Female Fantasy Fiction Authors
Discover the best female fantasy fiction authors and their iconic books, from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea and Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. Explore magical tales by Mercedes Lackey, Tamora Pierce, Anne Bishop, and more in this curated guide to women writers who shaped fantasy, science fiction, and juvenile fiction—perfect for fans of strong heroines, epic worlds, and timeless magic.
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The Mists of Avalon
by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The magical saga of the women behind King Arthur's throne. “A monumental reimagining of the Arthurian legends . . . reading it is a deeply moving and at times uncanny experience. . . . An impressive achievement.”—The New York Times Book Review In Marion Zimmer Bradley's masterpiece, we see the tumult and adventures of Camelot's court through the eyes of the women who bolstered the king's rise and schemed for his fall. From their childhoods through the ultimate fulfillment of their destinies, we follow these women and the diverse cast of characters that surrounds them as the great Arthurian epic unfolds stunningly before us. As Morgaine and Gwenhwyfar struggle for control over the fate of Arthur's kingdom, as the Knights of the Round Table take on their infamous quest, as Merlin and Viviane wield their magics for the future of Old Britain, the Isle of Avalon slips further into the impenetrable mists of memory, until the fissure between old and new worlds' and old and new religions' claims its most famous victim.
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Dreamsnake
by Vonda N. McIntyre
Back in print, McIntyre's tender and compassionate adventure story--a Hugo and Nebula Award-winner and a New York Times bestseller. In a far-future, post-holocaust Earth, a young healer named Snake travels the world, healing the sick and injured with her companion, the alien dreamsnake. But she is being pursued. . . .
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Moon-flash
by Patricia A. McKillip
These two classic novels by McKillip--originally published as "Moon-Flash" and "The Moon and the Face"--are back in print, bound together in this omnibus volume.
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Crossover
by Claudia Newcorn (D.)
Crossover follows Danai and her friends as they confront the rites, their own fears and beliefs, and archaic traditions in their quest for their wings. Ice dragons, fire demons, and their highest Loremaster stand in their way. From the whip-crack of the Hunted Rite, through the final gut-wrenching Rite of Krisálys, they are determined to succeed--or die trying.
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
by J. K. Rowling
At a time when the forces of evil seem to be gaining the upper hand, Harry comes of age in the wizarding world, and must take on and defeat Voldemort--or be killed himself.
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The Crystal Cave
by Mary Stewart
Born the bastard son of a Welsh princess, Myridden Emrys -- or as he would later be known, Merlin -- leads a perilous childhood, haunted by portents and visions. But destiny has great plans for this no-man's-son, taking him from prophesying before the High King Vortigern to the crowning of Uther Pendragon . . . and the conception of Arthur -- king for once and always.
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Dragon Magic
by Andre Norton
A Hidden Treasure Sig, Artie, Kim, and Ras live in the same neighborhood and go to the same school, but they have nothing in common...until each of them sneaks into the old abandoned house on the corner and discovers the strange puzzle box covered with pictures of four dragons. Drawn by powerful magic, the boys find themselves bound together by a mystery that will transform them all--and transport them into worlds that are populated by heroes and dragons of lore....
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A Wizard of Earthsea
by Ursula K. Le Guin
A boy grows to manhood while attempting to subdue the evil he unleashed on the world as an apprentice to the Master Wizard.
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Emerald Magic
by Andrew M. Greeley
A collection of fantasy tales based on the history, culture, legends, and lore of Ireland features contributions by Ray Bradbury, Tanith Lee, Peter Tremayne, Jane Yolen, Diane Duane, Judith Tarr, and Morgan Llywelyn.
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The Snow Queen
by Joan D. Vinge
An epic, Hugo Award-winning novel that draws upon the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Snow Queen.
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Ironside
by Holly Black
As the possessor of Roibin's true name, sixteen-year-old Kaye returns to Faeryland to try and complete a nearly-impossible quest that will release him from the spell of the faery queen who holds him in thrall.
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Behind Time
by Lynn Abbey
Emma Merrigan has only recently discovered her time travel powers, and she must venture into the wasteland to rescue her imperiled mother.
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New Moon
by Midori Snyder
After years of living in ignorance and fear under the rule of the Sileans, the people of Oran band together to support four girls with ancient powers who have escaped the Fire Queen's wrath.
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Lilith's Brood
by Octavia E. Butler
The acclaimed trilogy that comprises LILITH'S BROOD is multiple Hugo and Nebula award-winner Octavia E. Butler at her best. Presented for the first time in one volume, with an introduction by Joan Slonczewski, Ph.D., LILITH'S BROOD is a profoundly evocative, sensual -- and disturbing -- epic of human transformation. Lilith Iyapo is in the Andes, mourning the death of her family, when war destroys Earth. Centuries later, she is resurrected -- by miraculously powerful unearthly beings, the Oankali. Driven by an irresistible need to heal others, the Oankali are rescuing our dying planet by merging genetically with mankind. But Lilith and all humanity must now share the world with uncanny, unimaginably alien creatures: their own children. This is their story...
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The Mirador
by Sarah Monette
Wizard Felix Harrowgate returns to the Mirador, the citadel of power and wizardry, unaware that enemies from the Bastion, a rival school of wizards, plan to use him to destroy the Mirador, unless Felix's half-brother, Mildmay the Fox, can stop them.
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Smoke and Shadows
by Tanya Huff
Tanya Huff’s supernatural fantasy Smoke series, with a gothic twist • Mix of ghostly mystery, paranormal horror, and dark humor • Lamba Award nominated Fans of the X-Files and Twin Peaks will love acclaimed master of contemporary fantasy Tanya Huff’s twisted version of vampires, wizards, and TV terror. When Tony Foster relocated to Vancouver with his vampire Henry Fitzroy, he knew it was his chance to get his act together. In an example of art echoing life, Tony landed a job as production assistant for the syndicated TV show Darkest Night, a series about a vampire detective. And except for his unrequited crush on the show’s handsome costar, Lee Nicholas, Tony was pretty content. Until everything started to fall apart on the set. It began with shadows—shadows where they didn’t belong, that almost had an existence of their own. Tony tried to ignore it—until he found Nikki Waugh’s body, and felt the shadow’s touch, and a stunt crash went wrong for no discernible reason—and Tony knew that he had to find out what was threatening everyone on the set.
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Dragonhaven
by Robin McKinley
When Jake Mendoza, who lives in the Smokehill National Park where his father runs the Makepeace Institute of Integrated Dragon Studies, goes on his first solo overnight in the park, he finds an infant dragon whose mother has been killed by a poacher.
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Vengeance of Dragons
by Holly Lisle
As fugitive diplomat Kait Galweigh matches wits with megalomaniac Crispin Sabir for control of the Mirror of Souls, neither of them realizes that the mirror contains the vengeful spirits of long-dead sorcerers who once nearly destroyed the world.
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Wild Magic
by Tamora Pierce
Thirteen-year-old DaIne has always had a knack with animals, but it's not until she's forced to leave home that she realizes it's more than a knack -- it's magic. With this wild magic, not only can Daine speak to animals, but also she can make them obey her. Daine takes a job handling horses for the Queen's Riders, where she meets the master mage Numair and becomes his student. Under Numair's guidance, Daine explores the scope of her magic. But she begins to sense other beings too: immortals. These bloodthirsty monsters have been imprisoned in the Divine Realms for the past four hundred years, but now someone has broken the barrier. It's up to Daine and her friends to defend their world from an immortal attack.
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Inheritor
by C. J. Cherryh
The third novel in Cherryh’s Foreigner space opera series, a groundbreaking tale of first contact and its consequences… Six months have passed since the reappearance of the starship Phoenix—the same ship which brought a colony of humans to the hostile environment of alien atevi nearly two hundred years ago. During these six months, the atevi have reconfigured their fledgling space program in a bid to take their place in the heavens alongside humans. But the return of the Phoenix has added a frighteningly powerful third party to an already volatile situation, polarizing both human and atevi political factions, and making the possibility of all-out planetary war an even more likely threat. On the atevi mainland, human ambassador Bren Cameron, in a desperate attempt to maintain the peace, has arranged for one human representative from the Phoenix to take up residence with him in his apartments, and for another to be stationed on humanity's island enclave. Bren himself is unable to return home for fear of being arrested or assassinated by the powerful arch conservative element who wish to bar the atevi from space. Responsible for a terrified, overwhelmed young man, and desperately trying to keep abreast of the atevi associations, how can Bren possibly find a way to save two species from a three-sided conflict that no one can win?
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For a Few Demons More
by Kim Harrison
Rachel Morgan is a witch/bounty hunter based in the Hollows, the section of Cincinnati where supernatural beings live. She here must protect an artifact from all sorts of creatures while proving a werewolf friend innocent of serial murders.
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When Darkness Falls
by Mercedes Lackey
When Darkness Falls, the third book in The Obsidian Trilogy from Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory A great working of Wild Magic and High Magic strikes at the heart of the Demon Queen's plots, but the human city, the Golden City of the Bells, falls farther under her sway with each day that passes. And without the City's High Magicians, the Wild Magicians, the Elven Army, and all their allies will surely fall before the onslaught of the Demon Queen's malignant warriors. But all hope is not lost. The Light's young mages, tempered by war, grow ever more powerful. High Mage Cilarnen learns an ancient secret that can make him, for a brief, white-hot time, the greatest mage in the world--unless it kills him. Jermayan, the first Elf-Mage in centuries, has linked with the dragon Ancaladar and rediscovered the swift-as-thought powers of Elven magic, which can reshape mountains and summon lightning from clear skies. Knight-Mage Kellen has molded his troops and the Unicorn Knights into a deadly fighting force. Soon the Elven King and his Commanders put Kellen's magical gifts to their greatest test, in the final battle between the Elves, the humans, and the Demons.