I was cataloguing my bookcase and I was astonished on how many women authors were on my shelves. I mostly read books from my favorite authors or try new books with similar subject matter or recommended ones. So in the beginning of my addiction, I read mostly male authors such as Asimov, Piers Anthony, Terry Brooks, and so on. But what got me was how men skirted the sex between their characters relationships or at least the ones I read, and I got bored so decided to try someone new. The first female author I read was Anne McCaffrey, Dragon Flight and I was hooked but wasn't exclusively I still read many male authors at this time. Then I randomly picked up a book to read on a flight to Hawaii, Narcissus in Chains by Laurell K. Hamilton.
I had never read such a violent, sexual, and adult fantasy before nor a vampire book so this blew me away. Hamilton writes in first person which at the time wasn't a style I read much but it works very well in her stories. I have read most of her books and that started me on my journey of reading female authors. They deal more into the sexual aspect of relationship without getting too much into the romance genre.
There are so many female sci-fi/fantasy authors, it's amazing. The genre has grown so much from when I started reading them.
Here are some of my favorite authors:
Laurell K. Hamilton- writes about Anita Blake, a Necromancer/Vampire Executioner who through her own magic of raising the dead becomes involved with a vampire, Jean-Claude, the master of the city. not all here books are equal but she is consistent in her writing but there isn't random violence or sex in her Anita Blake series or Merry Gentry series. Merry Gentry is a private detective whose aunt is the queen of the dark faeries.
Lilith Saintcrow- has two series that I have enjoyed reading, the Dante Valentine and the Jill Kismet books. Both are about bad-ass, headstrong, and independent women.
Ann Aguirre- the Sirantha Jax series about a pilot who is a carrier of the J-gene and can navigate through grimspace.
Tara Harper- has two series about two women who have a bond with an animal and can communicate with them. Both books are futuristic and set in distant planets.
Lisanne Norman-The Sholan series about a human girl who is telepathic and her encounters with an alien race that also is telepathic. The story starts out in a planet settled by humans that later is invaded by an alien race and uses the planet for rest and relaxation for their soldiers.
Kristine Smith-Jani Kilian series where the main character is an officer who because of an accident turns into a human/Idomeni hybrid. There is much government intrigue in this series.
Charlaine Harris- Sookie Stackhouse series are fun books to read. Sookie is a telepath who thinks of herself is a freak until she meets her first vampire. I was at first disappointed when it was made into a HBO series since it didn’t follow the books but now I love it and think of it as a separate entity.
Rob Thurman- Not a man but Robyn. She’s the author of the Cal Leandros series, he’s half Auphe, old world creatures that are bloodthirsty and human. He lives with his half-brother, Niko who is a martial arts expert. They become detectives for the supernatural.
Anne McCaffrey-Love her Pern series about human space settlers on the planet who genetically engineer the local animal into flying dragons to counter the threat of an alien organism, Threads.
It's quite apparent that women sci-fi/fantasy authors are just as competent as men in writing in the genre.
