Thank you so very much to all of this year’s guests for the excellent essays that made April 2025 another amazing Women in SF&F Month! And thank you to everyone who shared their posts and helped spread the word about this year’s series. It is always very much appreciated!
This year’s series has ended, but I wanted to make sure there was a way to find all of the guest posts from 2025. This was the fourteenth annual Women in SF&F Month, which is dedicated to featuring some of the many women doing fantastic work in speculative fiction genres. Guest posts have included both discussions related to women in fantasy and/or science fiction and discussions related to an author’s work(s), experiences as a reader and/or writer, and creating stories, characters, and/or worlds.
You can browse through all the Women in SF&F Month 2025 guest posts here, or you can find a brief summary of each and its link below.
Women in SF&F Month 2025 Guest Posts
M. H. Ayinde — “The Allure of Lost Civilisations in SFF”
A Song of Legends Lost author M. H. Ayinde discussed her longtime fascination with lost civilisations, including some thoughts on examples from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Grandia, Castle in the Sky, and more.
Lindsey Byrd
The Sun Blessed Prince author Lindsey Byrd shared some thoughts on the “not like other girls” trope and discussed two major female characters in her epic fantasy novel: a child who sees herself as being different from other girls and a lady running a household.
Kamilah Cole — “Let Your Stories Age Like a Fine Wine, Ladies”
The Divine Traitors author Kamilah Cole shared about feeling like it was getting too late to achieve her dream of becoming a published author as she neared the end of her 20s.
Lucia Damisa — “Yes, Nigerian Girls Read And Write Fiction. No, It’s Not A Waste Of Time.”
A Desert of Bleeding Sand author Lucia Damisa wrote a response to some comments she receives as a Nigerian reader and writer.
Kate Elliott — “If This Can’t Make Me Cry Anymore: Thoughts on Writing and Quitting”
Crown of Stars author Kate Elliott discussed questioning whether or not to continue making art and shared how working on The Witch Roads reignited her love of writing after wondering if she should quit.
J. D. Evans — “In Defense of the Kind Character”
Mages of the Wheel author J. D. Evans wrote about the strength of kindness and the importance of characters with this trait.
T. Frohock — “The Women of Miserere”
Miserere: An Autumn Tale author T. Frohock shared about revising her debut novel, particularly how she approached strengthening its characterization and making it more gender balanced.
Sara Hashem — “Along for the Ride: A Head Worth Inhabiting”
The Scorched Throne author Sara Hashem discussed changing her approach to writing Sylvia, The Jasad Heir‘s protagonist, when she realized that trying to keep her “likable” was turning her into someone she didn’t understand.
Antonia Hodgson
The Raven Scholar author Antonia Hodgson shared about how revolutionary Kelley Armstrong’s Bitten and its female protagonist were when she acquired the novel for a publisher 25+ years ago.
Roanne Lau — “Crayon Trails: On Friendship, Grief, and an Unlikely Book Deal”
The Serpent Called Mercy author Roanne Lau discussed centering friendship in her debut novel and reflected on why she got a book deal during a time when romantasy is such a big industry trend.
Karin Lowachee — “Character and Worldbuilding in The Crowns of Ishia“
The Mountain Crown author Karin Lowachee shared about the web of ideas related to character, culture, dragons, and magic that went into her fantasy trilogy, including some inspirations like the philosophy of wu wei and North American frontier literature.
Linsey Miller — “A Descent into Kindness”
That Devil, Ambition author Linsey Miller wrote about kindness and some books (both her own and others) with characters who have this trait but show it through actions most would probably not consider to be morally good.
Pat Murphy — “The Power of Community”
The Falling Woman author Pat Murphy revealed how she managed to keep working on her novel The Adventures of Mary Darling for more than 20 years.
A. G. Slatter — “The Long and the Short of It”
The Crimson Road author A. G. Slatter shared her approach to writing stories of differing lengths: short, long, and somewhere in between.
Mia Tsai — “Conflict and Discrimination in Secondary Worlds”
The Memory Hunters author Mia Tsai discussed creating new settings without real-world prejudices and building the central conflict around access to information in her science fantasy novel.
