Derpy Dancing

[footnotefetish]

I normally read to inform myself, but lately I've had occasional itchings to stimulate my imagination and read some science-fiction. But the genre is so male-dominated that I usually get turned away as soon as I start browsing the science-fiction shelves at Bookmans. It's also a very white and very First World genre. I wish there was more out

Comments

[greeniezona]

DOOR INTO OCEAN. If I somehow have failed to recommend this novel to you in the past I APOLOGIZE, I SUCK AS A HUMAN BEING. YOU SHOULD LOVE IT.

It's, you know, white and first world, but it's also profoundly pacifist and feminist and environmentalist and subversive. I adore it.

It is *sort of* a series, but not really. There is a set of books that exist in the same universe. Most could be taken singly without losing too much. It's not like any of them are going to end with some awful cliffhanger or something. So you can read more if you like or not.

I am also averse to series of all sorts, for the record. I have to be pushed past a LOT of resistance to pick up a series of any kind.

[greeniezona]

Also, ummmm, The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell.

Also, I am currently checking out this list on goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/11395.Non_Caucasian_Protagonists_in_Science_Fiction_Fantasy_Horror_and_Paranormal_Romance?format=html&page=1

[footnotefetish]

Thanks for these recommendations! I wish I had some to offer in return, but so far my attempts at sniffing out decent sci-fi that fits the above criteria (at least partially, if not completely) has been a failure. (Actually, I want to give Linda Nagata a second chance, but until then, I'll refrain from recommending her.)

Your recommendations are also well timed. I was planning to head to The Book Stop and/or Bookmans this weekend to look for a copy of Facing West: The Metaphysics of Indian-Hating and Empire-Building--but it's always good to go with a few other titles or authors to look for, since it's not likely that I'll find the one. I'm definitely going to look for these other two books.

The List

[footnotefetish]

My guess is that Octavia Butler has been on your radar for years--and that you've made it through many of the titles on that list already--but just in case you haven't already read them, Kindred and Fledgling are worth a read. The former is one of the best books (of any kind, fiction or non-fiction) that I've ever read, and it will appeal to your interest in social commentary in fiction. (Parts of it are disturbing, though, so read it when life is otherwise cheery.) The latter doesn't have as much social commentary, but it's a very creative reinvention of the vampire genre.