These 18 darkly complex short stories and novellas touch upon human nature and perception, metaphysics and epistemology, and gender and sexuality, foreshadowing a world in which biological tendencies bring about the downfall of humankind. Revisions from the author's notes are included, allowing a deeper view into her world and a better understanding of her work. The Nebula Award–winning short story Love Is the Plan, the Plan Is Death, the Hugo Award–winning novella The Girl Who Was Plugged In, and the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning novella Houston, Houston, Do You Read? are included.
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"There is just one great collection of Tiptree's fiction still in print...Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, from Tachyon Publications." —The New York Times Book Review
"Tiptree is one of the best story writers in or out of the [science fiction] field." —Locus
"One of science fiction's greatest assets." —Science Fiction Chronicle
"Exquisite, lyrical prose...keen insight and ability to depict singularity within the ordinary." —Publishers Weekly
"Showcases what are undoubtedly the best of Tiptree's stories." —SF Site
"One of the first hardbacks I ever bought and still one of my most read." —Locus
About the Author
James Tiptree, Jr., was a pseudonym for Alice Bradley Sheldon, the author of Brightness Falls from the Air, Byte Beautiful, and Tales of the Quintana Roo. She is recognized as one of the most respected writers in the science fiction world and has been the recipient of several awards including the Hugo, Locus, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best tales of one of the best of all sf authors,
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This review is from: Her Smoke Rose Up Forever (Paperback)
In 508 pages we get 18 short stories by James Tiptree, Jr. Original publication dates range from 1969 to 1981. Time has overtaken many of the tales in a strange way, that makes one wish Tiptree were still around to appreciate developments. For instance, in "The Girl Who Was Plugged In," the world breathlessly watches the real-time antics of young, beautiful wealthy girls... who are actually brainless synthetic creations animated by what amount to brains in jars in an underground lab. What would Tiptree make of the Parises, Nicoles, Lindsays and Brittanies of our own day, who appear to have no brains located anywhere?
Tiptree really got rolling in 1973, when she published her three best-known stories, "The Girl...," along with "Love is the plan the plan is death," and "The Women Men Don't See." Along with 1976's "Houston, Houston, do you read?" these are the quintessential Tiptree tales. "Love is the plan..." is my favorite science fiction short story, and one of the best short stories of any kind ever written. It has not a single human character, and depicts the unbearably touching efforts of a gigantic, heavily-armored, multi-limbed alien to tackle and solve three deadly problems faced by his species, two internal--- stemming from instinctively programmed behavior--- and one external, a global climate change. That he will fail, and why he will fail, is evident early on from many clues fairly planted within the narrative. But he does his level best, which is indeed far better than you and I could hope to do, and like most Tiptree aliens, he is totally charming and lovable throughout his hopeless task. Our own species is currently failing completely to deal with a global climate change, and we are neither charming nor lovable in our miserably conflicted efforts. "A Momentary Taste of Being" is another quintessential Tiptree story; an expedition of interstellar exploration inadvertently discovers the true purpose of human existence... a purpose which reveals all human effort, achievement and aspiration to be utterly pointless and futile. "With Delicate Mad Hands" is a key story, from 1981, that catches Tiptree in transition from symbolic War of the Sexes tales to space-operatic adventure. Almost all her stories from 1981 to her death in 1987 were space adventures set in the distant future. Several tales here were completely new to me, particularly "Slow Music," from 1980, in which a chance (?) encounter of the earth with some alien stream of disembodied consciousness has made suicide so irresistibly attractive that there are only a handful of living humans. This story seems to contain a sly self-portrait of Tiptree herself, as the dying ancient human wreck that the two main characters discover on their way to see "The River," as the stream is called. There's not a bad or mediocre story in the volume. And, alas, this is probably the only collection of Tiptree fiction currently in print in the US. Get it while it's still available.
24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
an amazingly beautiful collection by an incredible writer,
By tangerine (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Her Smoke Rose Up Forever (Paperback)
James Tiptree, Jr. (the pen name for Alice Sheldon) excelled at imaginative plots, intriguing science, and most of all, lyrical writing. Her explorations of gender, biology and science were vivid and controversial, and she won all of science fiction's major awards. This short story collection was out of print for many years, and has now been revised with the author's original notes. It is a must-have for science fiction fans, feminists, anthroplogists, and, well, everyone. This is one of my favorite authors, and I truly love this book.
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Look into a Dark Soul,
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This review is from: Her Smoke Rose Up Forever (Paperback)
Some of the blurbs about Alice Sheldon, writing as James Tiptree, Jr., indicate that her real gender was a mystery and, in fact, some commented that `he had to be a man' because of the writing. I have a hard time, in retrospect, seeing that. All of these stories seem to me to have easily been seen as a woman writing, if you were so inclined to think about those things. The other thing is that Alice Sheldon is described as an `ardent' feminist. Again I don't see that, but I do see a somewhat clinical misanthrope. The men in these stories tend to be ineffectual neuters or sexual-sociopaths. The women tend to be background or professional victims (with the exception of `Slow Music,' probably the best story in the collection).
Having said that I did find the stories very well written and I can well understand the awards and critical acclaim at the time. However they do tend to take on a rather common theme of hopelessness and profound melancholy at the future aspects of humans. One or two of the stories made a passing attempt at uplifting the future of humans, but mostly these are, to me, the writings of a deeply depressed person. I found it no surprise to learn that Ms Sheldon died at her own hand after killing her husband, probably as a suicide pact. I do recommend these, especially if you are a fan of the SciFi short story. All are well written but the best way to appreciate them is to read one story at a time over a long interval. These have such a common `feel' to them that if you read them one after another you start to get the feeling that you've been there, done that.
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