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Star Songs of an Old Primate
A marvelous medley of Tiptree's best - YOUR HAPLOID HEART - When Ian Suitlov and Pax Patton landed on Esthaa to check for humans, the job wasn't as easy as it appeared. Though the natives seemed human enough, only cross breeding would be conclusive proof. But how were they to prove anything, when sex was punishable by death? THE PSYCHOLOGIST WHO WOULDN'T DO AWFUL THINGS TO RATS - Dr Tilly Lipsitz hated his name, loved his rats... and would be out of a job if he didn't come up with a real zinger of an experiment soon. He didn't have much in mind until he took a midnight trip to his lab and learned more than he would have thought possible. SHE WAITS FOR ALL MEN BORN - she had eyes that could not see, but without sight she had powers that went far beyond those of all who came upon her.
Contents:
Your Haploid Heart (1969)
And So On, and So On (1971)
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever (1974)
A Momentary Taste of Being (1975)
Houston, Houston, Do You Read? (1976)
The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats (1976)
She Waits for All Men Born (1976)
Contents:
Your Haploid Heart (1969)
And So On, and So On (1971)
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever (1974)
A Momentary Taste of Being (1975)
Houston, Houston, Do You Read? (1976)
The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats (1976)
She Waits for All Men Born (1976)
276 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 12, 1979
11 people are currently reading
797 people want to read
About the author
James Tiptree Jr.
244 books588 followers"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 traveled 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 female photointelligence officer. In Germany after the war, she met and married her commanding officer, Huntington D. Sheldon. In the early 1950s, both Sheldons joined the then-new CIA; he made it his career, but she resigned in 1955, went back to college, and earned a Ph.D. in experimental psychology.
At about this same time, Alli Sheldon started writing science fiction. She wrote four stories and sent them off to four different science fiction magazines. She did not want to publish under her real name, because of her CIA and academic ties, and she intended to use a new pseudonym for each group of stories until some sold. They started selling immediately, and only the first pseudonym—"Tiptree" from a jar of jelly, "James" because she felt editors would be more receptive to a male writer, and "Jr." for fun—was needed. (A second pseudonym, "Raccoona Sheldon," came along later, so she could have a female persona.)
Tiptree quickly became one of the most respected writers in the field, winning the Hugo Award for The Girl Who was Plugged In and Houston, Houston, Do You Read?, and the Nebula Award for "Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death" and Houston, Houston. Raccoona won the Nebula for "The Screwfly Solution," and Tiptree won the World Fantasy Award for the collection Tales from the Quintana Roo.
The Tiptree fiction reflects Alli Sheldon's interests and concerns throughout her life: the alien among us (a role she portrayed in her childhood travels), the health of the planet, the quality of perception, the role of women, love, death, and humanity's place in a vast, cold universe. The Otherwise Award (formerly the Tiptree Award) has celebrated science fiction that "expands and explores gender roles" since 1991.
Alice Sheldon died in 1987 by her own hand. Writing in her first book about the suicide of Hart Crane, she said succinctly: "Poets extrapolate."
Julie Phillips wrote her biography, James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon
At about this same time, Alli Sheldon started writing science fiction. She wrote four stories and sent them off to four different science fiction magazines. She did not want to publish under her real name, because of her CIA and academic ties, and she intended to use a new pseudonym for each group of stories until some sold. They started selling immediately, and only the first pseudonym—"Tiptree" from a jar of jelly, "James" because she felt editors would be more receptive to a male writer, and "Jr." for fun—was needed. (A second pseudonym, "Raccoona Sheldon," came along later, so she could have a female persona.)
Tiptree quickly became one of the most respected writers in the field, winning the Hugo Award for The Girl Who was Plugged In and Houston, Houston, Do You Read?, and the Nebula Award for "Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death" and Houston, Houston. Raccoona won the Nebula for "The Screwfly Solution," and Tiptree won the World Fantasy Award for the collection Tales from the Quintana Roo.
The Tiptree fiction reflects Alli Sheldon's interests and concerns throughout her life: the alien among us (a role she portrayed in her childhood travels), the health of the planet, the quality of perception, the role of women, love, death, and humanity's place in a vast, cold universe. The Otherwise Award (formerly the Tiptree Award) has celebrated science fiction that "expands and explores gender roles" since 1991.
Alice Sheldon died in 1987 by her own hand. Writing in her first book about the suicide of Hart Crane, she said succinctly: "Poets extrapolate."
Julie Phillips wrote her biography, James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
July 4, 2021
James Tiptree Jr, or Alice Sheldon as she was known when publishing psychology papers instead of science fiction stories, is one of the best of an innovative era for the form, beginning to publish right at the cusp of the 60s and 70s. Whether originally intended or incidental, her choice of a male pseudonym allowed her uncommon approaches to questions of gender and identity, so that many of her short works simultaneously subtly satirize male literary gaze while gracefully exploring the changing gender politics of her time, with an insight that often extends past their occasional datedness and into ours. At the same time, she wrote with a great stylistic and conceptual fluidity, turning on a dime from imitation adventure tropes of her chosen form to modernist subjectivity and deep conceptual dislocation and expansion. Her stories, then, are some of the best SF can offer. Thoroughly thoughtful and usually experimental, often unabashedly embracing the sheer alienness and fantasy the form promises while exploring timely concerns, and never completely ignoring the essentially pulp entertainment that the form is built on (even if only to toy with it). This does not hold her back. She is non-literary by normal definition, too gleefully sci-fi for some, but much sharper than much of that morass of mediocrity that makes up all too much "literary fiction" today.
This was her third collection, 1978, but it draws from across her productive period up to that point, around two novellas that were also published separately. By story:
Your Haploid Heart (1969): A relatively earlier example and it shows in an action-forward compression that favors rapid plot development over elegance. The breathless pace works alright though, as there's a lot crammed into here: psychosexual hang-ups, what it means to be human, the consideration of genetic crossover if there are in fact other "human" populations in the universe, and reproductive strategies that exist on earth but are under-utilized by higher organisms.
And So On, And So On (1971): A slighter example. The subject here is the necessity of new frontiers to sustain intelligent life's development, and perhaps civilization's integrity, which makes it a short companion to Delaney's much greater expansion of these ideas in The Star Pit. By arranging it as, essentially, a chorus of voices by ambiguous speakers in a context that only appears by suggestion, Tiptree allows the themes and meanings to seep out upon the reader's awareness.
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever (1974): After those introductory pieces, we start to get into the meat of the collection. Here, emotional memory as flashes of disembodied light above a vast and devastated landscape. This is a great example of Tiptree's affinity for complex formal/thematic progression within a single story. Initially we seem to be in the deceptive vernacular Americana of a kind of Boy's Adventure Story, but this is quickly unsettled by fever-dream, high concept pseudo-science (not-so-fringe British parapsychologist Whately Carrington), social shifts, intimations of the final Ending that extends beyond the last page of many Tiptree stories, and something like tragedy in thematic and narrative dissection of human emotion. All in 20 pages. It's not for nothing that this story leant its title to the omnibus edition of her stories that came out after her death.
A Momentary Taste of Being (1975): As the longest, centerpiece novella here (at a full 100 pages, this could have been published as a stand-alone, honestly) I saved this one nearly for last. For that reason only, I'd been feeling that this collection was a bit weaker than Tiptree's others. But no, it's all here. Subtly developing a direly believable version of the space-colonization-is-the-only-way-out-for-an-overcrowded-earth plot, we see the best the human race has to offer pulled together in a last collective effort to find a new habitable world. And at the threshhold of success, we see the corrupting power of possibility, and the ways in which we can fall apart. But what is 'human'? Our selfish or sectionalist fallibility or our sometimes greater collective drive towards some great success or meaning? The answers, here, are not simple and are finely recalibrated throughout, only to take a completely original turn by the end. It's one of Tiptree's best, and essential sci-fi reading in general.
Houston, Houston, Do You Read? (1976): This was actually my original Tiptree introduction, as a stand-alone novella, with a Joanna Russ novella reading from the reverse end of the book. It's structurally and thematically a pretty straight-forward analysis of gender politics in the present and the implications of a post-male future world, related, perhaps, to Russ' The Female Man a couple years earlier, but in a less experimental format. Still, she uses psychotropic elements elegantly and conveys her concepts with effective economy.
The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats (1976): I used to work in animal behavior. In the spectrum of neuroscience lab jobs, I preferred behavior specifically because it allowed me to deal, usually, with living animals, and in the case of my work, healthy ones as well. So I can empathize with the protagonist here, who is too soft to do 'proper' psychology studies with his rats, i.e. terrorizing them then chopping up their endocrine systems and cerebellums, or whatever. As a psychologist herself, Tiptree must have valued animal studies, but here seems to be urging that empathy specifically is not a frivolous or wasted feeling to have towards one's animal co-workers. And what she's actually advancing here -- enriched environments over sterile cages, access to nesting materials, and conditions designed to minimize stress as much as possible -- was actually just catching on as quantitatively better for behavioral study by the time she wrote this, fortunately. Here, however, the cautionary turns hallucinatory, then shifts darker. It's more of a pointed polemic than most of Tiptree's so the highlight for me is the drawing of various common rat behaviors of no interest to institutional research review/funding boards. Yep, those are all too familiar to me as well, and in fact we did use some as behavioral indices in my time afterall. Progress?
She Waits for All Men Born (1976)
And at last, as a coda, a pulp-poetically refined reflection on the death/life dialogue that drives evolution and cultural development onto ever greater peaks. And, on the inescapable flipside, troughs. Tiptree, playful as she may be, retains a very bleak overarching worldview and sense of the indifferent forces shaping life and the universe.
This was her third collection, 1978, but it draws from across her productive period up to that point, around two novellas that were also published separately. By story:
Your Haploid Heart (1969): A relatively earlier example and it shows in an action-forward compression that favors rapid plot development over elegance. The breathless pace works alright though, as there's a lot crammed into here: psychosexual hang-ups, what it means to be human, the consideration of genetic crossover if there are in fact other "human" populations in the universe, and reproductive strategies that exist on earth but are under-utilized by higher organisms.
And So On, And So On (1971): A slighter example. The subject here is the necessity of new frontiers to sustain intelligent life's development, and perhaps civilization's integrity, which makes it a short companion to Delaney's much greater expansion of these ideas in The Star Pit. By arranging it as, essentially, a chorus of voices by ambiguous speakers in a context that only appears by suggestion, Tiptree allows the themes and meanings to seep out upon the reader's awareness.
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever (1974): After those introductory pieces, we start to get into the meat of the collection. Here, emotional memory as flashes of disembodied light above a vast and devastated landscape. This is a great example of Tiptree's affinity for complex formal/thematic progression within a single story. Initially we seem to be in the deceptive vernacular Americana of a kind of Boy's Adventure Story, but this is quickly unsettled by fever-dream, high concept pseudo-science (not-so-fringe British parapsychologist Whately Carrington), social shifts, intimations of the final Ending that extends beyond the last page of many Tiptree stories, and something like tragedy in thematic and narrative dissection of human emotion. All in 20 pages. It's not for nothing that this story leant its title to the omnibus edition of her stories that came out after her death.
A Momentary Taste of Being (1975): As the longest, centerpiece novella here (at a full 100 pages, this could have been published as a stand-alone, honestly) I saved this one nearly for last. For that reason only, I'd been feeling that this collection was a bit weaker than Tiptree's others. But no, it's all here. Subtly developing a direly believable version of the space-colonization-is-the-only-way-out-for-an-overcrowded-earth plot, we see the best the human race has to offer pulled together in a last collective effort to find a new habitable world. And at the threshhold of success, we see the corrupting power of possibility, and the ways in which we can fall apart. But what is 'human'? Our selfish or sectionalist fallibility or our sometimes greater collective drive towards some great success or meaning? The answers, here, are not simple and are finely recalibrated throughout, only to take a completely original turn by the end. It's one of Tiptree's best, and essential sci-fi reading in general.
Houston, Houston, Do You Read? (1976): This was actually my original Tiptree introduction, as a stand-alone novella, with a Joanna Russ novella reading from the reverse end of the book. It's structurally and thematically a pretty straight-forward analysis of gender politics in the present and the implications of a post-male future world, related, perhaps, to Russ' The Female Man a couple years earlier, but in a less experimental format. Still, she uses psychotropic elements elegantly and conveys her concepts with effective economy.
The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats (1976): I used to work in animal behavior. In the spectrum of neuroscience lab jobs, I preferred behavior specifically because it allowed me to deal, usually, with living animals, and in the case of my work, healthy ones as well. So I can empathize with the protagonist here, who is too soft to do 'proper' psychology studies with his rats, i.e. terrorizing them then chopping up their endocrine systems and cerebellums, or whatever. As a psychologist herself, Tiptree must have valued animal studies, but here seems to be urging that empathy specifically is not a frivolous or wasted feeling to have towards one's animal co-workers. And what she's actually advancing here -- enriched environments over sterile cages, access to nesting materials, and conditions designed to minimize stress as much as possible -- was actually just catching on as quantitatively better for behavioral study by the time she wrote this, fortunately. Here, however, the cautionary turns hallucinatory, then shifts darker. It's more of a pointed polemic than most of Tiptree's so the highlight for me is the drawing of various common rat behaviors of no interest to institutional research review/funding boards. Yep, those are all too familiar to me as well, and in fact we did use some as behavioral indices in my time afterall. Progress?
She Waits for All Men Born (1976)
And at last, as a coda, a pulp-poetically refined reflection on the death/life dialogue that drives evolution and cultural development onto ever greater peaks. And, on the inescapable flipside, troughs. Tiptree, playful as she may be, retains a very bleak overarching worldview and sense of the indifferent forces shaping life and the universe.
July 4, 2025
James Tiptree Jr. es el seudónimo de Alice Bradley Sheldon (1915-1987), una escritora estadounidense que revolucionó la ciencia ficción con su enfoque introspectivo, psicológico y, a menudo, profundamente pesimista. Antes de adoptar este seudónimo en 1967, Sheldon tuvo una vida diversa: creció entre expediciones en África, trabajó como analista de la CIA y completó un doctorado en psicología experimental. Su escritura, publicada bajo el nombre de Tiptree, desafió las barreras de género en la ciencia ficción, explorando temas como la identidad, la sexualidad, la biología y la desesperanza existencial con un estilo lírico y provocador. La antología "Cantos estelares de un viejo primate" (1978, publicada en español por Edhasa en 1980 con traducción de Arturo Casals) reúne siete relatos escritos entre 1969 y 1976, destacando por su intensidad emocional y especulación filosófica.
Tu corazón haploide (Your Haploid Heart, 1969)
En este relato, dos embajadores humanos llegan al planeta Esthaa, candidato a unirse a la Federación Galáctica. Lo que parece una sociedad idílica esconde un secreto perturbador sobre su biología y reproducción. Tiptree explora temas de psicología, sexualidad y lo que significa ser humano, utilizando un ritmo trepidante y una narrativa que subvierte las expectativas, condensando su estilo característico: genética y una visión de la humanidad como insignificante en el cosmos.
Y así sucesivamente (And So On, And So On, 1971)
Este relato corto, uno de los más breves de la colección, presenta una meditación abstracta sobre la conquista del espacio por la humanidad. A través de un coro de voces ambiguas, Tiptree reflexiona sobre la necesidad de nuevas fronteras para sostener el desarrollo de la vida inteligente. Aunque su brevedad y estilo experimental pueden dejarlo como uno de los menos memorables, su exploración de la civilización y el progreso lo convierten en un complemento temático de obras más extensas.
Su humo se elevó para siempre (Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, 1974)
En un relato que apenas roza la ciencia ficción, Tiptree narra tres momentos clave en la vida de un hombre, desde las promesas de la juventud hasta la desolación de la madurez. Con un estilo psicodélico y confuso, la historia juega con la percepción de la realidad, llevando al lector a un viaje sombrío hacia la decepción y la disolución. Es uno de mis favoritos de la antología.
Un momentáneo sabor de existencia (A Momentary Taste of Being, 1975)
Esta novela corta, finalista del Premio Nebula y séptima en los Locus de 1976, es la más extensa de la colección y una de las más impactantes. La nave Centauro es enviada a buscar un planeta habitable para una Tierra superpoblada. Una misión de avanzada regresa con una bióloga y un extraterrestre en una cámara, desencadenando una narrativa que subvierte las expectativas. Tiptree reelabora temas de "Tu corazón haploide", explorando la identidad de género, la sexualidad y la esclavitud biológica con un final devastador que cuestiona el propósito de la humanidad.
Houston, Houston, ¿me recibe? (Houston, Houston, Do You Read?, 1976)
Ganadora de los premios Hugo, Nebula y Jupiter, y tercera en los Locus de 1977, esta novela corta es la joya de la antología. Un grupo de astronautas, tras un accidente causado por una tormenta solar, es transportado siglos al futuro, donde encuentran una sociedad de clones femeninos. La historia aborda el choque cultural, las diferencias de género y los sistemas sociales con una narrativa rica y provocadora. Elogiada por su calidad excepcional, es una exploración magistral de la biología y la identidad, recomendada como lectura imprescindible.
El psicólogo que no quería maltratar a las ratas (The Psychologist Who Wouldn’t Do Awful Things to Rats, 1976)
Sexto en los Premios Locus de 1977, este relato sigue a un psicólogo que se rebela contra la experimentación animal en su laboratorio. La narrativa deriva hacia territorios extraños, mezclando existencialismo, crítica a la ciencia y elementos surrealistas. Comienza con una premisa interesante, un desarrollo confuso y su mezcla de temas (incluyendo referencias al flautista de Hamelín).
Ella espera a todos los nacidos (She Waits for All Men Born, 1976)
Este relato corto, bellamente escrito, explora el concepto de la mortalidad a través de un ser que podría ser la encarnación de la Muerte. Con un estilo lírico y una narrativa que rompe con las convenciones, Tiptree ofrece una meditación espectacular sobre el destino humano.
En resumen, "Cantos estelares de un viejo primate" es una antología imprescindible para los amantes de la ciencia ficción introspectiva. Aunque su tono pesimista y opresivo puede resultar desafiante, la brillantez de Tiptree radica en su capacidad para combinar especulación científica con una exploración profunda de la psique humana.
Tu corazón haploide (Your Haploid Heart, 1969)
En este relato, dos embajadores humanos llegan al planeta Esthaa, candidato a unirse a la Federación Galáctica. Lo que parece una sociedad idílica esconde un secreto perturbador sobre su biología y reproducción. Tiptree explora temas de psicología, sexualidad y lo que significa ser humano, utilizando un ritmo trepidante y una narrativa que subvierte las expectativas, condensando su estilo característico: genética y una visión de la humanidad como insignificante en el cosmos.
Y así sucesivamente (And So On, And So On, 1971)
Este relato corto, uno de los más breves de la colección, presenta una meditación abstracta sobre la conquista del espacio por la humanidad. A través de un coro de voces ambiguas, Tiptree reflexiona sobre la necesidad de nuevas fronteras para sostener el desarrollo de la vida inteligente. Aunque su brevedad y estilo experimental pueden dejarlo como uno de los menos memorables, su exploración de la civilización y el progreso lo convierten en un complemento temático de obras más extensas.
Su humo se elevó para siempre (Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, 1974)
En un relato que apenas roza la ciencia ficción, Tiptree narra tres momentos clave en la vida de un hombre, desde las promesas de la juventud hasta la desolación de la madurez. Con un estilo psicodélico y confuso, la historia juega con la percepción de la realidad, llevando al lector a un viaje sombrío hacia la decepción y la disolución. Es uno de mis favoritos de la antología.
Un momentáneo sabor de existencia (A Momentary Taste of Being, 1975)
Esta novela corta, finalista del Premio Nebula y séptima en los Locus de 1976, es la más extensa de la colección y una de las más impactantes. La nave Centauro es enviada a buscar un planeta habitable para una Tierra superpoblada. Una misión de avanzada regresa con una bióloga y un extraterrestre en una cámara, desencadenando una narrativa que subvierte las expectativas. Tiptree reelabora temas de "Tu corazón haploide", explorando la identidad de género, la sexualidad y la esclavitud biológica con un final devastador que cuestiona el propósito de la humanidad.
Houston, Houston, ¿me recibe? (Houston, Houston, Do You Read?, 1976)
Ganadora de los premios Hugo, Nebula y Jupiter, y tercera en los Locus de 1977, esta novela corta es la joya de la antología. Un grupo de astronautas, tras un accidente causado por una tormenta solar, es transportado siglos al futuro, donde encuentran una sociedad de clones femeninos. La historia aborda el choque cultural, las diferencias de género y los sistemas sociales con una narrativa rica y provocadora. Elogiada por su calidad excepcional, es una exploración magistral de la biología y la identidad, recomendada como lectura imprescindible.
El psicólogo que no quería maltratar a las ratas (The Psychologist Who Wouldn’t Do Awful Things to Rats, 1976)
Sexto en los Premios Locus de 1977, este relato sigue a un psicólogo que se rebela contra la experimentación animal en su laboratorio. La narrativa deriva hacia territorios extraños, mezclando existencialismo, crítica a la ciencia y elementos surrealistas. Comienza con una premisa interesante, un desarrollo confuso y su mezcla de temas (incluyendo referencias al flautista de Hamelín).
Ella espera a todos los nacidos (She Waits for All Men Born, 1976)
Este relato corto, bellamente escrito, explora el concepto de la mortalidad a través de un ser que podría ser la encarnación de la Muerte. Con un estilo lírico y una narrativa que rompe con las convenciones, Tiptree ofrece una meditación espectacular sobre el destino humano.
En resumen, "Cantos estelares de un viejo primate" es una antología imprescindible para los amantes de la ciencia ficción introspectiva. Aunque su tono pesimista y opresivo puede resultar desafiante, la brillantez de Tiptree radica en su capacidad para combinar especulación científica con una exploración profunda de la psique humana.
December 2, 2018
-Cuando la trama es la excusa.-
Género. Relatos.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Cantos estelares de un viejo primate (publicación original: Star Songs of An Old Primate, 1978) es una recopilación de relatos de James Tiptree, Jr. publicados entre 1969 y 1979 (pero la mayoría son de mediados de los setenta), con prólogo de Ursula K. Le Guin, que nos permitirán saber más de la vida y la muerte de un par de formas distintas, de charlas intrascendentes (o no) durante un Salto Transgaláctico y, entre otros temas, de los tripulantes de una nave que viaja en el tiempo.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...
Género. Relatos.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Cantos estelares de un viejo primate (publicación original: Star Songs of An Old Primate, 1978) es una recopilación de relatos de James Tiptree, Jr. publicados entre 1969 y 1979 (pero la mayoría son de mediados de los setenta), con prólogo de Ursula K. Le Guin, que nos permitirán saber más de la vida y la muerte de un par de formas distintas, de charlas intrascendentes (o no) durante un Salto Transgaláctico y, entre otros temas, de los tripulantes de una nave que viaja en el tiempo.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...
December 30, 2025
Star Songs of an Old Primate was Tiptree's third short fiction collection, and the first to appear after it was revealed that Tiptree was also Alice Sheldon, an occurrence addressed with a debatable amount of success in the introduction by Ursula K. LeGuin. Remember, it was 1978, gender assignments were rigid, the use of plural pronouns wasn't even a wide-eyed science fiction speculation yet...it was a whole different world. Tiptree followed in the footsteps of Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison in becoming a revered writer almost solely from the publication of short fiction and arguably may have been the last to do so. This book collects seven stories, dealing with gender and sexual matters as well as other human concerns like facets of life and death and compassion. If her handling of some of these topics seems a bit creaky now, it's probably because they'd never been examined before in the field. The first story is a prime example; Your Haploid Heart was purchased by editor John W. Campbell and published in Analog magazine in 1969 and was surely the best (and perhaps only) story to examine sex and soft science in Campbell's male-dominated/hardware-oriented publication. I always wondered why it wasn't included in one of her earlier collections. Houston, Houston, Do You Read? won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novella in 1977, and my other favorite is The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats, which was published in one of Silverberg's New Dimensions anthologies. It's still a terrific, thought-provoking book.
June 18, 2021
Another brilliant and relentlessly depressing collection of stories by Alice Sheldon.
April 10, 2021
second read – 6 April 2021 - ****. I re-read this collection, because it contains a story discussed in Lecture 15 of Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature. James Tiptree’s “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?”, first published in an anthology Aurora: Beyond Equality in 1976, won her both a Hugo Award and Nebula Award for best novella, and has been anthologized widely. I don’t even know how many copies of it I actually own. But it’s been a long time since I burned through Tiptree’s entire catalog in 1982, and so thought to read it together with some of her other works from the same time. It’s probably still the main attraction of the collection, but I feel “Her Smoke Rose Up Forever” and “A Momentary Taste of Being” are also highlights.
It was during the era of these stories, that it was revealed that James Tiptree, Jr., who was being hailed as a new kind of male writer, was actually a pen name of Alice Sheldon. I can’t say that I knew all along, but the story “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” made me suspicious, as I felt a male writer would have portrayed Lorimer differently. Read my comments below to understand why. Many of Tiptree’s stories involve zingers in their end, and so it become difficult to talk about them without spoilers. I’ve tried to protect you from spoilers, but if I missed something important, let me know.
Your Haploid Heart (1969) ***. Right out of the starting box, this collection hits us with a big speculative science concept relating to meiosis, the biological process of sexual reproduction. The first-person narrator, Ian, is an interplanetary investigator whose mission is to determine whether the human-like beings of the planet Esthaa can be defined as human. Ian and his partner geologist Pax are stymied by the nature of the two apparently different species of being. The truth is revealed by the end of the story, but I feel too much of the unlikely biology has been left for the reader to figure out on their own.
And So On, and So On (1971) **. A very short piece in which various Intelligent beings aboard an interstellar transport discuss where to turn for meaning once the finite limits of the known galaxy are reached. No plot tension.
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever (1974) *****. A beautifully told story of reminiscence. Revealing the science fictional aspect would be a spoiler, so just go read it for yourself. You won’t be sorry.
A Momentary Taste of Being (1975) ****. This is the longest story in the collection – at roughly 100 pages, it is almost a short novel. In it, the first-person narrator is Aaron Kaye, the medical doctor of an interstellar ship. The first ship was lost, and Earth was barely able to pull together this second attempt to identify another world capable of supporting human life. The international crew has been on its way for a decade and out of touch with Earth most of that time. Two years ago, a smaller exploratory craft was launched to a target world, and recently it returned with only one member of the crew. That one is Dr. Kaye’s sister, the biologist Dr. Lory Kaye, and she has brought back an alien with her on her year-long return trip. She is telling a deceitful story about what happened, and one of the biologists who took a look at the alien has gone madly dysfunctional. In the story, Tiptree develops a cast of interesting characters among the crew, so that when they do re-open the container of the alien, the action is meaningful. It’s an engaging story, and long enough to do justice to the concept.
Houston, Houston, Do You Read? (1976) *****. As in Charlotte Gilman Perkins’ Herland, we get three different types of male protagonists encountering an all-female society. In this story, they are on board the twentieth century space capsule Sunbird, which re-emerges from a circumsolar mission two centuries into the future. Bud is a swaggering and dominant male, who thinks constantly of his opportunity to bag chicks. Dave is the commander, an overbearing Christian, who keeps his own aggression in check through religion. However, Dr. Lorimer is a reserved scientist, small of stature, who has a home life with his wife and two daughters, and is quite accustomed to life among women. Since Bud and Dave are caricatures of maleness, Lorimer’s response is key to the story.
The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats (1976) **. Tilly Lipsitz is a psychologist who is unable to bear the cruelty to animals of research. He takes absinthe, and trades places with the Rat King.
She Waits for All Men Born (1976) ***. Life and Death are eternal interdependent rivals, with death being the driver of the evolution of life. Eventually arises a young girl whose life embodies death.
first read - 1 August 1982 - ****. I bought and read this collection in 1982. In particular, it contains her award-winning "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" In case you did not know, James Tiptree, Jr. was the pen name of Alice Sheldon.
It was during the era of these stories, that it was revealed that James Tiptree, Jr., who was being hailed as a new kind of male writer, was actually a pen name of Alice Sheldon. I can’t say that I knew all along, but the story “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” made me suspicious, as I felt a male writer would have portrayed Lorimer differently. Read my comments below to understand why. Many of Tiptree’s stories involve zingers in their end, and so it become difficult to talk about them without spoilers. I’ve tried to protect you from spoilers, but if I missed something important, let me know.
Your Haploid Heart (1969) ***. Right out of the starting box, this collection hits us with a big speculative science concept relating to meiosis, the biological process of sexual reproduction. The first-person narrator, Ian, is an interplanetary investigator whose mission is to determine whether the human-like beings of the planet Esthaa can be defined as human. Ian and his partner geologist Pax are stymied by the nature of the two apparently different species of being. The truth is revealed by the end of the story, but I feel too much of the unlikely biology has been left for the reader to figure out on their own.
And So On, and So On (1971) **. A very short piece in which various Intelligent beings aboard an interstellar transport discuss where to turn for meaning once the finite limits of the known galaxy are reached. No plot tension.
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever (1974) *****. A beautifully told story of reminiscence. Revealing the science fictional aspect would be a spoiler, so just go read it for yourself. You won’t be sorry.
A Momentary Taste of Being (1975) ****. This is the longest story in the collection – at roughly 100 pages, it is almost a short novel. In it, the first-person narrator is Aaron Kaye, the medical doctor of an interstellar ship. The first ship was lost, and Earth was barely able to pull together this second attempt to identify another world capable of supporting human life. The international crew has been on its way for a decade and out of touch with Earth most of that time. Two years ago, a smaller exploratory craft was launched to a target world, and recently it returned with only one member of the crew. That one is Dr. Kaye’s sister, the biologist Dr. Lory Kaye, and she has brought back an alien with her on her year-long return trip. She is telling a deceitful story about what happened, and one of the biologists who took a look at the alien has gone madly dysfunctional. In the story, Tiptree develops a cast of interesting characters among the crew, so that when they do re-open the container of the alien, the action is meaningful. It’s an engaging story, and long enough to do justice to the concept.
Houston, Houston, Do You Read? (1976) *****. As in Charlotte Gilman Perkins’ Herland, we get three different types of male protagonists encountering an all-female society. In this story, they are on board the twentieth century space capsule Sunbird, which re-emerges from a circumsolar mission two centuries into the future. Bud is a swaggering and dominant male, who thinks constantly of his opportunity to bag chicks. Dave is the commander, an overbearing Christian, who keeps his own aggression in check through religion. However, Dr. Lorimer is a reserved scientist, small of stature, who has a home life with his wife and two daughters, and is quite accustomed to life among women. Since Bud and Dave are caricatures of maleness, Lorimer’s response is key to the story.
The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats (1976) **. Tilly Lipsitz is a psychologist who is unable to bear the cruelty to animals of research. He takes absinthe, and trades places with the Rat King.
She Waits for All Men Born (1976) ***. Life and Death are eternal interdependent rivals, with death being the driver of the evolution of life. Eventually arises a young girl whose life embodies death.
first read - 1 August 1982 - ****. I bought and read this collection in 1982. In particular, it contains her award-winning "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" In case you did not know, James Tiptree, Jr. was the pen name of Alice Sheldon.
June 28, 2016
The easiest way I can think of to describe her stories is to quote Ang Lee. He said that the way he plotted a tragic story was to put his characters into an impossible situation and watched how they responded. Tiptree's protagonists often resemble a worm on a hook and since most of us know that feeling she can grab your interest. This set of stories and Up the Walls of the World are my favourites.
September 1, 2019
"Your Haploid Heart" (First published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, September 1969.) **
"And So On, And So On" *
"Her Smoke Rose Up Forever" (First published in Final Stage edited by Edward L. Ferman and Barry N. Malzberg.) *
"A Momentary Taste of Being" (First published in The New Atlantis edited by Robert Silverberg.) *
"Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" (First published in Aurora: Beyond Equality edited by Susan Janice Anderson and Vonda N. McIntyre.) **
"The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats" (First published in New Dimensions 6 edited by Robert Silverberg.) **
"She Waits for All Men Born" (First published in Future Power edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois.) *
"And So On, And So On" *
"Her Smoke Rose Up Forever" (First published in Final Stage edited by Edward L. Ferman and Barry N. Malzberg.) *
"A Momentary Taste of Being" (First published in The New Atlantis edited by Robert Silverberg.) *
"Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" (First published in Aurora: Beyond Equality edited by Susan Janice Anderson and Vonda N. McIntyre.) **
"The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats" (First published in New Dimensions 6 edited by Robert Silverberg.) **
"She Waits for All Men Born" (First published in Future Power edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois.) *
Read
January 28, 2024my creative writing elective starts with 5 or 10 minutes (depending on the length of the period) of "SSRW," which is basically "read or write literally whatever you want* (*limited to physical media because we're all on our damn computers for so much of the day so yes while I love ebooks and drafting by typing you do need to be reading a physical book or writing by hand, shut your damn chromebook thank you so much)" time, and obviously I do it alongside them, both to model for them and because it's also nice to take the time for it; sometimes I would read and sometimes I would write, and this was my book for when I was reading during that time this past semester.
it's a book I've had forever and been trying to track down for even longer, based on a recommendation from ursula k. le guin. now that I've read it I can say that the (phenomenal) introduction le guin wrote for this collection will stay with me far longer than any one of these stories individually, but I'm still very glad to have finally read some of tiptree–sheldon's (and my pride demands that I state for the record that that's an n dash, not a hyphen, thank you!) work.
it's a book I've had forever and been trying to track down for even longer, based on a recommendation from ursula k. le guin. now that I've read it I can say that the (phenomenal) introduction le guin wrote for this collection will stay with me far longer than any one of these stories individually, but I'm still very glad to have finally read some of tiptree–sheldon's (and my pride demands that I state for the record that that's an n dash, not a hyphen, thank you!) work.
November 11, 2012
This was a great collection of stories by Tiptree. As well as shorts, there is a novella, A Momentary Taste of Being which starts off like a normal colonisation tale, with a ship looking for planets to colonise to relieve pressure from an Earth creaking at the seams, but becomes something much darker.
Houston, Houston Do you read? is a story that's stayed with me for some time after reading, telling the story of three astronauts who get bumped forward in time by a few hundred years and the world they return to, while Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, shows flash points in the protagonists life as he is forced to relive them again and again...
These stories do show Tiptree at her finest, and while The Psychologist Who Wouldn't do Awful Things to Rats may not be the most subtle of pieces, it's still an excellent story in an excellent collection.
Houston, Houston Do you read? is a story that's stayed with me for some time after reading, telling the story of three astronauts who get bumped forward in time by a few hundred years and the world they return to, while Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, shows flash points in the protagonists life as he is forced to relive them again and again...
These stories do show Tiptree at her finest, and while The Psychologist Who Wouldn't do Awful Things to Rats may not be the most subtle of pieces, it's still an excellent story in an excellent collection.
May 22, 2015
Tiptree Jr. is a semi-hidden gem of science fiction. Her stories have the best titles and an inherent quirkiness that set them apart. Although personally I enjoyed Warmworlds collection more; just reading Houston, Houston do you read? is enough to give a high rating to this collectiong. That story is one of the 100 best stories of all-time in my opinion and completely rewired my thinking about some subjects. The stories that fail in this collection fail due to the focus on technical difficulties; after 40 years or so those technical difficulties are not important anymore so they hurt the impact of the story.
December 29, 2010
One of those authors that I am vaguely suprised is out of print.[return]There are a few scholarly works available but the actual stories? No, They are maybe not simplistic enough to be comercial in the modern sf genre, But they won awards and acclaim in their day. Indeed, nowadays there is a James Tiptree Jr. memorial award.[return]Perhaps instead the estate has no interest. There were after all no children. An argument maybe for changing copyright laws?
October 22, 2016
For "Momentary Taste of Being" -- one of my top scifi stories of all time. "Houston's" also pretty good. When it's not tough enough, stories don't date all that well.
September 27, 2020
Non sto leggendo continuativamente questa raccolta, ma dopo aver letto "A momentary taste of being" dietro consiglio di un conoscitore, il romanzo breve che ne costituisce la maggior parte (la raccolta originale comprendeva anche il bellissimo "Houston, Houston, do you read?", ma Curtoni decise di pubblicarlo a parte su un altro numero di Robot, e lì lo lessi), vorrei anticipare una prima recensione per consigliare questo racconto, questa raccolta, questa scrittrice a chiunque ami la fantascienza matura (siamo agli antipodi di Asimov!).
Tiptree seppe probabilmente cogliere il meglio della "new wave", evitandone il peggio: lo spazio interno è sondato come non mai, ma lo spazio esterno esiste ancora, e nasconde alieni affascinanti e terribili; gli astronauti sono nevrotici come in "Una galassia di nome Roma" di Malzberg (e chi non lo sarebbe, sottoposto a certi stress? non si può più leggere E.E. "Doc" Smith, dopo romanzi come questo..), ciononostante riescono ancora ad agire e a fare alla meno peggio il loro dovere; i tabù vengono distrutti, incesto compreso (un classico degli anni '60, vedi anche Sturgeon) ma per capirli meglio, non per capriccio come nel "Programma finale" di Moorcock; soprattutto, la sorprendente conclusione è brillante dal punto di vista fantabiologico, e porta anche con sè una domanda: che cos'è l' "umano" a cui ci aggrappiamo? L'istinto bestiale? La capacità di concepire progetti comuni? E se per realizzare questi progetti dovessimo superare l' "umano" ?
Si incide nella mente anche il racconto breve "Spettri eterni" ("Her smoke rose up forever": vale la pena rammentare il titolo originale perchè quelli della Tiptree sono piuttosto originali, anche quando, come in questo caso, non è subito chiaro cosa significhino..), dove un'originale idea fantascientifica è pretesto per una riflessione sulle nostre angosce e frustrazioni.
Buona l'analisi finale di Vittorio Catani; peccato per i molti refusi
Tiptree seppe probabilmente cogliere il meglio della "new wave", evitandone il peggio: lo spazio interno è sondato come non mai, ma lo spazio esterno esiste ancora, e nasconde alieni affascinanti e terribili; gli astronauti sono nevrotici come in "Una galassia di nome Roma" di Malzberg (e chi non lo sarebbe, sottoposto a certi stress? non si può più leggere E.E. "Doc" Smith, dopo romanzi come questo..), ciononostante riescono ancora ad agire e a fare alla meno peggio il loro dovere; i tabù vengono distrutti, incesto compreso (un classico degli anni '60, vedi anche Sturgeon) ma per capirli meglio, non per capriccio come nel "Programma finale" di Moorcock; soprattutto, la sorprendente conclusione è brillante dal punto di vista fantabiologico, e porta anche con sè una domanda: che cos'è l' "umano" a cui ci aggrappiamo? L'istinto bestiale? La capacità di concepire progetti comuni? E se per realizzare questi progetti dovessimo superare l' "umano" ?
Si incide nella mente anche il racconto breve "Spettri eterni" ("Her smoke rose up forever": vale la pena rammentare il titolo originale perchè quelli della Tiptree sono piuttosto originali, anche quando, come in questo caso, non è subito chiaro cosa significhino..), dove un'originale idea fantascientifica è pretesto per una riflessione sulle nostre angosce e frustrazioni.
Buona l'analisi finale di Vittorio Catani; peccato per i molti refusi
April 3, 2021
When people think of sci-fi they think, aliens, space wars, robots, newly discovered planets not fit for human life. Alice Sheldon, otherwise famously known as James Tiptree Jr. provided all of that and more in these short stories. She reminds me a lot of Le Guin, but I think the difference between Sheldon/Tiptree and Le Guin is that Sheldon/Tiptree knows how to cross the gender barrier by aggressively writing from a male perspective and then aggressively writing from a female perspective a few moments later. and when I say aggressive I mean it in the best way possible, while reading these short stories you felt so much feminine energy and emotions and knowledge. and for the men I noticed there was a lot of toxic masculinity but there was also a sense of understanding in most of the male characters. Admittedly There was sooo much going on in all the stories that I felt a little lost at times, but I am happy I finally got to this book. It’s been about 1 year since I bought it 😅 overall my first Tiptree experience was great, I’ll keep in mind next time I read her works to slow down when reading because you can skim for a second and be lost on whats going on lol my reading slump also didn’t help!
January 4, 2021
Cuentos de 1978 escritos por la señora Alice Sheldon y publicados a nombre del señor James Tiptree, muy atenta la autora a los asuntos genéticos, la evolución, los géneros, todo ello llevado a escenarios propios de la ciencia ficción.
El que por mucho me gustó más fue Houston, Houston, ¿me recibe? no obstante poner en escena unos astronautas absurdamente misóginos, clericales, y timoratos. Pero el suspenso lo sabe generar, y la resolución es de lo más satisfactoria.
El que por mucho me gustó más fue Houston, Houston, ¿me recibe? no obstante poner en escena unos astronautas absurdamente misóginos, clericales, y timoratos. Pero el suspenso lo sabe generar, y la resolución es de lo más satisfactoria.
February 17, 2017
Read for the LGBTQ Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge, the Women of Genre Fiction Reading Challenge, and the Collections! Reading Challenge at Worlds Without End. Two of the novellas in this collection were also counted towards similar, but not the same, reading challenges.
James Tiptree Jr. was the pseudonym of Alice Sheldon, who traveled extensively in her childhood, joined the CIA in her adulthood during the McCarthy era, and resigned in the mid-50s to study experimental psychology. This gave her what I'm sure was a unique perspective on life, and it shines through in her stories. I think I'm in love with her, partially because there's an apocryphal story that she was nominated for a Hugo that she turned down, in part because, as Ursula K. Le Guin points out in her introduction, one of the "keenest, subtlest minds in science fiction" wrote: "It has been suggested that Tiptree is female, a theory that I find absurd, for there is to me something ineluctably masculine about Tiptree's writing. I don't think the novels of Jane Austen could have been written by a man more the stories of Ernest Hemingway by a woman." And many, if not most, of the stories in this collection certainly challenge the nature and role of gender, along with the nature and role of what it is to be human. Men are likely to find it particularly challenging, but women will be challenged too.
This collection contains a few her most highly-acclaimed works, including Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, A Momentary Taste of Being, and Houston, Houston, Do You Read? Links are provided to two of these, which are novellas that I wrote independent reviews for.
I discovered this obscure little paperback in the wonderful bookstore that I work at, Expressions in Time, which is a great place to discover unusual and hard-to-find books. But I snatched it up right away because by this time I had heard so much about Tiptree that I fully realized what a treasure I had discovered. I was intrigued by the unique cover image also, and had pretty much accepted it was one of those weird, whimsical sorts of covers they slapped onto sci-fi books published in the late 70s, when it was finally revealed that no, the cover did indeed relate to the stories in the book and was quite relevant.
I described Tiptree's writing on one of the Worlds Without End message boards as "lightning prose of the highest order." I loved this collection so much that I found myself resenting one of my favourite authors, David Weber, for writing such a ridiculously long book (The Shadow of Saganami) because I'd borrowed it from the library and therefore, had to finish it first! Many, if not most of the stories, are mind-blowing. Most of them are also (which is something other reviewers don't seem to mention with Tiptree) disturbingly creepy. I cannot emphasize enough how creepy. As a matter of fact, I am certain that Tiptree is one of the many classic sci-fi authors who influenced the writing of Stephen King. One of these stories, The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats, has direct parallels in one of the stories that appears in Night Shift; go ahead and read them both and see if you can spot which one.
That story, by the way, was the only one in the whole book that I didn't like; first of all, because of the horrific images of animal experimentation of the part of psychology students (which, I have no doubt, was informed by Tiptree's experience as an experimental psychology student -- shudder!) -- and secondly, because I don't think I really got it. I'm not sure what exactly has happened at the end of the story, nor why the viewpoint character is doing what he does. I have a couple of guesses but I don't know which one it is, and I suppose that was probably Tiptree's goal, but I find it frustrating.
Do I recommend this collection? Actually, I would call it an essential read for anyone who has any interest at all in the roots and development of science fiction, and one you'll enjoy thoroughly if you love the genre like I do. Please do yourself a favour and read it!
James Tiptree Jr. was the pseudonym of Alice Sheldon, who traveled extensively in her childhood, joined the CIA in her adulthood during the McCarthy era, and resigned in the mid-50s to study experimental psychology. This gave her what I'm sure was a unique perspective on life, and it shines through in her stories. I think I'm in love with her, partially because there's an apocryphal story that she was nominated for a Hugo that she turned down, in part because, as Ursula K. Le Guin points out in her introduction, one of the "keenest, subtlest minds in science fiction" wrote: "It has been suggested that Tiptree is female, a theory that I find absurd, for there is to me something ineluctably masculine about Tiptree's writing. I don't think the novels of Jane Austen could have been written by a man more the stories of Ernest Hemingway by a woman." And many, if not most, of the stories in this collection certainly challenge the nature and role of gender, along with the nature and role of what it is to be human. Men are likely to find it particularly challenging, but women will be challenged too.
This collection contains a few her most highly-acclaimed works, including Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, A Momentary Taste of Being, and Houston, Houston, Do You Read? Links are provided to two of these, which are novellas that I wrote independent reviews for.
I discovered this obscure little paperback in the wonderful bookstore that I work at, Expressions in Time, which is a great place to discover unusual and hard-to-find books. But I snatched it up right away because by this time I had heard so much about Tiptree that I fully realized what a treasure I had discovered. I was intrigued by the unique cover image also, and had pretty much accepted it was one of those weird, whimsical sorts of covers they slapped onto sci-fi books published in the late 70s, when it was finally revealed that no, the cover did indeed relate to the stories in the book and was quite relevant.
I described Tiptree's writing on one of the Worlds Without End message boards as "lightning prose of the highest order." I loved this collection so much that I found myself resenting one of my favourite authors, David Weber, for writing such a ridiculously long book (The Shadow of Saganami) because I'd borrowed it from the library and therefore, had to finish it first! Many, if not most of the stories, are mind-blowing. Most of them are also (which is something other reviewers don't seem to mention with Tiptree) disturbingly creepy. I cannot emphasize enough how creepy. As a matter of fact, I am certain that Tiptree is one of the many classic sci-fi authors who influenced the writing of Stephen King. One of these stories, The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats, has direct parallels in one of the stories that appears in Night Shift; go ahead and read them both and see if you can spot which one.
That story, by the way, was the only one in the whole book that I didn't like; first of all, because of the horrific images of animal experimentation of the part of psychology students (which, I have no doubt, was informed by Tiptree's experience as an experimental psychology student -- shudder!) -- and secondly, because I don't think I really got it. I'm not sure what exactly has happened at the end of the story, nor why the viewpoint character is doing what he does. I have a couple of guesses but I don't know which one it is, and I suppose that was probably Tiptree's goal, but I find it frustrating.
Do I recommend this collection? Actually, I would call it an essential read for anyone who has any interest at all in the roots and development of science fiction, and one you'll enjoy thoroughly if you love the genre like I do. Please do yourself a favour and read it!
July 22, 2020
Even though these stories are old, they haven't aged a lot.
Entertaining reading.
For the one that opens with conversation between misogynists, remember that James Tiptree is a pseudonym so you don't get the idea that the opening portraits are with approval and throw the book across the room.
Entertaining reading.
For the one that opens with conversation between misogynists, remember that James Tiptree is a pseudonym so you don't get the idea that the opening portraits are with approval and throw the book across the room.
April 30, 2012
The fact that many of these stories still have meaningful and relevant things to say about sex, gender identity, scientific curiosity and our culture, even after 40 plus years, is a mark of how good they are. There are dated ideas, and sometimes eyeroll inducing stylistic choices, but on the whole I found the stories very enjoyable.
January 2, 2026
Desperately depressing, complicated sci fi stories that are riveting to read. Five stars for pacing, drama, addictivr energy and yanks on the heart. Minus one because there is a fair bit of old primate in these star songs— they represent some of the best of their time and also are from their time and the one before it. Tiptree believes in the inevitability of great men, or perhaps civilized creatures—who are no more than animals—, smashing down anyone who gets in their way and then, after they have destroyed women and the world, being done in by their own foibles. Her insight is sharp— both constituting and reflecting the weary resignation of the ‘70s as colonies unspooled and rock stars died and utopia didn’t deliver. In every story, though the heroes are some real spaceman spiffs, despair is palpable. The world wears thin. The veil flutters. It is unsurprising tiptree writes this way, having seen both the violence of power and its grueling internal destruction on those who hold it from a young age. But it is sort of like tip plays a death knell for Pulp as a genre as he plays his turn. No business writing the future, readers might say. There is nobody left in it.
This anthology has: a story about an alien society, one among many almost-technically-human races in the universe, trying to prove their humanity to a biologist by concealing the inhuman, plantlike nature of their reproduction and treating the sexual/sexed individuals of their species as if they are an inferior distinct race, to the point of threatening their species’ own existence (the aliens are saved by mercenaries; the federal organization is too slow). A story about a world that promises a new Earth for colonists from a dying planet, only to eat up the minds of the exploratory ship in order to absorb or neutralize their psychic energy—dooming all mankind to be shots in the dark, as refugees from a dead Earth follow. A story about the souls that have only memories of pain that haunt that dead planet, later. A scientist forced to confront the darkness of his profession.
You can trust Tiptree to deliver tragedy in basically every story. She (or my friend would argue he, but i think you cant truly claim a hypothetical trans man unless he at least announced intent— it is a specific historical situation that tiptree, alas, chose not to reach) has more than one thing to say. We are egotistical, greedy, patriarchal by miserable genetic destiny, megomaniacal, and refuse incentives other than personal gain, so we are all doomed. Also, in addition to that, alien women are hot but inaccessible. And sometimes Tip throws in an odd racist underhand in the midst of a clumsy swing at multiculturalism— one that a reader feels is done from deep confusion about truth.
I do not personally think the world Tiptree saw was real, any more than the world of Lovecraft. But both are fantastic at describing the feelings of fear and hatred that lurk in the human heart. Several of these stories feel very much like Tiptree sneering at the optimism of Star Trek about the future and instead writing an alternate vision, one based in the backstabbing, cesspool-like heart of a washington sub-basement. Science fiction is an expose of the time it is written, and this is a portrait of a society where pain and the divine right of money and male power feel inevitable even in fantasy. The fact that tiptree’s contemporaries were attempting to innovate out of this image meant nothing to her. And why not? LeGuin’s words are quotable, but she wrote an anarchist world that seemed unappealing and thin. Russ envisioned women’s solidarity, but was too pissed off at her peers to really build it. Tip’s crumbling galaxies capture the potential of what seems wrecked to dissolve still further. Her captain kirk analogs are alcoholics, and her ship’s doctors have unresolved sexual tension with their sisters. You can see in her “A Momentary Taste of Being” story both the exciting promise of multiculturalism, feminism, environmentally self-sustaining ships— and their decay under petty tyrants who cannot dream except of nations and kings.
As the seventies wore on, the beginning of the attack on pulp—and with it, the churning discourse of ideas on the future promulgated by common fans chatting with established authors— dissolved into Star Wars, Barnes and Noble franchises, and bestselling Steph King hardbacks.
Tip never broke out of the dark glass h/she saw the world through. What is so interesting about her stories is that in that miserable tint, there is a lot of human life and character. People who drink deep of evil can be fascinating; people who write about the failure of nobility can tell us where the limits of the empire’s own imagination is. Just beyond the edge of a lot of Tip stories lurks a beautiful world that humans are not allowed to be part of: a vegetal aurora, an alien woman whose body conceals thousands of rippling, dancing mouths, a voice that calls from across the universe but will kill with proximity. We can hope someone has inherited those voices with a tone as crystal and a gaze as sharp, but without that feeling of lurching termination.
This anthology has: a story about an alien society, one among many almost-technically-human races in the universe, trying to prove their humanity to a biologist by concealing the inhuman, plantlike nature of their reproduction and treating the sexual/sexed individuals of their species as if they are an inferior distinct race, to the point of threatening their species’ own existence (the aliens are saved by mercenaries; the federal organization is too slow). A story about a world that promises a new Earth for colonists from a dying planet, only to eat up the minds of the exploratory ship in order to absorb or neutralize their psychic energy—dooming all mankind to be shots in the dark, as refugees from a dead Earth follow. A story about the souls that have only memories of pain that haunt that dead planet, later. A scientist forced to confront the darkness of his profession.
You can trust Tiptree to deliver tragedy in basically every story. She (or my friend would argue he, but i think you cant truly claim a hypothetical trans man unless he at least announced intent— it is a specific historical situation that tiptree, alas, chose not to reach) has more than one thing to say. We are egotistical, greedy, patriarchal by miserable genetic destiny, megomaniacal, and refuse incentives other than personal gain, so we are all doomed. Also, in addition to that, alien women are hot but inaccessible. And sometimes Tip throws in an odd racist underhand in the midst of a clumsy swing at multiculturalism— one that a reader feels is done from deep confusion about truth.
I do not personally think the world Tiptree saw was real, any more than the world of Lovecraft. But both are fantastic at describing the feelings of fear and hatred that lurk in the human heart. Several of these stories feel very much like Tiptree sneering at the optimism of Star Trek about the future and instead writing an alternate vision, one based in the backstabbing, cesspool-like heart of a washington sub-basement. Science fiction is an expose of the time it is written, and this is a portrait of a society where pain and the divine right of money and male power feel inevitable even in fantasy. The fact that tiptree’s contemporaries were attempting to innovate out of this image meant nothing to her. And why not? LeGuin’s words are quotable, but she wrote an anarchist world that seemed unappealing and thin. Russ envisioned women’s solidarity, but was too pissed off at her peers to really build it. Tip’s crumbling galaxies capture the potential of what seems wrecked to dissolve still further. Her captain kirk analogs are alcoholics, and her ship’s doctors have unresolved sexual tension with their sisters. You can see in her “A Momentary Taste of Being” story both the exciting promise of multiculturalism, feminism, environmentally self-sustaining ships— and their decay under petty tyrants who cannot dream except of nations and kings.
As the seventies wore on, the beginning of the attack on pulp—and with it, the churning discourse of ideas on the future promulgated by common fans chatting with established authors— dissolved into Star Wars, Barnes and Noble franchises, and bestselling Steph King hardbacks.
Tip never broke out of the dark glass h/she saw the world through. What is so interesting about her stories is that in that miserable tint, there is a lot of human life and character. People who drink deep of evil can be fascinating; people who write about the failure of nobility can tell us where the limits of the empire’s own imagination is. Just beyond the edge of a lot of Tip stories lurks a beautiful world that humans are not allowed to be part of: a vegetal aurora, an alien woman whose body conceals thousands of rippling, dancing mouths, a voice that calls from across the universe but will kill with proximity. We can hope someone has inherited those voices with a tone as crystal and a gaze as sharp, but without that feeling of lurching termination.
Read
August 8, 2020Lo de siempre, como es una antología no quiero dar nota de estrellas.
Procedo a decir que me ha parecido cada relato:
- Vuestro corazón haploide: Es un empiece que creo que condensa muy bien lo que caracteriza a la narración de Tiptree en esta antología: movidas genéticas, nada es lo que parece y el ser humano como un ser ínfimo en la galaxia. Es un relato que va a ser más listo que tú quieras o no. Recomendado.
- Y así sucesivamente: Es un cuento muy corto y si digo la verdad ya no me acuerdo de nada de él. Se puede pasar perfectamente sin él.
- Su humo se elevó para siempre: Es asombrosamente confusa la narración de este relato porque juega mucho con lo que es real y lo que no. No lo recomiendo.
- Un momentáneo sabor de existencia: Es el relato más largo del libro ya que ocupa un 40% de todo el conjunto, por suerte está dividido en capítulos que hace la lectura más fácil. Tengo un problema con este relato y es que es muy largo para lo que cuenta. Habla del primer contacto de la civilización con un planeta alienígena y como actuaría la tripulación de la nave para cerciorarse que nada es biológicamente peligroso, por esa parte está guay pero podría perfectamente durar 1/3 de lo que dura. Lo recomiendo así así porque está guay pero te puedes leer el primer capítulo y el último y te funcionaría igual la narración.
- Houston, Houston ¿me recibe?: Es indudable que este relato es muy bueno, ganó el Hugo y el Nébula a mejor novella y destila calidad por los cuatro costados. Juega con el choque temporal, las diferencias generacionales y culturales, los sistemas sociales e incluso con la propia biología. Si te vas a leer algo de esta antología que sea este relato.
- El psicólogo que no quería maltratar a las ratas: Tiene un punto interesante al principio en el que se hace una crítica a la experimentación animal pero después tira por derroteros muy raros y termina mezclando existencialismo con cadáveres mal y el flautista de Hamelin. No lo recomiendo.
- Ella espera a todos los nacidos: Es muy cortito y además esta muy bellamente escrito. Tiende más a la espectacularidad sin ceñirse a las normas establecidas para hablar del concepto de mortalidad. Muy recomendado.
Si vais a leer algo que sea Houston, Houston ¿me recibe?, después Ella espera a todos los nacidos y por último Vuestro corazón haploide. Del resto yo pasaría a no ser que tengáis mucha curiosidad con la autora.
Una pequeñas consideraciones, en el prólogo escrito por Ursula K. Le Guin se hace referencia a que antes de descubrir que bajo el sinónimo de Tiptree se encontraba una mujer se especulaba mucho que eso no podía ser porque tenía una mirada muy masculina todas sus obras y eso es verdad. Lo lees y salta a la vista porque siempre se describe a las mujeres como voluptuosas, con grandes curvas, se describen varias veces sus senos, etc. y es hasta cierto punto muy incómodo. El único relato en el que está justificado esto es el de Houston, Houston ¿me recibe? y me parece que está muy bien llevado, si lo leéis sabréis porqué. El relato de
Ella espera a todos los nacidos no tiene la mirada masculina por lo que si no queréis lidiar con ello yo recomiendo leer eso de la autora y, aunque no encapsula el estilo de la misma, os puede servir como primer acercamiento a ella a ver si os mola su prosa.
Procedo a decir que me ha parecido cada relato:
- Vuestro corazón haploide: Es un empiece que creo que condensa muy bien lo que caracteriza a la narración de Tiptree en esta antología: movidas genéticas, nada es lo que parece y el ser humano como un ser ínfimo en la galaxia. Es un relato que va a ser más listo que tú quieras o no. Recomendado.
- Y así sucesivamente: Es un cuento muy corto y si digo la verdad ya no me acuerdo de nada de él. Se puede pasar perfectamente sin él.
- Su humo se elevó para siempre: Es asombrosamente confusa la narración de este relato porque juega mucho con lo que es real y lo que no. No lo recomiendo.
- Un momentáneo sabor de existencia: Es el relato más largo del libro ya que ocupa un 40% de todo el conjunto, por suerte está dividido en capítulos que hace la lectura más fácil. Tengo un problema con este relato y es que es muy largo para lo que cuenta. Habla del primer contacto de la civilización con un planeta alienígena y como actuaría la tripulación de la nave para cerciorarse que nada es biológicamente peligroso, por esa parte está guay pero podría perfectamente durar 1/3 de lo que dura. Lo recomiendo así así porque está guay pero te puedes leer el primer capítulo y el último y te funcionaría igual la narración.
- Houston, Houston ¿me recibe?: Es indudable que este relato es muy bueno, ganó el Hugo y el Nébula a mejor novella y destila calidad por los cuatro costados. Juega con el choque temporal, las diferencias generacionales y culturales, los sistemas sociales e incluso con la propia biología. Si te vas a leer algo de esta antología que sea este relato.
- El psicólogo que no quería maltratar a las ratas: Tiene un punto interesante al principio en el que se hace una crítica a la experimentación animal pero después tira por derroteros muy raros y termina mezclando existencialismo con cadáveres mal y el flautista de Hamelin. No lo recomiendo.
- Ella espera a todos los nacidos: Es muy cortito y además esta muy bellamente escrito. Tiende más a la espectacularidad sin ceñirse a las normas establecidas para hablar del concepto de mortalidad. Muy recomendado.
Si vais a leer algo que sea Houston, Houston ¿me recibe?, después Ella espera a todos los nacidos y por último Vuestro corazón haploide. Del resto yo pasaría a no ser que tengáis mucha curiosidad con la autora.
Una pequeñas consideraciones, en el prólogo escrito por Ursula K. Le Guin se hace referencia a que antes de descubrir que bajo el sinónimo de Tiptree se encontraba una mujer se especulaba mucho que eso no podía ser porque tenía una mirada muy masculina todas sus obras y eso es verdad. Lo lees y salta a la vista porque siempre se describe a las mujeres como voluptuosas, con grandes curvas, se describen varias veces sus senos, etc. y es hasta cierto punto muy incómodo. El único relato en el que está justificado esto es el de Houston, Houston ¿me recibe? y me parece que está muy bien llevado, si lo leéis sabréis porqué. El relato de
Ella espera a todos los nacidos no tiene la mirada masculina por lo que si no queréis lidiar con ello yo recomiendo leer eso de la autora y, aunque no encapsula el estilo de la misma, os puede servir como primer acercamiento a ella a ver si os mola su prosa.
January 14, 2023
When I read
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
I thought the full intensity of eighteen Tiptree stories in succession was a bit much. This time around, I read seven stories over two weeks, interspersed with short stories by other authors, and I found the bleakness of Tiptree less relentless. Indeed, when not received all at once, 'bleak' doesn't seem to be an appropriate word for Tiptree. Certainly, there is darkness here, a focus on death that is inescapable (like death). Sometimes, there is cynicism, resignation to fate or to social pressures. But there's often more going on here than the headline-grabbing sex, gender, and death themes that do mark much of Tiptree's world. There's glimpses of a utopia in the future society of "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?". There's a happy alternative implied in "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever", if your life is lived differently to its protagonist. If you can believe in it, there's a better world on offer in "The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats". That Tiptree doesn't expect us to make it to any of these, well, that's the bleak risk.
My edition of this collection didn't include Ursula K Le Guin's introduction, which I read anyway in Language of the Night . Le Guin begins by quoting Tiptree calling introductions 'Abominations' and describing how the author asked here to simply write 'here are some stories'. I love Le Guin, so I am glad to have this introduction, but for me it does fit better in a collection of Le Guin's writing than it would do here. Tiptree's stories can stand without it, and I do think that they stand well in isolation.
My edition of this collection didn't include Ursula K Le Guin's introduction, which I read anyway in Language of the Night . Le Guin begins by quoting Tiptree calling introductions 'Abominations' and describing how the author asked here to simply write 'here are some stories'. I love Le Guin, so I am glad to have this introduction, but for me it does fit better in a collection of Le Guin's writing than it would do here. Tiptree's stories can stand without it, and I do think that they stand well in isolation.
July 29, 2019
Ursula Le Guin's introduction for this collection shows the depth of friendship and admiration that existed between these two people, both before Tiptree's identity was revealed and after. And Le Guin was right: the stories collected here are very good and very intense.
I'd read all but two of these stories already in another collection: "Your Haploid Heart" and "The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats." Of the two, "Psychologist" was the most affecting because ABS (writing as Raccoona Sheldon) showed how lab animals are seriously mistreated for the sake of science. The story felt very autobiographical since ABS worked with rats in a lab on her doctorate and her department didn't really think her study was worth it. And of course that makes it worse because I can only assume that all the tests that are described in "Psychologist" actually happened.
Basically, if you didn't already think that animals shouldn't be used for lab testing, you will after reading this story.
I'd read all but two of these stories already in another collection: "Your Haploid Heart" and "The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats." Of the two, "Psychologist" was the most affecting because ABS (writing as Raccoona Sheldon) showed how lab animals are seriously mistreated for the sake of science. The story felt very autobiographical since ABS worked with rats in a lab on her doctorate and her department didn't really think her study was worth it. And of course that makes it worse because I can only assume that all the tests that are described in "Psychologist" actually happened.
Basically, if you didn't already think that animals shouldn't be used for lab testing, you will after reading this story.
October 16, 2023
VERDICT: 3.94 stars, bumped to 4 because these tales were varied, memorable, and especially imaginative for their time (circa 1978).
Mostly 3 & 4 star stories for me, and one that was close to a 5.
These 7 stories (2 of which are novella-length) by Tiptree/Sheldon are recommended for lovers of classic sci-fi tales. You also get an introduction by Ursula K. LeGuin
Also consider:
- James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon
- Worlds of Exile and Illusion: Rocannon’s World, Planet of Exile, City of Illusions
Mostly 3 & 4 star stories for me, and one that was close to a 5.
These 7 stories (2 of which are novella-length) by Tiptree/Sheldon are recommended for lovers of classic sci-fi tales. You also get an introduction by Ursula K. LeGuin
Also consider:
- James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon
- Worlds of Exile and Illusion: Rocannon’s World, Planet of Exile, City of Illusions
September 28, 2024
This book is worth it for "Houston, Houston Do You Read?" alone. I cannot recommend this story highly enough. LeGuin's is also quite interesting as it details some of her thoughts on the revelation that Tiptree was a woman writing under a man's name (this was quite the surprise to the men of the '70s SF community). I dig the cover too. Here's my ranking of all the stories:
1. Houston, Houston Do You Read?
2. Your Haploid Heart
3. A Momentary Taste of Being
4. Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
5. And So On, And So On
6. She Waits for All Men Born
7. The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats
1. Houston, Houston Do You Read?
2. Your Haploid Heart
3. A Momentary Taste of Being
4. Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
5. And So On, And So On
6. She Waits for All Men Born
7. The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats
October 19, 2017
I liked most of these, but the highlight of this collection is probably "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" the award-winning novella about the crew of a spaceship called Sunbird which is damaged by a solar flare. They attempt to contact NASA in Houston, but they can't get through. They do pick up some radio communications, though... it's a fantastic story, but I won't say more than that.
December 9, 2017
Some of these are going to look pretty dated, which means some of the failures, or what read to me like failures, are going to stand out worse than they did when the book was new. But this book is still very, very well worth reading, not least for how often you jolt in your chair about how much *hasn't* changed (enough) in gender politics and social attitudes.
April 6, 2020
If you discount Her Smoke Rose Up Forever as a greatest hits package, then this is pretty much the all-round best collection by James Tiptree Jr( although each one is excellent of course). Every story in Star Songs is excellent and well worth reading.
November 19, 2019
Classic SF from the 1970s. I enjoyed "Houston Do You Read Me" and the first story. Some of this bordered on horror which I don't enjoy.
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