
Already read the Hunger Games but this is a great idea.
Date: 2011-07-22 11:31 pm (UTC)1. Ursula K. LeGuin - The Compass Rose IDK if this counts, since it's a book of short stories, but short stories are where most sci-fi/fantasy authors start and the vehicle deserves more attention. See especially "The Wife's Story".
2. Margaret Atwood - Oryx & Crake TBH, there are some issues with this one. I'm not a huge fan of the female lead, for example. But it's an interesting read by an 'literary' writer.
3. Mary Shelley - Frankenstein I'M SORRY, GUYS. I know it's old and boring, but Mary Shelley is considered the grandmommy of sci-fi and I'd love to hear your take.
Re: Already read the Hunger Games but this is a great idea.
Date: 2011-07-22 11:33 pm (UTC)>>
I HAVE A PHD IN GRAMMAR, DO NOT QUESTION ME.
Re: Already read the Hunger Games but this is a great idea.
Date: 2012-07-29 01:47 am (UTC)Ladies writing about ladies!
Date: 2011-07-23 01:40 am (UTC)The Steerswoman's Road by Rosemary Kirstein. [This is totally cheating (*not sorry*) as this is the first book of a series of three]. The main character, Rowan, is a member of the institution of the Steerswomen, dedicated to gaining and spreading knowledge, who discovers some mysterious jewels that set her and her friend Bel on a long quest for answers and, of course, world-saving. Kickass women, intricate worldbuilding, adventure, female friendships, logic and science: there's nothing that I don't love about this book. With logic and science, it subverts a lot of sci-fi and fantasy tropes in quite delightful ways, but lest you think it's boring, there are also wizards, dragons, swordfights and fantastical creatures.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. A classic for a reason, and still probably my favorite book. In this book, the girl gets the hero quest, and the realistic, unconventional teenage girl at that, complete with an atypical, far-from-perfect, but loving family. And the story isn't the ugly duckling one, but one about using your brain to save yourself and those you love, having confidence in your own abilities, the value of non-conformity, and love.
Thinking cap
Date: 2011-07-23 01:32 pm (UTC)Peta - http://thebookling.blogspot.com/
no subject
Date: 2011-07-23 10:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-24 03:14 am (UTC)2. Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor. Oh, are you seeing a theme? This was a young adult novel with more story issues (a few unbelievable uh-huh whatever moments) but still an interesting read.
Ummmm yeah. So I really don't read a lot but thought I'd share those two even if I don't have a third to be able to qualify!
Authors I like
Date: 2011-07-24 08:22 am (UTC)Janny Wurts - her Wars of Light and Shadow series are dark and complex stories and has some interesting male characters. Her collaborative novels with Raymond E. Feist, the Daughter of the Empire series has an incredible intelligent and strong heroine. Personally I think the novels show more of Wurts writing style than that of Feist.
Katherine Kerr - her Deverry cycle is epic and weaves in a lot of Celtic myth. Her female characters are strong, complex and have depth. What I really like is that although it's sometimes hard to distance yourself from stereotypes and fantasy tropes, especially when it comes to female characters, Kerr's series is the first one I encountered where there is some sort of equality in the way female characters are portrayed.
Tanith Lee - writes beautiful and dark stories and I wish more people would read her work.
And although he's not a woman, Steven Erikson's Malazan series has some incredibly strong female characters. In fact, he treats men and women almost equally (most are soldiers) which is very refreshing (and still all too rare) in the fantasy genre.
Oops, forgot my name.
Date: 2011-07-24 08:24 am (UTC)Recs
Date: 2011-07-25 02:53 am (UTC)2. Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler
3. The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez
Recs - Part 2
Date: 2011-07-25 02:55 am (UTC)Not interested in contest, but:
Date: 2011-07-27 08:53 pm (UTC)I picked this up on a whim, expecting a fluffy and mediocre read. Imagine by surprise when I turned out to love it, tearing through the first book in a matter of hours. Even more surprising, this is a science fiction series written by a woman about a woman. The protagonist, Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr, is reminiscent of sci fi heroines such as Ellen Ripley. She has a full plate between taking care of her motley crew of multispecies Marines and training up her untested commanding officer who has never seen real combat. When what should be an easy diplomatic mission goes south-- well, I'll let you find that out.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-28 10:52 pm (UTC)