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2nd out of 107 books
—
48 voters
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
These 18 darkly complex short stories and novellas touch upon human nature and perception, metaphysics and epistemology, and gender and sexuality, foreshadowing a world in which biological tendencies bring about the downfall of humankind. Revisions from the author's notes are included, allowing a deeper view into her world and a better understanding of her work. The Nebula...more
Paperback, 508 pages
Published
November 1st 2004
by Tachyon Publications
(first published 1990)
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"Ahead lies only the irreversible long decline. For the first time we know there is nothing beyond ourselves."
when do you know that the book you've just read is one of your favorite books? that an author you've been reading is one of your favorite authors? probably a variety of factors come into play. for me, the love affair often begins when i realize that the author or book has a few specific attributes: genuine compassion and empathy for human beings combined with a dark and despairing view o...more
when do you know that the book you've just read is one of your favorite books? that an author you've been reading is one of your favorite authors? probably a variety of factors come into play. for me, the love affair often begins when i realize that the author or book has a few specific attributes: genuine compassion and empathy for human beings combined with a dark and despairing view o...more
i borrowed her smoke rose up forever from my mother. i saved her from it, so it wouldn't distract her from the bar, the horrible, horrible hurdle baby lawyers have to throw themselves over. and now that i've returned it, i feel i must go purchase a copy, so i can share a little tiptree with everybody.
except it isn't really by james tiptree jr. at all. that's the pen name of alice bradley sheldon. and i have to say, i have no idea how she pulled this off. the stories are sparkling and poetic but...more
except it isn't really by james tiptree jr. at all. that's the pen name of alice bradley sheldon. and i have to say, i have no idea how she pulled this off. the stories are sparkling and poetic but...more
10 likes · like · see review
I'm reading this a story or two a month as part of the Women of SF 2011 Book Club, so it'll be sitting here in "currently reading" for most of the year. I'll try to add a few comments on the stories as I read them, but I can't make any promises.
10 September, 2012: I’m officially giving up on James Tiptree Jr’s Her Smoke Rose Up Forever. This is not because it’s a bad book, but because at this point in my life I simply can’t take the depressing-ness of it. I’m going to put it away on the bookcase...more
10 September, 2012: I’m officially giving up on James Tiptree Jr’s Her Smoke Rose Up Forever. This is not because it’s a bad book, but because at this point in my life I simply can’t take the depressing-ness of it. I’m going to put it away on the bookcase...more
1 like · like · see review
This is a compilation of short stories written under Alice Bradley Sheldon's pseudonym, James Tiptree Jr. The writing is "convincingly masculine"; if I didn't know Tiptree was a pseudonym, I never would have guessed the author was female, though that probably has more to do with socialized gender stereotypes than anything else.
Favorites in this compilation include: "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" (winner of the Hugo award), "The Screwfly Solution" (winner of the Nebula award), and "We Who Stol...more
Favorites in this compilation include: "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" (winner of the Hugo award), "The Screwfly Solution" (winner of the Nebula award), and "We Who Stol...more
"Over uncounted eons the mortal substance strives, outreaches. Death-driven, it flees ever more swiftly before its Enemy until it runs, leaps, soars, into flashing light. But it cannot outrace the fire in its flesh, for the limbs that bear it are Death, and Death is the wing it flies on. In the agony of its myriad members, victorious and dying, Life drives upon the indifferent air . . ." (from She Waits For All Men Born)
Brilliant language, imagination, ideas, nothing slighted. Each story as comp...more
Brilliant language, imagination, ideas, nothing slighted. Each story as comp...more
John Clute said, “I felt that simply to read a Tiptree story was to yank it, bleeding, from its dark home.”
Tiptree herself said one of her pieces was “screaming from the heart.”
I had these two sentences up on the screen all day, and I finally realized I wasn’t reviewing because I was hoping they would give me perspective, a master key to this book so I could talk about it as a whole. Respond to the chorus these stories are. But I can’t yet. So the disconnected things I do have:
Thematically, you...more
Tiptree herself said one of her pieces was “screaming from the heart.”
I had these two sentences up on the screen all day, and I finally realized I wasn’t reviewing because I was hoping they would give me perspective, a master key to this book so I could talk about it as a whole. Respond to the chorus these stories are. But I can’t yet. So the disconnected things I do have:
Thematically, you...more
10 likes · like · see review
Pros: Her Smoke Rose Up Forever is a collection of short stories and novellas, but I had very different reactions to many of them. The better of them are character-focused and Tiptree/Sheldon lets her gift of description and drama run free. When this is happening, the story can be truly enthralling -- staggeringly so. Also, these stories are generally about big ideas, so there are quite a few that held my interest on the merit of the core concept in play.
Cons: In total, about 1/6 stories were br...more
Cons: In total, about 1/6 stories were br...more
I'll probably come back and review this collection more thoroughly later, if (when) I read the whole thing again.
For now, I'll just say that there's a part of me that needed this book so badly. It's the part that makes my heartrate speed up when I read the text of Andrea Dworkin's speech I Want a Twenty-Four-Hour Truce During Which There Is No Rape; the part of me that considers all of the patriarchal condescension, the misogynist hostility, the sexual assaults that I have experienced or witness...more
For now, I'll just say that there's a part of me that needed this book so badly. It's the part that makes my heartrate speed up when I read the text of Andrea Dworkin's speech I Want a Twenty-Four-Hour Truce During Which There Is No Rape; the part of me that considers all of the patriarchal condescension, the misogynist hostility, the sexual assaults that I have experienced or witness...more
I admit I cannot see clearly into the hearts and minds of all whom I encounter, and I recognize the possibility that I am merely naive, but nonetheless I still am convinced that at least some, if not many, of the many men I know are neither secretly, nor just about to become given the slightest opportunity, rapists. Similarly, I'd also like to believe that even consensual sex does not have to be so enraptured with power and dominance. Perhaps that means we have made progress since the 70s, or pe...more
This is the definitive collection of Tiptree short stories. Chronologically, it covers from the time her stories started showing up in the pulp mags, until well after the identity behind the pseudonym became known. Obviously, the collection includes "Houston, Houston Do You Read...?", "The Women Men Don't See" (Tiptree's best short story), and the eponymous "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever". The Tachyon edition, pictured here, has a very good introduction by Neil Gaiman. HOWEVER, the Arkham and SFBC c...more
James Tiptree Jr. wrote short stories like a goddamned ninja. Each of these well-selected pieces feel perfectly machined, a clockwork of unknowable complexity and beauty. There is humor, sadness, and stunning beauty here, as well as moments of utter darkness, Tipree has stared into the void, and it permeates her worldview and her voice.
Read most of these stories in high school (I think) and they totally wowed me. This collection seems to include most of AliceSheldon's short fiction, writing as James Tiptree Jr (I don't think she wrote any novels, just stories and novellas) and it's a mixed bag upon second perusal.
The ones that stand out are "The Man Who Walked Home," "The Screwfly Solution" (though more for the idea that the execution), "Houston, Houston, Do You Read," "I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side" and th...more
The ones that stand out are "The Man Who Walked Home," "The Screwfly Solution" (though more for the idea that the execution), "Houston, Houston, Do You Read," "I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side" and th...more
If I were to make a list of the most disturbing stories ever written, much of this collection (The Screwfly Solution, The Women Men Don't See, The Last Flight of Dr. Ain, & more) would be on it, up with Slaughterhouse-Five, Catch-22, Doomsday Book, and The Haunting of Hill House. It also contains one of the great love stories of all time, The Girl Who Was Plugged In.
Oct 25, 2011
Sarah Beth
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
short-stories,
science-fiction
I didn't know there was such a thing as a feminist sci-fi writer. Some of these are crazy good and some are crazy bad. They leave you with a great sense of appreciation for Tiptree's (AKA Sheldon) wildly rampant, lonely imagination.
The apocalyptic return to eden and the dance of eros and thanatos are the key themes of James Triptree jr./Raccoona Sheldon/Alice Sheldon so probably not beach reading, yet brilliant nonetheless.
The Screwfly Solution: 4.5/5
Good--if depressing--story about the futility of fighting against nature and powers beyond your control, with a decent amount to say about gender roles on top of it.
The Girl Who Was Plugged In: 3.5/5
The style made it a little difficult to follow--it seemed stilted--but overall a quick, interesting story. Like an even more depressing Philip K. Dick.
Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death: 4/5
Interesting, but it started to get a little grating after a while.
Houston, Houston...more
Good--if depressing--story about the futility of fighting against nature and powers beyond your control, with a decent amount to say about gender roles on top of it.
The Girl Who Was Plugged In: 3.5/5
The style made it a little difficult to follow--it seemed stilted--but overall a quick, interesting story. Like an even more depressing Philip K. Dick.
Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death: 4/5
Interesting, but it started to get a little grating after a while.
Houston, Houston...more
James Tiptree Jr.(AKA Alice Sheldon) was a woman writer who assumed a male pen name.Not surprisingly,gender is an important theme in this excellent collection of 18 short stories. "The Screwfly Solution" remains one of the most chilling stories I've ever read."Houston,Houston do you read ?" is another standout . "The Girl who was Plugged in" and "We who stole the Dream" are great examples of poignant sci-fi storytelling.Anyone who enjoyed this collection should check out "The Disappearance" by P...more
and this is already a best-before date, a cultural document, a missive from a time o so long ago when women had to be 'liberated'! we men are so much more enlightened now... though reading these now, it is hard to imagine how anybody could have thought she was a man. key to her stories, always, in some way, is sex. unlike a c clarke, for example, or most of her male contemporaries. sex is something only women sf writers write about. it is just too... icky, for most of her demographic. besides, a...more
Stories included:
The Last Flight of Doctor Ain
The Screwfly Solution
And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side
The Girl Who Was Plugged In
The Man Who Walked Home
And I Have Come Upon This Place by Lost Ways
The Women Men Don't See
Your Faces, O My Sisters! Your Faces Filled of Light!
Houston, Houston, Do You Read?
A Momentary Taste of Being
We Who Stole the Dream
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
Love Is the Plan the Plan is Death
On the Last Afternoon
She Waits for All Men Born
Slow Music
And So On, and S...more
The Last Flight of Doctor Ain
The Screwfly Solution
And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side
The Girl Who Was Plugged In
The Man Who Walked Home
And I Have Come Upon This Place by Lost Ways
The Women Men Don't See
Your Faces, O My Sisters! Your Faces Filled of Light!
Houston, Houston, Do You Read?
A Momentary Taste of Being
We Who Stole the Dream
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
Love Is the Plan the Plan is Death
On the Last Afternoon
She Waits for All Men Born
Slow Music
And So On, and S...more
Some of the most brilliant stories I've ever read. I have been awe-filled, transported, stimulated , challenged. Tiptree's tales begin like a barrage of puzzle-pieces, splinters, a hail of morphemes, but then rapidly coalesce into a sense that until now has been paradoxically "un-experienced" but unconsciously deeply "felt," part of the complex and numinous human machinery. My favorite tales, ones I'll cherish, are: "The Girl Who Was Plugged In," "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?," "With Delicate...more
The best in-print collection of this literary Sci-Fi writer. She writes about people in a way few modern writers ever approach and happens to set them in far off places in the future where human activity--would you believe it--has gotten us into new hot water. Don't be put off or overly enthusiastic about the claims made by the gender identity academics who've co-opted some of Tiptree's stories to illustrate their own pet ideas; these people dominate the Amazon reviews today and mistake their co...more
I can’t remember the last time I was so moved by fiction. Everything in this omnibus—especially A Momentary Taste of Being—gave me something to think about, but Love Is The Plan The Plan Is Death is so good it hurts. Tiptree writes a lot about death, desire, gender, instinct, and the environment; they’re all in this, from an alien perspective and in alien language that somehow makes it apply to human readers even more.
I sincerely hope there’s Tiptree/Feynman slash out there somewhere.
I sincerely hope there’s Tiptree/Feynman slash out there somewhere.
Science Fiction can't really be described as an overtly optimistic genre. In fact, it has the tendency to speculate on the worst possible scenarios often imagining the worst possible effect of technology, the deepest flaws of human character or bringing social problems out in their most horrible nature.
James Tiptree jr/Alice Sheldon certainly didn't let humanity get away easy. She combined scathing social commentary, concentrating especially on questions of gender, with an effective style. Stor...more
James Tiptree jr/Alice Sheldon certainly didn't let humanity get away easy. She combined scathing social commentary, concentrating especially on questions of gender, with an effective style. Stor...more
James Tiptree/Alice Sheldon was an amazing author that makes me want to heap descriptions with hyperbolic metaphor: "prose burning like a star" or "rage as quiet and inescapable as the tide". the short story was her master form, and this definitive collection is a must-read for any sci-fi aficionado, and for anyone even dabbling into feminist or gender-provocative ideas in fiction.
the stories here were like a bit of a bell curve for me - a few early ones were good but not great, and the last few...more
the stories here were like a bit of a bell curve for me - a few early ones were good but not great, and the last few...more
I love me some Tiptree. I have a star-struck crush on her, and often mention to friends that "I want to have sex with her brain"; I love her mind, and her voice that comes through her writing.
My introduction to the author came a year ago, when the Introduction to Science Fiction class had us buy this book, in order for us to read/study a selection of stories from it.
Her real name was Alice Sheldon, but she wrote under two pseudonyms, James Tipree Jr and Raccoona Sheldon, and her works are often...more
My introduction to the author came a year ago, when the Introduction to Science Fiction class had us buy this book, in order for us to read/study a selection of stories from it.
Her real name was Alice Sheldon, but she wrote under two pseudonyms, James Tipree Jr and Raccoona Sheldon, and her works are often...more
James Tiptree Jr. (pen name for Alice Sheldon) was a truly amazing writer. Her life - both public and internal - is fascinating in itself, but her collected fiction is a rare and precious legacy.
This particular collection of many of her short works is an impressive, daunting hunk of wordage. There are so many stories here and so many ideas within that one could spend a lifetime mulling them over. Unfortunately, my copy must be returned to the library for the enjoyment of a waiting patron, so I w...more
This particular collection of many of her short works is an impressive, daunting hunk of wordage. There are so many stories here and so many ideas within that one could spend a lifetime mulling them over. Unfortunately, my copy must be returned to the library for the enjoyment of a waiting patron, so I w...more
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i wanted to like this book better, because i found Tiptree's personal story (James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon) so incredibly moving. i am sure that i read Tiptree's stories at the time of their publication so many years ago. i am sure i was bowled over, then.
and, too, i have been listening to a Dickens audiobook, and just about everybody pales in comparison.
but i must say i found these stories a little creaky, a bit geriatric in their outlook. science fiction often doesn't...more
and, too, i have been listening to a Dickens audiobook, and just about everybody pales in comparison.
but i must say i found these stories a little creaky, a bit geriatric in their outlook. science fiction often doesn't...more
Mar 19, 2012
Sarah Pi
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
short-stories,
speculative-fiction
Not a light read. In story after story the author shows she is willing to put humankind up to the most unflattering of mirrors. If beauty or joy is found, it is fleeting. Still, it's easy to see why James Tiptree Jr. was so exciting to the SF establishment when "he" burst on the scene. There's something dangerous and intense about the prose, and a sort of gathering of confidence if you look at the stories in a roughly chronological order, from "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain" to "With Delicate Mad H...more
6 likes · like · see review
I'm not even a full quarter through these stories and I'm flabbergasted. The writing is quite challenging, but the payoff is so incredible. Already I've read one of the most unusual alien invasion concepts I've ever come across ("The Screwfly Solution"), I've also been subjected to a mind-bending idea for future advertising ("The Girl Who Was Plugged In") and a horrifying and beautiful time travel tale ("The Man Who Walked Home"). What a beautiful intellect was Alice's. Gone too soon, but I expe...more
1 like · like · see review
Jun 13, 2011
Emily O
added it
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Emily by:
Feminist Readers' Group
The first thing that struck me about this anthology was the quality of the writing. Sheldon has absolute mastery over the English language, and she displays it at every turn. Her descriptions are incredibly rich and detailed, and yet I didn't feel like the story was being bogged down. She somehow fit lush worlds full of sights and sounds right into the plot, never slowing down or forgetting her purpose. Her characters were mostly well rounded, with a few one-dimensional or token characters sprea...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| James Tiptree, Jr. | 5 | 25 | Jul 25, 2012 01:47pm |
"James Tiptree, Jr." was born Alice Bradley in Chicago in 1915. Her mother was the writer Mary Hastings Bradley; her father, Herbert, was a lawyer and explorer. Throughout her childhood she travelled with her parents, mostly to Africa, but also to India and Southeast Asia. Her early work was as an artist and art critic. During World War II she enlisted in the Army and became the first American fem...more
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“Nothing but the effects of dust and vapor in the thin skin of air whereupon she crawls wingless.”
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Oct 18, 2012 12:02pm
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