Newsletter:
Forests In Her Mind
Every two weeks, author Sam Wilket recommends a stellar, woman-authored sci-fi, fantasy, or horror story.
Plus, you’ll be the first to hear updates on her own writing projects.
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What does “Forests in Her Mind” mean?
The title of my newsletter, Forests in Her Mind, was inspired by this quote from Ursula K. Le Guin: “We all have forests in our minds.”
The quote appears in her short story collection The Wind’s Twelve Quarters, in her preface to the story “Vaster Than Empires and More Slow.”
Who’s this newsletter for?
If you want to be the first to hear updates about my writing, this is the place to be!
If you love speculative fiction and want to read more by women writers, but get overwhelmed by long “best book” lists or walls of text in your inbox, Forests in Her Mind is for you.
Whose writing do you feature?
I recommend stories by women: adult humans whose subconscious sex is female, which includes both cis and trans women.
Many thanks to Paul John Poles for this definition of women, and introducing me to Julia Serano and her concept of subconscious sex. Any mistakes are mine alone.
Why focus on women writers?
Many of the stories I grew up loving, which also formed the foundation for what I saw as ‘good’ sci-fi/fantasy/horror, were written by men.
Several years ago, I started making an effort to read more stories by people whose lived experience was closer to mine: namely women, and especially racialized and mixed-race women. I haven’t stopped since!
I’ve read so many incredible stories and I’m continually evolving as a reader, writer, and human as a result. I’ve also met many folks on similar reading journeys and I love swapping recommendations, so I created this newsletter in the hopes of expanding that community.
What about non-binary writers?
Non-binary folks are often grouped with women, but I decided not to do that in my newsletter.
It’s critical to lift up both women and non-binary people, but these are also two very different communities with distinct lived experiences and different needs from their safe spaces.
I chose to focus on women writers because, as a cis woman, I share many lived experiences and communities with other women. I don’t want to lump non-binary people in with a binary gender, or assume all non-binary folks would be comfortable being grouped with women.
That said, I absolutely DO want to support non-binary writers! If you’re a non-binary author of a sci-fi/fantasy/horror story you’d like me to consider featuring in Forests In Her Mind or if you’re doing something to highlight non-binary speculative fiction writers, please let me know!
My deepest gratitude to Quinn Crossley, Rain of We Belong Outside, Naseem Jamnia, and the r/NonBinary community for your writing on this topic, which has been fundamental to my ongoing learning. Any mistakes are mine alone.