Flying Cups & Saucers: Gender Explorations in Science Fiction & Fantasy

by Debbie Notkin, the Secret Feminist Cabal

Ever wonder what happened to the rest of the tea party when the saucers went off into space? Here's your chance to find out! What would it be like to go to a club where you could buy an injection of sexiness? To grow up in a world where you didn't know what gender you would be until puberty - and the discovery could be painful? To find yourself and your secret pitted against the entire United States government? The James Tiptree, Jr. Award has been recognizing science fiction and fantasy novels and stories that explore and expand gender since 1992. Although the award itself is given to one or two works of fiction a year, each jury also produces an "honor list" of notable works that were considered for the award. This anthology contains almost all of the short fiction that either won or was honored in the first five years of the award.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Gender, Feminism, Short Stories, LGBT

412 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[eva]

it's rare for me to find politically-themed fiction that isn't embarrassingly didactic, and equally rare to find science fiction, even in long form, that doesn't end up resorting to clunky expository passages in order to move the story along. so it seems like feminist science fiction short stories must be an especially tough genre/form combination to tackle. that said, i really treasured this collection. a couple clunkers that made me groan, but they're definitely made up for by awesome stuff from (just a few of my favorites) eleanor arnason, ian r. macleod, and carol emshwiller. and of course, always and forever <3, ursula k. le guin - "the matter of seggri" manages to be challenging, heartbreaking, and unabashedly feminist, while at the same time extending its arms fully and equally to both men and women. (but it kinda made me blush to imagine a 60-odd-year-old wife and mother writing a story that makes such extravagant use of the word "fuckery".)

[Alison]

My brother took a course in college that used this as required reading. It was laying around the house, so I picked it up. A few stories were awesome, but as I am not generally a scifi fan I just couldn't get into most of them.

[Mills College Library]

Fiction F6482 2008