Jeff VanderMeer, who was recently named Assistant Director of Wofford College’s Shared Worlds Creative Writing Program writes on his Ecstatic Days blog “most of the short fiction I’ve read recently that I’ve been most passionate about has come from female writers.” He’s posted a list of the “newish or under-appreciated short fiction” fantasy writers he’s most excited about these days which include:
Kelly Barnhill – romantic use of language in the best sense without being melodramatic, with a sharp and deep imagination behind it all.
Aimee Bender – sometimes formally experimental, always mischievous and curious
Kate Bernheimer – renovator of fairy tales, not afraid to get into uncomfortable places
Judy Budnitz – more removed at times, which allows her the distance to create an interesting space between situation and character; unique worldview
L. Timmel Duchamp – openly and bravely political, not afraid to play with form and structure, and should already be more widely known
Julia Elliott – skirts the edge of fantasy often, creating characters wherein the world is seen as fantastical through their eyes; a master of extended fantastical metaphor
Kelly Eskridge – dreamlike at times, sharp as nails at others, with a nice variety of approaches
Photo: Cover art to Tin House: Fantastic Women volume, guest-edited by Rick Moody
Chek out Jeff’s Blog for the rest of the list of writers to keep an eye out for.