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tricapra's review
4.0
I've read the Tiptree story before, so this rating is for Souls by itself. This story just reaffirms one thing for me: I need to read more Joanna Russ. Asap.
jakemcc's review
4.0
This was a nice packaging of two short books. I was really only interested in reading "Houston, Houston, Do You Read" but since "Souls" was there I read it as well.
Houston, Houston, Do You Read is really good. It puts the reader into an interesting world.
Souls is alright. It wasn't entirely my jam.
Houston, Houston, Do You Read: 4 stars
Souls: 3 start
Houston, Houston, Do You Read is really good. It puts the reader into an interesting world.
Souls is alright. It wasn't entirely my jam.
Houston, Houston, Do You Read: 4 stars
Souls: 3 start
casella's review
2.0
(Review for "Souls", not "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?")
Interesting short, far more interesting for the conversational judo before the supernatural/science-fictional elements come in.
Think Galactic discussion notes: http://positronchicago.blogspot.com/2016/05/think-galactic-souls.html
Interesting short, far more interesting for the conversational judo before the supernatural/science-fictional elements come in.
Think Galactic discussion notes: http://positronchicago.blogspot.com/2016/05/think-galactic-souls.html
triscuit807's review
5.0
This. This is what an award winning SF story is. "Houston, Houston" is the novella that won a Nebula in 1976 and the Hugo and Locus awards in 1977. Take a US spaceship, the Sunbird, on a circumsolar mission which on emergence from the "back" of the sun attempting to contact Houston. Add a nearby spaceship, which shouldn't be there, make radio contact instead. Sunbird is off course and will go out into space and the three astronauts will be lost. Instead the 3 men from Sunbird fly from their ship to the other ship where they're astounded to find only women. And one man, Andy. They are welcomed, but carefully. All three men are aware that they are not in their own time, but 300 years in the future, and an epidemic caused sterility. But it's the scientist Lorimer who eventually realizes the 3 of them have been drugged, who realizes the women are clones, that Andy is actually an hormone enhanced woman, and that they are the only three men in existence. This is a short book, but it contains so much! In the end it is an indictment of men (and patriarchy) as the men, each in his own way, react to new world order (much as Earth's men reacted with war and violence and rape to the effects of the epidemic). Before he goes to sleep - is put to sleep - Lorimer asks what they call themselves. The answer: the human race. James Tiptree, Jr. was the pseudonym of Alice S. Bradley; the Tiptree Award celebrates SF & F that expands or explores our understanding of gender. I read this for my 2016 Reading Challenge "read a feminist SF novel" (Bustle Reads).
gremlinjane's review
4.0
These are two well-written novellas from two very different time periods that discuss themes of masculinity, religion, violence, and humanity (from an outsider perspective). Immersive and enjoyable, without requiring a serious commitment. A fun read for our bookgroup!
lmcox's review
5.0
I wasn't planning to read this yet, but I shouldn't be surprised that I picked it up and read it out of order, since it's the first book I've actually purchased in quite a long time (support your local library, folks!). I liked the idea of a neat pair of double-bound novellas. They're printed upside down and backward to each other. So cute, and such an excellent pairing of novellas and authors. Both won the Hugo and Houston additionally won the Nebula.
Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree, Jr. starts with three male astronauts attempting to reach Houston. Instead, they make contact with an unexpected ship full of young women. The main character, Lorimer, is a man who is very aware of his lack of masculinity, and juxtapoxing that insecurity between the competent young women and the very masculine men on his ship provides some beautiful (if slightly unsettling) meaning and character development. I won't go into the plot here, but this is the best of Tiptree's stories that I've read so far and deserves any award that you could throw at it.
Souls by Joanna Russ features a sharp-minded Abbess in Germanic England who is faced with a Viking invasion. Again, with such a short story I won't go into the plot, but I'm slightly disappointed that the vague plot summary on the cover is not really what happens in the story. It's compellingly written - not quite the masterpiece that Houston is - and a quick but fascinating read.
Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree, Jr. starts with three male astronauts attempting to reach Houston. Instead, they make contact with an unexpected ship full of young women. The main character, Lorimer, is a man who is very aware of his lack of masculinity, and juxtapoxing that insecurity between the competent young women and the very masculine men on his ship provides some beautiful (if slightly unsettling) meaning and character development. I won't go into the plot here, but this is the best of Tiptree's stories that I've read so far and deserves any award that you could throw at it.
Souls by Joanna Russ features a sharp-minded Abbess in Germanic England who is faced with a Viking invasion. Again, with such a short story I won't go into the plot, but I'm slightly disappointed that the vague plot summary on the cover is not really what happens in the story. It's compellingly written - not quite the masterpiece that Houston is - and a quick but fascinating read.
ederwin's review
5.0
I picked this up because I wanted to read another Tiptree story. (I read a biography of "him" before ever having read any of his works.) I enjoyed that story, even though the male characters were very flat. I flipped the book over to read the other story only with reluctance. I've long thought I should read something by Russ, but I had no enthusiasm for reading yet another medieval fantasy. I sure am glad I did, though. It isn't the typical fantasy. The story basically boils down to the interaction between two people: a highly-intelligent abbess using the only tools at her disposal, her intelligence and charm, to try to save herself and her people from a man who is used to settling everything through physical force. Neither gets quite what they want. That dynamic plays out over and over all over the world all through history, but it isn't always so well told.
myxomycetes's review
4.0
A Tor double from James Tiptree, JR and Joanna Russ. Both are award winning novellas. The Russ features a bad ass medieval abbess dealing with a viking raid. Nicely done.
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