SF Women A-Z: Patty Jansen and Ripley Patton

Up to this point, I've used women's last names to sort them for this blogathon. However, when I thought of Patty Jansen, my instinct was to put her here with the Ps instead of with the Js. I already have a fair amount of Js and not so many Ps, so I can give her a little more space under this letter than I could for the Js.

I first learned of Patty Jansen through OWW (The Online Writing Workshop for Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror). We exchanged crits several times, though we never developed an outside friendship the way I have with some of my other crit partners. She's an Australian, has a background in agricultural science, and has had her short stories published in Analog. Her biography on Smashwords does mention publishers were unwilling to publish her hard SF because of her gender. Currently she's self-publishing, which is one way to get around that barrier. Learn more about her at her website and find her books (many of which are free) on Amazon.

Ripley Patton is another indie author I know through Broad Universe and through an interview she did for the Blog Ring of Power. She's been published in Alien Skin, founded SpecFicNZ, and won the Sir Julius Vogel award for her short fiction. I've read and enjoyed her YA PSS series, which is about teens who have "ghost" body parts (the actual explanation is more scientific) that give them different abilities. She and her son recently started a list to promote discounted YA eBooks and are giving away a $20 Amazon giftcard to promote it. You can go here to enter. Learn more about Patton on her website and find her work on Amazon.

Feel free to list more women SF/F authors for this letter in the comments below.

Sir Julius Vogel