Crown of Stars

If I am not mistaken, this anthology was the last to be put together by Tiptree just before her suicide, although not published until after her death. It contains 10 short stories, one previously unpublished. Knowing what happened to Tiptree and her husband in May of 1987 changes completely the way readers will interpret these tales, and it would be striking to any reader at any time how many of the stories turn on death, suicide and strange afterlives. In "Second Going," American astronauts encounter blue, one-eyed octopus-like extraterrestrials who seem too kind, gentle, helpful and harmless to possibly be what they seem. Surprise! In "Our Resident Djinn," Lucifer visits Heaven for the first time since his abortive revolution, and finds Heaven's grieving inhabitants ready to erase the boundaries between Heaven and Hell. This simply isn't a good story. In "Morality Meat," the rich of a decaying world have implemented Dean Jonathan Swift's "modest proposal," to provide one luxury menu item they have no intention of giving up. "All This and Heaven Too" is a fairy tale in which we learn that the marriage of an eligible princess to a highly eligible prince from another realm is about the worst fate that can befall a fairy kingdom. "Yanqui Doodle" depicts a future imperial war (precisely like the ones the US is now bogged hopelessly down in, in Iraq and Afghanistan) in which "better fighting through chemistry" has been perfected to the point where no US soldier can possibly survive or thrive anywhere but in the midst of some war somewhere. The previously unpublished "Come Live with Me" is the poorest story in the volume. Two aliens prove their sweet niceness by resurrecting two human corpses, casualties of an interstellar expedition of exploration from earth. None of the human characters behave plausibly, at any time. "Last Night and Every Night" is a grim tale of slavery disguised as mercy, and is written in a gritty style somewhat reminiscent of that of Andrew Vachss. "Backward, Turn Backward" is by far the most disturbing tale in the book. College students are given the opportunity to swap places for a couple of weeks with their future selves, but always lose the memory of what they saw, as they return. When a wealthy, bitchy, materialistic coed discovers that her future holds only a humdrum middle-class existence in a world so deteriorated socially, economically and politically that ordinary pleasures are few and far between, she decides to kill herself at the instant she is to be swapped back... and bungles the task! If you have read the recent biography of Tiptree, you'll recognize how she has in spots here and there used some of her own life experiences and plans. In "The Earth Doth Like a Snake Renew," the richest and most beautiful girl in the world is convinced our (unquestionably male) planet loves her, and is constantly searching for a way to possess her sexually. Little does she know about that rapidly-approaching flooz

Crown of Stars is an excellent gateway into the writing of James Tiptree - in particular, "Backward, turn Backward" is approachable but disturbing. Her work tends to explore what gender means - similar to the way Phillip K. Dick explores perception of reality. Yanqui Doodle took a couple of readings before I fully understood what was going on. All in all, an excellent collection.