Science fiction recs (fictional or academic texts)

[Polaris]

I've decided I'll be doing my BA thesis on science fiction, robots and feminism. I have no clearer subject yet and don't even know what books to focus on, and shamefully have to admit I haven't read half the novels I probably should have. So, fellow nerds, any books you can recommend that have/are about:

 

- robots/androids?

- good/interesting female protagonists/characters?

- alternatively, rant-worthily bad female characters?

- otherwise something awesome/interesting/really out-there? (Yeah, this one's just for finding more good stuff to read )

 

I'd also love suggestions about academic texts on those subjects. Sci-fi's not considered "high lit", so finding source material for arguments is a little harder.

[Meant2Move]

Written In Red by Anne Bishop was really good.

 

It draws a little on Native American lore, the female lead is an innocent becoming "aware of the world around her", and the lead bad person is also female. None of what I've written makes the book sound good, but it really was. No robots - it was all quite natural and a bit idealistic.

[Meant2Move]

My favorite read of the summer was The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. I'd put it in sci fi, but I guess some might call it fantasy... excellent strong female lead.

[achamius]

Try He, She, and It by Marge Pearcy.  Really cool novel about feminism, Golems, AI, cyborgs, grandmothers, and information pirates, all set in a dystopian future.  Features some wonderfully nuanced writing about consciousness and AI.  Less specifically feminist, and more about gender issues/roles and sexuality, is virtually anything by Samuel R Delany.  

[katkiv]

Ilium and Olympos, by Dan Simmons came to mind. I am hesitant to give away any spoilers, but there are some very important female characters, as well as morovecs (android/robot type characters). Plus it combines terraforming, quantum mechanics, Greek mythology, and several Shakespeare references. Not high-brow indeed

[67alecto]

I, Robot should be an automatic read.  It introduces the three laws of robotics and established Susan Calvin and the foremost robopsychologist.

[Incantor]

How about Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower?

 

It has a powerful and interesting female protagonist.  No robots, though.  Butler was an African American woman who won both the Nebula and Hugo awards.  Her other works are also worth reading for anyone into sci-fi.

[Merddyn]

I, Robot should be an automatic read.  It introduces the three laws of robotics and established Susan Calvin and the foremost robopsychologist

I second this.

another book by the same author(isaac asimov) that i would recomend is "nightfall"; about a planet where the suns never set. i believe this falls under "awesome/interesting".

 

if you have not read the pern books, i would definitely look into them as well. the basic setting is: genetically engineered dragons telepathically imprinted on their riders defend the skies from voracious falling organisms. not sci-fi in the same sense as asimov, more of an excellent fantasy series in a sci-fi setting. many of the books also have female protagonists, among them "moreta: dragonlady of pern", the first two parts of "the harper hall of pern", "dragonflight" and "dragonquest"

 

 

aaand short stories. i suggest checking out an anthology or two from your library. bring a shovel when reading, you may find treasure.

[samanmoran]

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi - I read a LOT and this one had one of the most original premises and environments I've ever encountered. Not to mention it's very well written. And I think Emiko (our protagonist) is very well suited to your thesis.

 

Synopsis quotes copied directly from wikipedia:

 

The Windup Girl is set in 23rd century Thailand. Global warming has raised the levels of world's oceans, carbon fuel sources have become depleted, and manually wound springs are used as energy storage devices. Biotechnology is dominant and mega corporations like AgriGen, PurCal and RedStar (called calorie companies) control food production through 'genehacked' seeds, and use bioterrorism, private armies and economic hitmen to create markets for their products. Frequent catastrophes, such as deadly and widespread plagues and illness, caused by genetically modified crops and mutant pests, ravage entire populations. The natural genetic seed stock of the world's plants has been almost completely supplanted by those that are genetically engineered to be sterile.

 

Emiko is a "windup girl," (they refer to themselves as "New People") a humanoid GM organism used as a slave, genetically programmed to seek and obey a master. Emiko has been abandoned in Thailand by her Japanese master, and as an illegal resident in Thailand is subject to summary execution or "mulching" if she is caught. Raleigh, a sex club owner, gives her some measure of safety by bribing the police to let her live, but at the price of forcing her to work in his club where she is routinely abused and sexually humiliated.

[Praetorian]

Tarkins Fist by Ashla Ti is really good.

It's a very interesting science fiction novel about Earth and is free online at fanfiction.net. I won't ruin it for you but has many great characters and the story just pulls you in.

[Tugboat E]

Jessica Atreides, from DUNE, by Frank Herbert.

 

AWESOME, powerful, thoughtful character who is a member of a sect of women dedicated to mastery of politics and genetics.

 

Srsly, Polaris, DUNE.

 

I even have some crazily obscure thesii (should be the plural) about the book.

 

Fear is the mind killer....

[pearlescence]

You could look into Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series.  There are no robots, but there are "mods", who are genetically/technologically modified humans.  It has the advantage of being both about and by a woman.  Kylara Vatta is a pretty cool cat, and her cousin Stella contrasts with her very well, but they are both infinitely capable and complex young women.

 

Also, their Aunt Grace is an old woman who comes to rule their home planet, so that's awesome.

 

It was actually my husband who put me on to the series.  He already owned all five.  There is a little romance, but I haven't seen where it's going yet.  I'm only on the third.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Moon#Vatta.27s_War

 

Wikipedia is always a good starting place so you can find out whether it;s something you can use.  Sorry if it comes too late for your project.  It sounds like a cool one, and I'd love to read it if you ever publish/need feedback.  I have a background in history, but minored in English, and would probably pursue it in grad school if I had a couple hundred thousand dollars lying around.

[Thrillho]

Friday by Heinlein and almost anything by Piers Anthony, but especially Macroscope for books with strong, intelligent, and still TERRIBLY WRITTEN female characters. 

[samanmoran]

Friday by Heinlein and almost anything by Piers Anthony, but especially Macroscope for books with strong, intelligent, and still TERRIBLY WRITTEN female characters.

Topping my list of most terribly written female characters of all time is the Geisha in the Memoirs Of. Not even funny. I love a little outrageous chauvinism or misogyny when you can get a good laugh out of it, like in all the James Bond series. The descriptions of women drivers alone are epically hilarious. But I digress off of sci-if. Sorry bout that.

What did you all think of the women in the Foundation Trilogy? There aren't any for the first hundred pages or so, and then when one turns up, it's a "secretary" with a dead voice on the phone. A little later, there's some simpering pouty broad... I almost couldn't get through it! But once I could look aside, I loved the story.

Sent from an alternate universe using Alien tech.

[SuNoYo]

First off, and this is a film, not a book, but it's relevant in a contextual way: Starchaser: the Legend of Orin. On the one hand, the Leia expy is pretty badass and more competent than the hero, and on the other hand you have the female robot. Who . . . well, let's just say she gets kidnapped and forcibly has her personality altered (the programming is in her butt, so cue butt slaps and the Han Solo expy fiddling around with a screwdriver in the anal region) in order to make her . . . slutty. Compare/contrast Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica. The TNG episode 'the Measure of a Man' and Data's general character arc would be a good introduction to a well-known pop cultural exploration of humanity via a robot, similarly I, Robot and off you go into your thesis on the Humanity of Robots.

Sidetrack perhaps to the play that coined the word 'robot' - Czech for 'slave' and suddenly you have an entire socio-historical/socio-political viewpoint!

 

Bookwise, the Johnny Maxwell trilogy by Terry Pratchett - actually, any vaguely sci-fi book by Terry Pratchett - are very good and intelligent for being young adult books. The first one is Only You Can Save Mankind! Wiki link. It deals with reality, perceptions, humanity and quite literally (I think, it's been nearly a decade) invokes the fact that sci-fi and fantasy are often used as parallels for real world events.

 

As for academia:

Science fiction studies

Foundation: the International Review of Science Fiction

Extrapolation - noted particularly for its feminist theory

Eaton Journal of Archival Research in Science Fiction

Science Fiction and the Question of the Animal (see ch. 4 for feminism/women)

Critical Theory and Science Fiction (see section three for gender and the dispossessed)

The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction (part one is a 'history of', part two gets into theory - including race theory, feminism, language, Marxism, posthumaism and the cyborg theory (that's ch. 26); then in later parts you have 'ethics and alterity', 'feminist sf' and just 500+ pages of sci-fi academia)

Decoding Gender in Science Fiction - sorry I couldn't find a preview on Google Books for you. But the small preview there makes a good point - Frankenstein is considered proto-sci fi, as are the works by Jules Verne. Don't be afraid to look back whilst discussing science fiction.

 

To be honest I just Googled "science fiction academic texts" and went to Google Books. After Wikipedia.

 

On that note, there's also:

The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction - perhaps the sixth and seventh beauties would be for you. Beware though, it may be overly flowery and a bit 'soft'.

British Science Fiction Film and Television Studies - more the visual side of things and focusses a bit more on the meta (fan reactions and interpretations), but perhaps the last two chapters could be good for gender and sexuality? It could also be a good starting point if you ended up going in a nature or identity tangent - link to Frankenstein where the gorgeous Romantic visuals of the Alps are brutally contrasted with the cold science and scientific tones of our two main characters. Specifically how being too sciencey perverts the natural wonders and beauties of life. There's context to this, get an annotated Frankenstein and read about the Romantic movement, especially as it relates to Victorian realism and the Victorian novel.

Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy: Overviews is just that - a brief overview of their role from the Middle Ages to now. A starting point only. Ch. 17 - 24 and 26 might be of particular interest to you.

Future Present: Ethics And/As Science Fiction - mentions Star Trek in the first paragraph of the introduction. It's about ethics. There will be robots and women discussed.

 

I hope that's okay, I'm more of a fantasy girl myself, but from the sounds of the OP you were looking more for academic books than anything. Mybe these will point you in a more defined path!

 

EDIT:
I ventured further along the Google Books path.

 

Science Fiction and Empire could be a good one, particularly the first two chapters and maybe ch. 7. I've really only been looking at the chapter listings for all these books.

Political Science Fiction - ch. 4, 8 and 12 for gender/sexuality; perhaps ch 6 and 9 for robots/cyborgs. Is it me, or from perusing all these contents pages there seems to be a heavy bias towards the American sci fi? British sci fi tends to be early C20th or that one book. Maybe it's just because the essays are thematic or author based more than anything.

Science Fiction and the Predictions of the Future: Essays on Foresight and Fallacy - a bit out there, more scientific and technological than you might like, but you did mention robots.

Science Fiction, Imperialism and the Third World: essays on Postcolonial Literature and Film - ch. 5 is about the feminine, but imperialism in general could be a good take on things. Maybe oppression in general, divided into two sections: robots and humans?

A Companion to Science Fiction - Quite simply, Blackwell Companions are amazing. Of interest to you I'd say would be (maybe) ch. 4 (mostly background and ideas?), ch. 9, 10, 14, 15, 18, 23 (H G Wells), 28 (Ursula Le Guin) and all of part 7. Note ch. 32, 36 and 38.

There, that feels a little more comprehensive. These books should cover your initial requests, a few surprise topics (though with chapters related to your initial themes) and some general stuff.

[mgage]

A former professor of mine might interest you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsoo_Kang_(historian_and_writer)

 

He focuses on the history of science/natural philosophy, especially during the Enlightenment. He has an academic book on the European obsession with creating automatons during this period, called Sublime Dreams of Living Machines. He also writes science fiction (see the bibliography on the Wikipedia page). Maybe there is something ther ethat will interest you.

 

Also, he could be a source for you to bounce ideas off of, if you were comfortable contacting him. He might be able to offer you some help. He gave me very interesting things to read and he is a voracious reader himself.

[Kevin Mack]

Friday by Heinlein and almost anything by Piers Anthony, but especially Macroscope for books with strong, intelligent, and still TERRIBLY WRITTEN female characters. 

 

Most of Heinlein's work, while not expressly feminist, features unconventional family/social structures and some fairly strong (for the 50s and 60s) female characters.

[Raxie]

Ilium and Olympos, by Dan Simmons came to mind. I am hesitant to give away any spoilers, but there are some very important female characters, as well as morovecs (android/robot type characters). Plus it combines terraforming, quantum mechanics, Greek mythology, and several Shakespeare references. Not high-brow indeed

 

<3 <3 Dan Simmons.

 

I doubly recommend these.  Also his Hyperion series is amazing as well, and a little easier to follow when you're first getting into his writing style.

[mgage]

<3 <3 Dan Simmons.

 

I doubly recommend these.  Also his Hyperion series is amazing as well, and a little easier to follow when you're first getting into his writing style.

 

I liked Simmons too and he has a very important female character in the latter two hyperion books.

[Delerey09]

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin. Amazingly gorgeous novel. Classic. The protagonist is make but the whole thing is wrought with interesting gender issues.