Flying Cups and Saucers: Gender Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy

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Selected for their provocative takes on sexuality, these 13 gender-bending tales of outre amour shock, amuse and call on basic human sympathy. The anthology collects the winners of the (James) Tiptree Award, named for the SF great who, in the mid-1970s, revealed himself to be a she, Alice Sheldon. Represented here twice is Ursula Le Guin, with "A Matter of Seggri" and "Forgiveness Day." The protagonist of the noteworthy latter story experiences "disgender-ment" on a new continent where only members of the upper class ("owners" as opposed to the sub-class of "assets") are referred to as men and women. In James Patrick Kelly's "Chemistry," science has reduced love to mere "neuromance" and emotions are "reproducible brain states." Kelly Eskridge's "And Salome Danced" features Jo/Joe Sand, the ultimate actor who can change gender at will. In L. Timmel DuChamp's witty "Motherhood, Etc.," a 19-year-old, transformed by sex with an alien, ushers in the Age of the Hermaphrodite as government officials stand by, baffled. A fantasy-tinted look at human relationships and identity, this collection, though burdened by a poor choice of title and subtitle, nimbly traces the charting of new territory.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.