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The Mountain Cage And Other Stories
The Mountain Cage and Other Stories is a collection that includes thirteen short stories by this unique voice in speculative fiction. A few of the stories previously appeared in The Best of Pamela Sargent, but most have never been collected. Included here are gems such as Danny Goes to Mars and Hilary Orbits Venus, Dream of Venus, the extremely clever The Novella Race, and the wonderful The Mountain Cage, a beautifully written alternate history.
366 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2002
7 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Pamela Sargent
162 books208 followersPamela Sargent has won the Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and has been a finalist for the Hugo Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award for alternate history. In 2012, she was honored with the Pilgrim Award by the Science Fiction Research Association for lifetime achievement in science fiction scholarship. She is the author of the novels Cloned Lives, The Sudden Star, Watchstar, The Golden Space, The Alien Upstairs, Eye of the Comet, Homesmind, Alien Child, The Shore of Women, Venus of Dreams, Venus of Shadows, Child of Venus, Climb the Wind, and Ruler of the Sky. Her most recent short story collection is Thumbprints, published by Golden Gryphon Press, with an introduction by James Morrow. The Washington Post Book World has called her “one of the genre's best writers.”
In the 1970s, she edited the Women of Wonder series, the first collections of science fiction by women; her other anthologies include Bio-Futures and, with British writer Ian Watson as co-editor, Afterlives. Two anthologies, Women of Wonder, The Classic Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1940s to the 1970s and Women of Wonder, The Contemporary Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1970s to the 1990s, were published by Harcourt Brace in 1995; Publishers Weekly called these two books “essential reading for any serious sf fan.” Her most recent anthology is Conqueror Fantastic, out from DAW Books in 2004. Tor Books reissued her 1983 young adult novel Earthseed, selected as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association, and a sequel, Farseed, in early 2007. A third volume, Seed Seeker, was published in November of 2010 by Tor. Earthseed has been optioned by Paramount Pictures, with Melissa Rosenberg, scriptwriter for all of the Twilight films, writing the script and producing through her Tall Girls Productions.
A collection, Puss in D.C. and Other Stories, is out; her novel Season of the Cats is out in hardcover and will be available in paperback from Wildside Press. The Shore of Women has been optioned for development as a TV series by Super Deluxe Films, part of Turner Broadcasting.
Pamela Sargent lives in Albany, New York.
In the 1970s, she edited the Women of Wonder series, the first collections of science fiction by women; her other anthologies include Bio-Futures and, with British writer Ian Watson as co-editor, Afterlives. Two anthologies, Women of Wonder, The Classic Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1940s to the 1970s and Women of Wonder, The Contemporary Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1970s to the 1990s, were published by Harcourt Brace in 1995; Publishers Weekly called these two books “essential reading for any serious sf fan.” Her most recent anthology is Conqueror Fantastic, out from DAW Books in 2004. Tor Books reissued her 1983 young adult novel Earthseed, selected as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association, and a sequel, Farseed, in early 2007. A third volume, Seed Seeker, was published in November of 2010 by Tor. Earthseed has been optioned by Paramount Pictures, with Melissa Rosenberg, scriptwriter for all of the Twilight films, writing the script and producing through her Tall Girls Productions.
A collection, Puss in D.C. and Other Stories, is out; her novel Season of the Cats is out in hardcover and will be available in paperback from Wildside Press. The Shore of Women has been optioned for development as a TV series by Super Deluxe Films, part of Turner Broadcasting.
Pamela Sargent lives in Albany, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 12, 2017
My favorite part of this collection are the brief reflective essays following each story. They provided a glimpse into Sargent's personality and writing process. I also enjoyed the idea that cats might be extremely knowledgeable about alternative reality theory.
May 4, 2022
interesting and eclectic collection
This collection of short stories doesn’t follow any particular theme, so it was perfect bedtime reading— pick it up, read a story or two, put it down, go to sleep. Each story is complete in itself and has an author’s note after it that may tell something about the story or about how it came to be written. I particularly enjoyed the alternate history ones, that being a favorite theme of mine. Other than sci-fi, I’m not much of a short story fan so this book was just about perfect for me.
This collection of short stories doesn’t follow any particular theme, so it was perfect bedtime reading— pick it up, read a story or two, put it down, go to sleep. Each story is complete in itself and has an author’s note after it that may tell something about the story or about how it came to be written. I particularly enjoyed the alternate history ones, that being a favorite theme of mine. Other than sci-fi, I’m not much of a short story fan so this book was just about perfect for me.
November 30, 2014
First, a disclaimer: I've known Pam Sargent for over ten years, and even maintain her web site for her. I consider her a friend as well as a talented writer.
That doesn't mean that I would automatically write a positive review of her new book if I didn't mean it. One of the things you learn as a book reviewer who also has a fair number of authors as friends is that adage from your mother about not saying anything if you can't say something nice.
But I'm happy to be genuinely able to say more than a few things nice about this new collection of Pam's stories, as it truly demonstrates that she is at home in the shorter medium as she is at the novel. Most people are only familiar with her pair of skillfully done political satires, the Nebula award-winning "Danny Goes to Mars" and its thematic sequel "Hillary Orbits Venus" (I keep anticipating a completion of the trilogy with "George, Uranus"), although she had already shown a gift for satire in the now classic story, "The Novella Race" (where writing takes on the aspects of an Olympic sport). But she deserves better recognition as the writer of cautionary tales (the true forte of the science fiction author). "The Summer's Dust" explores a possible side effect of immortality--the effect on what few children might exist in such a world where no one needs any longer to live on through their progeny--while "Fears" rivals the best stories of James Tiptree Jr. in its description of a world that follows years after the ability for parents to make a sexual selection for their child.
Two stories here are related to her novels. "The Sleeping Serpent" anticipates her novel of an alternate world where the Mongol horde continued its conquests, even unto the New World. "Dream of Venus" is an ancilliary tale to her Venus trilogy, a special treat for those who had to wait those long years between the second and third books.
While I didn't care for the title story (told from the point of view of a cat, which just didn't sit well with me, especially in comparison to any of the other narrators in this book), one of the newest stories here, "Common Mind," is one of the best I've read on the idea of group consciousness, a theme not often explored in SF.
My favorite parts of this collection are the afterwords to each story, and the publisher, a small press in Atlanta named Meisha Merlin, is to be commended not only for the quality of the book's production, but also for allowing these to be after the stories and not insisting that they be introductions to them. You get a rare glimpse into the creation of stories in these small bits, which as afterwords increase your appreciation of what you just read rather than "giving away" the story had they been placed before. It's a small thing, but so many collections make this mistake that I quit taking this for granted.
That doesn't mean that I would automatically write a positive review of her new book if I didn't mean it. One of the things you learn as a book reviewer who also has a fair number of authors as friends is that adage from your mother about not saying anything if you can't say something nice.
But I'm happy to be genuinely able to say more than a few things nice about this new collection of Pam's stories, as it truly demonstrates that she is at home in the shorter medium as she is at the novel. Most people are only familiar with her pair of skillfully done political satires, the Nebula award-winning "Danny Goes to Mars" and its thematic sequel "Hillary Orbits Venus" (I keep anticipating a completion of the trilogy with "George, Uranus"), although she had already shown a gift for satire in the now classic story, "The Novella Race" (where writing takes on the aspects of an Olympic sport). But she deserves better recognition as the writer of cautionary tales (the true forte of the science fiction author). "The Summer's Dust" explores a possible side effect of immortality--the effect on what few children might exist in such a world where no one needs any longer to live on through their progeny--while "Fears" rivals the best stories of James Tiptree Jr. in its description of a world that follows years after the ability for parents to make a sexual selection for their child.
Two stories here are related to her novels. "The Sleeping Serpent" anticipates her novel of an alternate world where the Mongol horde continued its conquests, even unto the New World. "Dream of Venus" is an ancilliary tale to her Venus trilogy, a special treat for those who had to wait those long years between the second and third books.
While I didn't care for the title story (told from the point of view of a cat, which just didn't sit well with me, especially in comparison to any of the other narrators in this book), one of the newest stories here, "Common Mind," is one of the best I've read on the idea of group consciousness, a theme not often explored in SF.
My favorite parts of this collection are the afterwords to each story, and the publisher, a small press in Atlanta named Meisha Merlin, is to be commended not only for the quality of the book's production, but also for allowing these to be after the stories and not insisting that they be introductions to them. You get a rare glimpse into the creation of stories in these small bits, which as afterwords increase your appreciation of what you just read rather than "giving away" the story had they been placed before. It's a small thing, but so many collections make this mistake that I quit taking this for granted.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews