Fittingly enough for Saint David’s Day, the daffodils are peaking their little yellow trumpets out of the fields, which is as sure a sign of spring’s arrival as any we’re likely to got. I’m still elbow deep (and sometimes further) into the lambing season, but with a long month ahead, I’m hoping to get equally stuck into my looming TBR.

March is also Women’s History Month, so my TBR plans are to fulfil the promise I made to a full room at World FantasyCon and dedicate my month to reading science fiction by female authors. In general, I remain unconvinced by the idea purchasing books based on the author rather than the book’s contents, but I’m always up for a good challenge and a little bit of experimentation. This month will hopefully go some way to addressing the gender imbalance on my shelves and proving that, despite what some internet grumblers might say, women can and do write excellent works of science fiction.

I’m kicking the month off with Pamela Sargent’s anthology of female authored sci fi, Women of Wonder: The Contemporary Years, with the caveat that ‘contemporary in this case means the 1970s-1990s. This means I’ll finally be reading some CJ Cherryh, and there are a whole lot of authors in here that are brand new to me.

Also new to me are some novels for the month. the Boundary’s Edge Book Club will be reading Sheri S. Tepper’s Grass, and I’ll also be tackling Kristine Smith, Simon Lang, and Mary Robinette Kowal. I’m particularly excited by the latter, which dovetails nicely into one of my favourite TV shows which is also coming out this month. More on that in a bit.

Some of the TBR is slightly more familiar. I’ve got three (count ’em three) more StarDoc novels by S. L. Viehl, Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie, Rose/House by Arkady Martine, and – most excitingly of all – Hao Jingfang’s Jumpnauts. Martine and Hao are two of my favourite debut authors of recent years, so it’s great to finally have more of their work in my hands.

I’m also hoping to get back into Star Trek novels, which naturally leads me down the Una McCormack rabbit hole and books from both the Picard and Strange New Worlds time periods. Honestly, it’s more books than I’m likely to read during a single month, but I am nothing if not overly ambitious.

At the end of the month I will hopefully have compiled a nice ranked list of all the female science fiction authors in my collection, and I hope you stick around to uncover the results alongside me.

Dates for your Diary

March is a release-heavy month for books, music and TV, so let’s get straight into it.

13/03 – Angus McSix and the All-Seeing Astral Eye – With a band that’s almost entirely rebuilt since their debut album, the most brilliantly stupid group in power metal are back for a second outing. I’m a big fan of Sam Ryman’s vocals so far, and there are some impressive gust stars, so I’m looking forward to the full release.

20/03 – Project Hail Mary – The big screen adaptation of Andy Weir’s bestselling hit sees Ryan Gosling taking on the lead role alongside a whole lot of CGI and practical effects. I’ll probably have to wait for the DVD/streaming release for this, but I’m sure it’ll be good, and will be interested to see how they handle all those flashbacks.

24/03 – Planetside #5: Blindside, by Michael Mammay – I still haven’t read Darkside, but this mystery/military SF series is one I have very fond feelings for, and a new release is a near sure-fire way to make me start playing catch-up with the existing books.

26/03 – Children of Time #4: Children of Strife, by Adrian Tchaikovsky – A new Tchaikovsky is always something to be celebrated, and a new Children novel even more so. I’ve barely looked into this, though have learned of the involvement of a mantis shrimp, but Tchaikovsky has my full confidence.

27/03 – For All Mankind (season 5) – AppleTV+’s alternative history series brings us to 2012, with increased nationalism on Earth and a fight for Martian independence, plus Joel Kinnaman in an increasing amount of old man makeup. The run so far has been just about perfect, and I for one cannot wait to get stuck into the new series.

As always, if there’s something I’ve overlooked or that you think should be on my radar, let me know about it in the comments.