Review by Booklist Review
This collection contains 18 short pieces by the late Alice B. Sheldon, who wrote them under the pseudonym James Tiptree. They include the Nebula Award-winning "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" and several other classic literary sf pieces. Tiptree's vision was more often than not grim, but it was expressed with such consummate skill that her reputation was fairly earned. Larger collections will probably have much of this material, but it is an excellent starting point for the author's work for any collection that does not. --Roland Green
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The stories of Alice Sheldon, who wrote as James Tiptree Jr. ( Up the Walls of the World ) until her death in 1987, have been heretofore available mostly in out-of-print collections. Thus the 18 accomplished stories here will be welcomed by new readers and old fans. ``The Screwfly Solution'' describes a chilling, elegant answer to the population problem. In ``Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death,'' the title tells the tale--species survival insured by imprinted drives--but the story's force is in its exquisite, lyrical prose and its suggestion that personal uniqueness is possible even within biological imperatives. ``The Girl Who Was Plugged In'' is a future boy-meets-girl story with a twist unexpected by the players. ``The Women Men Don't See '' displays Tiptree's keen insight and ability to depict singularity within the ordinary. In Hugo and Nebula award-winning ``Houston, Houston, Do You Read?'' astronauts flying by the sun slip forward 500 years and encounter a culture that successfully questions gender roles in ours. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A handsome illustrated collection of 18 short stories, mostly from the mid-70's, that could as easily be called ""The Best of Tiptree."" All her classic titles are here: ""The Screwfly Solution,"" in which aliens exterminate the human race by turning men against women; ""The Women Men Don't See,"" which grows from a brilliantly realized Yucatan setting to a devastating conclusion; ""Houston, Houston, Do You Read?,"" which won both Hugo and Nebula awards in 1977; ""Love is the Plan the Plan is Death,"" ""A Monentary Taste of Being,"" and many others equally familiar to sf aficionados. As John Clute points out in his excellent introduction, Tiptree was perhaps the darkest major writer in sf; many of her major stories are deeply pessimistic, and are resolved only by death. Yet the overall impression left by these stories is sheer wonder at her impeccable prose, her exuberance in following her premises wherever they lead, and her overwhelming stylistic virtuosity. For every serious collection of modern science fiction. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
