Old Women in SF—the List

by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley

When we think about women in speculative fiction, it seems to be fantasy figures that quickly come to mind: Lady Olenna, the Queen of Thorns, Professor McGonnagal and Sir Terry Pratchett’s wonderful witches. When it comes to science fiction, however, the landscape seems to change. The traditional roles for old women in fiction, the wise old crone, the meddling mother, the crazy cat lady, and the retired sleuth don’t appear in our science fiction novels in the same way. I have spent the last year searching for old women in major roles in science fiction novels and I can tell you, it isn’t as easy as it seems. So far I have discovered just thirty-six examples over a period spanning one hundred years.

I wrote an article for Nature Magazine about the project, Space Aging: Why Sci-fi Novels Shun the Badass Older Woman, which talks a bit about my findings and lists just a few of the thirty-six books.

Since then, I’ve been inundated with messages pointing out that the article does not mention Remnant Population nor The Expanse series, both of which have wonderful old women in major roles… and both of which are on my list. I’m very excited that the SFWA has offered to published my list of the thirty-six books to highlight those fantastic old women who steal the show in science fiction novels.

Atherton, Gertrude (1923) Black Oxen Banks, Iain M (1994) Feersum Endjinn Bear, Elizabeth (2004) Hammered Bryant, Samantha (2019) Going Through the Change Bujold, Lois McMaster (2015) Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen Chambers, Becky (2018) Record of a Spaceborn Few Cherryh, CJ (1981) Downbelow Station Corey, James (2013) Caliban’s War Elgin, Suzette Haden (1984) Native Tongue Gloss, Molly (1997) Dazzle of Day Hamilton, Peter F (2004) Pandora’s Star Hamilton, Peter F (2004) The Reality Dysfunction Heinlein, Robert A (1952) The Rolling Stones Holmqvist, Ninni (2009) The Unit Howey, Hugh (2014) Wool King, Stephen (1978) The Stand Liu Cixin (2006) Three Body Problem Marley, Louise (1999) The Terrorists of Irustan McDonald, Ian (2015) Luna: New Moon Miller, Sam J (2018) Blackfish City Mitchison, Naomi (1962) Memoirs of a Space Woman Moon, Elizabeth (1996) Remnant Population Nagata, Linda (2017) The Last Good Man Newitz, Annalee (2017) Autonomous Newman, Emma (2015) Planetfall Pratchett, Terry (1981) Strata Reynolds, Alastair (2005) Pushing Ice Russell, Mary Doria (1996) The Sparrow Sawyer, Robert J (2007) Rollback Scalzi, John (2005) Old Man’s War Starhawk (1993) The Fifth Sacred Thing Sterling, Bruce (1997) Holy Fire Tchaikovsky, Adrian (2015) The Children of Time Tepper, Sheri (1996) Gibbon’s Decline and Fall Wright, Helen (1990) A Matter of Oaths Yuknavitch, Lidia (2017) The Book of Joan

When I started this, I didn’t realize I was starting on a journey. I just wanted to see if old women existed, let alone had an impact on the story. The result has been an adventure. The resulting eclectic collection of books to read has been eye-opening, treating me to a broad range of themes and subgenres. There are many, many books here that I would never have picked up if it weren’t for this project. And it’s also re-introduced me to the pleasure of talking about books, something I hadn’t even realized has been missing from my life.

I’d love to hear about books you think should be included. You can sign up for my mailing list at https://intrigue.co.uk for the most up-to-date version of the list and maybes or just mail me at oldwoman@intrigue.co.uk to mention science fiction novels (in English) that you think I should look at.

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Sylvia Spruck Wrigley was born in Germany and spent her childhood in Los Angeles. She emigrated to Scotland where she guided German tourists around the Trossachs and searched for the supernatural. She now lives in Tallinn where she writes about plane crashes and Estonian air maidens, which have more in common than most people might imagine. Her fiction was nominated for a Nebula in 2014 and her short stories have been translated into over a dozen languages. Her first novella, The Borrowed Child, was published in 2015 by Tor.com and is available now at all good book stores. You can find out more about her at http://www.intrigue.co.uk/