reasie's review
4.0
Four short stories, a novelette, and a novella, by women, published in 1978. It was the title that grabbed me to snatch this off the Mac's Backs shelves... and I have to confess disappointment that nothing in here tries to predict what womanhood would look like around the year 2000 from a 70s perspective. (Hey we all like to read about ourselves, ok?)
So, that hope crushed, I did find the stories interesting, especially the longer pieces by Joan Vinge and Ursula Le Guin.
The back cover snippets have a heavy "We deal with women's issues! Career AND a family? Love? Sense of self?" and the first story made me fear it was going to be that indeed... the first story "No One Said Forever" by Cynthia Felice, is literally "In the future, women might make more money than their husbands and be forced to travel away from them for work! Will this couple's love survive?" A bit TOO domestic for me, and a modern woman feels a bit baffled the heroine had such a hard time making up her mind. The dude says he'll wait for you, then let him wait for you!
The second story, "The Song of N'Sardi-el" by Diama L. Paxson, allayed my fears by featuring a future linguist translating a strange language. I found the alien's sex-task-divisions a bit cliche even with five sexes (why would the baby-bearers be lower-status and the 'males' the warriors?) Anyway it's a complex story with alien warriors and a ship-bound sorta collectivist culture with group marriages, and I'm kind of a sucker for ship-bound nomadic humans, especially if they are collectivist.
"Jubilee's Story" by Elisabeth A. Lynn brings us back to "Women's issues" a bit but it's nicely done, with a future Female Society interacting with the strange old patriarchy as they are on a journey to bring a midwife to a far-off woman. I like the no big deal separatism and that there's a woman warrior guarding them that the men call "Sir."
"Mab Gallen Recalled" by Cherry Wilder is a tough story, interweaving past and present so you have to slow down and parse it. The main character is an aged space veteran, remembering the man she loved and the life she left behind, the people she struggled to save as a medic, including a female priest who is an outcast for being female and a priest. Well, can't go too far from those 'women's issues' it's the 1970s and the patriarchy is the WORST.
So on to the last two items, by the biggest name authors, and I kinda hate that I like them best because I yearn to be liked myself as a small-name author, but there ya go.
"Phoenix in the Ashes" by Joan D. Vinge is about a post-apocolypse world... a man from the technologically surviving world of Brasil forages the desolate United States for sources of scrap metal for his government, and crashes into a village of substance-farmers with old school conservative beliefs. One woman, an outcast because she refused to marry, nurses him to health, and marries him. The story takes its time and couldn't have been shorter. Amanda's feelings toward her culture are complex and she feels guilty for her choice made as a teen to defy her father, throwing away her life for a sailor who never came back. Vinge's anthropological background is in full display.
"The Eye of the Heron" by Ursula K. Le Guin is EXCELLENT. Buy this book just for it, or see if it's reproduced elsewhere. It's a story about nonviolent resistance and community action. A penal colony on a far planet that has grown into a self-important City with traditional patriarchy and colonialism. A smaller colony of political exiles, the People of Peace, brought up in the tradition of Ghandi and King, who are doing much better at farming and making cloth, but are exploited as labor by the City. The best parts of this book are when the two sides meet and you get to read both sides and see how completely they don't get each other. I like to think that after the ending, the nonviolent people expand over the whole planet, making a new nation of peace, and the old City ends up having to give in and join them. :D
So, that hope crushed, I did find the stories interesting, especially the longer pieces by Joan Vinge and Ursula Le Guin.
The back cover snippets have a heavy "We deal with women's issues! Career AND a family? Love? Sense of self?" and the first story made me fear it was going to be that indeed... the first story "No One Said Forever" by Cynthia Felice, is literally "In the future, women might make more money than their husbands and be forced to travel away from them for work! Will this couple's love survive?" A bit TOO domestic for me, and a modern woman feels a bit baffled the heroine had such a hard time making up her mind. The dude says he'll wait for you, then let him wait for you!
The second story, "The Song of N'Sardi-el" by Diama L. Paxson, allayed my fears by featuring a future linguist translating a strange language. I found the alien's sex-task-divisions a bit cliche even with five sexes (why would the baby-bearers be lower-status and the 'males' the warriors?) Anyway it's a complex story with alien warriors and a ship-bound sorta collectivist culture with group marriages, and I'm kind of a sucker for ship-bound nomadic humans, especially if they are collectivist.
"Jubilee's Story" by Elisabeth A. Lynn brings us back to "Women's issues" a bit but it's nicely done, with a future Female Society interacting with the strange old patriarchy as they are on a journey to bring a midwife to a far-off woman. I like the no big deal separatism and that there's a woman warrior guarding them that the men call "Sir."
"Mab Gallen Recalled" by Cherry Wilder is a tough story, interweaving past and present so you have to slow down and parse it. The main character is an aged space veteran, remembering the man she loved and the life she left behind, the people she struggled to save as a medic, including a female priest who is an outcast for being female and a priest. Well, can't go too far from those 'women's issues' it's the 1970s and the patriarchy is the WORST.
So on to the last two items, by the biggest name authors, and I kinda hate that I like them best because I yearn to be liked myself as a small-name author, but there ya go.
"Phoenix in the Ashes" by Joan D. Vinge is about a post-apocolypse world... a man from the technologically surviving world of Brasil forages the desolate United States for sources of scrap metal for his government, and crashes into a village of substance-farmers with old school conservative beliefs. One woman, an outcast because she refused to marry, nurses him to health, and marries him. The story takes its time and couldn't have been shorter. Amanda's feelings toward her culture are complex and she feels guilty for her choice made as a teen to defy her father, throwing away her life for a sailor who never came back. Vinge's anthropological background is in full display.
"The Eye of the Heron" by Ursula K. Le Guin is EXCELLENT. Buy this book just for it, or see if it's reproduced elsewhere. It's a story about nonviolent resistance and community action. A penal colony on a far planet that has grown into a self-important City with traditional patriarchy and colonialism. A smaller colony of political exiles, the People of Peace, brought up in the tradition of Ghandi and King, who are doing much better at farming and making cloth, but are exploited as labor by the City. The best parts of this book are when the two sides meet and you get to read both sides and see how completely they don't get each other. I like to think that after the ending, the nonviolent people expand over the whole planet, making a new nation of peace, and the old City ends up having to give in and join them. :D
shivermetimbers's review
5.0
A wonderful compliation of insightful short stories written about women by various female scifi authors! I kept trying to decide which of the stories was my favorite but then I realized that Millenial Women worked best as a whole. Reading these in 2023 felt a bit revolutionary and exciting, so I can't imagine how they must have resonated in 1978!
shakingthrough's review
4.5
I bought this primarily to read Ursula K. LeGuin's Eye of the Heron, but I was blown away by Joan D. Vinge's Phoenix in the Ashes. I was totally unaware of her prior to reading this anthology! I'm so excited to check out more of her writing.
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