Maureen Chiquet

Men display less self-doubt and lead with what seems always like a sense of force and direction. We are not as familiar with women leaders, and so we question their skills. As women, we always need to work harder to prove our competence.

I've been inspired by Coco Chanel. She broke all the rules of her time when she was designing. She pretty much revolutionized the way that women dressed at the time, and in doing that, she modernized the way they looked because they could move more freely in their clothes.

The historical novelist has to consider what has actually happened, while the SF writer is dealing in possibilities, but they are both in the business of imagining a world unlike our own and yet connected to it.