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mxmlln's review
Read the first story "The evolutionary monstrosity" by Clare Winger Harris
ganoesparan115's review
3.0
Disclaimer: I only read the short stories within this anthology. I was not interested in the poetry, journalism articles, or editor pages (all of which were also written by female science fiction writers). As for the stories, they varied in quality, but were for the most part worth reading. Of the nine stories, my favorite was probably "Shambleau" by C. L. Moore.
Rating: 6/10
Rating: 6/10
hammard's review
4.0
An interesting look at the history of some of the women involved in the science fiction pulp magazines of the 1920s through to the 1940s.
As expected the largest section is on the prose writers, for which the most is known and the reprinted stories take up the most space. The choices of reprints I have to say were not among my favourites, although many of them were new to me so is always good to see a new selection from some writers I am already familiar with. I was also mildly disappointed that they chose not to reprint the picture of the original artwork for Shambleau in this edition as they talked in interviews how interesting the choices made were and would have given more justification for reprinting this already much anthologised story rather than something more obscure such as The Greater Glories or Miracle in Three Dimensions. However, Shambleau is still a good yarn and worth checking out.
The poets section was perhaps the most interesting for me. This was an area I knew the least about and the lives of the people that had contributed were among the most interesting. In particular I did not have any familiarity previously with Drake's poetry but they were extraordinarily beautiful and hold up incredibly well.
The journalism was another area I had little awareness of so it was great to be able to explore but it is an unfortunate reality that there was so little information we were able to learn about the women themselves. Also, with the exception of Hansen's rather interesting Scientific Mysteries column I found them mostly rather dry in contrast to how lively they were described. This, I think, however, was due to me not really having enough familiarity with the older style of science writing these were being compared to so this more comes from my lack of knowledge than a deficiency in this collection.
The editors section was definitely enlightening. Whilst I knew about McIlwraith and Gnaedinger (although not Lorraine) I had not read their editorials so was interesting to see their fan interaction. I felt occasionally they were stretching certain facts in order to put a more positive spin on some of their controversial choices but this is meant to be as much a celebration as an overview so I am willing to put this in.
The artists section I found to be one where I appreciated their conclusions but disagreed with them. For example I find it hard to read a largely unclothed women being threatened by a knife wielding scientist as a deconstruction of patriarchy. However, I always find it useful to see an alternative point of view on these issues.
Finally, Kathleen Ann Goonan's essay ties this all together by looking at how much has changed and how much has not since these early pioneers were writing.
Whilst is not the definitive collection on this topic it is a good overview and worth checking out by anyone who wants to know more about this history.
As expected the largest section is on the prose writers, for which the most is known and the reprinted stories take up the most space. The choices of reprints I have to say were not among my favourites, although many of them were new to me so is always good to see a new selection from some writers I am already familiar with. I was also mildly disappointed that they chose not to reprint the picture of the original artwork for Shambleau in this edition as they talked in interviews how interesting the choices made were and would have given more justification for reprinting this already much anthologised story rather than something more obscure such as The Greater Glories or Miracle in Three Dimensions. However, Shambleau is still a good yarn and worth checking out.
The poets section was perhaps the most interesting for me. This was an area I knew the least about and the lives of the people that had contributed were among the most interesting. In particular I did not have any familiarity previously with Drake's poetry but they were extraordinarily beautiful and hold up incredibly well.
The journalism was another area I had little awareness of so it was great to be able to explore but it is an unfortunate reality that there was so little information we were able to learn about the women themselves. Also, with the exception of Hansen's rather interesting Scientific Mysteries column I found them mostly rather dry in contrast to how lively they were described. This, I think, however, was due to me not really having enough familiarity with the older style of science writing these were being compared to so this more comes from my lack of knowledge than a deficiency in this collection.
The editors section was definitely enlightening. Whilst I knew about McIlwraith and Gnaedinger (although not Lorraine) I had not read their editorials so was interesting to see their fan interaction. I felt occasionally they were stretching certain facts in order to put a more positive spin on some of their controversial choices but this is meant to be as much a celebration as an overview so I am willing to put this in.
The artists section I found to be one where I appreciated their conclusions but disagreed with them. For example I find it hard to read a largely unclothed women being threatened by a knife wielding scientist as a deconstruction of patriarchy. However, I always find it useful to see an alternative point of view on these issues.
Finally, Kathleen Ann Goonan's essay ties this all together by looking at how much has changed and how much has not since these early pioneers were writing.
Whilst is not the definitive collection on this topic it is a good overview and worth checking out by anyone who wants to know more about this history.
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