Saturday Book Giveaway! Feminist sci-fi that is a little bat$%&
It has been suggested that I should solicit volunteers to write Saturday Book Discussion posts when I haven't the time to do them. So, does anyone have any good discussion topics and a desire to write one up? PM me if you would like to take over for a Saturday or two.
I don't "own" the SBD so nothing stops anyone from posting a discussion whenever they like. But I can put your entry on my super-official SBD entries list.
And now, for week two of the Saturday Book Giveaway, a project to shrink my toppling pile of paperbacks.
The winner of last week's giveaway, the first five books in Gordon Dickson's Dragon Knight series is... k00kaburra! Your books are on their way via Media Mail.
This week, I am offering not one, but two authors of classic feminist science fiction that is... well, a little bent.
In fact, I found these books engaging and thought-provoking and they have stuck with me for many years after I read them. But there is some serious WTFery in them.
Let's start with:
Sherri S. Tepper
Sherri S. Tepper is an eco-feminist who, unlike Margaret Atwood, writes unabashed science fiction that is unabashedly grinding an axe. Tepper's novels tend to be mindbending flips between science fiction and fantasy, full of Big Ideas and jaw-droppingly bad ones. A talented writer who wants to shake you by the lapels and scream in your face: "Do you get it now?!"
The three Tepper books I am giving away are:
Sherri Tepper's books usually involve oppressive patriarchies and some rapiness. Her solutions to the Patriarchy include: godlike aliens kill off the human race 'cause we deserve it; eugenics programs to breed violence (and also homosexuality) out of mankind; sending bad people to hell, literally. Tepper uses a lot of metaphors, but they are not subtle.
After having read a number of her books, I believe that Tepper does not hate men; she hates the whole fucking human race. But nonetheless, her books are good reads and provocative in that uncomfortable-making way, if you aren't bothered by having to squint and resist the impulse to throw them against the wall now and then.
But wait, that's not all! I also offer you:
Suzette Haden Elgin's Native Tongue trilogy
I have a great deal of affection for Suzette Haden Elgin's books; they are quirky and fun and a little bit nuts. She drops some fairly interesting ideas into books that are also rich in pretty silly ideas. I also own her Ozarker trilogy and several early editions of her Communipaths books, but I am not going to part with those. However, I am offering her Native Tongue trilogy:
Elgin has a PhD in linguistics, and for these books, she invented Láadan, a "women's language." She went all the way, even publishing a Láadan grammar (I actually own this book too!), hoping that it would take off in the real world. Alas, while you can still find a handful of devotees, the number of Láadan speakers worldwide is dwarfed by the number of Elvish and Klingon speakers at your average sci-fi convention.
Native Tongue is speculative fiction; the premise is one that was very popular a few decades ago and still has some adherents, that language literally shapes perceptions. E.g., the old canard that such-and-such language has no word for X and therefore native speakers of that language cannot conceive of X. (Linguist Geoffrey Pullum routinely debunks this fallacy.) Elgin treats it as literal and then constructs a world based on that idea.
In the Native Tongue series, the United States of the future has revoked all women's rights and reduced them to the legal status of children. Earth is now in contact with various alien races, and only linguists trained from birth can learn alien tongues and perform the necessary translation for interstellar trade and diplomacy. There are a lot of loosely-connected subplots, and a plan by the senior women of the linguist families to free themselves (and all women) from oppression by inventing a language of their own.
Interesting (especially if you have an interest in linguistics), intriguing, and also completely ridiculous in its science fictional premises (Elgin doesn't even hand-wave the laws of physics that she breaks) and heavy-handed in the extreme. (All men are preening, privileged penises devoid of self-awareness or empathy; all women are suffering martyrs.)
The next two books became progressively less coherent; there was barely a plot to book three at all.
Well, I've done a good job of talking these books up, haven't I!
But despite gaping suspensions of disbelief and dubious sociopolitics, I still find the books of Sherri S. Tepper and Suzette Haden Elgin to be... well, interesting.
So, if you have always wanted to dive into some serious Second Wave feminist science fiction - maybe not the best feminist science fiction out there, but certainly landmark in its way, and also a product of its time - post below and I will choose someone to ship these six books to.
Remember:
1. Only ask for them if you seriously want to read them.
2. The decision will be made by me arbitrarily and probably randomly.
3. You have to be willing to PM me your address, obviously.
5. U.S. only, sorry. It's cheaper to buy a new book than ship a used one overseas.
More books next Saturday. :)
I don't "own" the SBD so nothing stops anyone from posting a discussion whenever they like. But I can put your entry on my super-official SBD entries list.
And now, for week two of the Saturday Book Giveaway, a project to shrink my toppling pile of paperbacks.
The winner of last week's giveaway, the first five books in Gordon Dickson's Dragon Knight series is... k00kaburra! Your books are on their way via Media Mail.
This week, I am offering not one, but two authors of classic feminist science fiction that is... well, a little bent.
In fact, I found these books engaging and thought-provoking and they have stuck with me for many years after I read them. But there is some serious WTFery in them.
Let's start with:
Sherri S. Tepper
Sherri S. Tepper is an eco-feminist who, unlike Margaret Atwood, writes unabashed science fiction that is unabashedly grinding an axe. Tepper's novels tend to be mindbending flips between science fiction and fantasy, full of Big Ideas and jaw-droppingly bad ones. A talented writer who wants to shake you by the lapels and scream in your face: "Do you get it now?!"
The three Tepper books I am giving away are:
- Grass
- The Gate to Women's Country
- Beauty
Sherri Tepper's books usually involve oppressive patriarchies and some rapiness. Her solutions to the Patriarchy include: godlike aliens kill off the human race 'cause we deserve it; eugenics programs to breed violence (and also homosexuality) out of mankind; sending bad people to hell, literally. Tepper uses a lot of metaphors, but they are not subtle.
After having read a number of her books, I believe that Tepper does not hate men; she hates the whole fucking human race. But nonetheless, her books are good reads and provocative in that uncomfortable-making way, if you aren't bothered by having to squint and resist the impulse to throw them against the wall now and then.
But wait, that's not all! I also offer you:
Suzette Haden Elgin's Native Tongue trilogy
I have a great deal of affection for Suzette Haden Elgin's books; they are quirky and fun and a little bit nuts. She drops some fairly interesting ideas into books that are also rich in pretty silly ideas. I also own her Ozarker trilogy and several early editions of her Communipaths books, but I am not going to part with those. However, I am offering her Native Tongue trilogy:
- Native Tongue
- The Judas Rose
- Earthsong
Elgin has a PhD in linguistics, and for these books, she invented Láadan, a "women's language." She went all the way, even publishing a Láadan grammar (I actually own this book too!), hoping that it would take off in the real world. Alas, while you can still find a handful of devotees, the number of Láadan speakers worldwide is dwarfed by the number of Elvish and Klingon speakers at your average sci-fi convention.
Native Tongue is speculative fiction; the premise is one that was very popular a few decades ago and still has some adherents, that language literally shapes perceptions. E.g., the old canard that such-and-such language has no word for X and therefore native speakers of that language cannot conceive of X. (Linguist Geoffrey Pullum routinely debunks this fallacy.) Elgin treats it as literal and then constructs a world based on that idea.
In the Native Tongue series, the United States of the future has revoked all women's rights and reduced them to the legal status of children. Earth is now in contact with various alien races, and only linguists trained from birth can learn alien tongues and perform the necessary translation for interstellar trade and diplomacy. There are a lot of loosely-connected subplots, and a plan by the senior women of the linguist families to free themselves (and all women) from oppression by inventing a language of their own.
Interesting (especially if you have an interest in linguistics), intriguing, and also completely ridiculous in its science fictional premises (Elgin doesn't even hand-wave the laws of physics that she breaks) and heavy-handed in the extreme. (All men are preening, privileged penises devoid of self-awareness or empathy; all women are suffering martyrs.)
The next two books became progressively less coherent; there was barely a plot to book three at all.
Well, I've done a good job of talking these books up, haven't I!
But despite gaping suspensions of disbelief and dubious sociopolitics, I still find the books of Sherri S. Tepper and Suzette Haden Elgin to be... well, interesting.
So, if you have always wanted to dive into some serious Second Wave feminist science fiction - maybe not the best feminist science fiction out there, but certainly landmark in its way, and also a product of its time - post below and I will choose someone to ship these six books to.
Remember:
1. Only ask for them if you seriously want to read them.
2. The decision will be made by me arbitrarily and probably randomly.
3. You have to be willing to PM me your address, obviously.
5. U.S. only, sorry. It's cheaper to buy a new book than ship a used one overseas.
More books next Saturday. :)