The Future Is Female! 25 Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women, from Pulp Pioneers to Ursula K. Le Guin

by Lisa Yaszek (Editor)

Space-opera heroines, gender-bending aliens, post-apocalyptic pregnancies, changeling children, interplanetary battles of the sexes, and much more: a groundbreaking new collection of classic American science fiction by women from the 1920s to the 1960s

Warning: the visionary women writers in this landmark anthology may permanently alter perceptions of American science fiction, challenging the conventional narrative that the genre was conceived mainly by and for men. Now, two hundred years after Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, SF-expert Lisa Yaszek presents the best of the female tradition in American science fiction, in the most comprehensive collection of its kind ever published. From Pulp Era pioneers to New Wave experimentalists, here are over two dozen brilliant writers ripe for discovery and rediscovery, including Leslie F. Stone ("The Conquest of Gola," 1931), Judith Merril ("That Only a Mother," 1948), Leigh Brackett ("All the Colors of the Rainbow," 1957), Kit Reed ("The New You," 1962), Joanna Russ ("The Barbarian," 1968); Ursula K. Le Guin ("Nine Lives," 1969), and James Tiptree Jr. ("Last Flight of Dr. Ain," 1969). Imagining strange worlds and unexpected futures, looking into and beyond new technologies and scientific discoveries, in utopian fantasies and tales of cosmic horror, these women created and shaped speculative fiction as surely as their male counterparts. Their provocative, mind-blowing stories combine to form a thrilling multidimensional voyage of literary-feminist exploration and recovery.

Contents:
Introduction / Lisa Yaszek --
The miracle of the lily / Clare Winger Harris --
The conquest of Gola / Leslie F. Stone --
The black god's kiss / C. L. Moore --
Space episode / Leslie Perri --
That only a mother / Judith Merril --
In hiding / Wilmar H. Shiras --
Contagion / Katherine Maclean --
The inhabited men / Margaret St. Clair --
Ararat / Zenna Henderson --
All cats are gray / Andrew North --
Created he them / Alice Eleanor Jones --
Mr. Sakrison's halt / Mildred Clingerman --
All the colors of the rainbow / Leigh brackett --
Pelt / Carol Emshwiller --
Car pool / Rosel George Brown --
For sale, reasonable / Elizabeth Mann Borgese --
Birth of a gardener / Doris Pitkin Buck --
The tunnel ahead / Alice Glaser --
The new you / Kit Reed --
Another rib / John Jay Wells & Marion Zimmer Bradley --
When I was Miss Dow / Sonya Dorman --
Baby, you were great / Kate Wilhelm --
The barbarian / Joanna Russ --
The last flight of Dr. Ain / James Tiptree Jr --
Nine lives / Ursula K Le Guin --
Biographical notes.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Feminism, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction

531 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 2018

Reviews

[Elle (ellexamines on TT & Substack) · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of historical sci-fi by women from the 1920s through the 1960s.

My favorites among this story were the following: the haunting The Miracle of the Lily (1928) by Clare Winger, the mournful space opera of Space Episode (1941) by Leslie Perri, the eerie Contagion (1950) by Katherine MacLean, the charming All Cats are Gray (1953) by Andrew North, and the utterly horrifying The Last Flight of Dr. Ain (1969) by James Tiptree, Jr.. Of all of these, I think everyone should read the first and last – they’re each brilliant.

Overall, a lot of these stories ended up being threes for me. I found this almost more useful as an academic text than as introducing me to truly fantastic scifi. But I still enjoyed the reading experience and am glad I perused. All story reviews below:

The Miracle of the Lily (1928) Clare Winger Harris ★★★★★
Insects attempt to overtake the earth, and are defeated; but at what cost? Intensely disturbing, absolutely loved it.

The Conquest of Gola (1931) Leslie F Stone ★★★★☆
A matriarchal tenth planet, Gola, is invaded by Detaxel, the third planet from the sun. It is Detaxel’s mistake to underestimate their powers. Definitely a 1930s brand of feminist sci-fi, with each race committing a genocide; wonderful worldbuilding.

The Black God’s Kiss (1934) C.L. Moore ★★★★☆
Jirel of Joiry ventures somewhere almost like hell to find a weapon to destroy her captor. Unsettling to a core level and excellent at playing on the uncanny. Jirel’s narration is wonderful.

Space Episode (1941) Leslie Perri ★★★★★
Lida is faced with a life-changing decision in space. Only eight pages but utterly gorgeous.

That Only A Mother (1948) Judith Merrill ★★★★☆
In the aftermath of the nuclear explosions, babies begin to be born with mutations – but not Margaret. Incredibly clever; like with many 50s nuclear war takes, however, the ‘horrifying twist’ is ultimately a disability. Still, super well done.

In Hiding (1948) Wilmer H Shiras ★★★☆☆
Dr. Peter Welles analyzes the potential problems of a boy named Tim. Interesting and definitely see why this was here; bit long.

Contagion (1950) Katherine MacLean ★★★★★
Oh my god. One of the crazier and more haunting pandemic stories I’ve ever read; I’m not sure how I’ll get this out of my head.

The Inhabited Men (1951) Margaret St Clair ★★★☆☆
Three men are colonized by spores on another planet. Kind of interesting and well-written, but just wanted a lot more from this.

Ararat (1952) Zenna Henderson ★★☆☆☆
Beings from elsewhere attend school in the desert under a new teacher. Honestly didn’t really like this at all and found the twist to be incredibly predictable.

All Cats are Gray (1953) Andrew North ★★★★★
The story of Steena the grey woman, Bat the gray cat, Cliff Moran, and their reeling in of the pleasure ship Empress of Mars. Super short but super good.

Created He Them (1955) Alice Eleanor Jones ★★★★☆
Miserable but fantastic story about a day in the life of a woman as she cares for her husband and her children.

Mr. Sakrison’s Halt (1956) Mildred Clingerman ★★★☆☆
A woman rides the train with Miss Mattie Compton every day. Short but well-written. Incorporation of the Jim Crow South into this is quite brilliant.

All the Colors of the Rainbow (1957) Leigh Brackett ★★★☆☆
Two off-earth aliens visit a segregated town. This was quite interesting. Noting use of N word.

Pelt (1958) Carol Emshwiller ★★★★☆
A dog hunts with his master.

Car Pool (1959) Rosel George Brown ★★★☆☆
A mother raises her children as the galactic Hisereans come join their class. Interesting, not life-changing.

For Sale, Reasonable (1959) Elizabeth Mann Borgese ★★★★☆
A primary source text of a man turned machine. Really solid cultural criticism.

Birth of a Gardener (1961) Doris Pitkin Buck ★★☆☆☆
Rosalie studies her husband Payne’s physics theories, and confronts him on their quality. Meh.

The Tunnel Ahead (1961) Alice Glaser ★★★★☆
A quiet horror story about overpopulation, following a couple and their four kids as they drive back from a crowded day at the beach.

The New You (1962) Kit Reed ★★★☆☆
Martha discards her frumpy old body for a new one, only for her old to stay around.

Another Rib (1963) John Jay Wells and Marion Zimmer Bradley ★★★☆☆
[Noting that Marion Zimmer Bradley has been accused by her daughter of childhood sexual abuse, and was married to a sexual predator whom she protected over their entire marriage.] A group of explorers who have just found an earthlike planet discover their home devoured by a supernova in their wake. Cue: oh my god, some of us need to get uteruses so we can have babies. Quite literally just the narrator panicking about gay and trans people – the narrative clearly finds this to be ridiculous, which I enjoy. While this just doesn’t feel quite as transgressive sixty years later, it’s cool to know this was being written at the time.

When I Was Miss Dow (1966) Sonya Dorman ★★★☆☆
Did not care, and the gender politics are boring.

Baby, You Were Great (1967) Kate Wilhelm ★★★☆☆
A woman is used as a movie star against her will. I found the worldbuilding of this somewhat ill-explained, and the narrator is an almost totally irrelevant man – a recurrent theme in this collection, which says something very interesting about the history of women writing scifi. The thematic premise is interesting and well-executed.

The Barbarian (1968) Joanna Russ ★★★☆☆
Alyx becomes a hired monkey in the city of Ourdh. Plays with the politics of subservience to a god or higher power. A moment of racial politics here that haven’t aged great. Overall interesting.

The Last Flight of Dr. Ain (1969) James Tiptree, Jr. ★★★★★
An entirely terrifying five pages, told in documentary style, so subtle with its horror I barely noticed I felt unsettled until it was too late. Brilliant and horrifying.

Nine Lives (1969) Ursula K. Le Guin ★★★★☆
“The neighbor was the self; the love was perfect.”
A set of ten clones who think alike come to operate as a machine together away from earth. Really fascinating; I think Ursula K. Le Guin just doesn’t miss.

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[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miracle of the Lily (1928) by Clare Winger Harris ★★★★★
“Man is not happy, unless he has some enemy to overcome, some difficulty to surmount.”

Amazing first story! Just as humans took over for the dinosaurs so the insects are fighting to take over from man in this near future drama.

Told from multiple generations of the same family it is more about what drives us, physically and spiritually, as people. It is not enough to merely exist.

This was layered, entertaining, and insightful. Loved it!


The Conquest of the Gola (1931) by Leslie F. Stone ★★★★★
“They were determined not only to revenge those we had murdered, but also to gain mastery of our planet.”

A matriarchal planet is invaded by profiteers from Earth. Those guys had no idea with whom they were messing!


The Black God’s Kiss (1934) by C. L. Moore ★★★½☆
“To wreak my vengeance upon Guillaume I would go if I knew I should burn in Hell forever.”

After her lands are invaded and subjugated Jirel ventures to the underworld to seek a weapon rather than be raped by Guillaume and his men.

The underworld parts of the story were pleasantly Lovecraft-y, but the ending was a disappointment.


Space Episode (1941) by Leslie Perri ★★★★☆
The heroic end is the reserve of men, but when Lida’s teammates falter she steps up.


That Only a Mother (1948) by Judith Merril ★★★★½
Quietly devastating story in reaction to the use of atomic weapons. From mutations to paternal infanticide this was horror.


In Hiding (1948) by Wilmer H. Shiras ★★★½☆
A mirror of the previous story, this is an optimistic reaction to the use of atomic weapons. While the fallout kills, it also produces geniuses who can blend into society.

If it were not for the difficult to endure parts about cat breeding, this would have been rated higher.


Contagion (1950) by Katherine MacLean ★★★★☆
Max was eyeing the bronze red-headed figure with something approaching awe...
“I wouldn’t mind being a Mead myself!”

Ah famous last words! A beautiful unexpected red-headed savage welcomes a colony ship to his world. This is a story of identity, sexuality, and acceptance. It was unexpectedly light and rather sexy.


The Inhabited Men (1951) by Margaret St. Clair ★★★☆☆
“After the economy was well established, its hosts, had they known it, were potentially immortal.”

Basic but interesting story about symbiotic lifeforms and misunderstanding.


Ararat (1952) by Zenna Henderson ★★★★½
“Poignant sorrow is a constant undercurrent among The People, even those of us who never actually saw The Home.”

Delightful aliens among us, gifted humans story. Published over a decade before the first issue of X-Men!

And now I need to read Ingathering: The Complete People Stories.


All Cats Are Gray (1953) by Andrew North ★★★☆☆
“They sighted the Empress riding, her dead-lights gleaming, a ghost ship in night space.”

In a tame early inspiration for Alien, this spooky space salvage story still has some chills.

Always trust your cat, they can see things you cannot.


He Created Them (1955) by Alice Eleanor Jones ★★★☆☆
Depressingly bleak post war dystopian future of sexism and a totalitarian regime.


Mr. Sakrison’s Halt (1956) by Mildred Clingerman ★★★★☆
“Look at the crazy things she did - like riding the Katy up and down the line for thirty years almost every day, looking for the halt that swallowed Mr. Sakrison!”

This was a moving response story to the anger and violence over school integration.

A southern woman falls in love with a Yankee with high ideals of racial brotherhood she was not ready to share.

On a halt to pick his fiancé, Mattie, a flower Mr. Sakrison hugs and chats with a black man. Mattie is too angry by the scene to join them and the train leaves, separating them.

She spends decades riding the train to find the stop again. It is not until she tells her young companion she would now accept the interracial embrace and join them that the stop reappears.

Later the young companion, stressed over the burning crosses and baying hounds of her neighborhood laments,

I realize how terribly far Chapel Grove still is from Mr. Sakrison’s halt.


All the Colors of the Rainbow (1957) by Leigh Brackett ★★★★☆
As the Federation begins integrating Earth with its people a meteorologist, Flin, and his wife meet vicious racial violence in a small town.

As Flin prepares to return home for psychological counseling he understands the worst thing about violence is the darkness it imparts. Flin wishes to be free of his newly discovered feelings of hatred, but not before taking revenge. Oh no, not before revenge...


Pelt (1958) by Carol Emshwiller ★★★½☆
“We have watched you, little slave. What have you done that is free today?”

I was close to tears reading this story about a hunting dog on an ice world. She wants so desperately to do the right thing, to understand, but it’s impossible for her to stop being a dog. Ok, now I am crying, looking at my German Shepherd.


Car Pool (1959) by Rosel George Brown ★★★☆☆
Sweet and strange story about a couple reconnecting against the background of alien integration and some frightful child violence.

The original illustration for this story...



For Sale, Reasonable (1959) by Elizabeth Mann Borgese ★★★☆☆
A cyborg’s resume pointing out the cost benefits of its value verses large scale computers or humans.


Birth of a Gardener (1961) by Doris Pitkin Buck ★★★☆☆
A relationship over two planes of existence is fraught by the conflicts between a visual and conventional learner.

Payne comes off as hard on Lee but why would you marry someone to teach you physics? And if that was your goal why didn’t you marry a physics teacher?


The Tunnel Ahead (1961) by Alice Glaser ★★★★★
This was everything I wanted from Shirley Jackson’s Lottery and did not get; the normalization of the horrific.

In a world of staggering overpopulation no one is told to limit their number of children. Everything is fair, room is carved out for everyone equally.

But there’s a catch...


The New You (1962) by Kit Reed ★★☆☆☆
An unhappy woman pays for a dream makeover to impress her husband... he just finds new things not to like about her.


Another Rib (1963) by John Jay Wells & Marion Zimmer Bradley ★★★☆☆
When a small group of men is all that’s left of the human race an alien gives them a chance to convert to women. The story is about homosexual prejudices.


When I Was Miss Dow (1966) by Sonya Dorman ★★☆☆☆
Boring story of a morphic single sex alien race changing their form to hustle humans for drugs.


Baby You Were Great (1967) by Kate Wilhelm ★★★★☆
I hated this story, it literally made me sick, but I appreciated it’s presentience. The rise in popularity of reality TV leads to the abuse of its stars. The hungry voyeuristic masses must have their thrills, whatever the cost.


The Barbarian (1968) by Joanna Russ ★★★★☆
Alyx, aged warrior and thief, woman of the world, faces off with a man of legend. Perhaps he is a god, perhaps he is a lie. This was an enjoyable work of fantasy.


The Last Flight of Dr. Ain (1969) by James Tiptree, Jr. ★★★☆☆
The dying earth reaches out to a medical researcher for help. Out of love for her he creates a plague that wipes out humanity. These kinds of stories are usually full of color and gut punch, this was the dishwater slowing going down the drain.


Nine Lives (1969) by Ursula K. Le Guin ★★★★☆
A subtle study of identity and human connection. A tenclone on the far reaches of space looses his nine siblings and must learn the about other human companionship.

Average 3.82 Stars! This was a wonderful and relevant collection.

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. I was familiar with a few of the well known writers in this collection but most were new to me. Favorite stories from it include "The Miracle of the Lily" from 1928 by Clare Winger Harris, "The Tunnel Ahead" from 1961 by Alice Glaser, "Space Episode" from 1941 by Leslie Perri. I plan on hunting down other works by some of these writers. The last story in the collection is from 1969, "Nine Lives" by Ursula K. Le Guin. The later stories are more in the style of "New Wave" science fiction like you'd fine in the Orbit collections. Yes, there were a few stories that didn't resonate with me as much as many of the others, but variety is what makes for a good anthology. I'm hoping that Lisa Yaszek decides to continue with a second volume from 1969 to the present. If so, I'm buying it.

[Gyalten Lekden · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a spectacular collection! The stories in this collection cover the vast diversity of subgenres in SF, from space operas and interstellar colonization to dystopian worlds that are frighteningly similar to our own and viral plagues. Some are what would be considered hard science and others are more fantastical. The collection is curated chronologically, and yet the stories still flow well from one to the next if you choose to read this collection in one go and not piecemeal. I wasn’t surprised by the expansive exploration into identity, and while not every story was an explicit exploration of gender roles or identity it certainly was something at least at the borders of nearly every story, which was refreshing and exciting, especially considering the earliest of these stories were published in the 1920s and 1930s.

Like all great genre fiction many of the stories are either in response to or a creative examination of real-world social issues, from racial discrimination to nuclear annihilation to resource scarcity, and they are thought provoking and insightful, and some frighteningly prescient, without ever being anything less than a joy to read. Some of the stories were surprisingly dark, and while certain threads of perseverance and optimism could be found in many, others had a tone of cynicism and nihilism that was really unexpected and an absolute delight.

I really did enjoy every story in this collection, while one or two might get a three-star rating the rest would all be four or five. I could recommend every story in this collection for one reason or another, but a handful that stood out in particular to me were Leslie Perri’s “Space Episode,” Judith Merril’s “That Only a Mother,” Margaret St. Clair’s “The Inhabited Men,” Alice Eleanor Jones’s “Created He Them,” and Alice Glaser’s “The Tunnel Ahead,” though the collection as a whole was engrossing and I am really glad I read it. I also should add the collection also includes a great introduction by the editor and ends with proper author bios for all the contributors, and those were welcome and help this collection stand out a bit more.

[Nefeli]

With a title like that, I was expecting this collection of short stories to have some sort of underlying feminist or somehow otherwise political theme. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The stories weren't bad, but none of them managed to impress me.

[Peter Tillman]

Stories online at LoA: [I'll add more if I come across them]
● "Baby, You Were Great" by Kate Wilhelm: http://storyoftheweek.loa.org/2018/10...
● "PELT" by Carol Emshwiller: http://storyoftheweek.loa.org/2019/02...
Both of these LoA reprints include biographical sketches, original artwork and story notes. Are those in the book, too?
" A Scarab in the City of Time" (1975) by Marta Randall
https://storyoftheweek.loa.org/2023/0...

Lisa Yaszek, the Book Editor's comments, which are.... interesting. She's a Professor of Science Fiction at Georgia Tech! Who knew? https://loa.org/news-and-views/1439-l...
Check out the 1951 illo there! That anatomically-correct brass bra is also of interest. And the question begs: why not use that Big Axe first, to cut her chains?
Plus, I'd forgotten how good-looking Joanna Russ was in her youth....
But, my God:
"While this kind of reproductive futurism might seem suspect to us in the modern moment because it flattens the diversity of gender and links futurity to normative heterosexuality ...." !!!
Methinks Prof. Yaszek needs to read "The Futurians" and other such Golden Age accounts. It's not that futurity required "normative heterosex" -- rather, that's all the publishers of the time would buy, and the censors pass. The lives of the actual *writers* were, um, considerably more colorful. Even in the bowdlerized accounts that have survived. Now, there's an MFA thesis for a SF grad student....

[Joe Crowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

You need this book. Right now. I don't say that about everything I like, but I'm saying it now about this.

This book contains 25 stories from Hall of Fame-level female SF authors such as Ursula K. Le Guin, James Tiptree Jr., and Marion Zimmer Bradley to people whose names you might be unfamiliar with.

Editor Lisa Yaszek includes a terrific foreword that talks about the history of women in science fiction. The TL;DR of it is that women were foundational to the beginning of the genre and to its rise.

The editor was not messing around when she put together this collection. Although many of the stories are decades old, I discovered at least seven authors that I have never encountered before. You will, too.

[Vincenzo Iuppa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely one of the finest collections of science fiction and fantasy that I have ever read. Even the weakest stories were still good and several now rank among my top favorite short stories all time. Do not be put off by the age of the stories either, nearly all of them have that timeless feel of really good literature and several of them are shockingly prescient

[Alvaro Zinos-Amaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa Yaszek, who along with Patrick B. Sharp previously co-edited the notable Sisters of Tomorrow: The First Women of Science Fiction, here brings us a very special and even more useful reprint anthology, whose impressive and wide-ranging contents--the first story was published in 1928, the last in 1969--more than amply prove Yaszek's introductory contention that "women who dream about new and better futures . . . have always been with us." Yes they have, and The Future is Female! offers eloquent proof that their visions were intriguing, thoughtful, ambitious, complex, stylistically-encompassing and, for all the futurism avowed by a genre inevitably rooted in the present, steeped in contemporary preoccupations and literary sensibilities, which now cause the texts to dually serve as historical documents. In fact, along with the redoubtable The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction, this is as good a one-volume anthology survey of the history and development of our field as any I know.

The twenty-five stories by twenty-six writers--one is a collaboration--are arranged chronologically, and to best appreciate the evolution of the field's tropes, thematic axes, and how later works parallax earlier concepts, I recommend reading them in that order. My two greatest pleasures while working my way through this five-hundred-page volume were discovering writers I'd never heard of before, whose included works have opened up my appetite for further explorations, and encountering new pieces by writers with whom I was familiar. Rather than attempting to discuss every story, then, I'm going to proceed in line with these two considerations.

Before The Future is Female!, I hadn't heard of Clare Winger Harris, Leslie F. Stone, Leslie Perri, Alice Eleanor Jones, Rosel George Brown, Elizabeth Mann Borgese, Doris Pitkin Buck, Alice Glaser or Sonya Dorman, and on those grounds alone I'm thankful to Yaszek for her historical acumen and discerning editorial eye. Her inclusion of extensive biographical notes, arranged by author name, at the end of the volume is also extremely helpful.

Now to the work. Winger Harris opens the book with "The Miracle of the Lily," which effectively evokes a vast sense of time and evolution, depicting the chilling spiritual coldness that would set in with the destruction of all vegetation on Earth in the face of an endless quest to maximize efficiency (an early narrative foreshadowing of climate change fiction?). The story accomplishes this by lensing in on man's relationship with insects, and as was common in the late 20s and early 30s, ends with a twist. (In its original publication in Amazing Stories, April 1928, this surprise is completely spoiled by the illustration on the story's cover page!). Despite the fact that this story is now ninety years old (!), it remains one of my favorites from this selection.

Leslie F. Stone's "The Conquest of Gola", from 1931, might be described as a yarn woven from the entangled threads of exploration and exploitation, and contains the beautiful line: "Their bodies were like a patch work of misguided nature." Leslie Perri's generically-titled "Space Episode," from a decade later, generates a few moments of genuine tension, and ends on a memorable note of gender inversion, but its pulpy aesthetic has dated it. Alice Eleanor Jones's "Created He Them," from 1955, atmospherically conjures a fatalistic, post-nuclear world of forced breeding; its psychological realism makes the doom palpable, and it remains another standout.

I wished I liked Rosel George Brown's "Car Pool," from 1959, which features alien refugee children, better--this was the book's only complete misfire for me, but folks and strokes are thankfully myriad. From the same year, "For Sale, Reasonable" by Elizabeth Mann Borgese--daughter of Thomas Mann--takes the form of an ad attempting to refute inevitable technological and existential obsolescence. Though its premise is simple, and was perhaps already shopworn at the time of the story's publication, it's brilliantly executed: a kind of icy, mock-reportage shell trapping a plaintive plea far below the depths.

Doris Pitkin Buck's "Birth of a Gardener," from 1961, is a sensitive and sophisticated comeuppance fantasy grounded in hard-sf jargon that also lingers long after reading. If Jerome Bixby's "It's a Good Life" (1953; famously adapted by The Twilight Zone in 1961) tickles your fancy, you'll dig this one too. I found Alice Glaser's "The Tunnel Ahead," from 1961, outstanding, an utterly masterful extrapolation of desperation, repressed angst, and mechanized heartlessness as a result of severe overpopulation. It has for me instantly joined the ranks of J. G. Ballard's similarly-themed "Billennium" (1962) as a classic on the topic.

Finally, Sonya Dorman's "When I Was Miss Dow," from 1966, whose single-gender/mode alien protagonist undertakes an exploration of humanity by becoming a female assistant to a male scientist, is a fantastically-rendered extrapolation of the concept of malleability--physical and psychological--vis-à-vis human gender norms and experiences. I'll say, too, that Dorman's narrative hits my stylistic New Wave sweet-spot more strongly than any other in the book. It also suggests one of the anthology's possible limitations: its contents are drawn, almost exclusively, from traditional SF sources and periodicals, which may have somewhat restricted the project's ambit. On the other hand, I'm sympathetic to editorial decisions that impose ultimately necessary constraints, particularly with undertakings of this magnitude.

Of the remaining stories, Carol Emshwiller's "Pelt," published in 1958, strikes me as a wonderfully adept portrayal of communication among non-human intelligences, as well as a poignant exploration of how freedom and loyalty can abut or collide. James Tiptree, Jr.'s "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain," from 1969, like Elizabeth Mann's story, deploys a detached voice to intimate the profound despair underlying the actions of a man who travels across the globe spreading a deadly contagion. Margaret St. Clair's 1951 story "The Inhabited Men" is appealingly acerbic and almost fairy-tale like in its tripartite examination of tragically-fated space explorers; its deft, wry touches remind me of C. M. Kornbluth at his best. Judith Merril's oft-reprinted "That Only a Mother," from 1948, taps into common zeitgeist anxieties around families and nuclear mutation; I'd forgotten its clever inclusion of epistolary exchanges, and was glad to be reminded of it. Joanna Russ's "The Barbarian," from 1968, the third in her fantastic Alyx series, chronicles Alyx's temporary employ by a mysterious magician; its seamless blend of science and magic, torqued by its cunning protagonist and sinewy plot, brings to mind Babylon 5's Technomages. Kate Wilhelm's 1967 "Baby, You Were Great," in which actors' emotions can be directly neurally accessed by viewers, posits a convincing manipulation of the human experience in the service of addictive mass entertainment; a prescient look at psychic voyeurism as manifested by something, say, like reality TV. Ursula K. Le Guin's "Nine Lives," from 1969, is another canonical entry, dazzlingly exploring the notion of cloning and what light it may shed on matters of otherness vs. self, in the process suggesting new questions we haven't yet formulated.

In addition to the writers I've mentioned, the anthology contains strong work by C. L. Moore, Katherine MacLean, Zenna Henderson, Leigh Brackett, Kit Reed and John Jay Wells [Juanita Coulson] and Marion Zimmer Bradley (whose inclusion will surely raise some eyebrows). Of these I want to single out Brackett's "All the Colors of the Rainbow" as a particularly affecting and sadly more-than-ever-relevant take on racism; this story, with a few tweaks, could easily sit alongside, say, Debbie Urbanski's "When They Came to Us" in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017. Less gripping but still worthwhile are entries by Andrew North [Andre Norton] and Mildred Clingerman.

"It is hard to meet a stranger," writes Le Guin in the anthology's last story, "Nine Lives":

"Even the greatest extravert meeting even the meekest stranger knows a certain dread, though he may not know he knows it. Will he make a fool of me wreck my image of myself invade me destroy me change me? Will he be different from me? Yes, that he will. There's the terrible thing: the strangeness of the stranger."

In The Future is Female! Yaszek's expert touch guides our transformational meetings with such strangeness, while simultaneously reminding us of the preciousness and vitality of these encounters.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great anthology, not just for the stories, but for the thoughtful foreword and the lengthy biographies of the writers included. There's a good mix of the oft-anthologized and rarer pieces, and of known and obscure authors. Some of the stories didn't age as well as others, but they are still interesting artifacts.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great selection!

1. The miracle of the Lily (1928) - Clare Winger Harris ****
2. The conquest of Gola (1931) - Leslie F Stone ***
3. The black god's kiss (1934) - C.L. Moore *** (more fantastic than sci-fi?)
4. Space episode (1941) - Leslie Perri ****
5. That only a mother (1948) - Judith Merril *****
6. In hiding (1948) - Wilmar H. Shiras ****
7. Contagion (1950) - Katherine MacLean **
8. The inhabited men (1951) - Margaret St. Clair ***
9. Ararat (1952) - Zenna Henderson ***
10. All cats are gray (1953) - Andrew North ***
11. Created He Them (1955) - Alice Eleanor Jones ****
12. Mr. Sakrison's halt (1956) - Mildred Clingerman ****
13. All the colors of the rainbow (1957) - Leigh Brackett *****
14. Pelt (1958) - Carol Emshwiller ***
15. Car pool (1959) - Rosel George Brown ***
16. For sale, reasonable (1959) - Elizabeth Mann Borgese *****
17. Birth of a gardener (1961) - Doris Pitkin Buck ****
18. The tunnel ahead (1961) - Alice Glaser *****
19. The new you (1962) - Kit Reed ***
20. Another rib (1963) - john jay wells & Marion Zimmer Bradley ***
21. When I was Miss Dow (1966) - Sonya Dorman ****
22. Baby, you were great (1967) - Kate Wilhelm *****
23. The barbarian (1968) - Joanna Russ *
24. The last flight of Dr. Ain (1969) - James Tiptree Jr. ***
25. Nine lives (1969) - Ursula K. Le Guin ****

[Kathrin Passig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ein paar Lichtblicke (Margaret St. Clair!), aber überwiegend konventionelle Geschichten aus den 1950er und 60er Jahren vom Leben mit dem Ehemann in einem außerirdischen Vorort. Kaum interessante Aufgaben für Frauen in den Texten, in einigen kommen Frauen nicht mal vor, oder nur als Randfiguren. (Das ist in dem Text von Margaret St. Clair auch so, aber ich mochte ihn stilistisch sehr.)

Nachtrag: Ich entnehme einer anderen Rezension hier, dass man Geschichten mit weniger konventionellen Geschlechterrollen offenbar nicht verkaufen konnte. Vielleicht waren die Autorinnen nicht ganz so konservativ, wie es hier aussieht.

[Kamakana · Rating 4 out of 5]

021118: of the 25 classic stories i had previously read 11. so i read them again. some authors familiar if not stories, mini bios at end, good range of 20th Century sf, as any collection some great, some less. dates mostly golden age, most recent 69. great evidence key texts of sf are often short stories. read great stories never seen before: 'Contagion', 'Inhabited Men', 'All the Colors of the Rainbow', 'Nine Lives'... no critical text, only general intro, but if you know some history the dates of stories are great too... and after all, this is 25 stories...

[David Agranoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is yet another case of a project I read/reviewed after hearing it featured on Geek's Guide to the Galaxy. First and foremost the editor Lisa Yaszek being a scholar of Science Fiction had me interested in having her as a guest on Dickheads to talk about the history of the genre. Second I knew I wanted to read this book.

The concept is simple starting with Claire Winger Harris and a story called 'The Miracle of the Lilly' and ending with A Ursala K Leguin Story Called 'Nine Lives'. That takes the reader through the evolution of the pulp era from 1928 to 1969. In the subtext of this anthology is the journey the women writing in the genre took from the great depression to the year humans landed on the moon. You might expect some Flash Gordan like space opera with lots of laser guns but I was struck by the high concept of many of the ideas stretching back so long ago.

CL Moore's 'The Black Kiss' read a bit like a high fantasy story to me, and Joanna Russ's 'The Barbarian' that was I believe a tribute to the former author's work. That style is fine, but it was the more groundbreaking and ahead of their time stories that really sold me. My favorite stories were the opening story 'The Miracle of The Lilly' and 'Contagion' by Katherine Maclean. I enjoyed the majority of the 25 stories but those two were the ones that had the biggest impact of me. I had never heard of those women, and I am ashamed to stay as a student of the genre I had only read previous works by six of the twenty-five featured authors. The book has done its job as I currently reading CL Moore's novel Doomsday Morning.

Let's start where the book did with 'The Miracle of the Lilly' which has the most vast scope of any of the stories which and what makes this striking since it is the oldest. This story that goes into a future where humans have wiped out insects, an act with horrifying unintended consequences is pretty much Cli-fi 90 years before the subgenre was invented. I am sure the science is wildly out of date but epic nature of the idea is pure speculative gee-whiz in the best ways.

'Contagion' by Katherine Maclean has a little bit of an Alien or Prometheus feel despite being from 1950, I really enjoyed this trip to another world that played with the idea of going to another planet. This story felt pulpy and wise beyond it's time which is a trick many of the stories pulled off but this one just worked for me.

A few others that stood out to me were Leigh Brackett's 'All the Colors of the Rainbow' that was written about racism in 1957. The saddest part is the message is still valid today. That is impressive and depressing at the same time. I also enjoyed Kate Wilham send-up of Hollywood and pre-VR technology in 'Baby You Were great.' The closers by James Tiptree Jr. (Alice Sheldon) and Ursula K Leguin showcase by they are gold standards in the genre.

As much as I loved the stories, the highlight for sure was the introduction by Yaszek and the biographical notes at the back. As a fan of the genre and a writer myself, I was interested in their stories. I found myself saying to myself I need a book of that history. I was glad to find out that Yaszek has written that book Galatic Suburbia. I will read that one as soon as I can. the biographical notes provided such valuable insights in the writers. On a personal note discovering a pulp-era writer, CL Moore was from my home state of Indiana and published her first stories in the student paper of my hometown university made me so interested in her story.

Anyone interested in the classic pulp era and the history of women in it should read this book. The way it follows the progression of the genre gives it an interesting edge. This book is more than just another anthology, it is an important historical document that happens to have more than 20 stand-out works of bold science fiction. It should be taught in MFA programs but sadly I think it will be overlooked just like the contribution of the many women in the genre.

The good news is we have this book and can read it, review it and promote it to others. The Future is Female is a must-read for serious fans of the genre.

Check out my Dickheads podcast interview with Lisa Yaszek about this book:

https://soundcloud.com/dickheadspodca...

[Marie-Therese · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

Review to follow.

[Shomeret · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic fiction stands the test of time without seeming dated. I don't think this anthology can be considered a collection of classic stories. If you're expecting feminist stories, I can't say that these stories are feminist either. A few of these were readable and I loved In Hiding by Wilmar Shiras when I read it many years ago.

[Adam Gurri · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an astonishing collection. There's something for every sort of speculative fiction fan: classic far future battles with insects, space opera, weird fiction, post-apocalyptic, and didactic fiction galore covering issues from race to gender roles and gender identity. Can't recommend it highly enough.

[ambyr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been going through this two-volume collection with a bookclub, discussing four stories every other week. (The bookclub is on Zoom! Ask if you want to join!) It benefits from that slow pace. Not all stories are ones I'd choose to read for pure enjoyment (though some certainly are), but all are worth discussing and analyzing in the context of the shifting roles of women in science fiction and American culture at large.

Personal favorites included "Space Episode," "The Inhabited Men," "Created He Them," "For Sale, Reasonable," "The New You," "Baby, You Were Great," and of course "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain" and "Nine Lives," both of which I'd read before.

Why four stars and not five? Because I found myself frustrated by how minimal the editorial additions to this volume were. The author biographies are well-compiled, but there's no notes to explain why any given story was selected over many other options from the authors' bodies of work. Does Yaszek find them exemplary of something? Does she think they pair well with what came before or after them in the volume? We don't know. The footnotes at the back are anemic at best and sometimes risible (for example, Yaszek defines "bach" as "a word apparently invented by Le Guin; perhaps an honorific, like the Japanese -san," an attribution of invention that would come very much as a surprise to the Welsh character who uses the word and for that matter to Welsh speakers in general; also, reading the word as an honorific similar to -san instead of as the term of endearment that it is suggests Yaszek fundamentally misunderstands one of the central relationships in "Nine Lives").

On to volume two!

[KC Cui · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable collection both for what it was - interesting mostly new wave scifi stories - and as a survey of womens scifi. I have always liked James Tiptree, Jr. and it was cool to experience some lesser known authors. I’ve always felt speculative fiction was a woman’s space bc it’s the kind of genre that really flourished in like pulp publishing and cheap paperbacks and mass enjoyment and not stately literary fiction circles. I like how these ranged from like the suburban dystopic stuff, the quite mundane, the space opera, the sword and sandals; and also in style w some pretty forgettable/workmanlike writing to the quite beautiful (Dorman, Le Guin)

My fav stories were prob
The Miracle of the Lily
Pelt
The Inhabited Men (going to check out a St. Clair collection after)
When I was Miss Dow

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I borrowed this mostly because of the excellent cover, but I do have a desire to explore more sci-fi and felt that short stories are probably the way to go. And this is a great, varied collection, full of lows and highs, and a great way to track human anxiety and dreams throughout the early 20th century, and the chronological arrangement helps in that (as other reviewers have said, the fear of atomic mutation suddenly takes over right when you expect it to).

My tastes being what they are, my favorites were easily the most horror-like, nihilistic ones: "That Only a Mother" (1948), "Created He Them" (1955), "Baby, You Were Great" (1967) and especially "The Tunnel Ahead" (1961).

[E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whew, older SF is weird, y'all.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic collection Dr. Yaszek has curated for us! I feel like I have to address the stories individually. Generally I found almost all of them, if not enjoyable in their own right, very instructive historically. I liked having the stories in chronological order, and found the notes and bios at the end of the volume useful.

"The Miracle of the Lily" by Clare Winger Harris 1928 - The 1920s were so much fun for science fiction, its adolescence, it's mad, giddy teen years. This story captures that and spans so many ideas. World-spanning cities, genetic manipulation, better living through chemistry, civilizations on Mars and Venus, even -gasp- TELEVISION.

"The Conquest of Gola" by Leslie F. Stone 1931 - Alien POV as humans (all male of course) attempt to conquer the matriarchy of Venus. Pulpy fun with a little "Oh these strange earth-men might be sexy with their hard bodies ... oops my mistake they want to kill us."

"The Black God's Kiss" by C. L. Moore - I was familiar with this story as the inspiration for cover art, but Oh. My. Elder God. The story delivers hard on the promise of the image. Pulptastic with sword fights and flashing anger eyes and magic spells. So glad I got the chance to read this gem. I felt transported to a world of lurid pastel-chalk fantasy. Lovecraft wishes he wrote like this.

"Space Episode" by Leslie Perri (1941) - Hard SF feels! Loved that. And at the time, apparently, it was quite controversial for depicting a heroic woman saving less-heroic men. Maybe this needs to always be printed next to "The Cold Equations". So glad to learn about this writer - she was active in fan zines and fandom, briefly married to Frederick Pohl, and did some editing too.

"That Only a Mother" by Judith Merril (1948) - Not my favorite, but a good example of maternal sf, and the fear of mutations caused by radiation, that would be quite the hot topic in '48

"In Hiding" by Wilmar H. Shiras (1950) - a child psychologist uncovers a super-intelligent boy who is pretending to be normal. I suspect this coming right after "Only a Mother" is not coincidental! Slow but thorough and thoughtful exploration of the kid and the psychologist.

"Contagion" by Katherine Maclean (1950) - Wow has medical knowledge changed since this story. There's something very telling in the way the disease would only affect one gender - that they thought men and women were really that different - and that germ theory meant you could clean a disease away from someone! But still, very interesting, and interesting to see the sexual politics of the characters of their time and compare them to, say "Space Episode."

"Inhabited Men" Margaret St. Clair (1951) - Felt ahead of its time, like a Delaney. Though I wanted more resolution, maybe that's me being behind my time.

"Ararat" Zenna Henderson (1952) - So touchingly done. Great voice, characterization. Literary. I was like ... "Are these all going to feel ahead of their time or am I too judgemental of the past?"

"All Cats Are Gray" by Andrew North (1953) - Another great adventure! And with a cat! I thought the beginning and end were a little rough but I like what it did and the no-nonsense bartender solving a spooky space mystery

"Created He Them" Alice Eleanor Jones (1955) - Creepy dystopian suburbia with a loveless marriage and starving for necessities. All the 1950 housewife feels.

Mr. Sakrison's Halt by Mildred Clingerman (1956) - content warning: N-word. Exquisite southern gothic where the magic is an end to segregation. Touching characters. Loved it.

"All the Colors of the Rainbow" by Leigh Brackett (1957) - content warning: N-word. Oh hey I see why this was put after "Mr. Sakrison's" too. It's the putting stories together like this that shows the editor's depth of knowledge in the subject. Wow, yeah. So it's like ... racists are racist to aliens because they are racists. Dark.

"Pelt" by Carol Emshwiller (1958) - MY STARS THIS IS BEAUTIFUL excellent dog POV. So lovely. A poem of a story.

"Car Pool" by Rosel George Brown (1959) - So much humor in this one, and the sweet tender aliens! Marries the tragedy of human brutality with the domestic woes of the future-housewife. I would have liked it to be a little clearer on the final disposition of the characters.

"For Sale, Reasonable" by Elizabeth Mann Borgese (1959) - didn't care for this one

"Birth of a Gardener" by Doris Pitkin Buck (1961)- ever had a man insist you couldn't understand something? I get the feeling Doris Pitkin Buck has. Killer ending!

"The Tunnel Ahead" by Alice Glaser (1961) - Make Room! Make Room! but with a trip to the beach. Dark and psychological.

"The New You" by Kit Reed (1962) - I just adore the romance between the Old Martha and her husband. Definitely before its time, thumbing its nose at lookism.

"Another Rib" by John Jay Wells and Marion Zimmer Bradley (1963) - content warning: Homophobia and transphobia. Like, big time. WOW. It's hard to read. Important, historically, though. For me it was telling how much the story was unwilling even to put in writing. There's a part where, after an alien says it can turn a man into a woman to help the last (all male) survivors of the human race, asks, "Why both of them, if you can only convert one?" and I'm like "what?" and the alien replies "Why, for their physical pleasure." And it took me eight re-reads to realize the captain is asking "Why do they have to have sex with each other?" and not, as I had thought, that they were going to become lesbians and each have a baby.

"When I Was Miss Dow" by Sonya Dorman (1966) - a welcome refreshment after that last story - the protagonist alien tries to untangle its feelings of gender and being a human-mimic

"Baby, You Were Great" by Kate Wilhelm (1967) - Content warning: rape DARK. Hideously dark, looking unflinchingly at the misogyny of Hollywood. I wanted a happy ending to somehow come out of it, but Kate decided to leave me devastated.

"The Barbarian" by Joanna Russ (1968) - Fun to get a backstory for Alyx from "Picnic on Paradise"! Typical Russ adventure. The time rustic outsmarts the future man.

"The Last Flight of Dr. Ain" by James Tiptree Jr. (1969) - not my favorite Tiptree. The lyrical prose we've come to expect, but the story didn't surprise me in any way. Though that could be future-bias.

"Nine Lives" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1969) - Clones and feels and love. As an identical twin, I should hate this, but darn that Le Guin always seduces with her prose. Liked the ending better than the beginning. Could have used more difference in voice between Martin and Owen.

[Ed Erwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not all stories are 5-star, but there isn't a single dud in the collection, so overall the book is 5-star.

The stories are arranged chronologically. The first few are rather "pulpy", but they weren't pretending to be anything else. They are still interesting, though I'm happy that more finely developed SF works are now available.

I suppose the editor picked the C.L. Moore story about Jirel of Joiry because of the female protagonist. That Fantasy seems a bit out-of-place in an SF collection, and Moore did write lots of SF stories. But I'm glad to have read the story and won't quibble over it.

I think I'd have liked a little introduction for each story saying why it was chosen. In lieu of that, there is a general introduction and, in the back, mini biographies of each author.

Among the stories I hadn't read before, I particularly liked "In hiding" by Wilmar H. Shiras, "Mr. Sakrison's Halt" by Mildred Clingerman, and "When I was Miss Dow" by Sonya Dorman.

[Jon]

4 stars

[Lydia Schoch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buckle up for a wild ride.

I can’t review all of the stories in this collection in my review, so I’ll pick a few of the most interesting ones.

Leslie Perri’s “Space Episode” began with the terror some astronauts felt at the exact moment they realized that they’d either need to find a way to dislodge the meteor stuck in their engine immediately or crash onto Earth and die. There wasn’t even time to share the characters’ names with the audience in that scene, and yet I immediately sympathized with them and couldn’t stop reading until I’d found out their fates.I can’t say much else about the storyline without giving away spoilers, but I thought was well paced and exciting. While I must continue being vague, the ending also had a nice twist in it that made me wish for a sequel.

Margaret’s fear of having accidentally exposed her fetus to dangerous amounts of radiation was overwhelming in “That Only a Mother” by Judith Merrill. It wasn’t difficult to figure out where the plot was going from there, so I was mostly interested in Margaret’s character development as she went through her pregnancy and began adjusting to being a new mom. I found myself wishing I could sit down with the author to confirm whether this was what she was hoping her audience would do given how easy it was to guess what would happen next. Then again, maybe this sort of storyline was much less used in the 1940s and would have been fresher for readers back then!

I was intrigued by Alice Eleanor Jones’ “Created He Them” immediately. The main character lived in a society where many necessities of life were difficult to get, from eggs to new clothes. She had two young sons to look after and was increasingly having difficulty keeping everyone in her family fed and warm. I’ll leave it up to other readers to discover more about her world, but I thought it was a memorable (if also depressing) place that could have easily been expanded into a full-length novel.

The Future Is Female was a memorable introduction to plenty of vintage science fiction authors I’d never heard of before.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book. For a while I’ve been looking into the women of SF, and I haven’t had much trouble finding modern female writers, but older ones are a bit harder to find, so this was amazing!
The stories included really cover a vast number of years, and as the decades go along, you can totally see the shift in perspective. All stories definitely touch on social issues that were clearly important at the time, and most of them do explore the role women had at the time too, and their wants and needs change as we move along.
And while I didn’t love all the stories, there were quite a few new authors that I’d like to explore more of.
As for favourite stories, I liked them better when we started getting into the 50s and 60s, as they are also the kind of SF I’m more familiar with. But some older ones, like tue very first story were very good too. The ones from around mid 40s are all related to radiation and mutation concerns because of the war. But you see a liberation starting in the 50s that’s pretty nice in SF contexts.
There were only 25 women included in tue anthology, and in pretty sure there’s plenty more around, so now I’m curious as to what other female writers are out there. This particular anthology didn’t have many authors writing about robots and time travelling (which are some of my favourite SF themes) so I kinda want to look out for those too.

[Laura Madsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

25 short sci-fi pieces by women authors, published between 1928 to 1969. There are a few I've read before (Andre Norton, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Ursula K. LeGuin), but most of them I've never heard of. The stories are published in chronological order of publication, and it's especially interesting to compare their themes to what was happening in the world at the time.
Late 1940's - post Hiroshima and Nagasaki - warnings of nuclear war and radiation ("That Only a Mother" and "In Hiding")
Early 1950's - polio peaked in 1952 - fears of infection ("Contagion" and "The Inhabited Men")
Late 1950's - Emmett Till was murdered in 1955 - commentary on civil rights, racism, and xenophobia ("Mr. Sakrison's Halt," "All the Colors of the Rainbow," "Pelt," and "Car Pool")
Early 1960's - National Organization for Women was formed in 1966 - explorations of gender and sexuality ("Another Rib" and "When I Was Miss Dow")
Late 1960's - the Environmental Protection Agency was established in 1970 - concerns of environmental damage ("The Last Flight of Dr. Ain")

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic! All super interesting stories, which I enjoyed more than I thought I would. I'm not a huge reader of anthologies, just because the stories are done so fast, after I went to all that work to visualize the world in my mind! But I did enjoy this anthology.

The stories that stick out in my mind the most are Pelt, The Barbarian, and Nine Lives.

Quotes:
"But you recall who it was said that the capacity for wonder at matters of common acceptance occurs in the superior mind?" -James Tiptree Jr, The Last Flight of Dr. Ain

"He did not suppose this would last forever but as long as it did it was a beautiful sort of pain." -Leigh Brackett, All the Colors of the Rainbow

And thanks to Dad, who got me this book for Christmas!

[Bernard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given it took me 2 years to read this, I can hardly claim to accurately summarize the entire volume in one review. But I'll give it a go! I admit--this review is weighted toward the latter stories as some of the early stories I read 2 years ago in preparation for Prof. Yaszek's visit to my local bookstore!

Some of the stories were baffling--as in, I didn't really follow what was going on. Some of them definitely need a second read to understand, as the payoff at the end of some would be quite useful in understanding the first halves. E.g. "The Barbarian." This doesn't make them bad stories. It just makes me realize how unaccustomed I am to stories from decades before my birth!

Some of the stories were shocking. I was completely surprised by the twist in "The Tunnel Ahead." Yikes!

Some of the stories were way "ahead of their time" with the caveat that some ideas America stumbled across late in the 20th century but which never really took hold, even today, *should not* have been ahead of their time. But the stories are nevertheless a product of their age. E.g. "Another Rib" and "All the Colors of the Rainbow."

Some stories predicted the future. Surely some late 20th and early 21st century movies were based on these stories. E.g. "The Truman Show" seems to have echoes of "Baby, You Were Great."

Kudos to Professor Yaszek for curating a fine collection. It expanded my horizons on what "American Science Fiction" actually means, is comprised of, and began.

One thing I would love to see in a future edition of this volume is Prof. Yaszek's thoughts on each story, tacked on immediately after the stories themselves. Her opening essay is great, but by the time I had read all the stories, I had forgotten some of her setup. She might also enlighten some readers (such as me) on where we stumbled trying to follow the plot, as surely she has digested these many times over by now.

I look forward to her recently announced volume II -- the 1970s! Assuredly, that decade also features many amazing women writers of science fiction.

[Leah Rachel von Essen · Rating 5 out of 5]

From Mary Shelley writing about monsters and men to the 1970s sub-genre of ‘feminist sci fi,’ women have been fundamental creators and readers of speculative fiction for the entire lifespan of the genre. And yet the myth of male dominance continues to pervade the conventional narrative of the genre’s birth and rise. In this incredible collection, The Future is Female! 26 Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women, from Pulp Pioneers to Ursula K. Le Guin, Lisa Yaszek has spanned a large gap in many readers’ knowledge of the genre, bringing together 25 stories spanning from the 1920s to 1960s written by women authors you may not know, but should know.

Some of my favorite stories picture future, terrifying worlds: “The Miracle of the Lily” (1928) by Claire Winger Harris, addressing food shortage and the failure or evolution of ecosystems that would come with climate change; “The Tunnel Ahead” (1961) by Alice Glaser is a banally chilling story about an over-populated world that evokes Jackson’s “The Lottery”; “Baby, You Were Great” (1967) by Kate Wilhelm is one of the most horrifying stories I’ve read, a haunting tale about media consumption, reality television, voyeurism, and violence in media.

“In Hiding” (1948) by Wilmar H. Shiras was a formative influence for the X-Men universe; “The Black God’s Kiss” (1934) by C.L. Moore is a dark, eldritch fantastic horror revenge tale; “Mr. Skrison’s Halt” (1956) has a tease of a portal fantasy; “The Barbarian” (1968) by Joanna Russ and “Nine Lives” (1969) by Ursula K. Le Guin were, unsurprisingly, incredible tales.

Lisa Yaszek’s introduction is a short yet superb introduction, summing up well the eras of science fiction, the contributions of women, and the history of women in the science fiction genre. This book is a must-read for any lover of speculative or science fiction, especially those who want to read early stories by women authors in the genre.

(Note: I omitted the story jointly written by Marion Zimmer Bradley from my read of this book and from my review due to her recorded history of child abuse.)