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blathering's review
4.0
Interesting read. Some stories are painfully dated and others feel like they could have been written today. The introductions to each story, those were just trying to hard.
annieb123's review
4.0
Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women (1958-1963) is an anthology of silver age SF written by women. Released 16th Aug 2019 by Journey Press, it's 276 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a varied collection, only a couple were previously familiar to me and all were enjoyable. One reason I prefer collections and anthologies is that short fiction is really challenging. It's spare and the author doesn't have a wealth of wordage to develop characters or the plotting. Well written short fiction is a delight. I also love anthologies because if one story doesn't really grab me, there's another story just a few pages away. Each of these stories are introduced by modern day authors with background info and the intros include interesting tidbits about the authors and their works. Attributions are included in the headers with publication info.
The stories are a varied bunch but all are enjoyable high quality silver age SF and all are 3-5 stars. The styles are reminiscent of a stroll through back issues of Astounding and F&SF (when my young and non-jaded self couldn't *wait* for the new issues to hit the stands). The book also includes an erudite and well written foreword and introduction by Laura Brodian Freas Beraha and Gideon Marcus respectively. I don't recommend that readers go into this anthology searching for feminist themes and righteous indignation because they won't find it. These are classic silver age stories written in classic style by competent authors who happened to be female. There are 14 stories included and, at the very end, a facsimile mimeographed copy of the 1958 Hugo award voting ballot which really made me smile.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women (1958-1963) is an anthology of silver age SF written by women. Released 16th Aug 2019 by Journey Press, it's 276 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a varied collection, only a couple were previously familiar to me and all were enjoyable. One reason I prefer collections and anthologies is that short fiction is really challenging. It's spare and the author doesn't have a wealth of wordage to develop characters or the plotting. Well written short fiction is a delight. I also love anthologies because if one story doesn't really grab me, there's another story just a few pages away. Each of these stories are introduced by modern day authors with background info and the intros include interesting tidbits about the authors and their works. Attributions are included in the headers with publication info.
The stories are a varied bunch but all are enjoyable high quality silver age SF and all are 3-5 stars. The styles are reminiscent of a stroll through back issues of Astounding and F&SF (when my young and non-jaded self couldn't *wait* for the new issues to hit the stands). The book also includes an erudite and well written foreword and introduction by Laura Brodian Freas Beraha and Gideon Marcus respectively. I don't recommend that readers go into this anthology searching for feminist themes and righteous indignation because they won't find it. These are classic silver age stories written in classic style by competent authors who happened to be female. There are 14 stories included and, at the very end, a facsimile mimeographed copy of the 1958 Hugo award voting ballot which really made me smile.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
clara_ward's review
4.0
I'm not generally a fan of classic short stories, and many societal assumptions from the late fifties and early sixties are frankly off-putting. However, while I can't say I enjoyed every story in Rediscovery, I was surprisingly satisfied with the time I invested in this collection. The last story, "Unwillingly to School" by Pauline Ashwell, offered a surprisingly fun and relevant perspective for a reluctant college student (overcoming her assumptions and presumed limitations from growing up as a farmer's daughter on a space mining colony). And a tiny mention of all circus lions ever (as well as a few other bits) in "The Pleiades" by Otis Kidwell Burger will endear that story to me forever. Finally, the 1958 Hugo Awards Ballot and the tale of how this anthology came to be published—both included at the end of the book—are stories worth discovering in their own right. One additional note: Of the five people I know who read this, four agreed that it was better to wait and read the intro to each story after reading the story itself, because many contain spoilers (but they're definitely interesting to read afterward!).
miocenemama's review
5.0
This is a collection of science fiction short stories by women writers. They range from dark to humorous. Some are distinctly feminist. It was great finding these writers, many that have been lost or forgotten to modern readers. I enjoyed the variety and I especially enjoyed the humor in the last story which was long enough to be considered a novelette. The writers all seemed to look at society in a unique way and to spend more time delving into the relationships between characters. I intend to pass this book on to a friend. I really enjoyed reading it
trix_lyn's review
adventurous
dark
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ginganinja2507's review
adventurous
funny
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
Like all short story collections this one's a mixed bag, with some greats and some so-sos, but well worth a read as a historical document for anyone interested in learning about women in science fiction
beeostrowsky's review
4.0
I didn’t get to read the essays accompanying the stories, but I was able to track down the original stories thanks to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database entry describing its contents, and they’re wonderful.
homosexual's review
3.0
Thank you to Netgalley & the Publisher for giving me a copy to review!
My Booktube
Just an average collection. I would have more to say but, it was just ok?
The stories here definitely have historical merit, and it would be invaluable as a tool to study the writing of early women in science fiction. But, most of the stories were just not enjoyable for me to read, and I struggled to even feel like the stories had any form of stakes.
Would be very helpful as a resource, but maybe not so much as something you read for fun.
My Booktube
Just an average collection. I would have more to say but, it was just ok?
The stories here definitely have historical merit, and it would be invaluable as a tool to study the writing of early women in science fiction. But, most of the stories were just not enjoyable for me to read, and I struggled to even feel like the stories had any form of stakes.
Would be very helpful as a resource, but maybe not so much as something you read for fun.
racheleanne06's review
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Before I start, I want to note that I haven’t read the entire Rediscovery collection (a total of 14 stories), but I will be reviewing a selection of four pieces from the anthology instead (as suggested by the publisher when they offered me the ARC to review).
Overall, I get the feeling that this book is important for the history of Science Fiction. I can see this being a great education resource for anyone studying the topic or interested in women’s history. Each story is introduced by an informative introduction that tells us about each author, gives us context of the time the story was written in and information on the piece’s place in history. (Just a warning though, the introductions do give some spoilers to the story before you read them, so it might be better to read them at the end of the story instead of the start).
However, if you are looking to read this book purely for entertainment it doesn’t quite hit the mark. Each story is historically interesting, and most of them are surprisingly modern for the time they were written in. But I didn’t feel that these stories were escapist enough for me to really enjoy reading them. I didn’t get sucked into the worlds and the characters didn’t always win me over either.
The first story that I read was Unhuman Sacrifice by Katherine MacLean. I really enjoyed this story, it was slow to start but the world Katherine created was fascinating. It really did remind me of a classic science fiction story, but the ideas that it covered were modern and the characters are diverse. My favourite part of this story was the way we got to see the humans from the point of view of one of the aliens, which was very interesting a lot of fun. The only drawback for me was the abrupt ending, but I have found recently that a lot of sci-fi short stories seem to have this. This was my favourite story out of the four that I read in the anthology.
Next, I read Wish Upon a Star by Judith Merril. This story was really promising, I loved the political feminist message, and the characters were interesting. I was excited to find out what happened and got quite invested in the story. But then it just suddenly stopped, which was really frustrating! It was like the story ended mid chapter, and everything was left so open. We never even came close to seeing the resolution of everything that had been set up, and it wasn’t in the ‘make your own ending’ kind of way, because it didn’t even feel like we were even close to the ending. That ruined the story for me.
I chose to read A Matter of Proportion by Anne Walker next, the third story in the collection. I struggled to get into this story, because the writing was very eloquent. My vocabulary isn’t amazing (even as a writer and a reader), so I did struggle with some of the words and descriptions which stopped me from following the story as well as I would like. To add to that, the perspective switched between two characters without telling us this had happened which was a bit confusing. However, the main character in this story has a disability (he’s a paraplegic), which I loved, because it’s still such an underrated thing in fiction, and especially in fantasy and science fiction. To see this in a classic piece was really amazing.
I told the publisher who offered me the ARC that I was really interested in reading the stories with disability representation in this anthology, so they suggested to me to read Unwillingly to School by Pauline Ashwell alongside A Matter of Proportion. The main character has a disability, but we don’t even find out until halfway through which is great, it’s so rare to read a story about a disabled character where the disability isn’t the main focus. I also found this story really charming. The main character was relatable and funny and although the writing style was unusual, I found it easy to read and connect to.
SUMMARY
I read a selection of four stories from this anthology, and although I enjoyed two of those, the other two left me feeling a little disappointed. However, I would stress that this book would be a fantastic resource for anyone studying women’s history or science fiction, as this anthology is amazing for promoting the works of underrepresented female science fiction writers in the 50s and 60s. I love what this anthology is trying to do, but I feel like it doesn’t quite work as entertainment as well as it does an education resource.
Overall, I get the feeling that this book is important for the history of Science Fiction. I can see this being a great education resource for anyone studying the topic or interested in women’s history. Each story is introduced by an informative introduction that tells us about each author, gives us context of the time the story was written in and information on the piece’s place in history. (Just a warning though, the introductions do give some spoilers to the story before you read them, so it might be better to read them at the end of the story instead of the start).
However, if you are looking to read this book purely for entertainment it doesn’t quite hit the mark. Each story is historically interesting, and most of them are surprisingly modern for the time they were written in. But I didn’t feel that these stories were escapist enough for me to really enjoy reading them. I didn’t get sucked into the worlds and the characters didn’t always win me over either.
The first story that I read was Unhuman Sacrifice by Katherine MacLean. I really enjoyed this story, it was slow to start but the world Katherine created was fascinating. It really did remind me of a classic science fiction story, but the ideas that it covered were modern and the characters are diverse. My favourite part of this story was the way we got to see the humans from the point of view of one of the aliens, which was very interesting a lot of fun. The only drawback for me was the abrupt ending, but I have found recently that a lot of sci-fi short stories seem to have this. This was my favourite story out of the four that I read in the anthology.
Next, I read Wish Upon a Star by Judith Merril. This story was really promising, I loved the political feminist message, and the characters were interesting. I was excited to find out what happened and got quite invested in the story. But then it just suddenly stopped, which was really frustrating! It was like the story ended mid chapter, and everything was left so open. We never even came close to seeing the resolution of everything that had been set up, and it wasn’t in the ‘make your own ending’ kind of way, because it didn’t even feel like we were even close to the ending. That ruined the story for me.
I chose to read A Matter of Proportion by Anne Walker next, the third story in the collection. I struggled to get into this story, because the writing was very eloquent. My vocabulary isn’t amazing (even as a writer and a reader), so I did struggle with some of the words and descriptions which stopped me from following the story as well as I would like. To add to that, the perspective switched between two characters without telling us this had happened which was a bit confusing. However, the main character in this story has a disability (he’s a paraplegic), which I loved, because it’s still such an underrated thing in fiction, and especially in fantasy and science fiction. To see this in a classic piece was really amazing.
I told the publisher who offered me the ARC that I was really interested in reading the stories with disability representation in this anthology, so they suggested to me to read Unwillingly to School by Pauline Ashwell alongside A Matter of Proportion. The main character has a disability, but we don’t even find out until halfway through which is great, it’s so rare to read a story about a disabled character where the disability isn’t the main focus. I also found this story really charming. The main character was relatable and funny and although the writing style was unusual, I found it easy to read and connect to.
SUMMARY
I read a selection of four stories from this anthology, and although I enjoyed two of those, the other two left me feeling a little disappointed. However, I would stress that this book would be a fantastic resource for anyone studying women’s history or science fiction, as this anthology is amazing for promoting the works of underrepresented female science fiction writers in the 50s and 60s. I love what this anthology is trying to do, but I feel like it doesn’t quite work as entertainment as well as it does an education resource.