Why am I passionate about this?

I am a professor of English at the University of Florida, and an author of SF/F myself; I teach it both as a creative writer, and as a scholar of both American Literature and feminist thought. This is my subject and I am passionate about it, and I’ve been teaching SF/F, American literature of the 19th and 20th centuries for thirty years, so I know my topic well.


I wrote

Asteroidea

By Stephanie A. Smith,

Book cover of Asteroidea

What is my book about?

Asteroidea is about regeneration: personal, professional, cellular. As the novel opens, marine biologist Claire Holt is at a crossroads. Having…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Left Hand of Darkness

Stephanie A. Smith Why did I love this book?

Ursula K. Le Guin is a consummate master of storytelling and awe-inspiring imagination, surpassed by none other in SF/F. I love this book because of the prose because the world she built was so dense and wonderfully challenging and the characters, wholly unforgettable—every time I teach this book, the students are bowled over. Le Guin was my teacher, my mentor, my friend of thirty years and I never tire of her powerful voice, urging us all on to make the world a better place.

By Ursula K. Le Guin,

Why should I read it?

20 authors picked The Left Hand of Darkness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION-WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY DAVID MITCHELL AND A NEW AFTERWORD BY CHARLIE JANE ANDERS

Ursula K. Le Guin's groundbreaking work of science fiction-winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

A lone human ambassador is sent to the icebound planet of Winter, a world without sexual prejudice, where the inhabitants' gender is fluid. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the strange, intriguing culture he encounters...

Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an…


Book cover of The Exile Waiting

Stephanie A. Smith Why did I love this book?

Vonda N. McIntyre is an often over-looked science fiction and alternate history author whose prose is lush, whose imagination is daunting, and who was unfailingly generous to the fan community, and to the community of writers she knew and supported; she was also my teacher, my mentor and my friend of thirty years, and she knew how to make you laugh! Exile is back in print after being out of print, and it is a terrifyingly beautiful, thought-provoking read.

By Vonda N. McIntyre,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Exile Waiting as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Exile Waiting was the first novel by the Hugo and Nebula award-winning novelist Vonda N McIntyre, published in 1975. It introduces the world that McIntyre later made famous with her multi-award-winning Dreamsnake: a post-apocalyptic world in which Center, an enclosed domed city, is run by slave-owning families who control the planet's resources, and exile the dissidents.

It is an ordinary day. A transport arrives from off-world, piloted by two pseudosibs, a powerfully intelligent threat to Center's dominant families. A girl is punished for being in the wrong room under the gaze of the wrong person. A visiting stranger defends…


Book cover of Kindred

Stephanie A. Smith Why did I love this book?

Octavia E. Butler is now recognized as the ‘mother of afro-futurism’ and I think Kindred is possibly her best novel—taut, searing, heartfelt, Kindred makes the past of race-slavery startlingly present, and her protagonist must deal with some very difficult yet insightful issues as she time-travels from the 1970s to the 1830s. It also asks the reader to reconsider what it means to be family, as the protagonist, Dana is repeatedly confronted with a white ancestor she had previously not known about. My students always rave about this novel.

By Octavia E. Butler,

Why should I read it?

15 authors picked Kindred as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the New York Times bestselling author of Parable of the Sower and MacArthur “Genius” Grant, Nebula, and Hugo award winner

The visionary time-travel classic whose Black female hero is pulled through time to face the horrors of American slavery and explores the impacts of racism, sexism, and white supremacy then and now.

“I lost an arm on my last trip home. My left arm.”

Dana’s torment begins when she suddenly vanishes on her 26th birthday from California, 1976, and is dragged through time to antebellum Maryland to rescue a boy named Rufus, heir to a slaveowner’s plantation. She soon…


Book cover of The Female Man

Stephanie A. Smith Why did I love this book?

The Female Man gives the reader a slice of the 1970s up close and personal from the perspective of young women who don’t fit it, who don’t want to be used as an object, who both come from and see into a different way of life. A challenging read, but as one of my students said when you get finished, you have so much to talk about you could talk for days. Russ, too, is somewhat overlooked today, which is a shame because she was brilliant, funny, and angry, really, really angry and somehow, I appreciate the depth of that anger—and share it. Joanna was also a dedicated teacher/scholar and her book How to Suppress Women’s Writing still hits the nail on the head.

By Joanna Russ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Female Man as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A landmark book in the fields of science fiction and feminism.

Four women living in parallel worlds, each with a different gender landscape. When they begin to travel to each other's worlds each woman's preconceptions on gender and what it means to be a woman are challenged.

Acclaimed as one of the essential works of science fiction and an influence on William Gibson, THE FEMALE MAN takes a look at gender roles in society and remains a work of great power.


Book cover of A Wrinkle in Time

Stephanie A. Smith Why did I love this book?

I read this book as a child and have never forgotten it; it holds up well, the characters are utterly memorable, and the story still breaks my heart. About the nature of time and space and what love, friendship, courage, and morality are about, the novel is at once simple and profound, suspenseful, and thoughtful. It won all sorts of prizes for good reasons, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

By Madeleine L'Engle,

Why should I read it?

16 authors picked A Wrinkle in Time as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 10, 11, 12, and 13.

What is this book about?

Puffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child.

We can't take any credit for our talents. It's how we use them that counts.

When Charles and Meg Murry go searching through a 'wrinkle in time' for their lost father, they find themselves on an evil planet where all life is enslaved by a huge pulsating brain known as 'It'.

Meg, Charles and their friend Calvin embark on a cosmic journey helped by the funny and mysterious trio of guardian angels, Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who and Mrs Which. Together they must find the weapon that will defeat It.…


Explore my book 😀

Asteroidea

By Stephanie A. Smith,

Book cover of Asteroidea

What is my book about?

Asteroidea is about regeneration: personal, professional, cellular. As the novel opens, marine biologist Claire Holt is at a crossroads. Having spent her career experimenting on starfish, seastars or asteroidea, to transfer their regenerative capabilities to mammals, she’s grown depressed.

With her grants running dry, and her two daughters facing their own life changes, Claire feels defeated. To cope, she takes a journey back to her childhood home, only to discover several destabilizing facts about her past. As she tries to handle the resulting intergenerational and emotional fallout, a graduate student arrives at her lab with a newly discovered species of asteroidea. Juggling emotional and familial upheaval, as well as this fresh direction for her research challenges Claire to re-engage in both her work and in life.

Book cover of The Left Hand of Darkness
Book cover of The Exile Waiting
Book cover of Kindred

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Book cover of Beneath the Veil

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Why am I passionate about this?

Author Writer Theologian Reader Teacher

Martin's 3 favorite reads in 2024

What is my book about?

The Valor of Valhalla series by Martin Kearns is a pulse-pounding dark urban fantasy trilogy that fuses the raw power of Norse mythology with the grit of modern warfare. Set in a world where ancient gods and mythical creatures clash with secret military organizations and rogue heroes, the series follows a band of unseeming heroes who are bound to an ancient prophecy. As they navigate a dangerous web of deceit, sacrifice, and violent combat, they must confront not only their own demons but also the growing threat of Ragnarök—the Norse apocalypse.

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Beneath the Veil

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What is this book about?

In a battle between two ancient evils, can one naïve young man become the last hope against powerful creatures of legend?

David Dolan thinks he's already got the world figured out. But when a collapsed bridge plunges him into the icy Hudson, he's pulled deep into the deadly realm that exists between life and death. And with his earthly form trapped in a coma, he's vulnerable to the horde of demons hell-bent on his utter destruction.

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