I did find that bias in Tiptree - except in "Brightness Falls from the Air" which is a CRUSHING novel, about inevitability, and cruelty, and vengeance. The writing is so beautiful that I have to re-read it every so often, but not more than once every couple of years; I find it shattering.

(I'm sure this comes as little surprise to most of the Bitches that the "James Tiptree Award" is handed out every year for SF/F that challenges assumptions about gender)

I can totally see how some of Tepper's works could be seen as one-note, ita. Some of her books I just have to roll my eyes at, but some of them, I think she has some gallow's humored, funny scenes.

"Ensign Rock" shows up in 2 (non-canon) Trek novels from the 80s, as a Starfleet Academy trainee.

It's only Ensign Rock because humans can't pronounce Horta, and he's a son of the original Horta (I personally find the series of books quite fun). And I think only the Romulans call him Ensign Rock. Diane Duane, I think, wrote them, and she has some interesting stuff about Romulans and Vulcans.

re: Sherri Tepper-- Grass, Raising the Stones, and Sideshow are the ones I recommend for her, they're something of a trilogy, and there's a lot of her typical gender/social issues involved, though not as strongly as Gate to Women's Country, which I tend to argue with.

poptarts

Naraht! That's his name.

Hmm, yes, Connie- GtWC is a *tad* on the "men are evil, unless they are SNAG's, OMG, run!"

Also, I get the impression that she thinks liking sex makes you an intellectual moron. Heh. Well, I don't have to agree 100% with an author . Sometimes it 's more fun to mentally argue with them!

I rather like Tepper, but I tend to read her stuff as thought experiments. I don't know that I buy her conclusions but I'm interested in her premises. Or I was, at least, I haven't felt like reading anything of hers in quite a while.

I agree, -t.

Tepper's women often annoy me because they often are advocating this "striving and questioning lead to pain, why can't we just settle down here and raise babies and corn and not make a fuss?" thing. But in Raising the Stones one of the heros, who's gotten himself tangled up with questions etc., manages to turn that on its head and make you stop and think that he's right to question and challenge the status quo.

I love moments in books when I stop and stare and feel my skin prickle at the absolute rightness of something.

I love moments in books when I stop and stare and feel my skin prickle at the absolute rightness of something.

THIS.

And now I'll go read "Raising the Stones". Thanks, Connie!