February Books

But first, a mini-rant ...

Electrolite pointed out this ... person's ... views on women science fiction writers:

Women do not write hard science fiction today because so few can hack the physics, so they either write romance novels in space about strong, beautiful, independent and intelligent but lonely women who finally fall in love with rugged men who love them just as they are, or stick to fantasy where they can make things up without getting hammered by critics holding triple Ph.D.s in molecular engineering, astrophysics and Chaucer.

At which I snort derisively, and point at Elizabeth Bear, Kristine Smith, Karen Traviss, Chris Moriarty, and K. D. Wentworth among the newish blood, not to mention Bujold and Cherryh, none of whom is a particularly good fit to that sweeping generalization, though they do perhaps have more characterization and fewer subatomic particles than an old-fashioned hard-SF purist might prefer. I also note the large quantity of sprawling fantasy series written by men.

Anyway, this month's reading; spoilers may lurk behind cuts and links.
Destroyer, C. J. Cherryh

Spin State, Chris Moriarty

The Wizard Hunters, Martha Wells

Wilderness at Dawn, Ted Morgan

I Dare, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

The Atrocity Archives, Charles Stross

Hammered, Elizabeth Bear
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Crossing the Line, Karen Traviss
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The Grand Tour, Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
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