PSA
Some US retailers currently have the ebook versions of the following 90s sf novels at $.99. (I checked Amazon, B&N, and Kobo.)
Maureen McHugh, Nekropolis
Rebecca Ore, Outlaw School
Rebecca Ore, Time's Child
I'm not sure I've read either of those particular books by Ore, but in general she is an interesting, cantankerous, knotty writer, with a lot more attention to class and the structures of capitalism than is typical for USian writers. My favorite of her books is Slow Funeral, recently republished by Aqueduct, which is about a witch in rural Appalachia.
McHugh's Nekropolis' deals with indentured servitude and artificial chemical imprinting in kind of scary ways. Hariba's been "jessed" to be subservient to her master, in return for food, shelter, and minimal wages, and is stirred to rebellion by the presence of a hami, a technoorganic hybrid who is bound to serve the emotional needs of its masters. McHugh is unsparing about the way the technological and social constraints affect perception (how Hariba perceives her master after being released is very different from how she perceives him before). And the take on the perfect robot boyfriend trope a la The Silver Metal Lover is just chilling. The near future Morocco didn't seem exoticized to me, but I'm not the best judge. [eta:
zahrawithaz has significant reservations.]
Given the recent discussion of whether women write sf in particular, it's nice to remember that yes, they do, and yes, they have been for quite some time.
cups brewed at DW
Maureen McHugh, Nekropolis
Rebecca Ore, Outlaw School
Rebecca Ore, Time's Child
I'm not sure I've read either of those particular books by Ore, but in general she is an interesting, cantankerous, knotty writer, with a lot more attention to class and the structures of capitalism than is typical for USian writers. My favorite of her books is Slow Funeral, recently republished by Aqueduct, which is about a witch in rural Appalachia.
McHugh's Nekropolis' deals with indentured servitude and artificial chemical imprinting in kind of scary ways. Hariba's been "jessed" to be subservient to her master, in return for food, shelter, and minimal wages, and is stirred to rebellion by the presence of a hami, a technoorganic hybrid who is bound to serve the emotional needs of its masters. McHugh is unsparing about the way the technological and social constraints affect perception (how Hariba perceives her master after being released is very different from how she perceives him before). And the take on the perfect robot boyfriend trope a la The Silver Metal Lover is just chilling. The near future Morocco didn't seem exoticized to me, but I'm not the best judge. [eta:
zahrawithaz has significant reservations.]
Given the recent discussion of whether women write sf in particular, it's nice to remember that yes, they do, and yes, they have been for quite some time.
cups brewed at DW