CONvergence write-up and early women writers in SF notes

I made it in on Friday, just in time for a Broad Universe Rapidfire Reading at 2PM. Authors Kathryn Sullivan, Catherine Schaff-Stump and I read from recent and forthcoming works to appreciative audience of 12 or so folks who were able to find the room. And no, you don't have to be named "Catherine" or variations to join Broad Universe. It's just a GOOD IDEA. But back to the con. Literary readings are now split between the 22nd floor, which is hard to get to know and you have to know it's there to find it, and a room on one of the party floors, which is hard to find, not well marked and you have to know it's there to find it. Sigh.

After that, I was off and running around with sundry friends, which was delightful. I went home reasonably early so that I could get in early on Saturday to get parking before my 11AM panel. Suitably caffeinated, I camped out on the aforementioned 22nd floor until my fellow panelists, Elizabeth Bear and Scott Lynch arrived. We had a lively chat about some of the pre-1960 women writers and their work, with commentary from the audience. Then I dashed onto the elevators and went to a panel on editors and their relationships with writers, with fellow panelists Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Lynne Thomas and Sharyn November. Sharyn and I talked a fair amount, Lynne somewhat less, Jennifer almost not at all, since the emphasis was really on fiction writing rather than gaming. It was interesting and I know I picked up a few things and hopefully the audience did as well. From there, I was off a panel on the importance of strong heroines, with fellow panelists Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Tamora Pierce and Kathy Sullivan. This was wildly well-attended, mostly because Tamora Pierce was there, and featured some of the best troll-stomping that I've ever seen at a panel at this kind of con. Apart from this, we were all over the map (me, too) but discussion and examples flew thick and fast and several people told me that they enjoyed it very much. From there, I was off to the Dealer's Room where I acquired steampunk hair clips, copies of The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women On-Screen by Dominique Mainon and James Ursini and They Fly at Ciron by Samuel Delany, and some interesting magnets. After that we met up with more folks for dinner, then hit the masquerade overflow room, then lengthy chats in the hall (thanks to Elise, I now own a Gotham Observatory pin that used to belong to Mike Ford, which I shall treasure accordingly). From there it was on to the parties where I stopped by Gaylaxicon and Diversicon and a few other fun spots. Then home for sleep, chaos, a two day migraine and a minor plumbing disaster and posting a bunch of stuff for the Wolf Conservation Fundraiser that I'm running through July.

As promised, the notes from Early Women Writers in SF (I made the cutoff date 1960 so "early" is before that). Not an exhaustive list. Also see SF Mistressworks and Feminist SF.Net for some of the folks that are missing from this list as well as other work by these authors:

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle. 1623-1673. Scientist, poet, playwright. One of the first women published under her own name. The Blazing World (1666) – utopian fiction with new world accessed via the North Pole.

 

Mary Shelley. 1797-1851. Novelist, essayist, playwright. Frankenstein (1818) and a post-apocalyptic novel, The Last Man (1826).

 

Jane C. Loudon. 1807-1858. SF/Gothic. The Mummy (1827).

 

Charlotte Perkins Gilman. 1860-1935. Novelist, lecturer. Herland (1915).

Thea Gabriele von Harbou. 1888-1954. Actress, director and author. Metropolis (1927) - novel and screenplay.

 

Miariam Allen DeFord. 1888-1975. Reporter, mystery and sf author. Xenogenesis (1969) one of several collections of her early work, written well before 1969.

 

Clare Winger Harris. 1891-1968. Short fiction writer. First woman to publish under her own name in sf magazines like Amazing. “The Fate of the Posediana” (1927) and other stories.

 

Katherine Burdekin, 1896-1963. Wrote as Murray Constantine as well as under her own name. Alternate history in which Germany and Japan win WWII - Swastika Night (1937).

 

Naomi Mitchison. 1897-1999. Novelist and poet. Memoirs of a Spacewoman (1962), The Corn King and the Spring Queen (1931) and Travel Light (1952).

Zealia Bishop. (1897–1968). Short fiction writer, horror and romance. The Curse of Yig (1953).

Margaret St. Clair. 1911-1995. SF. Also wrote as Idris Seabright and Wilton Hazzard. The Green Queen (1956) and the post-apocalyptic novel with Wiccan elements Sign of the Labrys (1963)

 

C.L. Moore. 1911-1987. SF/F writer, collaborator with Henry Kuttner as well as solo author. Doomsday Morning (1957), Vintage Season (1946) “Shambleau,” (1933) and Jirel of Joiry (1934).

 

Mary Elizabeth Counselman. 1911- 1995. Supernatural fiction, Weird Tales author. Half in Shadow (1964 collection of earlier work).

 

Andre Norton. 1912-2005. SF and F author. The Stars are Ours (1954), Beastmaster (1959),The Star Gate (1958)..

 

Leigh Brackett. 1915-1978. SF author and screenwriter. Screenwriter on “The Empire Strikes Back,” as well as “The Woman from Altair” (1951) and The Sword of Rhainnon (1949).

 

Shirley Jackson, 1916-1965. Author, horror. “The Lottery” (1948) and The Haunting of Hill House (1959).

 

Zenna Henderson. 1917-1983. Science fiction and fantasy. Psionics, etc. - Ingathering: The Complete People Stories of Zenna Henderson (1995 collection of earlier work).

 

Judith Merril. 1923-1997. SF author and editor. “That Only a Mother” (1948) and Shadow on the Hearth (1950).

 

Marion Zimmer Bradley. 1930-1999. SF/F author and editor. The Planet Savers (1958) and Falcons of Narabedia (1957)

I'm currently reading Mitchison, who I'm enjoying greatly, and Moore's early work, which I'm enjoying less so. But glad I've got the opportunity to check it out.