Debbie Notkin

Ursula K. Le Guin, some seven years after I fell in love with her by reading half of The Left Hand of Darkness in one terrible night, remains one of my favorite authors. And I'm barely into her oeuvre, having read just the Hainish novels and scattered short stories. But I couldn't resist picking up this, a festschrift published in honor of her 80th birthday. It's a mix of essays, both personal and more academic, fiction, and poetry. It's taken me a bit to get around to writing this review, unfortunately, so my memory is fading, but I'll do my best.

The personal essays are kinda mixed, but inevitably so. Many of them are about people hanging out, ho-hum, and then bam! Ursula K. Le Guin shows them a whole different kind of sci-fi and/or fantasy. Now, I can empathize because this was my own experience (she is probably the sf writer I wish I could write like more than any other), but to read this repeatedly got a little repetitive. But there are still some gems sprinkled into these essays, such as how Kim Stanley Robinson took her class, or Brian Atterby's very interesting tale of how he, Le Guin, and Karen Joy Fowler edited The Norton Book of Science Fiction. (I've had that thing in my library for years, and it honestly doesn't look too great, but now I've very curious about it.)

Of the less personal essays, Jo Walton's "A New Island of Stability: Annals of the Western Shore" made me really interested in reading those books someday (my wife liked them), as did Una McCormack's "The Exercise of Vital Powers," which discusses the role of history in Le Guin's work. (I've always found this an interesting theme; I loved the line from Four Ways to Forgiveness that ends with "There is a great river, and it flows through this land, and we have named it History.") And Julie Phillips's mini-biography is excellent, though it makes me want a full one! (I imagine there is one out there, actually; I should go looking.)

There's five stories, four from members of a "wimmin's" collective called "Beyon'Dusa," who apparently deem Le Guin an inspiration. Tributes in this form get tricky, I think. The Asimov festschrift, Foundation's Friends, did by having the writers set their stories in Asimov's different fictional universes, but none of these stories take that form; rather, they ostensibly "honor a great artist who has sustained and transformed a tradition by adding to it." But this tradition just seems to be sf/fantasy stories about women, because that's about as Le Guinian as most of them feel. Andrea Hairston's "Will Do Magic For Small Change," the first chapter of a novel, is interesting, but unfulfilling for obvious reasons. Neither Sheree Renée Thomas's "Touch" nor Ama Patterson's "Seamonsters" interested me; when picking up a book on Le Guin, I just didn't want to be reading some stories that virtually had nothing to do with her that I could see.

I did really like the last one, though, Pan Morigan's "The Heart of the Song," a fantasy myth with an interest in storytelling that resonated with many of the themes Le Guin has employed. (The only non-Beyon'Dusa story, "The Closet" by John Kessel, doesn't even come close to feeling like a Le Guin story, and would be trite even if it wasn't in this book.)

The bibliography is excellently thorough, too. I have lots to read yet, is what I realized. Which is good, as this book reminded me (though I shouldn't've needed reminding) about what was great about Le Guin, and that reading her is always worthwhile.

There's also poems.… (meer)

And Salome Danced - Kelly Eskridge. Odd Story, Didn't really captivate.

The Lovers - Eleanor Arnason. An interesting story of a segregated society, where women and non-related men only come together to produce children. Its not a society of dominance, men go off to war, woman run the business and such. Its well written, great characters, but managed to capture the alienness of this society. It reads a lot like Ursula LeGuin.

Chemistry - James Patrick Kelly. A story about created love vs real love, and what does it mean for relationships. Written well, but a bit unmemorable.

Forgiveness Day - Urusula LeGuin - Typical LeGuin Story. Change in society creates change in a person. I've read this before, but keep forgetting it.

Some Strange Desire - Ian McDonald. Its a story where sex equals living, where vampires don't drink blood but essence. Its not an easy story to read.

Venus Rising - Carol Emshwiller. Typical Male tries to dominate Utopian type society. Doesn't see its positives only negatives. Another difficult story, but there is a positive flicker at the end of the it.

Eat Reecebread - Graham Joyce and Peter F. Hamilton. I quite liked this story - a change in humanity scares the majority.

Mortherhood, Etc - L. Timmel Duchamp. This can be a companion piece to "Eat Reecebread" similiar themes, similar outcome. I didn't like this one as much as Eat Reecebread, simply because the characters were more cardboard and acted as characatures of who they were supposed to be.

The Other Magpie - R. Garcia Y Robertson. Didn't hold my attention so didn't finish it.

Food Man - Lisa Tuttle. Strange story about a girl who wants to be in control of her life, including growing up, but lets her desire control her.

Young Woman in a Garden - Delia Sherman. A young art historian finds that a love triangle isn't quite how it appears.

Grownups - Ian McCleod. This story is creepy. Like skin crawling creepy - Definately intriguing, completely unexpected ending. Leaves you to ask when is a child an adult, and if you can truly define that line, how does society change. Interesting, but creepy.

The Matters of Seggi -Ursula LeGuin. This is another thought provoking story by LeGuin. She creates a society where men are kept locked up and women rule. And as usual, she starts with a seemingly easy observation to make but turns it into something much more complex.… (meer)

This compilation of short stories and articles reminds me of what science fiction should be - an exploration of the possibilities of life. I wanted to say that my favorite story was Dearth by Aimee Bender about a single woman's surprise gift of potatoes. It was both matter of fact and poignant. I've just discovered Bender and plan to read all of her I can.

Then I need to say that Little Faces by Vonda McIntyre is my favorite in all the ways it explores gender possibilities - adults are women (or ships) and their companions, males with their little effective penises and gnashing teeth, live within them.

But it could be that Eleanor Arnason's Knapsack Poems is the favorite. A person, one of the goxhat, is composed of both intertwined and interacting bodies, some separated physically but all acting as one person. The main character, an itinerant poet is composed of male, female and neuter parts though some other goxhat are all female or all male after their differing sexes die or are killed. She shows that the persons who are all one sex tend to be vicious from lack of balance. And there's a baby.

Liking What you See: A Documentary by Ted Chiang explores the possibility of a device that disables one's ability to judge whether or not a person is good looking and its development during the time that advertisers have managed to amplify the desirability of their spokes people.

James Tiptree Jr.'s The Girl Who Was Plugged In follows a poor, ugly woman as she becomes a virtual Lindsay Lohan. It's the powerful linchpin of the whole series.

The non fiction articles are Shame by Pam Noles which explores race in science fiction and The Future of Female: Octavia Butler by Dorothy Allison in which Allison takes Butler to task for her continuing presentation of female characters who chose to give up their own freedom in order to promote the welfare of children. It just shows you how harsh Allison (Bastard Out of Carolina) can be if she points out the "softness" of Octavia Butler, one of the most pessimistic science fictions writers I've read.

Lastly L. Timmel Duchamp's letter to Alice Sheldon shows that Sheldon enjoyed writing as Tiptree and how she missed her anonymity when her sex became known. She worried that when people found out she was a woman they would care less about her writing in itself and more about the personality of the woman who wrote it.

I wish all science fiction could be so illuminating.… (meer)