etc.'s Recommended Literature & Assorted Media

A sampling of SF playing with gender in interesting ways

• The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) by Ursula K. Le Guin. See also her short stories set in the same setting: "Winter's King" and "Coming of Age in Karhide."
• Terra Ignota series (2016-2021) by Ada Palmer.
• The Unraveling (2021) by Benjamin Rosenbaum.
• Walking Practice / 보행 연습 (2022) by Dolki Min / 은행나무출판사.
• The Gods Themselves (1972) by Isaac Asimov.
• "I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter" (2020) by Isabel Fall.
• "Aye, and Gomorrah..." (1967) by Samuel R. Delany.

Some books with "old women" protagonists

Because they're rare, and interesting stories often emerge from them.

• The Hearing Trumpet (1974) by Leonora Carrington.
• Lolly Willowes; or The Loving Huntsman (1926) by Sylvia Townsend Warner.
• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead / Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych (2009) by Olga Tokarczuk.
• The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe (2016) by Kij Johnson.

Self-conscious narrators, narrator-reader relationship, texts-as-histories, etc.

• The Unraveling (2021) by Benjamin Rosenbaum.
• Earthseed (1993-1998-unfinished) by Octavia E. Butler
• The Northern Caves (2015) by nostalgebraist
• Terra Ignota series (2016-2021) by Ada Palmer.
• Walking Practice / 보행 연습 (2022) by Dolki Min / 은행나무출판사.
• Annihilation (2014) by Jeff Vandermeer
• Moby Dick (1851) by Herman Melville

Web Media

I've started all of these and recommend them based on what I've completed of them. The ones that I haven't finished--as much as is currently available of them as of time of writing this, in terms of the ongoing ones--are marked with an asterisk.

• The Northern Caves (2015) by nostalgebraist
• Modern Cannibals (2017) by bavitz
• *The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere (2019-) by Lurina
• 17776 (2017) by Jon Bois
• *corru.observer (2023-) by corru.works
• Fallen London, originally Echo Bazaar (2009-) by Failbetter Games
• *Homestuck (2009-16) by Hussie -- yes, I know
• *Kill Six Billion Demons (2013-) by Abbadon
• PREQUEL (2011-) by Kazerad
• All Night Laundry (2013-2021) by Lurina
• Surviving Romance / 살아남은 로맨스 (2021-23) by Lee Yone / 이연
• *Drugs and Wires (2015-) by Mary Safro / Cryo and Io Black
• *A Better Place (2015-20) by Harry Bogosian
• *The Property of Hate (2012-) by Sarah Jolley
• *Foreach (2022-) by Lumsel

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