As this is my first post, I’ll offer an introduction before I begin. Hi there, I’m Tempest, and am indeed a geek. A rare unicorn of a geek since I am not only a woman, but a Black woman besides. I’m a writer, both of science fiction/fantasy/speculative fiction and of non-fiction. During the day I write about laptops, web apps, Linux, eReaders, gadgets, and other such exciting subjects. At night (or, really, any time I can spare) I write or write about or read or read about or watch spec fic. And that is mostly what I’ll be talking about here.
Anyone who has ever been involved in the SF community knows that there are issues surrounding women and people of color in media and in fandom. I’ve spent the last, oh, four or so years dealing directly with it, often to the detriment of my zen state. Ranting and getting angry is satisfying, but I find it much more so to then make a positive step toward change. Thus, after a recent heated debate about an anthology that included no stories by women or people of color, I decided to ask genre fans to tell me what science fiction stories, books, or authors blow their minds. Then I took those suggestions and collated them into this massive list.
People are still adding to the original posts and to the one at Tor.com, which makes me happy. It shows that even when you’ve named dozens of works and authors, there are still more to name. It shows that we are out there creating amazing stuff and to ignore us is to cut out a huge swath of great fiction. Helping people understand this is a major goal of mine. But it’s heartening that more and more people are noticing, speaking up, and creating positive change themselves.
