The New Women of Wonder

Women of Wonder

by Pamela Sargent (Editor)

This anthology contains:

Introduction (1977) by Pamela Sargent
View From The Moon Station (1977) by Sonya Dorman
Screwtop (1976) by Vonda N. McIntyre
The Warlord of Saturn's Moons (1974) by Eleanor Arnason
The Triumphant Head (1970) by Josephine Saxton
The Heat Death of The Universe (1967) by Pamela Zoline
Songs of War (1974) by Kit Reed
The Women Men Don't See (1973) by James Tiptree Jr.
Debut (1970) by Carol Emshwiller
When It Changed (1972) by Joanna Russ
Dead In Irons (1976) by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Building Block (1975) by Sonya Dorman
Eyes of Amber (1976) by Joan D. Vinge
Further Reading (1977), uncredited

When It Changed by Joanna Russ won the Nebula Award for best short story in 1972.

Eyes of Amber by Joan D. Vinge won the Hugo Award for best novelette in 1978.

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

363 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Pamela Sargent has won the Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and has been a finalist for the Hugo Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award for alternate history. In 2012, she was honored with the Pilgrim Award by the Science Fiction Research Association for lifetime achievement in science fiction scholarship. She is the author of the novels Cloned Lives, The Sudden Star, Watchstar, The Golden Space, The Alien Upstairs, Eye of the Comet, Homesmind, Alien Child, The Shore of Women, Venus of Dreams, Venus of Shadows, Child of Venus, Climb the Wind, and Ruler of the Sky. Her most recent short story collection is Thumbprints, published by Golden Gryphon Press, with an introduction by James Morrow. The Washington Post Book World has called her “one of the genre's best writers.”

In the 1970s, she edited the Women of Wonder series, the first collections of science fiction by women; her other anthologies include Bio-Futures and, with British writer Ian Watson as co-editor, Afterlives. Two anthologies, Women of Wonder, The Classic Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1940s to the 1970s and Women of Wonder, The Contemporary Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1970s to the 1990s, were published by Harcourt Brace in 1995; Publishers Weekly called these two books “essential reading for any serious sf fan.” Her most recent anthology is Conqueror Fantastic, out from DAW Books in 2004. Tor Books reissued her 1983 young adult novel Earthseed, selected as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association, and a sequel, Farseed, in early 2007. A third volume, Seed Seeker, was published in November of 2010 by Tor. Earthseed has been optioned by Paramount Pictures, with Melissa Rosenberg, scriptwriter for all of the Twilight films, writing the script and producing through her Tall Girls Productions.

A collection, Puss in D.C. and Other Stories, is out; her novel Season of the Cats is out in hardcover and will be available in paperback from Wildside Press. The Shore of Women has been optioned for development as a TV series by Super Deluxe Films, part of Turner Broadcasting.

Pamela Sargent lives in Albany, New York.

Reviews

[M— · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. I remember reading this years ago and enjoying the stories, but, in reading them again now, they didn't impress me much.

Notable stories include:
Screwtop (1974) by Vonda N. McIntyre | Musings on a prison planet largely dwell on getting of it; this story is unique in the POV character's focus on getting her friends and lovers off it instead of herself. The story was quite interesting, but rather choppy and undeveloped. It reads like the introduction to a novel and, as far as I know, has never been further developed and has no relation to any of McIntyre's other works.

The Warlord of Saturn's Moons (1974) by Eleanor Arnason | Story-within-story of writer elaborating the lives of her characters. Excellent. (Writer fantasy world; fun look to the creative mind and notable for author.)

When It Changed (1972) by Joanna Russ | In a space colony where all the menfolk have died, the survivors have adapted quite capably into a strain of parthenogenic women. Male space-farers eventually rediscover the colony, and musings of gender inequalities takes place. The story's a bit sad in tone, a bit angry, but quite good. I would have liked this better if the ending had been more optimistic.

And the other stories:
Introduction (The New Women of Wonder) (1977) by Pamela Sargent | Fair essay if not stellar. Somewhat interesting.

View From The Moon Station (1977) by Sonya Dorman | Eh. Poem.

The Triumphant Head (1970) by Josephine Saxton | Not even worth describing. I have no idea what this story is supposed to be about. Pretentious and arty. Pass this by.

The Heat Death of The Universe (1967) by Pamela Zoline | Circular story of small numbered sections building into a greater whole of a woman going mad. The concept is better than the plot, but the story is still worth a read. Interesting if not lovely.

Songs of War (1974) by Kit Reed | Women opt to abandon their established lives and join militant feminist group in the hills. Eventually, they decided they can't do without cock and beg their husbands to take them back. Crap, crap, crap and depressing.

The Women Men Don't See (1973) by James Tiptree Jr. | A mother and daughter come across some aliens and all but yell, "Take us away from here, please!" Notable as writing example of Tiptree; less than memorable in own right. Also notable as Tiptree was outed as woman in the same year that this anthology was copyrighted.

Debut (1970) by Carol Emshwiller | What the hell? I have no idea. Princess brought to mother in order to assassinate her, but no one seems to care that (a) the princess tried or (b) the princess failed. Queen exiles princess to secluded mountain glade with man who rapes her, I think, except it's so vague and purple-prosy that I’m honestly not entirely sure of this. Ends with princess musing that she'll be going home soon and her family will be pleased. What. The. Hell.

Dead In Irons (1976) by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro | Mystery in spaaaace. Creepy sadistic crew members eventually turn cannibal on passengers in transport ship. Excellent example future dystopia; less than pleasant reading experience.

Building Block (1975) by Sonya Dorman | Art as business, artist threatened; or, engineer suffers setbacks. Readable, if not terribly good.

Eyes of Amber (1976) by Joan D. Vinge | And what do with do with newly-found intelligent life? Put them on television. A soap opera. Of course.

[boocia]

fun, pretty much what it says on the tin, contemporary for the time shorts. the classics from tiptree and russ, etc. Kit Reed's "Songs of War" was the standout for me; i think it really detailed the nuances of and breaks down the "war of the sexes" conceit; the women trying to start a revolution love men, require them, hate them, want to kill them, etc. they are not a united front, and have different class and sexuality (housewives, dykes) priorities. not as cut and dry as the estrangements between men and women in some of the other stories. I liked the contextualization of the scene at the time from Sargent's intro. Fine one over all.

[Dion · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When It Changed", "Deep in Irons" and "Screwtop" are the stand out three shorts in this collection. The last two both have attempted rape/sexual harassment in them, but the world building in them is just spectacular. The authors create believable characters, nuanced societies and thoroughly fleshed-out settings that make it easy for readers to lose themselves in the stories.

Unfortunately, the first two also have pessimistic endings so be warned, you might come out feeling sad or angry. Or both at once.

Definitely worth reading!

[Brianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I really enjoyed some of the stories, there were also others I could barely get through. In the end, I would say it averaged to two stars. I think there was a bit too much negativity to keep it exciting rather than a bit depressing. If it had done a better job alternating between levity and hardship, I might have enjoyed it more. Overall, it felt a bit outdated for obvious reasons, but it has some interesting concepts.

[Lucy Takeda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found these stories rather hit and miss. I didn’t care for Songs of War at all. The Women Men Don’t See was somewhat interesting. So was Building Block. Eyes of Amber held some interesting concepts.

[Steve Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting snapshot of feminism through the lens of late 70's sci fi. To get a story in this volume (the third of a series), you needed to be a female writer (although a male pen name is okay), with a story that challenges traditional gender roles in some way, either explicitly or implicitly.

So there are stories of parthenogenic societies (Joanna Russ's "When It Changed") and alien female assassins (Joan D. Vinge's "Eyes of Amber"). But there are also stories of traditional housewives who long for something more fulfilling and either lose their mind (Pamela Zoline's "The Heat Death of the Universe") or join the militant secessionist Amazons (Kit Reed's "Songs of War").

As always, the success of the collection depends more on the quality of the writing than the level of the concept. Luckily, in this case, the stories with the most to say are also among the better ones. Russ's "When It Changed" Is excellent, and I also really enjoyed Zoline's "The Heat Death of the Universe". The weak stories fail pretty spectacularly, a side effect of the risks being with the form in the New Wave era. Perhaps there was some deep point behind the incoherent rambles by Josephine Saxton ("The Triumphant Head") and Carol Emshwiller ("Debut"): some high-art concept I couldn't grasp, or an illustration of how we can never truly understand an alien mind or culture... but I suspect they're just lousy.

While I know I'm not supposed to judge a book by its cover, the cover art also deserves at least a comment. I can't say that I usually pay much attention to the cover of a sci-fi paperback, but this one was so awkward-looking that I was embarrassed to be seen reading it in public. Perhaps depicting the heroine Vonda N. McIntyre's "Screwtop" as a masculine-faced woman in short-shorts is an intentional challenge to traditional gender roles... but I suspect it's just lousy.

[Lisa H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some real classics here, particularly Joanna Russ's "When It Changed." Pamela Sargent's intro gives a good overview of what was going on in SF at the time (1970s), but can be skipped w/o any loss of appreciation of the contents.

The first story, "Screwtop", was probably my favorite of the collection. It read like it could have been part of a larger work - like there had been other stories set in the same world, or featuring the same main character, but thus far I haven't found any related works. It's set on a world where prison labor is employed in dangerous mining jobs, to produce energy for the ever-increasing needs of its population. Some of the prisoners we "meet" aren't strictly criminals in some cases, but rather individuals who have rejected the life path set for them by society. The overseers take full advantage of their positions, sometimes capriciously doling out both punishment and reward, and using their power to manipulate prisoners into doing their bidding.

"The Heat Death of the Universe" is told in alternating sections of scientific facts and comments on the life of one woman, Sarah, who has left a career in physics and spends her time tending house and raising her children (although exactly how many children she has is unclear, even to her.) Although her reflections on how her life has changed are often funny, there is an underlying and growing sense that all is not right, and eventually her thoughts and behavior become disturbingly bizarre.

"The Warlord of Saturn's Moons" is an entertaining glimpse into the head of an author as she follows the exploits of the characters in her space opera. "Songs of War" tells the story of an army of women, brought together by shared dissatisfaction with their societal roles, and the conflicts that have torn apart many revolutionary struggles. "Debut" is another disturbing story in which women and men live entirely apart. "Building Block" is about an architect whose valuable and visionary building plans have gotten "lost" due to memory loss, and her attempts to recover them prompt people she has trusted to take advantage of her. In "Eyes of Amber", a probe from Earth is mistaken for a demon by an outlaw on another planet, and the scientists monitoring it are aided by a musician in communicating with her.

[Summer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this as much as the other Women of Wonder compilations (I especially don't like Vonda McIntyre), but there were some good stories in here ("The Heat Death of the Universe", "When it Changed", "The Women Men Don't See", and "Eyes of Amber"). However, you can find those stories in a lot of other compilations, so unless you're going for a complete collection, I'd recommend reading the outstanding Women of Wonder, More Women of Wonder, and Women of Wonder: The Classic Years.

[Ed]

ISFDB 44610. OCLC 264966393. LCCN 77076577.

[Lisa]

The New Women of Wonder by Pamela Sargent (1978)

[Kitty]

I liked 3 stories out of all of them which is a terrible ratio, but I really liked the 3 I liked.