Once upon a time, there was a reviewer with a simple dream: to list every woman who wrote speculative fiction in English and debuted in the 1980s, then discuss those authors with whose work he was familiar. (Editor’s note: Please, please read the footnote, which delineates the precise scope of this article.) He found there was an unanticipated problem: grouping authors by the first letter of their surname could result in sets of authors too large to discuss in one essay. (This was true for only some letters; at least one set, the authors whose surname started with X, contained only one author—Can Xue.)
Attempted solution: procrastinate. Perhaps results will arise as if by magic? After four and a half years of inactivity, it became clear that this would not work.
Epiphany: nothing says this project has to be tackled one letter at a time. In fact, there is another approach.…
Welcome to Dalkey to Devenport (Dal–Dev). [Note: previous installment of this series can be found here: Part I, Part II, and Part III].
Kara Dalkey’s debut was the 1985 story “The Hands of the Artist,” which was included in the first of the Liavek shared universe anthologies (titled simply Liavek). The story was followed in short order by her first novel, The Curse of Sagamore, a comic fantasy involving a magical monarchy whose designated heir is quite sensibly reluctant to be saddled with the crown and all that comes with it. Sixteen novels followed, along with enough short stories to fill a collection; if such a collection exists, I am unaware of it. With publication came accolades, in particular the 2003 Otherwise (then known as the Tiptree) for her novelette The Lady of the Ice Garden, which appeared in 2003’s Firebirds: An Anthology of Original Fantasy and Science Fiction, edited by Sharyn November.
Where to start my discussion of Dalkey? Well, there’s always the option of beginning at the beginning. As far as I can tell, the current ebook edition of Liavek does not include the Dalkey story, but used copies of the 1985 edition should be easy to find. An easier option might be to seek out 2021’s historical fantasy A Sword Named Sorrow. My favourite of her works is 2001’s Genpei, set during the clash between the Minamoto and Taira clans at the end of Japan’s Heian Period.
Pamela Dean debuted with her 1985 novel The Secret Country. This was followed almost immediately by her short story “The Green Cat,” in Liavek. Thus far she has published six fantasy novels, generally well-received, two of which (Tam Lin and The Dubious Hills) were nominees for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature.
Readers unfamiliar with Dean have several equally satisfactory options. Those who prefer short pieces can seek out Dean and Wrede’s 2015 Points of Departure: Liavek Stories. Those whose proclivities involve longer works could simply purchase all six of her fantasy novels. However, readers wanting a specific suggestion might consider 1994’s The Dubious Hills, featuring a community subject to an unusual geas constraining who can know what…
Camilla Decarnin (a penname for Karen Duff; she is also known as Mog) might be best remembered for her contributions to the vibrant field of slash fiction, as well as her involvement with the Otherwise Award (formerly the Tiptree). Decarnin died in 2010, but although death frequently is followed by an almost immediate evaporation of online resources, her slash fiction can still be found at the Garrett.
Fan fiction and slash fiction generally falls outside the specific scope of this series but Decarnin had at least one professional credit as co-editor, with Eric Garber and Lyn Paleo, of 1986’s Worlds Apart: An Anthology of Lesbian and Gay Science Fiction and Fantasy. Such anthologies were rare birds in those day; Worlds Apart offered a solid selection of SFF. Although long out of print, inexpensive used copies may be found on AbeBooks and other purveyors of used books.
Marie DesJardin debuted with 1980’s “Birth of a Wizard,” which appeared in Kim Mohan’s Dragontales (whose Michael Carroll cover inspires in at least one person an almost intolerable wave of nostalgia). Technical writing appears to have absorbed much DesJardin’s attention; nevertheless, she has a small but respectable body of work. Readers enjoyed her short fiction enough for her “Long Haul” to have won second place in the 2017 Analog Awards.
If any collection of DesJardin’s works exists, this fact is well hidden. Her sole novel, 1998’s For The Time Being, whose tale of abductees attempting to elude alien kidnappers takes on unexpected scope, does seem to be easily available as an audio book.
Emily Devenport debuted with 1987’s “Shade and the Elephant Man,” which appeared in Aboriginal Science Fiction, May–June 1987. In the decades since, Devenport has written at least a dozen novels (mainly as Devenport but also as Lee Hogan, Emily Hogan, and Maggy Thomas), as well as scribing a steady flow of short stories. 1991’s Shade was a finalist in the 1992 Locus Best First Novel category.
Logic suggests that a collection would be a fine place to start but as no such collection exists, readers might consider Medusa Uploaded, the first volume in the Medusa Cycle generation ship series. Medusa Uploaded protagonist Oichi, one of the lowest of the low in an unforgiving social hierarchy, sets out to inflict just vengeance on the upper classes, in the course of which she discovers there is much she does not know about her home.
There’s another reason my series stalled: a fanatical enthusiastic science fiction and fantasy reader might have been able to keep up with the entirety of the field until perhaps 1970, and much of it until 1980. However, after 1980 science fiction and fantasy expanded so much that no single person, no matter how obsessed devoted, could possibly keep up. I find myself with a very long list of women writers who debuted in the 1980s and a much shorter list of women who debuted in the 1980s whose work I have read. Thus, my List of Shame, a list of authors who would have been mentioned above had I read anything by them—if you’ve read any of the following authors, please feel free to suggest where someone new to them could start!
Jo Anna Dale was a poet, with whose work I am unfamiliar.
Annie Dalton is an author of young adult fiction I have yet to encounter.
Dorothy Davies appears to focus primarily on horror, with an impressive CV; I’ve read none of her works.
Geri Eileen Davis is a poet.
Diane de Avalle-Arce has written a number of short stories, most of which appeared in venues with which I am not familiar. 1992’s “Bats” was selected for Datlow and Windling’s The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Sixth Annual Collection, which I have owned since publication and am planning on reading any day now.
Donna Death seems to focus on humorous Lovecraftiana and might well be a pen name.
Cynthia DeFelice (not to be confused with Cynthia Felice) is perhaps the most noteworthy author of children’s fiction whose sibling was a Secretary of Defense. Her debut being well after I was in the target market, I’ve not read them.
Carol L. Dennis debuted in fantasy in the 1980s. Unfortunately, her novels were published by Quasar, whose distribution in Ontario was spotty. Someone must have liked them, as they are still in print. More books for Mount Tsundoku.
In the words of fanfiction author Musty181, four-time Hugo finalist, prolific book reviewer, and perennial Darwin Award nominee James Davis Nicoll “looks like a default mii with glasses.” His work has appeared in Interzone, Publishers Weekly and Romantic Times as well as on his own websites, James Nicoll Reviews (where he is assisted by editor Karen Lofstrom and web person Adrienne L. Travis) and the 2021 and 2022 Aurora Award finalist Young People Read Old SFF (where he is assisted by web person Adrienne L. Travis). His Patreon can be found here.
