I was half expecting you'd suggest some Far East sci-fi, which I'd love to get acquainted with. On the GP's call for female authors, I'd add Joan Slonczewski,

I was half expecting you'd suggest some Far East sci-fi, which I'd love to get acquainted with. On the GP's call for female authors, I'd add Joan Slonczewski, who's also a microbiology book author and professor, and draws on that knowledge for her classic A Door Into Ocean which is also feminist sci-fi.