Indie author Ullrich discusses gender inequality in sf: Aliens Among Us

For its second annual Indie Ebook Awards (ow.ly/p2IT302ba8h), +Italic LJ -Italic is honoring five areas of fiction: romance, mystery, sf, fantasy, and YA. Indie authors and librarians judging this year's contest will be taking a closer look at the genre's complexities. Here, J.K. Ullrich, a 2015 award winner, writes about sf's troubling gender gap. She states, The first sf book I remember [reading] features a female engine mechanic, Lieutenant Lily, who "loves the big machines" and is the best shot on her spaceship's crew--she's also a frog. On my frequent library visits, I'd plunder the children's section for more silly space adventures like Jane Yolen's +Italic Commander Toad -Italic .