The Hidden Side of the Moon

by Joanna Russ

extremely rare,very good condition

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Feminism, Speculative Fiction, Literature, American

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Joanna Russ (February 22, 1937 – April 29, 2011) was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as How to Suppress Women's Writing, as well as a contemporary novel, On Strike Against God, and one children's book, Kittatinny. She is best known for The Female Man, a novel combining utopian fiction and satire. [Wikipedia]

Reviews

[Wealhtheow · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite story in this collection is "The Little Dirty Girl." The rest range from exciting ("The Experimenter") to chilling ("Nor Custom Stale," about discovering immortality, and "Come Closer") to cheering ("Mr. Wilde's Second Chance," about Oscar Wilde's time in the afterlife). All are very odd, not least "The Throaways," in which permanence is disgusting. Some are almost classic scifi--"Elf Hill" for instance, a domestic story about reality and overpopulation. Others take a scifi trope and run wild with it, such as time travel ("Old Thoughts, Old Presences"), but do not merely evade cliche--they confound it. OTOP, for instance, uses time travel as a means of exploring a mother/daughter relationship.
There were few stories in this collection that I actually felt I understood, but they were wonderful. Russ has always seemed like someone I'd be a little afraid but very glad to know--dry, sarcastic, and very very sharp.

[eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

no idea what's going on in half of these stories.

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Selection of ~20 years of Russ stories, both genre and not. Some are quite slight - essentially just drabbles - but there's more than enough here to showcase her range and her fierce intelligence. She does laugh-out-loud funny ('The Cliches from Outer Space' had me cackling), melancholy ('The Little Dirty Girl', 'How Dorothy Kept Away the Spring'), twists-in-the-tale ('Nor Custom Stale'), and heartbreaking rage ('Daddy's Little Girl'). More sadness-in-suburbia than I'd expected based on my previous Russ reading, but always razor-sharp in both wit and feminism.

Bonus: 'The Experimenter' felt like an unacknowledged Alyx story.

[Abilouise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of very disparate short stories. Joanna Russ amazes me with her range of prose and topics and characters. Honestly, this book was a little uneven, the way you'd expect a collection of short stories that spans a good deal of genre and time to be.

[Peacefulbookery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of feminist, science fiction short stories.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the first shorty story of kind of felt let down by the rest. They are very well written but none really left a strong impression on me.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of these stories just weren't to my taste, but it's definitely worth checking out for "The Cliches from Outer Space," which is truly funny if you read a lot of science fiction, particularly science fiction about women and/or gender.

[Tamahome]

Last chance Joanna. 3 strikes and you're out! I'll try the stories Farah Mendlesohn likes at the end of her interview.

http://www.omnivoracious.com/2010/01/...

[S̶e̶a̶n̶]

Maybe I will come back to this, but so far none of these have measured up to other stories of hers that I've read, leaving my enthusiasm to wane. Other reviewers mention the first story ("The Little Dirty Girl") as a favorite, and I would agree at this point.