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Women of Science Fiction
Until fairly recently science fiction was thought by many to be of, by and for men. Never mind the fact that the book considered the first science fiction novel, Frankenstein, was written by Mary Shelley. The misperception has lived on, even in the face of such greats as Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler. As more females read, write and populate science fiction, this literary genre is growing beyond the gender bias that has plagued it for so long.
Scintillating Science
Do you think of science as boring facts and figures? Take a look at some riveting reads that bring the scientific process to life.
Historical Fiction
History is more than just old battles and dead kings; it is best viewed through the everyday lives of the men and women who live it. History is all of us, all the time. All of us know our share of joy and sorrow, passion and despair. These tales, while fictitious, illuminate history with the truth of our living. Explore the past with these novels, enjoy a good story well told, and perhaps learn a little something while you’re at it.
Featured Review:
 Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
In 2019 a radio astronomer hears the seductive songs of extraterrestrials. As when Europe began to explore the New World, the Society of Jesus maneuvers itself into the leadership of an expedition to the planet Rakhat, the origin of these Siren songs. Father Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit linguist, heads the team of eight men and women sent on this journey; he is the only one who returns home. Sandoz must try to explain why everything has gone so terribly wrong; however, even a priest can't explain what he doesn't understand. Here is the chaos of misunderstanding as experienced by Sandoz, one of the most flesh-and-blood characters in recent fiction. Sandoz is a man struggling with himself, his Church, and his God. Beware, things are rarely what they seem!
Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library
Margot Adler is an author and NPR Correspondent. Here is an excerpt from her review of The Family Tree by Sheri Tepper:
Almost all of my favorite books are science fiction - because SF often seems to be the only real literature of ideas in our age. It is one of the only kinds of literature that allows one to question our society from the bottom up, and the books I like best are those that make us think about alternate ways of living, loving, working, and designing society... we are so often bound by our own small minds and perceptions - science fiction allows us to fly free... without the constraints of reality. On my all time favorite list are these two books: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin because it really makes one think about the kind of society we live in and its limitations. It is the story of an alien from a very anarchist society who comes to a planet Earth that is somewhat like the U.S., but more totalitarian. His observations, are somewhat like that of a de Toqueville, with unusual insights even about the way furniture is designed. The other book is The Family Tree by Sheri Tepper. It's partly a mystery, partly a saga about humans and animals and ecology, a meditation on freedom and slavery, on genetic engineering and animal experimentation. At first you don't really know what is going on... there are two stories and they don't seem to have any relationship, one taking place in the present and one several thousand years in the future... but in the end it all comes together with some fairly amazing surprises.
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Born in Macon, Georgia, Gwyn Hyman Rubio grew up in South Georgia in the small town of Cordele, not far from Plains. Her father was also a writer and published the bestseller No Time for Sergeants in 1954 which was later turned into a popular play and film, starring Andy Griffith.
Upon graduating from Florida State University with a B.A. in English, Rubio joined the Peace Corps serving in Costa Rica and working as a preschool program coordinator and teacher in a village, without running water or electricity, near the Panamanian border.
Her first novel, Icy Sparks, was published in 1998 and named as the New York Times Notable Book of the Year. In 2001, it was chosen as an Oprah Book Club selection. Rubio's second novel, The Woodsman's Daughter, was published in 2005. Since then, she has won numerous awards for her novels and short story collections. She and her husband currently live in Kentucky.
Read our Gwyn Hyman Rubio Interview
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We salute James, a librarian at Sugar Creek Branch Library, who is a prolific reviewer of mysteries, science fiction, westerns, and graphic novels for both adults and teens. Here are his thoughts on reading and writing reviews:
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t attracted to books, which is odd because neither of my birth parents were readers. The first memories I have of actually wanting something to read were the old Carlton horror and ROM, Space Knight comics that I saw in the local drugstore that my grandmothers gladly fed my habit. This continued into my early teenage years with my adopted parents as I found my father’s stash of fantasy novels and World War II history books and I devoured them. Most of the money I earned from my part-time jobs during high school fed my comics addiction and it worked out well because my dad got to read my comics and I got his Horseclans, Tarzan, Conan, Gor and other fantasy novel series when he was finished with them.
My taste of books is wide-ranging but all of it leans heavily towards escapism of the grandiose and heroic variety so I’ll read everything from fantasy, science-fiction, superheroes, naval adventures, mysteries, pulp fiction to westerns. I read for the excitement, adventure and the belief that good will always win over evil. My favorite authors would have to be the classics of the genres: H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert E. Howard although lately my tastes have been leaning towards more current books such as the Midshipman Alan Lewrie series by Dewey Lambdin, the Death on Demand mysteries by Carolyn Hart and the westerns of Jory Sherman and Tobias Cole.
I really have no criteria for deciding what to read although I am the perfect marketing example for publishers. I pick up whatever has the most lurid or exciting cover art on it and anything that promises a series or more books to come. In some ways I think my reading interests are about fifty years behind everyone else. I review books, especially older ones, as most emphasis tends to be on new books yet there are still plenty of old books out there that are still just as enjoyable today as they were back then and have stood the test of time and my tastes of reading genres tends to be non-mainstream fiction so I’m always happy to try to point out the good stuff for someone looking for something a bit more eclectic that they may have otherwise overlooked.”
Thanks, Erin!
Read Book Reviews by our Featured Reviewer
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