Welcome to the third installment of our 2020 Potpourri series!

As we are a fanfiction site and March is Women's History Month, we felt nothing could be more fitting than talking about our favorite female authors. Some are well known authors in their genre, and others many of us were made to read in school. No matter how we discovered them, these women have made an impact in our lives and we would love to share with you a little information about who they are and why we love them so much. 

 

Becky Chambers (1985 - present) is an up and coming science fiction author, who actually self-published her first novel The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in 2014 after a successful Kickstarter campaign. The Wayfarers series currently has three installments, with the second, A Closed and Common Orbit published in 2016, and the third, Record of a Spaceborn Few, published in 2018. She won the Hugo Award for Best Series in 2019 for the Wayfarers series, which is very exciting!! I really enjoy this series because not only is it truly science fiction with all the regular bells and whistles that go along with deep space exploration and alien races and all that, but she also covers heavy and important themes over the course of the series.

Queerness in her characters is also commonplace, along with different species having very different social behaviors that are fully explored throughout the series that really spices up the plot. Our main crew is a hodgepodge of species, with accommodations on the ship for everyone, which is honestly quite beautiful. Furthermore, the casual interweaving of queer identities and relationships through all three books published so far is done so well and so effortlessly, likely because Becky has a wife herself, so the queer experience is hers too. The worldbuilding for each of the different alien species depicted within this universe is massive, and I would LOVE to pick her brain on each of them. There's a depth to all of them that I haven't really gotten out of books like this since reading the Lord of the Rings series, honestly. 

Within the Wayfarers series Becky weaves very topical themes through each book, with each one focusing on a specific theme. This includes the very very topical theme of whether or not Artificial Intelligence (as seen in the series by commanding ship systems or kiosk AIs, among other things) is truly alive, and if it deserves to live its life out in a body kit if it wants. That, along with interspecies romantic relations was also touched upon quite a lot too, which is a very good parallel for current issues in society. The third book even focuses on how traveling the world versus never leaving the place you've grown up can be damaging in one way or another, and how the human race needs a bit of both to sustain itself. 

Honestly there's just so much I love about these books, and because Becky Chambers is a young author, I know I have many more years to look forward to new publications from her! Reading the Wayfarers series honestly helped push me to start writing my own sci-fi thing, and has really inspired me to make sure my writing is inclusive and well thought-out. If you're a fan of science fiction but are tired of the dominating male authors, I highly recommend you check her out for a fresh perspective and take on the genre. 

 

 

 Sigrid Undset (1882-1949) lived a life as tumultuous and passionate as any character in her novels. Born in Denmark, she moved to Norway with her family at the age of two. She had hoped to go to university, but the untimely death of her archeologist father forced her to leave school and seek work as a secretary at the age of sixteen. But she persisted, studying and writing a novel set in the Nordic Middle Ages during her free time. This project was turned down by the publishing house; but her next work, a contemporary novel on the scandalous subject of adultery, caused a stir and brought her some notice and income. By the time her third book was published, she was able to quit her office job.

She married a Norwegian painter (after he finally divorced his first wife to be with her) in 1917 and they had three children together, one of whom was mentally handicapped. In 1924, she converted to Catholicism—causing a scandal in Norway, which was largely anti-Catholic at the time. In 1927 she and her husband ended their marriage.

In 1940, she fled to Sweden, and then to the United States, due to the German invasion of Norway. She was an outspoken critic of Hitler, both before and during WWII. She spent her exile writing and giving speeches about what was happening in Europe. Her oldest son died in action during the war; and she lost her daughter as well. In 1945 she was able to return home, but she was not to publish another word between then and her death in 1949.

Two of her works that have really affected me, both as a reader and as a writer, are Jenny and Kristin Lavransdatter. Jenny is set in the early 20th century, in Rome, and follows a young painter as she struggles to perfect her art and find happiness in her personal life. It grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go.

Kristin Lavransdatter is set in medieval Norway, and tells the story of the titular character from the age of thirteen to her death. Torn between what she should do (marry the man her father picked out for her) and what she wishes to do (marry bad-boy Erland instead) Kristin grows from an uncertain girl into a strong, and somewhat flawed, woman. In all of her writing, Sigrid is a master of description, and of the human condition.

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The mountains in the moonlight were more hideous than she could have imagined; only a few stars shown here and there in the vast, icy sky. She was frozen to the very marrow and bone; terror and cold pressed in on her from all sides. But defiantly she stayed where she was.

[.....]

That was why she had come out into this troll night to breathe when she felt about to suffocate.

--Kristin Lavransdatter 

I highly recommend Tiina Nunnally's translation (or the original!) as she preserves Sigrid's signature tone. Sigrid tells her stories in a firm, unyielding voice—and in all of them, both before and after her conversion, you can tell that there is the hand of some great, invisible force at work. 

 

Maya Angelou (1928 - 2014) was a marvelous author and poet. She was also a Civil Rights activist and many of her works reflect that. Her amazing life is written out in seven autobiographies (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Gather Together in my Name, Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas, The Heart of a Woman, All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes, A Song Flung Up to Heaven and Mom & Me & Mom).

My favorite quote of hers is “History, despite its wrenching pain cannot be unlived, but faced with courage need not be lived again.” A friend of mine gave me that quote as a challenge to write a story based on it. It was very moving to me, loving history as I do.

Basically, that quote told me that what happened, happened. Don’t let it control your future, no matter how bad it was.

When Angelou was three, she and her siblings went to live  with her paternal grandmother after her parents divorced. Her grandmother was ‘lucky’ enough to own a general store that was profitable in that day and age of racism. It was also during the Great Depression, but everyone needed staple goods, even then.

A formative time for Angelou was when her father came and took her and her siblings back home to their mother. There, she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend, who only received one day in jail. When the man was let out of jail, he was murdered (most likely by Angelou’s family members.)

Angelou was mute for five years because she was afraid that her voice had killed her rapist. “I killed that man because I told his name. And then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone.”  . During this time, a family friend and teacher helped her through this and introduced her to many classical authors like Dickens and Poe.

The tragedies that Angelou endured may have changed her life, but did not define her life.

 

PC Cast (1960-Present)  & Kristin Cast (1986-present) 

Both standalone authors in their own right, this incredible mother/daughter duo is responsible for bringing a new twist on the classic vampire myth. Described as Twilight meets Harry Potter, The House of Night Series combines magic, vampyres and mystery into one great series. 

This series was released in the middle of Twilight mania and often gets swept under the rug because of it. I can promise you the series is nothing like Twilight. 

I can't stress enough about how much I love this series! One of my favorite things about it is the amount of diversity that the authors include in the main cast. In the "nerd herd" you have someone of mixed race (Zoey is half white and half Cherokee), An African American (Shawnee), 2 LGBT males (Damien and Jack) and 2 caucasian females (Stevie Rae and Erin). None of these characters are the "token black girl" or the "token gay" each of the characters have unique personalities and struggles but they all work together when one of the group is struggling. 

This series was one of the first I read that had such a unique cast of characters and we all need more like this. The series is all about love and acceptance and this can be shown in the closing lines of the tenth book in the series. 

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"Don't worry," he said softly., "No matter what else, we have love. Always love." (from Hidden by PC & Kristin Cast)

Zoey wouldn't be able to accomplish anything if it wasn't for the love she has for her friends and family and the love they have for her. These books are a constant reminder to me that if we all practice showing love, the world would be a better place. 

 

Louisa May Alcott (1832 - 1888, age 55 years) has always been one of my favorite authors since I was a little kid beginning to read ‘thick’ books. Her stories were amazing to me, and I fell in love with her main character’s family - The Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Marmee, Laurie, Mr Lawrence. Even crusty, old Aunt March. 

Knowing that in many ways that it mirrored her own life, I sought biographies dealing with her life. Knowing that Beth in the stories was her sister Lizzie in real made it all that much more poignant.

Her childhood, while poor, was, in many ways, very idyllic. How many people of the day (and a female) could count a famous author as one of their tutors? Henry David Thoreau helped shape the mind that wrote so many classics that are still read and valued today.

Louisa sacrificed much to get her stories published. She did have to compromise to make the stories worthy to publish by allowing her heroine, Jo, to fall in love and marry at the ending of the book one. (I, for one, actually loved Professor Bhaer’s character and I had routed for Jo and her Teddy (Laurie) to get married).

Louisa May Alcott was an innovator of her time. One of the first feminist by her actions of fighting for rights for herself and other women. Her words still lead the call even now, and she is one of the authors that created in me a desire to be a writer myself.

 

Tamora Pierce (1954 - present) is a young adult fantasy author who is probably best known for her series (plural series) set in the Tortall universe. Her novels really focus on strong female characters that are multidimensional, who aren't *just* strong, but are also flawed and maybe don't always have the right answer. They all have struggles but each struggle is different and unique to each of the main characters in the various series of books she's written in the Tortall universe, all while everything is woven together so neatly, which is remarkable. There are things she touches upon in her first quartet that got written in the 1980s that wasn't actually written until the mid-2000s, but they still hold up because her worldbuilding is so solid. 

The quartet that really got her onto the scene was the Song of the Lioness series, the first of which was published in 1983, about a young girl, Alanna of Trebond, who wants to become a knight, but is not allowed because she's a girl. Long story short, she trades places with her twin brother Alan and becomes the most badass of knights and the first Lady Knight of Tortall and rocks it! In a similar vein, the Protector of the Small quartet (first book published in 1999) follows Keladry of Mindelan, the first girl to *legally* vie to become a knight for Tortall after a law has been passed allowing girls to try for knighthood. 

There's also the Immortals quartet (seeing a trend yet?) following the journey of Daine Sarrasri, a thirteen year old girl with extremely strong wild magic who learns how to control it and use it to help her adopted kingdom of Tortall that was first published in 1992. This series follows her, but also her mentor, the great mage Numair Salmalin, as they work together for the good of Tortall. Pierce recently published the first in a series of three books about Numair, called Tempests and Slaughter in 2018, which follows him as a young boy and growing into adulthood and his great mage status.

My ultimate favorite two series from the Tortall universe are the Tricksters duology and the Provost's Dog trilogy. The first follows Lady Alanna's daughter Aly as she is captured and sold into slavery by pirates and ends up in the Copper Isles, where after a bet with the Trickster God Kyprioth, she involves herself with the raka uprising against the luarin nobles. Once the family she is enslaved to realizes her worth, she is freed and works undercover as their spymaster to help them overthrow the luarin monarchy. This was one of my favorites because Aly is such a badass teenager who also knows her limits and what she is or isn't able to reveal, which belies her intelligence. My ultimate favorite series by Pierce, though, is the Provost's Dog trilogy, also known as the Beka Cooper books, because these puppies got me through middle school and high school, and I still enjoy reading them to this day. This trilogy follows Beka Cooper, a new "Puppy" in the Provost's Guard, aka a new trainee in their version of the police, with her animal companions Pounce the constellation cat and Achoo the scent hound. I enjoyed this series particularly so much because it shows how Beka really wanted to prioritize her career over finding romance or travel the world because she knew she had plenty of time to do that later in life. She's not opposed to a little friendly flirtation though, and she's also not afraid to bash a man about if he's making untoward advances. 

Overall, Tamora Pierce's books really shaped who I am as a person quite a lot, and my love of fantasy really stems a lot from her books. If I could ever evoke even a fraction of her talent and skill in my own fantasy writing someday, I'd owe it all to her influence. 

 

 Leila Aboulela’s (1964-present) writing contains some of my favorite things: religion (Leila is a devout Muslim), female protagonists dealing with serious issues (her novel Minaret follows a young woman forced to flee from Sudan to London in the midst of the Second Sudanese Civil War), and a collision of cultures (more on that in a minute). Born in Cairo, Egypt, Leila’s family soon moved to Sudan. Leila was educated at the Khartoum American School, and the Sister’s School. She also attended the University of Khartoum, where she studied Economics. In 1990, she relocated to Scotland, along with her husband and children, where she currently resides.

Leila’s writing is sharp, her characters colorful and fully human. They usually embrace their faith, although they wrestle with it as well. In her latest novel, Bird Summons, we meet Salma, Moni, and Iman, three friends on a journey to the unexpected. The work includes a mash-up of Islam and Celtic cultures, with a mystical Hoopoe bird (the only species of bird specifically mentioned in the Qu’ran) in Scotland.

From the Author's Note:

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The Hoopoe in the novel comes with stories. Stories of the Sufi mystic poet Rumi and the Sanskrit animal fables of Kalila and Dimna. Having now reached the Scottish Highlands, the Hoopoe is also well versed in the fables of selkies and shape-shifters that  originate from the folk tales of Aberdeenshire and the surrounding areas. He is familiar with The Pilgrim’s Progress and the fantasy worlds of George MacDonald. For the women in Bird Summons, the Hoopoe is a spiritual teacher who imparts ancient wisdom and guidance. But his powers are limited. The women must make their own choices. Away form the city—with its restrictions, formality, and rituals, both religious and secular, the spiritual freedom that the women encounter is vast and beyond control.

 

Kathleen E Woodiwiss (1939-2007) Kathleen Woodiwiss might not be as well known with modern audiences as Nora Roberts or Debbie Macomber, but her stories never fail to leave me with a sense of hope that the right guy is out there for me. 

Known for her debut novel The Flame and the Flower (which also happens to be my favorite book and I read it at least once a year), Woodiwiss was a pioneer in the historical romance genre. I love how her female  leads are strong characters who often take care of the bad guy before their main man shows up to save the day. The amount of detail she includes in her books about the period is amazing. Her descriptions of the homes and clothing is always on point and transports me to another world. 

The Flame and the Flower was the first romance novel I read and I think I was only 13 (Yes I know I started young) When my grandmother found out that I was reading it, I thought she would get mad but instead, she gave me a couple other books by Kathleen Woodiwiss and told me "These are better," I love that my grandma and I were able to bond over romance novels and it's a way that I can still stay connected to her now that she's gone. One day I would love to turn the story into a film but I'm not sure how to go about getting the proper permissions to adapt the novel into a screenplay. (This is something I will have to look into.)

 

Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867 - 1957, age 90 years) was one of my most favorite authors growing up. Most likely my favorite in that she created the spark in me to write stories. Her ‘Little House’ books were devoured over and over weekly. I can honestly say, she is my most read author of my childhood.

Her stories opened up a new world to me of the prairies, family life and how to endure hardships. Neither of her parents were villainized to make the story interesting to her readers and showed me one of the first relationships between a father and his daughter. (I was honestly jealous over that, for my own father died before I had a chance to form any memories of him.)

While the ‘Little House’ books are based on the journals Laura kept as a child through adulthood, there were some things she either kept out of her books, or downplayed to make them less horrifying to her audience. One can only imagine just how hard it actually was during ‘The Long Winter’ and that if food hadn’t finally arrived when it did, they all would have starved. 

It was always amazing to me that Laura actually became a teacher at the age of fifteen. She hadn’t even graduated school yet! She never actually would, because she got married before she could graduate. Unlike the TV show that came out in the mid 70’s, women couldn’t work beyond the house and land surrounding it. (Or beside their husband in his business, ie Mrs Olsen in the General Store.)

 

Janet Evanovich (1943-present) 

Janet Evanovich is one of my favorite authors because she is so versatile in her writing. Originally known for romance novellas (see a trend here yet folks?) she has made a name for herself writing a series about an incompetent bounty hunter named Stephanie Plum. Because of the comedic aspect of her Stephanie Plum series, I usually alternate between her and James Patterson when I get in the mood to read a murder/mystery/crime book. 

Many may have heard of her from the box office bomb that was One for the Money (Starring Katherine Heigl) but I promise you the books are a lot better than the film. I love that this is an author my grandfather, mom, and I enjoy (again see a pattern here) and we can talk about our face claims for the characters one of mine is Sandra Bullock for Stephanie and my mom thinks that Jackée would make a good Lula (I disagree and think that Kym Whitley would be a better choice) and our theories on who Stephanie will choose or how her car will blow up. You'd have to read the series to understand this woman's luck with cars. I mean she's had a Porsche blow up along with several other luxury cars. Her uncle's Buick seems to be holding strong though. 

 

Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964) grew up on a peacock farm in Savannah, Georgia (USA). In her short life, she published two novels and two short story collections. She suffered from lupus, and she was a devout Catholic. Her wit was sharp, and she was fearless when it came to tackling difficult subject matter in her stories, which are the apotheosis of the Southern Gothic style. They are dark, gritty, grim, and sweep the reader away with them. She had a knack for unmasking our darkest fears, and deepest secrets. In one of her stories, “A Temple of the Holy Ghost,” she says the following about one of the characters:

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“She could never be a saint, but she thought she could be a martyr if they killed her quick.”

It’s easy to pluck up the courage for a few moments—and so much harder to dig up that courage to meet day after endless day of trials.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find,” arguably her most famous short story, is the history of a family’s tragic encounter with an escaped murderer and his cronies. The story is dominated by the prickly grandmother, a woman who terrorizes her family and eventually puts them in their fatal situation. At the end of the tale, one of the criminals comments:

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“She would have been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” 

It’s a harsh condemnation, but I think we can all see at least a piece of ourselves in that—we’d all be perfect all the time if there were somebody forcing us to do what we ought.

Flannery’s tales are so dark that it can sometimes be hard to find the light in them. But at the core, they are all about a person encountering Grace—and being totally unprepared for that encounter. When asked about why she wrote about such bleak topics, she replied:

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"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."

 

 

Johnna Lindsey (1952-2019) So this woman has to be one of my favorite romance authors of all time. (I really do have a type ya know) Like Kathleen Woodiwiss, she is known for her historical romance novels. Many of which are set in England during the Regency Period. Her best known works are about the Mallory Family and tell the love stories of at least three generations. (There's actually more but I've only read a fraction of the books in this series) I love how the stories are so full of detail that I can lose myself in the story. I feel like I'm there in the ballroom as the debutante enters in her gown and I can almost hear the violins play as the couple dances for the first time. I am transported to another world and another time when I read her stories and I become so involved that I don't want to leave that world. I actually have her to thank for my unrealistic expectations when it comes to love. I am a true romantic at heart and dream of the day when a pirate comes and rescues me from the boring life I live now. Falling in love on the high seas: what's not to like?

Johnna Lindsey is another author that I could share with my grandmother and oftentimes, we would trade books with each other and shared a list of what books the other had. I love that I was able to share that with her before she died and I will be forever grateful to my grandmother for introducing me to the stories that showed me what romance can and lets be honest here, should be like. Every one deserves someone who will sweep them off their feet and romance them the way the Mallory men romance their women. Everyone deserves someone who will love them like the Mallory women. While the journey might be an unrealistic expectation, the strength of the love in the stories is what I'm searching for. A partnership and a commitment so strong that it will beat the odds. 

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Well folks, that wraps up this month's blog! We hope you enjoyed reading about some of our favorite female authors and are encouraged to give these wonderful women and their stories a try if you haven't already. 

Have a favorite author we didn't discuss? Let us know in the comments which female authors you admire and why! Who knows, maybe we'll take you up on one of your recs!   

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Credits

Contributors: juls, Noelle , Madi, Tasha
Graphics: Noelle
Blog Compilation: Tasha