Bradley, Marion Zimmer, Darkover Landfall, Penguin Group, 1972.

The "Darkover" series begins when a Terran ship crashes on the planet of Darkover and alien cultures collide, throwing relations between worlds into deep turmoil.

Cherryh, C. J., Gate of Ivrel, Penguin Group, 1976.

This novel introduces Cherryh's seminal character Morgaine as a central feminist heroine in a novel that explores bizarre time-space gates left over from an extinct alien race.

Pierce, Tamora, Alanna: The First Adventure, Atheneum Books, 1983.

This is Pierce's first novel, and the one that introduces Alanna the Lioness. There has never been a female knight in the land of Tortall, so Alanna must hide her gender to train and become the warrior she knows she is meant to be. She is brilliant in battle, but must face discrimination and apprehension her male brothers-in-arms need not worry about.

Pierce, Tamora, Lioness Rampant, Atheneum Books, 1988.

The fourth book...