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Admin
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Location: Dallas, Texas |  Back by popular demand it's the WoGF! This year I spread out the challenge levels so we can pick up some folks who want to get in at the lower level. Each level up is double the previous so at the top level we're up to 48 which will make some folks here happy I'm sure! I took out the review requirements to make things simpler and updated the reading level titles just for fun.
Read on!
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Veteran
Posts: 214
| Yay! Is it still completely new-to-you women authors, or are we counting all women authors? (I don't mind either way, just wanting to know what challenge level I should sign up for, is all). |
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Admin
Posts: 4005
Location: Dallas, Texas | Sable Aradia - 2017-01-02 5:52 PM Yay! Is it still completely new-to-you women authors, or are we counting all women authors? (I don't mind either way, just wanting to know what challenge level I should sign up for, is all). New to you women as always. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 306
| Thanks for the different levels! |
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Veteran
Posts: 214
| Okay, thanks, it just didn't say that in the description is all. Perfect! And I agree, thanks for the levels. |
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Uber User
Posts: 369
Location: Middle TN, USA | I plan to read some of the full length books from some of my tor.com reads from last year. I suppose technically these may not be considered "new" authors, but since I did not count them in any of the challenges except the tor.com and 2016 reads. Don't worry challenge purists I's going to read some completely random reads also. |
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Admin
Posts: 4005
Location: Dallas, Texas | I just updated the challenge description to be more explicit about it being new-to-you women authors and I laid out the details for the different reading levels. - Adventurer: 6 authors/books - all 6 must be new-to-you with 1 random pick
- Voyager: 12 authors/books - all 12 must be new-to-you with 1 random pick - Pathfinder: 24 authors/books - 12 must be new-to-you with 1 random pick - the other 12 can be any women you choose or multiples by the same authors or re-reads etc. - Pioneer: 48 authors/books - 12 must be new-to-you with 1 random pick - the other 36 can be any women you choose or multiples by the same authors or re-reads etc. Hope you like the updates. I think this will play nicely with some of the other challenges.
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Uber User
Posts: 613
Location: New Zealand | Too late. I have already picked out 48 new-to-me authors and I'm sticking with them! Wouldn't part with a single one of them. My random is K.V. Johansen. I went to the "All Women Authors" list shut my eyes, scrolled down, and picked the author my mouse stopped on. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 556
Location: Great Lakes, USA | I picked my random pick in the same way Weesam did and came up with Fear the Drowning Deep by Sarah Glenn Marsh. I doubt I would ever have chosen that one perusing the list with my eyes open. I have it on my library hold list and should get it in a few days. Hope it's good. |
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Uber User
Posts: 369
Location: Middle TN, USA | My random read is Susan and Clay Griffith The Shadow Revolution. Fantasy, Steampunk not really my cup of tea, but I'm giving it a try. |
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Veteran
Posts: 214
| I have a couple of books that were gifted to me when my boss was cleaning out her garage, so I don't expect I'm going to have any trouble with the "random" requirement this year.  |
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Uber User
Posts: 526
Location: UK | If anyone wants to be more scientific about it, there appear to be 1476 authors in the All Women Authors list as of about half-an-hour ago when I created my list. I've generated some random numbers at random.org and looked up the author from there.
I allow myself a few refusals to make sure it's someone whose work I can actually get hold of.
My list is here, in handy spreadsheet format with numbered rows (if this link works):
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KYW2blyAg-ViB-DrfkW8iPQfygWtsrb3Nf...
Note that it does have my read authors at the top, so it won't be in quite the same order as anyone else's All Women Authors page.
I guess I could build in a random number picker, but I am technically on work's time now.
Edit: There are 1476 not 1477 - "Women Authors I Haven't Read" is not actually an author.
Edited by DrNefario 2017-01-10 8:39 AM
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Uber User
Posts: 369
Location: Middle TN, USA | I just finished my first book for this challenge, The Shadow Revolution, it was not my cup of tea really. Although it was touted as steampunk, it was more "steampunk-lite." It would be better listed as fantasy. The book was just lousy with werewolves! At least my random read is done. My Mom referred this book to me. I'm not ready to write off the series just yet, but I am putting reading the next book on the way back burner for now.
I am half way through Poppy Brite's Drawing Blood, and am much happier with this choice. |
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Uber User
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Location: UK | My first book was disappointing, too. I read Medalon by Jennifer Fallon, and found it a bit too full of plot-induced stupidity. I do have another of the author's books lined up, which had better recommendations, but Medalon was a library loan so I had to read that first. |
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Veteran
Posts: 214
| DrNefario - 2017-01-12 4:36 AM
My first book was disappointing, too. I read Medalon by Jennifer Fallon, and found it a bit too full of plot-induced stupidity. I do have another of the author's books lined up, which had better recommendations, but Medalon was a library loan so I had to read that first.
Yeah, I thought that was bloody awful too. I read that last year (and there's a few hours of my life I'm never going to get back). I actually carried on to Treason Keep, hoping it would get better. It didn't. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 556
Location: Great Lakes, USA | I've read three books for this challenge and all were random! I guess I didn't have to scroll through the list of women authors with my eyes shut. I picked Fear the Drowning Deep by Sarah Glenn Marsh that way. It was a young adult novel full of teen angst and young love and teens save the town without the adults really knowing - not my type of book. I rarely like young adult novels. The second random pick was chosen because of comments made in the add books to the database forum. The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood was interesting. But, I am not sure that it's really genre. There were no fantastical, futuristic or supernatural elements to this book. It was a study of human nature. The third showed up on the daily random picks feed. I used to swim at Quintana Beach when I lived on the Gulf Coast, so Tales of the Quintana Roo caught my attention. It is a collection by James Tiptree, Jr. centering on the mythology of the Mayans in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It was the best of the three. So much for my planned reading list. All those random books throw me off track to complete my challenges. But, they are fun to find and read. |
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Veteran
Posts: 214
| So I finished Star Songs of an Old Primate and I think that James Tiptree Jr. is a genius. Just sayin'. |
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Member
Posts: 30
| Confirming something: does this challenge include women co-authoring with men or just as solo authors? I read A.A. Aguirre's Bronze Gods and that's Ann Aguirre writing with her husband. And I can think of a couple of other examples (Ilona Andrews, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller). |
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Admin
Posts: 4005
Location: Dallas, Texas | juliael71 - 2017-03-06 3:00 PM Confirming something: does this challenge include women co-authoring with men or just as solo authors? I read A.A. Aguirre's Bronze Gods and that's Ann Aguirre writing with her husband. And I can think of a couple of other examples (Ilona Andrews, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller). As long as the woman author in the pair is new to you the book counts. Go for it!
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Member
Posts: 30
| Great! Thanks!
Now I just need to figure out how to pick my "random" choice.
I borrowed DrNefario's list of the authors and used random number generator to see what popped up. I also allowed for refusals -- in one case (Elizabeth Willey), I owned some of their work, but not the first book in the series, which is out of print. Last one was Kate Elliott who I've meant to try reading more of anyway, so... could be fun!
Edited by juliael71 2017-03-06 7:22 PM
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Veteran
Posts: 214
| Hey gang! HumbleBundle is offering a collection of some of the greats of women in sci-fi/fantasy right now: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/women-of-scifi-and-fantasy-book-b... |
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New User
Posts: 1
| I'm so excited to discover this challenge (and list - thanks for that!). My personal challenge for this year was to make a conscious effort to read mainly women authors of speculative fiction to balance out my male-heavy reading habits, so this is perfect for me |
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| Great! Love your 'name!' |
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Uber User
Posts: 369
Location: Middle TN, USA | First, welcome to the challenge SheSpeculates! I have chosen to up my total number read to 24 for the first time ever! I'm excited to have an entire spate of new women author choices due mostly to the tor.com short story challenge. So two birds and all. I'm quite excited by the prospects. |
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Regular
Posts: 62
| Sable Aradia - 2017-02-19 7:59 AM
So I finished Star Songs of an Old Primate and I think that James Tiptree Jr. is a genius. Just sayin'.
Wholeheartedly agree! I recently read the Her Smoke Rose Up Forever collection. Borrowed it from the library, read the first 4 or 5 stories and ended up ordering a copy to own because I could already tell that I would want to read the stories again. I then picked up a copy of James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, which I just finished last night. Wow! Highly recommended to anyone - science-fiction fan or not. Tiptree fan or not. A simply riveting bio that reveals so many connections between Sheldon the person and the stories she produced as Tiptree/Raccoona. |
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Uber User
Posts: 526
Location: UK | My random pick was Lian Hearn. I just finished Across the Nightingale Floor over the weekend, and enjoyed it. It's nice when that happens. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 306
| It's such a great series isn't it? Not well enough known. |
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Regular
Posts: 62
| Finished up this challenge earlier this week. I did the 12-pack and at least half of the titles I read would qualify as random picks. The highlight of the bunch for me was 'A Door Into Ocean'. Really enjoyed that one. |
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Uber User
Posts: 526
Location: UK | I finished this challenge at the weekend, with The Year of Our War by Steph Swainston, and it's my last challenge of 2017. I mean, I still have the whole of the Definitive '90s Challenge waiting, but it doesn't have to be completed this year. |
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Veteran
Posts: 143
Location: Alief, TX | Picked this up late in the year, so I stuck with the six-book level.
Mary Reilly, by Valerie Martin
The Shape-Changer's Wife, by Sharon Shinn
Palimpsest, by Catherynne M. Valente
Looking for the Mahdi, by N.K. Wood
The Starry Rift, by James Tiptree Jr
The Singular and Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath, by Ishbelle Bee
If I had to pick one that was random, I would have to say the Tiptree. It's one I just grabbed off a clearance rack a couple of months ago, with no real thought. Most of the others were planned reads for other challenges. All fantastic books, in their own way. Palimpsest and Looking for the Mahdi were definitely my favorites. |
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Veteran
Posts: 273
Location: behind the 4th wall | In 2017, I read 49 female authors. Sixty of the 72 total books I read were written by women(83%). Yeah, this challenge is not challenging for me AT ALL.
These were my Top Ten reads by female authors.
1. City of Circles by Jess Richards
2. Keeper of Tales trilogy* by Ronlyn Domingue
3. The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden
4. Radiomen by Eleanor Lerman
5. The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers
6. Occupy Me by Tricia Sullivan
7. The Chimes by Anna Smaill
8. The Engine?s Child by Holly Phillips
9. The Book of the Unnamed Midwife and The Book of Etta by Meg Elison
10. The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan
*I?ve actually just begun the third book in the Keeper of Tales trilogy but am fully confident it will be as amazing as the first two.
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2017 Women of Genre Fiction Reading Challenge