Science fiction and fantasy offer writers the opportunity to look at our own world differently, to create entire worlds of their own, and to take contemporary values and transform them. Thus, in a world where many women are still struggling for equality, the genre allows women to come fully into their own, as authors create strong, believable women characters who either flaunt popular conventions about the roles appropriate to women, or live in a society where women have true equality.

In Women of War, sixteen remarkable writers have taken up the challenge of creating strong, well-rounded female protagonists, who are more than able to hold their own whether in space, on distant worlds, in our own future, or in fantasy realms where a civilization's fate may be balanced on the edge of a sword.