Current reading: James Tiptree, Jr.

This is my first exposure to Tiptree and so far, I'm pleased. I borrowed Warm Worlds and Otherwise from a friend, a book of short stories written between 1968 & '73. They are not connected, though they share a bizarre flavour. It's nice when I run across scifi that feels fresh [especially when it's over 30 years old], and it's a special treat when I really enjoy the language & style of the writer, as is the case with this collection.

Not every story grabs me with equal intensity, but every story has some aspect that's interesting & novel. I initially stumbled on one of the most remarkable, "Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death." Reading it was a sensorial experience, twisted by main characters who are wholly alien. "Through A Lass Darkly" tickled me with its irreverence and snapshot-style structure. "The Last Flight of Doctor Ain" is almost lighthearted at times, as it follows doom across the globe.

An especially enjoyable feature of Tiptree's writing is that the story is established as it progresses. That is, she drops you into the middle of a situation, in an alien environment, with various [mostly] sentients, and you learn what you need to know to put the story into context as you read it. She offers little or no preamble and frequently only the briefest finish. It's a bold stylistic choice, but highly entertaining and readable when pulled off well.

I'll wrap up with a note on Tiptree's gender. Early in her career, Tiptree was reclusive and maintained a high degree of privacy. The name, the genre, the style of writing, led people to believe Tiptree was a man. However, about a decade after she began writing scifi, it came out that she was, in fact, not a man. The ruse spurred lots of discussion on gender distinctions in writing and the treatment of gender within the genre.