Men Writing Science Fiction As Women

by Mike Resnick (Editor)

First came Women Writing Science Fiction as Men, which was a homage to the early days of the science fiction genre, when it was a given that the writers and their readers were men and any woman writing science fiction had to hide her true identity. Now, in this all-new collection of nineteen stories by top male writers, the men are getting a chance to see if they can meet the challenge of successfully writing as women.

Stories by Barry N. Malzberg, Robert J. Sawyer, Ralph Roberts, Robert Sheckley, Jack Dann, David Gerrold, Frank M. Robinson, Dean Wesley Smith, and others

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Anthologies

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Michael "Mike" Diamond Resnick, better known by his published name Mike Resnick, was a popular and prolific American science fiction author. He is, according to Locus, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short science fiction. He was the winner of five Hugos, a Nebula, and other major awards in the United States, France, Spain, Japan, Croatia and Poland. and has been short-listed for major awards in England, Italy and Australia. He was the author of 68 novels, over 250 stories, and 2 screenplays, and was the editor of 41 anthologies. His work has been translated into 25 languages. He was the Guest of Honor at the 2012 Worldcon and can be found online as @ResnickMike on Twitter or at www.mikeresnick.com.

Reviews

[Paul Weiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Are these Aliens, Mother?”
“Of course they are, dear, they are male”

1950s Golden Age sci-fi editor John Campbell asked his writers, "Write me a creature that thinks as well as a man, or better than a man, but not like a man". Although it’s a rather tongue-in-cheek idea, one has to wonder if Michael Resnick had that dictum in mind when he directed his exclusively male contributors, “Write me a story in the first person of a woman, and, if changing her from Victoria to Victor doesn’t invalidate the story, I don’t want it”! It wouldn’t take much to convince me that creating the mind of a non-humanoid alien would be an easier writing task than a man creating a credible portrayal of what, to this male at least, is the utterly alien thinking of (gasp!) a woman, LOL!

I was a little disappointed with certain aspects of the execution of such an intriguing idea. Many of the authors took the simple cop-out approach of revolving the story around themes that simply made it impossible for the narrator to be anything other than female – abortion, pregnancy, misogyny, transgenderism and lesbianism, … you get the idea!

That said, a couple of the stories were unquestionably 5-star gems that centered on the truism that women’s brains, conduct, thinking, and decisions are simply not driven by a gush of macho testosterone. The clear theme that the world might be a different place if women were more often in positions of power and decision making was nicely developed and presented.

The bottom of the ladder in the anthology was a DNFer entitled A TALE OF THE OROI by Robert Sheckley. All but incomprehensible and in the same league as Sheckley’s full-length novel MINDSWAP which I also rated harshly with a single star.

Sigh! If the anthology exists that is uniformly excellent (or even uniformly good), I have yet to find it. This one certainly isn’t that elusive prize-winner but it is enjoyable and worth the read for lovers of the sci-fi genre with their minds open for a little theme twist!


Paul Weiss

[Nicole Bunge · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far (and I'm almost done) this anthology has been mostly disappointing to the feminist sci-fi connoisseur in me.

Most of these stories are (intentionally or not) cliched. Because apparently, the only thing that makes women 'women' is having babies. Because 9/10th of this damn collection is about having babies, or 'what about my children?!?' Oh, and being sexy and taunting men with it to get their way.

I haven't decided if I'm gonna bother to deconstruct it story by story, as my mantra right now is 'try to be positive' - but here are the highlights so far:

"In the Heart of Kalikuata" by Tobias S. Buckell (who writes some pretty hardcore but BELIEVABLE female protagonists in his books - which I ADORE) was a nice find. Circa 2003 - so he hadn't sold his "Raga-muffin" books yet. Set in the same universe though.

"Staying Still" by Stephen Leigh and "Relativity" by Robert J. Sawyer work pretty well as relationship vs career stories without devolving too badly into hand-ringing hindsight.

"A Woman's Touch" by Ralph Roberts - I have mixed feelings about. The general premise is good, but "I'm gonna teach my daughter to manipulate men because everyone knows women are smarter than men but we let them think they're in charge (insert dramatic eye roll)" was a bit insulting.

But the rest? The premise of the anthology (which is a response to "Women Writing Science Fiction as Men" - which I'll have to track down now) is set in two rules: The story has to be first person of a women, and if changing her from Victoria to Victor didn't invalidate the story, it wasn't to be considered.

If anything, this proves "Men are From Mars... yadda yadda yadda." Cuz most of these authors, and the editor, just don't get it.

Also, Resnick? really needs to edit better. There are at least three stories with wrong-word errors and bad grammar. It's annoying.
----
The only other high point in this collection is "Love Story" by Frank M. Robinson, and not so much as a "female perspective" as a "surprise ending that makes you go back and reread the whole story."
If anything, it challenges your assumptions as a human. That's all I can say without spoiling it.

But the other stories? Pretty much prove what I wrote above. I am going to track down the "Women writing as Men" companion volume, if only because I know it can be done (James Tiptree Jr. anyone?) Frankly it made me want to pull out some Usula K. Le Guin or Élisabeth Vonarburg, just to cleanse my palate.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a somewhat uneven collection of stories featuring male writers writing from a female perspective, which isn't really too much of a stretch concept to build from when you think about it. The companion volume, obviously, is Women Writing Science Fiction As Men. My favorites in this book were from Robert Sawyer, Stephen Leigh, and Tobias Buckell.

[Manda · Rating 3 out of 5]

anthologies are always a mixed bag.
my favourate was A small Goddess by John Teeham