Her Smoke Rose Up Forever

In 508 pages we get 18 short stories by James Tiptree, Jr. Original publication dates range from 1969 to 1981. Time has overtaken many of the tales in a strange way, that makes one wish Tiptree were still around to appreciate developments. For instance, in "The Girl Who Was Plugged In," the world breathlessly watches the real-time antics of young, beautiful wealthy girls... who are actually brainless synthetic creations animated by what amount to brains in jars in an underground lab. What would Tiptree make of the Parises, Nicoles, Lindsays and Brittanies of our own day, who appear to have no brains located anywhere? Tiptree really got rolling in 1973, when she published her three best-known stories, "The Girl...," along with "Love is the plan the plan is death," and "The Women Men Don't See." Along with 1976's "Houston, Houston, do you read?" these are the quintessential Tiptree tales. "Love is the plan..." is my favorite science fiction short story, and one of the best short stories of any kind ever written. It has not a single human character, and depicts the unbearably touching efforts of a gigantic, heavily-armored, multi-limbed alien to tackle and solve three deadly problems faced by his species, two internal--- stemming from instinctively programmed behavior--- and one external, a global climate change. That he will fail, and why he will fail, is evident early on from many clues fairly planted within the narrative. But he does his level best, which is indeed far better than you and I could hope to do, and like most Tiptree aliens, he is totally charming and lovable throughout his hopeless task. Our own species is currently failing completely to deal with a global climate change, and we are neither charming nor lovable in our miserably conflicted efforts. "A Momentary Taste of Being" is another quintessential Tiptree story; an expedition of interstellar exploration inadvertently discovers the true purpose of human existence... a purpose which reveals all human effort, achievement and aspiration to be utterly pointless and futile. "With Delicate Mad Hands" is a key story, from 1981, that catches Tiptree in transition from symbolic War of the Sexes tales to space-operatic adventure. Almost all her stories from 1981 to her death in 1987 were space adventures set in the distant future. Several tales here were completely new to me, particularly "Slow Music," from 1980, in which a chance (?) encounter of the earth with some alien stream of disembodied consciousness has made suicide so irresistibly attractive that there are only a handful of living humans. This story seems to contain a sly self-portrait of Tiptree herself, as the dying ancient human wreck that the two main characters discover on their way to see "The River," as the stream is called. There's not a bad or mediocre story in the volume. And, alas, this is probably the only collection of Tiptree fiction currently in print in the US. Get it while it's still available.

I'm an unsure how James Tiptree/Alice Bradley's work hasn't appeared in more of the feminist/women's studies courses I took in either undergrad or graduate school. Her perspective on the future of humanity and the exploration of science has a viewpoint I have never read in science fiction up to this point and I'm glad a book review in a different source led me to reading these stories - in particular The Screwfly Solution, Houston, Houston Do You Read? and a Momentary Taste of Being. Both provocative and incredibly disturbing, I have already recommended this book to other female sci-fi aficionados.

Alice Sheldon was the best female SF writer, and one of the best of either gender. This collection shows why. "Houston", "Women Men Don't See" et al. are original, and tightly, well-constructed narrations, without invoking improbable technological developments. Jeffrey Smith has done a first rate job, and is editing her other stories for upcoming publications. Don't miss this collection if you're an SF fan or just appreciate wildly immaginative stories.

James Tiptree, Jr. (the pen name for Alice Sheldon) excelled at imaginative plots, intriguing science, and most of all, lyrical writing. Her explorations of gender, biology and science were vivid and controversial, and she won all of science fiction's major awards. This short story collection was out of print for many years, and has now been revised with the author's original notes. It is a must-have for science fiction fans, feminists, anthroplogists, and, well, everyone. This is one of my favorite authors, and I truly love this book.

It is really difficult to imagine how anyone could write fiction that is so tormented and passionate.She is just unbelievable, and that's all there is to it.