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burritapal_1's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
Only stories rated three stars or above are included in my review.
The Glass Bottle Trick, Nalo Hopkinson, 4 stars
The Screwfly Solution, James Tiptree Jr, 4 stars
I think Alice Sheldon was a time traveler.
The Evening and the Morning and the Night, Octavia E Butler, 3 stars
"we carry as many as 50,000 different genes in each of the nuclei of our billions of cells. If one gene among the 50,000, the Huntington's gene, for instance, can so greatly change our lives - what can we do, what can we become -- then what are we?"
The Fall River Axe Murders, Angela Carter, 3 stars
(Lizzie Borden's story)
"if we have largely forgotten the physical discomfort of the itching, oppressive garments of the past and the corrosive effects of Perpetual physical discomfort on the nerves, then we have mercifully forgotten, too, the smells of the past, the domestic odors - ill-washed flesh; infrequently changed underwear; chamber pots; slop-pails; inadequately plumbed privies; rotting food; unattended teeth; and the streets are no fresher than indoors, the omnipresent acridity of horse piss and dung, drains, sudden stench of old death from butchers' shops, the amniotic horror of the fishmonger.
You would drench your handkerchief with cologne and press it to your nose. You would Splash yourself with parma violet so that the reek of fleshly Decay you always carry with you was overlaid by that of the embalming parlor. You would abhor the air you Breathed."
Love and Sex Among the Invertebrates, Pat Murphy, 3 stars
When It Changed, Joanna Russ, 3 stars
Heartbreaking story.
The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet, Vandana Singh, 4 stars
Gestella, Susan Palwick, 5 stars
ðŸ˜
Boys, Carol Emshweller, 4 stars
Stable Strategies for Middle Management, Eileen Gunn, 4 stars
" this was the opening that Tom was waiting for. 'that's what I wanted to talk to you about, Margaret.' He sat there hunched over in a relaxed way, like a mountain gorilla, unthreatened by natural enemies. 'I just talked to Harry Winthrop, and he said you were trying to suck his blood during a meeting on marketing strategy.' He paused for a moment to check my reaction, but the neutral expression was fixed on my face and I said nothing. His face changed to project disappointment. 'you know, when we noticed you were developing three distinct body segments, we had Great Hopes for you. But your actions just don't reflect the social and organizational development we expected.' "
Brilliant!
Sur, Ursula K. LeGuin, 4 stars
Didn't you know that a crew of women made it to the South Pole before Amundsen?
Fears, Pamela Sargent, 3 stars
"... 'a lot of those guys didn't really like girls all that much. They had places they'd go to get away from them, things they do together. Women didn't think the same way, didn't act the same -- they never did as much as men did.' He shaded his eyes for a moment. 'I don't know - sometimes one of those old men will tell you the world was gentler than, or prettier, but I don't know if that's true. Anyway, a lot of those women must have agreed with the men. Look what happened -- as soon as you had that pill that could make you sure you had a boy if you wanted, or a girl, most of them started having boys, so they must have thought, deep down, that boys were better.' "
tricapra's review
4.0
This one took me forever to get through. I picked it up imagining I'd breeze right through it. Feminist speculative fiction? No problem. But some of these stories were hard, and not in the way I'm accustomed to. There were a few misses here for me, but especially in the latter half, this collection is strong. It felt important.
11corvus11's review
4.0
Some of the stories in this are amazing, a lot of them are pretty good, and a few were boring or bad but that's too be expected with all anthologies.
sarabz's review
4.0
A delightful, dense, and engaging collection of stories. Although there were a couple of stories I didn't really like, I enjoyed the rest and adored a few. This collection feels different from the other feminist spec-fic/sff anthologies I've read - it leans more to the speculative fiction end of things but also just covers an amazing breadth of work in just one volume. I had read some of the stories before, but I was glad to read each of them again. And I discovered some freat authors I hadn't read before as well as amazing and new (to me) stories by authors I had already read. There is definitely a lot in here - a big bang for your book! I'm grateful to Jef Smith for conceiving of the collection and making it come to life. Miss you!
books_and_keys's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
one_womanarmy's review
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
rodneywilhite's review
5.0
Dnf for best possible reason: got so inspired I started writing and ran out of library renewals. I read about two thirds of it and will definitely return for the rest.
theduchess93's review
3.0
While a few of the stories were well-written and compelling, a number of the stories relied on ham-fisted, forced imagery and overdone tropes of the genre to illustrate tired, vague messages about patriarchal existence. However, it did introduce me to some new speculative authors, so for that I'll give it 3 stars instead of 2.
whatabetty's review
3.0
I mean, the title alone hooked me. Then I got to read rad scifi and horror etc all written by women from around the world and different times. This my shit.