Have you ever heard of Connie Willis? She's a science fiction author who lives in Greeley Colorado, and she's won more Nebulas and Hugos than any other author ever, in every category, from short stories to novellas, to full length novels! It's gotten to the place where some authors have said she should remove her name from consideration so that someone else can win, which makes no sense to me; what good is an award with an asterisk to say that you wouldn't have won it if the best story hadn't been taken out of the competition? But, yes, Connie is that good.
Many years ago she was on a panel of female authors at a science fiction convention, and the other authors on the panel started getting on her case because she didn't write enough about Women's Issues (as if she didn't do more for women's issues just by winning all those awards in her own name than every "Women's Issue" story ever written).
Well, Connie always says you should never write when you're angry, and somehow she always breaks this rule, and she generally wins another award as a result. This time when she got angry she said to herself, "So they want women's issues, do they? Fine, I'll give them women's issues! I'll write a story about the women's issue!" and wrote a hilarious story about menstruation. It's named "Even the Queen," and it was originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, with a warning at the top that some people might find it offensive. (I found the warning offensive, but then, we all know I'm a bit strange.) It won the 1993 Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards for best short story, and you can find it in two collections that I know of: Even the Queen & Other Short Stories, by Connie Willis, and Impossible Things, by Connie Willis. Highly recommended.
Margret
Many years ago she was on a panel of female authors at a science fiction convention, and the other authors on the panel started getting on her case because she didn't write enough about Women's Issues (as if she didn't do more for women's issues just by winning all those awards in her own name than every "Women's Issue" story ever written).
Well, Connie always says you should never write when you're angry, and somehow she always breaks this rule, and she generally wins another award as a result. This time when she got angry she said to herself, "So they want women's issues, do they? Fine, I'll give them women's issues! I'll write a story about the women's issue!" and wrote a hilarious story about menstruation. It's named "Even the Queen," and it was originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, with a warning at the top that some people might find it offensive. (I found the warning offensive, but then, we all know I'm a bit strange.) It won the 1993 Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards for best short story, and you can find it in two collections that I know of: Even the Queen & Other Short Stories, by Connie Willis, and Impossible Things, by Connie Willis. Highly recommended.
Margret
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