From the Imagination of Women: Retro Sci-Fantasy Stories

CANNON BOOKS PRESENTS * From the Imagination of Women: Retro Sci-Fantasy Stories * (356 Pages)Leigh Brackett (Black Amazon of Mars), Marion Zimmer Bradley (The Planet Savers), Florence Verbell Brown (Bride of the Dark One), Barbara Constant (The Sound of Silence), T. D. Hamm (Native Son, The Last Supper), Amelia R. Long (Omega), Lilith Lorraine (The Jovian Jest), Katherine MacLean (The Carnivore, Contagion), Rory Magill (The Last Gentleman), C. L. Moore (Song in a Minor Key, The Tree of Life), Bassett Morgan (Bimini), Andre Norton (The Gifts of Asti), Evelyn E. Smith (Collector's Item, The Venus Trap), Francis Stevens (Friend Island), Ruth Laura Wainwright (Green Grew the Lasses)This collection pulls together nineteen fascinating stories written by women. They were originally published over a period from 1918 to 1962. The feminist aspects of these stories are remarkable given they were written during a time when science fiction was dominated by male writers who wrote for a readership of men and boys. It's interesting to remember that Mary Shelley (1797-1851) is credited by many as the first solid science fiction author for her novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus, first published in 1818. So, a genre kick-started by a woman became male dominated - for a very long time.It was the women who published stories during the pulp era (1920s and 30s), as well as in the Golden Age (1940s and 50s), who set the stage for a new wave of women writers of the 1960s and 70s. This new wave of writers built upon the foundation before them and began to incorporate gender equality, sexuality and current social issues into sci-fantasy stories.