Jeffro's Space Gaming Blog
Microgames, Monster Games, and Role Playing Games
WHY YOU NO HAVE APPENDIX N?!
Posted by on May 27, 2016
I woke up to find this in my Twitter feed this morning:
What a list, huh?
It has Marry Shelly’s Frankenstein, of course… but then it skips over all the great pulp writers as if they don’t rate at all. You can maybe forgive them for missing Margaret St. Clair, but… wow. No Norton? No Brackett? Seriously?!
To add insult to injury here, I can’t help but notice that the list includes the book that features this noteworthy passage:
He patted the thing he wore on his belt, a metal object like a deformed penis, and looked patronizingly at the unarmed woman. She gave the phallic object, which she knew was a weapon, a cold glance.
Really, though, what’s going on with this?
Is it purely political? Is it evidence of the Appendix N Generation Gap? You know, I’ve been slammed for acting like I’m rescuing these authors from obscurity. Well… are they genuinely obscure at this point? Or are they being intentionally excluded from the media because they are inconvenient to the narrative?
Either answer would suit me just fine, to tell you the truth.
I suppose you’ll just dismiss this as an irrelevant clickbait article or something. Hey, that’s great. So show me the people that actually get this stuff right. I mean… besides that ones writing for Cirsova now.
Jeffro's Space Gaming Blog 
I counted 78 out of the hundred that I have read books by, even if not always the specific works named. Of the list, I would say that they definitely missed several authors I would have subbed in , including Norton and Brackett. I was impressed to see Mary Shelley and Charlotte Perkins Gilman included, given Gilman’s checkered history in the field. I was surprised to see Nalini Singh’s book included, as I would call that series urban fantasy romance, with the emphasis on romance. Each book in that series has a new couple finding love. More thoughts later on the list and who they left out. And why some of the authors are totally awesome (and not just the usual suspects).
Tanith Lee is technically Appendix N as well (via Andrew J. Offutt), don’t forget.
Really interested in your take on this as my familiarity with sff diminishes rapidly starting with 1977. Heh.
Thanks for being interested in my thoughts. I always appreciated that in Brad Torgersen, before he got so pushed and angry. I still loved The Chaplain’s War, and thought it should have had a better reception than it did.
I feel internet famous.
Looking at that list…it has a lot of great books by great writers, but it also looks slapped together. I think it’s entirely possible the list creator didn’t realize any of those writers are women.
I like the comment to the effect of, “dude, what’s up with including James Tiptree!? This is supposed to be about the wimmenz!!!”