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Daughters of Frankenstein: Lesbian Mad Scientists!
In the field of mad science, women have for too long been ignored, their triumphs misattributed to mere men. Society has seen the laboratory as the province of men. Jacob's Ladder electric arcs, death rays, even test tubes have phallic connotations, subliminally reinforcing the patriarchy. The mother of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, advocated that women appear more masculine to earn respect. If Marie Curie had been allowed to develop her Atomic Gendarmerie for the Institut du radium, surely she would have been awarded her third Nobel Prize, for Peace.
Thankfully, the women working to dangerous and/or questionable ends in the pages of Daughters of Frankenstein are unafraid of the patriarchy--indeed, as lesbian mad scientists, they prefer the company and comforts of their own gender. Androids? Pfeh, the gynoid is superior. Etheric dynamos have a more pleasing design, one that is vulvar, than Tesla coils. Eighteen imaginative, if not insane, women; eighteen stories told by some of the finest writers working in queer speculative fiction today.
Thankfully, the women working to dangerous and/or questionable ends in the pages of Daughters of Frankenstein are unafraid of the patriarchy--indeed, as lesbian mad scientists, they prefer the company and comforts of their own gender. Androids? Pfeh, the gynoid is superior. Etheric dynamos have a more pleasing design, one that is vulvar, than Tesla coils. Eighteen imaginative, if not insane, women; eighteen stories told by some of the finest writers working in queer speculative fiction today.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published July 28, 2015
3 people are currently reading
169 people want to read
About the author
Steve Berman
60 books129 followersSome tidbits about me...
I turned down a scholarship to Miskatonic University because I heard of the high rate of incidents against the student population.
I briefly worked for Omni Consumer Products in their Marketing Department. Great benefits, nice cafeteria, sadly too prone to executive whim.
Last year I stayed at the noted Mauna Pele resort in Hawaii. The accommodations were impressive but my traveling companion disappeared soon after wanting to attend a pig roast.
I've slept with one minor porn star and with a guy who later became one.
And I happen to have written some fanfic that inspired the memorable holodeck scene in Star Trek: Hidden Frontiers episode "Vigil"
I turned down a scholarship to Miskatonic University because I heard of the high rate of incidents against the student population.
I briefly worked for Omni Consumer Products in their Marketing Department. Great benefits, nice cafeteria, sadly too prone to executive whim.
Last year I stayed at the noted Mauna Pele resort in Hawaii. The accommodations were impressive but my traveling companion disappeared soon after wanting to attend a pig roast.
I've slept with one minor porn star and with a guy who later became one.
And I happen to have written some fanfic that inspired the memorable holodeck scene in Star Trek: Hidden Frontiers episode "Vigil"
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 13, 2015
Reviewed by Kiersten Jane for QUEERcentric Books
I really didn’t know what to expect from Daughters of Frankenstein: Lesbian Mad Scientists.
Edited by Steve Berman, who is perhaps the most prolific editor of queer speculative fiction today, the eighteen stories in this anthology range from sober to zany, but all have a lot of heart.
Though I picked it up with some trepidation, Daughters of Frankenstein certainly exceeded my expectations.
In the anthology you’ll find Zombies, sleuths, pirates, robots, revolutionaries, aliens, Minotaurs, bank robbers, and Rosie the Riveter.
The stories vary considerably, but one thread running through the book is a wonderful self-awareness of the project and its place in a history that has largely forgotten or neglected female scientists, especially lesbian scientists. The cover itself is a delicious parody of mid-twentieth-century lesbian pulp fiction...
Read Kiersten's full review at QUEERcentric Books
I really didn’t know what to expect from Daughters of Frankenstein: Lesbian Mad Scientists.
Edited by Steve Berman, who is perhaps the most prolific editor of queer speculative fiction today, the eighteen stories in this anthology range from sober to zany, but all have a lot of heart.
Though I picked it up with some trepidation, Daughters of Frankenstein certainly exceeded my expectations.
In the anthology you’ll find Zombies, sleuths, pirates, robots, revolutionaries, aliens, Minotaurs, bank robbers, and Rosie the Riveter.
The stories vary considerably, but one thread running through the book is a wonderful self-awareness of the project and its place in a history that has largely forgotten or neglected female scientists, especially lesbian scientists. The cover itself is a delicious parody of mid-twentieth-century lesbian pulp fiction...
Read Kiersten's full review at QUEERcentric Books
August 18, 2015
Five Stars: Fantasy
I was sent this book by Inked Rainbow Reads in exchange for an honest review.
This absolutely brilliant novel explores many of the published cases and stories of the daughters of Frankenstein, and, even those you might never have even imagined, heard or, even considered.
The introduction by Connie Wilkins begins this wacky novel with humour and high spirits. Jess Nevins follows this with facts, knowledge, and actual extracts that give this novel its very uniqueness. The enlightenment we gain just reinforces the very essence of the tales that follow.
After being made aware of the facets of The Daughters of Frankenstein and other such characters, the remainder of the book is full of short tales, and, because of what we have learned we can immediately identify with each tale and how it closely associated with the facts and information we have previously ascertained. This is why I found this book so fascinating, you could recognize each tale and base it on fact. This along with the humour, the comedy elements and the at times outrageous and zany concepts that each tale depicted made it such a thoroughly mind blowing read.
I would recommend this book to any one who enjoys, Sci fi, the macabre, fiction and also those who enjoy factual quotes and who value a good sense of humour and want to read a book that takes you away from the mundane and into unknown, a book that is truly different and well worth reading
I was sent this book by Inked Rainbow Reads in exchange for an honest review.
This absolutely brilliant novel explores many of the published cases and stories of the daughters of Frankenstein, and, even those you might never have even imagined, heard or, even considered.
The introduction by Connie Wilkins begins this wacky novel with humour and high spirits. Jess Nevins follows this with facts, knowledge, and actual extracts that give this novel its very uniqueness. The enlightenment we gain just reinforces the very essence of the tales that follow.
After being made aware of the facets of The Daughters of Frankenstein and other such characters, the remainder of the book is full of short tales, and, because of what we have learned we can immediately identify with each tale and how it closely associated with the facts and information we have previously ascertained. This is why I found this book so fascinating, you could recognize each tale and base it on fact. This along with the humour, the comedy elements and the at times outrageous and zany concepts that each tale depicted made it such a thoroughly mind blowing read.
I would recommend this book to any one who enjoys, Sci fi, the macabre, fiction and also those who enjoy factual quotes and who value a good sense of humour and want to read a book that takes you away from the mundane and into unknown, a book that is truly different and well worth reading
August 2, 2015
Reviews of anthologies often have some variation of "I wish there was more!" or "This really seemed like a snippet of a bigger story." Not so with this collection. Some of the stories could definitely be expanded or built up on a larger scale, of course, but as it stands, they're perfect. Each author creates a world either completely different from our or just slightly tweaked in strange and interesting ways. The characters are vibrant and instantly come to life, eliminating the need for lengthy exposition. The stories feel alive, lived in, and not a word is wasted. I was particularly fond of "Meddling Kids" and "Love in the Time of Markov Processes."
I have no doubt several of these stories COULD be turned into full novels (Bank Job Blues and Doubt the Sun, for instance), but they are perfectly complete as-is.
Full of meticulously researched alternate histories with endlessly fascinating characters, this is a book that will be hard to put down.
I have no doubt several of these stories COULD be turned into full novels (Bank Job Blues and Doubt the Sun, for instance), but they are perfectly complete as-is.
Full of meticulously researched alternate histories with endlessly fascinating characters, this is a book that will be hard to put down.
January 30, 2016
In the first story in this collection, Dawn – who won’t sleep because she’s afraid of dreaming –visits her lover Alyssa, who makes potions in her basement laboratory. Dawn reluctantly drinks Alyssa’s mixture to counter the effects of insomnia, and the readout of her brainwaves is like nothing Alyssa has ever seen.
In the aftermath of Dawn’s “trip,” a cat named Treacle appears in Alyssa’s house, having apparently crossed over from another world.
Alyssa tells Dawn: “You’ve dreamed there before.” Dawn nods. Alyssa goes on: “And you saw Treacle there.”
“Yeah,” Dawn answers. “She was different.”
“A person,” says Alyssa. Dawn asks how she knows this. Alyssa explains: “she wore striped socks and a pinafore over a frock dress.”
This reference to the title character of Alice in Wonderland (and specifically to Sir John Tenniel’s contemporary illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s 1865 fantasy novel) makes it clear where both Dawn and Alyssa have gone, not only in dreams: to Wonderland, where nothing is the same as in the world we know.
This story sets the tone for a diverse anthology of stories that are both original and full of allusions to actual history as well as to literary history. The stories are preceded by a brief introduction by Connie Wilkins and an essay, “From Alexander Pope to Splice,” by librarian and pulp-fiction historian Jess Nevins. This overview of female “mad scientists,” both fictional and real, dates back to writer and amateur scientist Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673) and to medieval scholars before her. Women who have wanted to understand the physical world and to change it are shown to have existed for much longer than most of us have been led to believe.
Some literary historians trace sci-fi by women to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (first published 1818), a cautionary tale that warns of the consequences of meddling with natural processes by creating a hideous new being that is tragically rejected by humans. By contrast, several stories in this collection feature the creation of humanoid female robots that are capable of complex thought and emotions, and who interact with humans to everyone’s benefit.
One theme of this collection is the thin line between “artificial intelligence” and the more organic kind, and several central characters show their lesbianism by falling in love with female robots. The most moving of these stories, “Doubt the Sun” by Faith Mudge, takes its title from a Shakespeare poem: “Doubt thou the stars are fire/Doubt that the sun doth move/Doubt truth to be a liar/But never doubt I love.” A lonely girl who learns to restore a burned, abandoned “Gorgon,” a kind of bionic experiment, names her Athene and develops an unbreakable bond with her. Eventually, Athene is able to return the favour when her human rescuer seems damaged beyond repair.
There is much reference to political and social history in these stories, and to the inventions that are inspired by desperation. The fast-paced period piece “Bank Job Blues” by Melissa Scott is set in the Dirty Thirties and follows a gang of female bank robbers. In the brilliant “Riveter” by Sean Eads, “Rosie the Riveter” of the Second World War (the image that encouraged actual woman to support the war effort by filling factory jobs left vacant by men at the front) is an actual woman who fascinates Adolf Hitler’s mistress. “The Eggshell Curtain” by Romie Stott shows an unusual relationship between two women during the intellectual and social upheavals that led to the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Each of these eighteen stories contains a perfectly-realized miniature world in which strong, quirky, resourceful women create what they need, for better and worse. The tone of these stories is extremely varied, from the young-adult-adventure tone of “Meddling Kids” by Tracy Canfield to the over-the-top comedy of “The Ice Weasels of Trebizond” by Mr. and Mrs. Brenchley to the realistic horror of “The Moorhead Maze Experiment” by Tim Lieder, in which a lesbian academic couple of the 1970s subject university students to a devastating psychological experiment.
If you read only one anthology of science fiction this year, Daughters of Frankenstein should be it. Each story presents a thought-provoking thesis wrapped in a delicious plot.
In the aftermath of Dawn’s “trip,” a cat named Treacle appears in Alyssa’s house, having apparently crossed over from another world.
Alyssa tells Dawn: “You’ve dreamed there before.” Dawn nods. Alyssa goes on: “And you saw Treacle there.”
“Yeah,” Dawn answers. “She was different.”
“A person,” says Alyssa. Dawn asks how she knows this. Alyssa explains: “she wore striped socks and a pinafore over a frock dress.”
This reference to the title character of Alice in Wonderland (and specifically to Sir John Tenniel’s contemporary illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s 1865 fantasy novel) makes it clear where both Dawn and Alyssa have gone, not only in dreams: to Wonderland, where nothing is the same as in the world we know.
This story sets the tone for a diverse anthology of stories that are both original and full of allusions to actual history as well as to literary history. The stories are preceded by a brief introduction by Connie Wilkins and an essay, “From Alexander Pope to Splice,” by librarian and pulp-fiction historian Jess Nevins. This overview of female “mad scientists,” both fictional and real, dates back to writer and amateur scientist Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673) and to medieval scholars before her. Women who have wanted to understand the physical world and to change it are shown to have existed for much longer than most of us have been led to believe.
Some literary historians trace sci-fi by women to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (first published 1818), a cautionary tale that warns of the consequences of meddling with natural processes by creating a hideous new being that is tragically rejected by humans. By contrast, several stories in this collection feature the creation of humanoid female robots that are capable of complex thought and emotions, and who interact with humans to everyone’s benefit.
One theme of this collection is the thin line between “artificial intelligence” and the more organic kind, and several central characters show their lesbianism by falling in love with female robots. The most moving of these stories, “Doubt the Sun” by Faith Mudge, takes its title from a Shakespeare poem: “Doubt thou the stars are fire/Doubt that the sun doth move/Doubt truth to be a liar/But never doubt I love.” A lonely girl who learns to restore a burned, abandoned “Gorgon,” a kind of bionic experiment, names her Athene and develops an unbreakable bond with her. Eventually, Athene is able to return the favour when her human rescuer seems damaged beyond repair.
There is much reference to political and social history in these stories, and to the inventions that are inspired by desperation. The fast-paced period piece “Bank Job Blues” by Melissa Scott is set in the Dirty Thirties and follows a gang of female bank robbers. In the brilliant “Riveter” by Sean Eads, “Rosie the Riveter” of the Second World War (the image that encouraged actual woman to support the war effort by filling factory jobs left vacant by men at the front) is an actual woman who fascinates Adolf Hitler’s mistress. “The Eggshell Curtain” by Romie Stott shows an unusual relationship between two women during the intellectual and social upheavals that led to the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Each of these eighteen stories contains a perfectly-realized miniature world in which strong, quirky, resourceful women create what they need, for better and worse. The tone of these stories is extremely varied, from the young-adult-adventure tone of “Meddling Kids” by Tracy Canfield to the over-the-top comedy of “The Ice Weasels of Trebizond” by Mr. and Mrs. Brenchley to the realistic horror of “The Moorhead Maze Experiment” by Tim Lieder, in which a lesbian academic couple of the 1970s subject university students to a devastating psychological experiment.
If you read only one anthology of science fiction this year, Daughters of Frankenstein should be it. Each story presents a thought-provoking thesis wrapped in a delicious plot.
August 19, 2015
FiveStars
This absolutely brilliant novel explores many of the published cases and stories of the daughters of Frankenstein, and, even those you might never have even imagined, heard or, even considered.
The introduction by Connie Wilkins begins this wacky novel with humour and high spirits. Jess Nevins follows this with facts, knowledge, and actual extracts that give this novel its very uniqueness. The enlightenment we gain just reinforces the very essence of the tales that follow.
After being made aware of the facets of The Daughters of Frankenstein and other such characters, the remainder of the book is full of short tales, and, because of what we have learned we can immediately identify with each tale and how it closely associated with the facts and information we have previously ascertained. This is why I found this book so fascinating, you could recognize each tale and base it on fact. This along with the humour, the comedy elements and the at times outrageous and zany concepts that each tale depicted made it such a thoroughly mind blowing read.
I would recommend this book to any one who enjoys, Sci fi, the macabre, fiction and also those who enjoy factual quotes and who value a good sense of humour and want to read a book that takes you away from the mundane and into unknown, a book that is truly different and well worth reading.
I received a free copy of this book to read and review for Inked Rainbow Reads.
Chris
This absolutely brilliant novel explores many of the published cases and stories of the daughters of Frankenstein, and, even those you might never have even imagined, heard or, even considered.
The introduction by Connie Wilkins begins this wacky novel with humour and high spirits. Jess Nevins follows this with facts, knowledge, and actual extracts that give this novel its very uniqueness. The enlightenment we gain just reinforces the very essence of the tales that follow.
After being made aware of the facets of The Daughters of Frankenstein and other such characters, the remainder of the book is full of short tales, and, because of what we have learned we can immediately identify with each tale and how it closely associated with the facts and information we have previously ascertained. This is why I found this book so fascinating, you could recognize each tale and base it on fact. This along with the humour, the comedy elements and the at times outrageous and zany concepts that each tale depicted made it such a thoroughly mind blowing read.
I would recommend this book to any one who enjoys, Sci fi, the macabre, fiction and also those who enjoy factual quotes and who value a good sense of humour and want to read a book that takes you away from the mundane and into unknown, a book that is truly different and well worth reading.
I received a free copy of this book to read and review for Inked Rainbow Reads.
Chris
August 17, 2021
The curse of the anthology: some were fantastic, and some really sucked. A phrase I saw in another review speaks volumes. There were several “male gazey” ones scatteted around, and that skeeved me out. But the concept was fabulous, and there were a few that I really enjoyed.
May 25, 2016
Overall, a fantastic story collection. It begins with Jess Nevins' brief nonfiction history of the female mad scientist in popular culture and continues with a variety of short stories, all featuring lesbian scientists and science gone...well, if not entirely wrong, at least a bit strange. Standout stories include Melissa Scott's "Bank Job Blues," in which an all-female gang attempts the ultimate heist; Tim Lieder's "The Moorehead Maze Experiment," told in the style of a documentary transcript about a psychology department experiment that takes a turn toward the horrific; and Tracy Canfield's "Meddling Kids," an absolutely hilarious riff on a certain cartoon.
did-not-finish
March 17, 2017Aynjel Kaye: Infusion of Waking Dreams
WTF did I just read?
Incomplete little snippet.
Rating: ?
March 17 2017
Faith Mudge: Doubt the Sun
Robots
I didn't get it at first, but this is a two part POV story. I didn't get it because part of it is in italics and I thought that was something like a narrator, or the main character talking from a future perspective. But it is actually two different characters.
This is the second story I've read by this author - and the reason I bought this specific collection here. Since the author only seems to write short stories, most of which are in collections. And I had rated the first story I'd read by them a 5+ rating - my highest rating for works that I've not reread at least once (as in, I do have a higher rating, 6 stars, but only if I've reread the work - I think I only have three works at that level at the moment; 6 stars, not reread, I've reread more than 3 stories).
We watch, in this story, as a young girl grows to adulthood in the British islands (this is a future world - I assume this is a world where the waters have risen, the ice caps have melted and stuff, though, other than a brief mention of 'fuel shortage', that wasn't mentioned), to living around the world. All the while tinkering with a robot she found that had been on the way to being scraped.
Enjoyable story. I'm not doing it justice, obviously.
And now I want to buy all the other short story collections with this author in them just so I can get at those stories.
Rating: 5.50 (or 5+)
March 16 2017
Tracey Canfield: Meddling Kids
Claire Humphrey: Eldritch Brown Houses
Tim Lieder: The Moorehead Maze Experiement
Romie Stott: The Eggshell Curtain
Traci Castleberry: Poor Girl
Melissa Scott: Bank Job Blues
A.J. Fitzwater: The Long Trip Home
Sean Eads: Riveter
Thoraiya Dyer: A Shallow Grave of Orange Peel and Egg-shells
Orrin Grey: Alraune
Christine Morgan: Preserving the INtegrity of the Femine Mystique
Amy Griswold: Hypatia and her Sisters
Rafael F. Ferraz: Lady of the House of Mirrors
Mr. & Mrs. Brenchley: The Ice Weasels of Trebizond
Megan Arkenberg: Love in the Time of Markov Processes
---------------------------------------------------
OVERALL
Aynjel Kaye: Infusion of Waking Dreams
Faith Mudge: Doubt the Sun: 5.50
Tracey Canfield: Meddling Kids
Claire Humphrey: Eldritch Brown Houses
Tim Lieder: The Moorehead Maze Experiement
Romie Stott: The Eggshell Curtain
Traci Castleberry: Poor Girl
Melissa Scott: Bank Job Blues
A.J. Fitzwater: The Long Trip Home
Sean Eads: Riveter
Thoraiya Dyer: A Shallow Grave of Orange Peel and Egg-shells
Orrin Grey: Alraune
Christine Morgan: Preserving the INtegrity of the Femine Mystique
Amy Griswold: Hypatia and her Sisters
Rafael F. Ferraz: Lady of the House of Mirrors
Mr. & Mrs. Brenchley: The Ice Weasels of Trebizond
Megan Arkenberg: Love in the Time of Markov Processes
OVERALL ------------------------------------------
WTF did I just read?
Incomplete little snippet.
Rating: ?
March 17 2017
Faith Mudge: Doubt the Sun
Robots
I didn't get it at first, but this is a two part POV story. I didn't get it because part of it is in italics and I thought that was something like a narrator, or the main character talking from a future perspective. But it is actually two different characters.
This is the second story I've read by this author - and the reason I bought this specific collection here. Since the author only seems to write short stories, most of which are in collections. And I had rated the first story I'd read by them a 5+ rating - my highest rating for works that I've not reread at least once (as in, I do have a higher rating, 6 stars, but only if I've reread the work - I think I only have three works at that level at the moment; 6 stars, not reread, I've reread more than 3 stories).
We watch, in this story, as a young girl grows to adulthood in the British islands (this is a future world - I assume this is a world where the waters have risen, the ice caps have melted and stuff, though, other than a brief mention of 'fuel shortage', that wasn't mentioned), to living around the world. All the while tinkering with a robot she found that had been on the way to being scraped.
Enjoyable story. I'm not doing it justice, obviously.
And now I want to buy all the other short story collections with this author in them just so I can get at those stories.
Rating: 5.50 (or 5+)
March 16 2017
Tracey Canfield: Meddling Kids
Claire Humphrey: Eldritch Brown Houses
Tim Lieder: The Moorehead Maze Experiement
Romie Stott: The Eggshell Curtain
Traci Castleberry: Poor Girl
Melissa Scott: Bank Job Blues
A.J. Fitzwater: The Long Trip Home
Sean Eads: Riveter
Thoraiya Dyer: A Shallow Grave of Orange Peel and Egg-shells
Orrin Grey: Alraune
Christine Morgan: Preserving the INtegrity of the Femine Mystique
Amy Griswold: Hypatia and her Sisters
Rafael F. Ferraz: Lady of the House of Mirrors
Mr. & Mrs. Brenchley: The Ice Weasels of Trebizond
Megan Arkenberg: Love in the Time of Markov Processes
---------------------------------------------------
OVERALL
Aynjel Kaye: Infusion of Waking Dreams
Faith Mudge: Doubt the Sun: 5.50
Tracey Canfield: Meddling Kids
Claire Humphrey: Eldritch Brown Houses
Tim Lieder: The Moorehead Maze Experiement
Romie Stott: The Eggshell Curtain
Traci Castleberry: Poor Girl
Melissa Scott: Bank Job Blues
A.J. Fitzwater: The Long Trip Home
Sean Eads: Riveter
Thoraiya Dyer: A Shallow Grave of Orange Peel and Egg-shells
Orrin Grey: Alraune
Christine Morgan: Preserving the INtegrity of the Femine Mystique
Amy Griswold: Hypatia and her Sisters
Rafael F. Ferraz: Lady of the House of Mirrors
Mr. & Mrs. Brenchley: The Ice Weasels of Trebizond
Megan Arkenberg: Love in the Time of Markov Processes
OVERALL ------------------------------------------
December 30, 2017
I got this based on a recommendation and the fact that I love genre mashups, and an entire book of lesbian mad science short stories sounded like a crazy fun anthology. Overall, it was. As with every anthology on the planet, there were hits and misses, but I was surprised by the range of subjects in the story, from amusing Scooby-Doo parodies to Frankenstein-style creations to sentient AIs. And servant droids everywhere. And cats. For some reason, almost every story had cats. Anyway, even though I started it like a year ago and only now got around to finishing it, it was worth the read, even just for the novelty. I support wacky anthologies like this and only wish there were more of them.
November 17, 2023
I enjoyed it. Very nice variety of stories, and the lesbianism didn't stand out as forced or gratuitous. These ladies just happen to prefer gals to guys as they pursue Mad Science.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews