Women in Deep Time

by Greg Bear

“Three stories with a common the female psyche, multiplied and divided," says Greg Bear in his introduction to this Women in Deep Time. "There's probably something Jungian in common with all three. At any rate, throughout my writing career (and for whatever reason) I've been fascinated by the feminine voice." Featured in this special collection are "Sisters," "Scattershot," in which the inhabitants of many universes meet in limbo, and the Nebula Award-winning "Hardfought," in which engineered warriors redefine humanity.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Collections, Ebooks, Short Stories

152 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 25, 2003

About the author

Greg Bear was an American writer and illustrator best known for science fiction. His work covered themes of galactic conflict (Forge of God books), parallel universes (The Way series), consciousness and cultural practices (Queen of Angels), and accelerated evolution (Blood Music, Darwin’s Radio, and Darwin’s Children). His last work was the 2021 novel The Unfinished Land. Greg Bear wrote over 50 books in total.

(For a more complete biography, see Wikipedia.)

Reviews

[Dmadden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously scraps from Greg's discard drawer. But his discard drawer is better than a lot of peoples publication list. Yes, I'm talking about you, S. Baxter. Still these are probably actually unnecessary in the long run. And what does W_3 add to the title?

[T.S.S. Fulk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three excellent novellas with female protagonists.

[Judy]

I read it, but didn't get it. How do I quantify something I have no words for?

[Esger Jellema · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to read, didn’t finish it.

[Ellen Satter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, engaging stories.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 2003 collection of 3 short stories Greg Bear wrote in the 1970's & 1980's, all having female protagonists: Leticia, an NG (natural genome) teenager trying to find her way when most of her classmates are PPCs (Pre-Planned Children); Prufrax, cloned and molded from infancy as a "glover" in the war against the hated Senexi; and Geneva, coming to after a disruption which scrambled her ship with those of other places and times.

All were good, in very different ways. All share in common that their protagonists grow in their understanding of the "other" -- whether it be alien life forms or classmates who are different. The first, "Sisters," was simple and straightforward. The others, "Hardfought," and "Scattershot," took place in times/places that were harder for me to accept at first, but were ultimately the more compelling, if not necessarily satisfying.

[Christy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

The first story, "Sisters," had an interesting concept and a nice emotional ending, but the other two stories left me cold. I couldn't even finish "Hardfought" (the second story) and "Scattershot" (third and final), despite having a walking, talking teddy bear as a character, just wasn't that compelling.

If you're looking to read some Greg Bear, I recommend Blood Music or Darwin's Radio instead.

[Eloise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A trio of trippy identity-based sci-fi shorts with a feminine focus.
If you don't like your sci-fi to be philosophical and full of uncertainties you might want to skip this.
The third the collection opens with the line "The teddy bear spoke excellent mandarin", and just gets weirder and darker.
A more accurate rating might be 3.5 for "I have no idea what's going on for the most part but I'm having feelings".

[Kiki]

I loved Greg Bears Darwin series of books (Everyone should read them) and I was interested in reading something more of his, so I grabbed this set of short stories. When looking up his stuff I also noticed he wrote a Halo book 'Halo: Cryptum', I probably should check that out as well since I really like his writing.

[Julie Miles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had high hopes for this. Odd stories and not terribly engaging ones at that.