I am involved in a nonprofit, Narrate Conferences, that puts together literature events. One of these is Sirens. I’ve been a little swamped lately, so I’ve tried to advise more than be staff, but that doesn’t always work out; I end up coming back for more. This year, I’m working mostly on programming-related things. The other thing I’ll be doing is reading, reading, reading. In fact, staff members are absolutely required to know what’s going on in fantasy, particularly as it relates to women in fantasy, and particularly women in fantasy works that are related to the annual theme, which this year is rebels and revolutionaries. It’s not only essential to know the literature so we can understand and enjoy all the great discussion that comes up at Sirens, it’s essential to be aware of what that literature has been and where it’s going. It’s the best way to support readers, authors, and professionals whose work is so often considered to be less worthy, I think.
So, each year, we put together a general reading list for people interested in the guests of honor and in getting to know more about what women are reading and writing in fantasy, and we put together a (researched) list for staff that’s a little more focused, because it’s all too easy to read narrowly. I read a lot more middle grade and young adult work, because that’s what I’m interested in and the community I follow most closely, than I do work targeted at adults. If I wanted to look for books in a big chain bookstore, my selection by/about women very, very limited, and I’d miss out on some really good books, as well as, frankly, all those books that I don’t personally love, but that are important, and worthy, and to be (re)commended. If I only shopped on Amazon, I’d get lots of links to work that’s very, very closely related to the book I searched for, instead of a more curated, more diverse, more exploratory selection.
The staff list gets split up into chunks, and you select so many books from each chunk to read, beyond any of the selections you’ve already read. The idea is that you’ll be exposed to work that you might not otherwise have picked out for yourself. And, of course, you can recommend all these neat books to other people.
This year, we’re offering up a challenge for anybody to take part in, with bragging rights and buttons for conference attendees. Read 25 new-to-you books, expand your mind, read great fantasy work by women. I’m in grad school and working, and my pleasure-reading time is…small, but I’m going to try to complete the challenge as it is anyway. For a lot of the books I haven’t read, I’ve actually read chunks or excerpts, so it should be easier! If you’d like to try out the challenge too, the details are below, and here. If I crossed out a book, I’m counting it as read, or eliminating it from the pick-so-many sections, but I’m happy to share thoughts on them if you need a recommendation!
If you’re looking for a bit more structure for your Sirens reading, or you simply love a challenge, you’re in the right place. Each year, our staff reads a wide selection of fantasy works written by women, some within our theme and some more broadly. This year, we invite you to take our challenge!
To take the challenge, simply read 25 books, in accordance with the rules below, by September 12, 2015. Once you’ve finished, send us an e-mail to help @ sirensconference.org with Reading List Challenge as the subject line, and let us know that you’ve finished the challenge and the books that you read to do so. We’ll give all timely finishers a special button at Sirens, suitable for gloating. Game on.
To purchase these books, please consider using the links below on the website, which will take you to the website of the Tattered Cover, Denver’s renowned independent bookstore. If you use those links and then purchase books or other items, Sirens will receive a referral fee from the Tattered Cover.
SIRENS 2015 READING CHALLENGE
In each required category, you must read—or have previously read—each work listed. In each category of selections, you must select books by authors who are new to you. If you cannot reach the required number of selections without selecting authors you have already read, you may select works you haven’t read by authors you have read before. If you cannot reach the required number of selections without selecting books you’ve read, bravo, and please read as many new-to-you books as you can to complete the challenge.
Guests of Honor: Required
Rae Carson: The Girl of Fire and Thorns
Kate Elliott: Cold Magic or Court of Fives
Yoon Ha Lee: Conservation of Shadows
I have read parts of the other books, and of course I want to read the work by the guests of honor! But for now, let’s count this as one book to read.
Rebels and Revolutionaries: Required
Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale
Alaya Dawn Johnson: The Summer Prince
Ann Leckie: Ancillary Justice
Melina Marchetta: Finnikin of the Rock
Nnedi Okorafor: Who Fears Death
Tamora Pierce: Trickster’s Queen
G. Willow Wilson: Alif the Unseen
I thought I had this nailed, but I might have only read Trickster’s Choice, and not Trickster’s Queen. So, conservatively, 3 books to finish.
Rebels and Revolutionaries: Select Five
Katherine Addison: The Goblin Emperor
Victoria Aveyard: Red Queen
Kelly Barnhill: Iron Hearted Violet
Elizabeth Bunce: StarCrossed
Sarah Beth Durst: Vessel
Sarah Fine: Of Metal and Wishes
Catherine Fisher: Incarceron
Shira Glassman: Climbing the Date Palm
Kameron Hurley: The Mirror Empire
N. K. Jemisin: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Erika Johansen: The Queen of the Tearling
Intisar Khanani: Sunbolt
Marie Lu: The Young Elites
Laurie J. Marks: Fire Logic
Jodi Meadows: The Orphan Queen
Sara Raasch: Snow Like Ashes
Sabaa Tahir: An Ember in the Ashes
Sherry Thomas: The Burning Sky
Nahoko Uehashi: Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness
Kit Whitfield: In Great Waters
I’ve read a couple of these, and have a couple more partly read. I’m going to pick, for the challenge, these five: Of Metal and Wishes, Sunbolt, An Ember in the Ashes, Climbing the Date Palm, and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. But I will probably read more here.
Middle Grade/Young Adult: Select Five
Lindsey Barraclough: Long Lankin
Franny Billingsley: Chime
Stephanie Burgis: Kat, Incorrigible
Emily Carroll: Through the Woods
Cinda Williams Chima: The Demon King
Corinne Duyvis: Otherbound
Jessica Day George: Tuesdays at the Castle
Hiromi Goto: Half World
Shannon Hale: Book of a Thousand Days
Rosamund Hodge: Cruel Beauty
Ambelin Kwaymullina: The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf DONE
Laura Lam: Pantomime
Margo Lanagan: Yellowcake
Grace Lin: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Juliet Marillier: Wildwood Dancing
Patricia McKillip: Ombria in Shadow
Dia Reeves: Bleeding Violet
Heather Tomlinson: Toads and Diamonds
Leslye Walton: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
Ysabeau Wilce: Flora Segunda
Funnily, I have read parts of a lot of these, too, but not the whole things, and I have a lot of these on hand to read. I’m tentatively going to read these five for the challenge: The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf, Otherbound, Half World, Flora Segunda, and Cruel Beauty. Though I do love Juliet Marillier and that’s one I haven’t read, and the Ava Lavender book won some awards…
Adult: Select Five
Lauren Beukes: The Shining Girls
Lois McMaster Bujold: Paladin of Souls
Ronlyn Domingue: The Mapmaker’s War
Emma Donoghue: Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins
Eugie Foster: Returning My Sister’s Face: And Other Far Eastern Tales of Whimsy and Malice
Charlie N. Holmberg: The Paper Magician
Mary Robinette Kowal: Shades of Milk and Honey
Violet Kupersmith: The Frangipani Hotel
Kelly Link: Get in Trouble
Karen Lord: Redemption in Indigo
Kushali Manickavel: Things We Found During the Autopsy
Seanan McGuire: Sparrow Hill Road
Erin Morganstern: The Night Circus
Helen Oyeyemi: Mr. Fox
Ludmilla Petrushevskaya: There Once Lived a Mother Who Loved Her Children, Until They Moved Back In
Kiini Ibura Salaam: Ancient, Ancient: Short Fiction
Sofia Samatar: A Stranger in Olondria
Delia Sherman: Young Woman in a Garden
Karin Tidbeck: Jagannath
Helene Wecker: The Golem and the Jinni
And another set of books where I haven’t fully read many, but know a lot. Tentatively picking Foster, Kowal, Kupersmith, Link, Oyeyemi, Petrushevskaya, Samatar, and Sherman, which is eight but I like some of all their work that I’ve sampled, SO THERE.
Self, you have like ten minutes to shower, eat, and get to class because you chose blog instead of do things, so get cracking.
