There was so much sci-fi and fantasy that I loved as a child that now reads as blatantly exoticizing, stereotyping, oppressively gendering, horridly ableist, fatphobic, and/or overtly white supremacist (Tolkein, Lewis) now that I am an adult educated on those things. It's strong enough that I don't re-read books because I don't want to ruin child me's experience. Some I cringe even thinking about re-reading.

But then I am reminded that authors like Cj Cherryh still have fan interactions and sometimes even listen to criticism. Maybe I have a responsibility to reach out to my estranged literary parents. I can't do a lot because I have so many other responsibilities, but maybe I can make it a goal to read one new book by an old favorite author (who is still alive) each year, review it with my current understanding and share that with the author.

Unfortunately a lot of them have died, but here is the list of still-alive favorite authors of pre-consciousness me that I have thought of so far:

Piers Anthony (this one I just can't ever read again. too pro-rape. AVOID. None of his pluses are worth the constant pro-rape thread in all of his work. I stopped reading this shitwad before I even discovered feminism)
CJ Cherryh
Alan Dean Foster
Terry Brooks
Tad Williams
Elizabeth Anne Scarborough
Sharon Shinn
Sarah Isidore
Emma Bull
Nick O'Donohoe
Kaaron Warren
Rebecca Lickiss
Louise Marley
Rachel Pollack

And more recent favs which still should be critically examined:
Stephen Leigh
Joan Slonczewski

This is a looong term project so we'll see if I manage or not.

Sci-fi / utopian dystopia / bodies as constructs (literally); the nature of happiness; seeking meaning rather than bliss; sentience ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ [five out of five stars: worth owning and reading over and over]

In a world where gratitude is currency, fantasy is reality, and ecstasy is obligatory, an unnamed character rejects norms and seeks meaning at any cost.

This is my fifth or sixth time reading this, but the first time reading it after my social justice awakening. I was so scared it would be horrible. And maybe nostalgia is coloring my lenses, but it was still wonderful (though not without flaw) and I really loved the read. I could happily recommend it to most people.

( sex, disability, size, race, age )

Gender is assumed to be binary and related to sex, but in an odd way; people are men when they are in assigned-male bodies and women when they are in assigned-female bodies, and have a tendency to prefer more time in one than the other. However, this is not related to what sex they are assigned at birth.

When I first read this, before I understood that both sex and gender have more than two options, this was a profound, new and beautiful concept to me. For its time (1976) it was revolutionary; transgender and intersex were not words the general public knew, much less understood. All attractions in the novel are binary, but there are a few who seek queer relationships.

( writing style )

The only content note I can think of is for the death of an animal. It made me cry the first three times I read it; it's really heartbreaking.

( notes on the cover )

( about the author )

Tsundoku is a Japanese word for when you keep on bringing in new books but let them pile up without being read. Starting now, I'm posting book reviews or previews on Tuesdays with the end goal of shortening my 'to be read' pile -- but more importantly, offering recommendations which factor in representation. (it still counts as Tuesday because I haven't gone to sleep yet!)

Triad by Sheila Finch: Sci-fi / first contact / language, gender, sentience, colonization. ✰ ✰ ✰ [three stars out of five]

In Earth's future, most people are conceived through artificial means, and the population is sex-selected for females by the computer that has taken over and designed the culture. Main character Gia is a 'lingster' (a trained linguist who uses a neural implant and hallucinogenic drugs to decipher unknown languages), assigned to go to a recently discovered planet to determine if the inhabitants are sentient.

The characters are all fairly alike. The main character is a young white cis woman, with primary supporting character a middle-aged white cis woman. All are average-sized and fit except Lil, who hates her fat. There is a black supporting character, but everyone else is white. All but one character are cis women, all non-disabled and neurotypical. Class is not really addressed. Culture is only referenced in memories and history. The point of view shifts between the characters, but their perceptions are so similar that it is hard to tell whose thoughts you are reading. This detracts from the book and makes it frustrating to read. Dialogue is not interesting, and most of it is internal.

I got this book because I knew it dealt with gender, sentience, and language, and some of the ideas were very interesting, but they felt undeveloped. ( cut for length )

What is the origin of the beauty ideal of pale, slender, young women? How did Nazism start? How did men get so fixated on their penises as symbols of their worth? How did the first world war contribute to the rise of the kkk? What were IQ tests invented for? Where did the dehumanization of disabled people and mentally ill people come from?

Answers to these and many other questions you probably never thought to ask are found in "The History of White People" by Nell Irvin Painter, Edwards Professor of American History. It is the most densely informational book on modern society that I've ever come across. The jacket refers to it as 'mind-expanding and myth destroying' and that is an understatement. After reading this, I felt more understanding of the world around me than I had ever gained from all of my history, anthropology, and sociology classes combined (I have a degree in sociology). This book is dense because it is filled with meticulous historical references, but so worth the read. If you want to understand the forces and context of modern war, slavery, beauty, and gender, this book will outline all of these things for you.

Even though it is dense with information, "The History of White People" is written in an almost conversational tone, with no jargon or flowery phrasing to get in the way of understanding. Quotes are given with context and explanation if the quote is written in an obscure or academic way. And even though it handles the topic of racial hatred and racial claims to superiority, the author keeps a compassionate tone and reminds the reader to consider the context of the time. Honestly I would not be nearly so empathetic to racists of the past, even though I am white. However I think it is a wise choice, because many white readers would feel attacked simply by someone mentioning that a white person was racist and harmed people. The reminders would help white readers to feel like their humanity is being recognized. And it is white people who so desperately need to read this book.

Illustrations are included throughout the book to amazing effect. Photos, charts, paintings, drawings, political cartoons: visible evidence of many of the claims within the book. It's one thing to read that black and irish people were considered equally unfit for citizenship: it's another to see a cartoon from 1876 of caricatured black and irish people sitting on either side of a set of scales, in balance.

I wish there was a way to sum up what I learned reading this book. I was constantly shocked at what I hadn't known before. I'll just share a bit.

White people enslaved each other: the Vikings enslaved northern Europeans and sold them in Bristol and Dublin, where they were re-sold in a system where slavery was inherited. This was so common that in the 11th century, one out of every 10 residents of Britian was a slave, and the Catholic church owned many white slaves. White male slaves were often castrated to be sold as eunuchs. The Virginia Company contracted with London to sell white street children as field labor (where they mostly died within a few years), and these were the first slaves in what would become the U.S. Poor white women were sold as 'wives.' White people enslaved each other including their own children, yet no one argues that white people brought it upon themselves and should have stuck together. White slavery is not mentioned because it proves that there is no single narrative of slavery, and it doesn't allow for the continued myth of white people as natural 'leaders.'

White U.S. scholars invented a heirarchy of people based on race, seeking a way to justify their privilege. That creation of theirs was what lead to the holocaust. All it takes for genocide is an idea of superiority plus someone with the power to take action on it.

The author also explains the path to whiteness for the initially-considered-nonwhite Irish and Jewish peoples, and discusses others who have been moved in and out of whiteness based on the current political climate, such as Latin@ and South Asian people.

There is so much more in this book. The thing that hit me the hardest was the realization of the huge impact of a few self-important white men making up shit to justify why they got to laze around in wealth while other people literally had to slave away. And then other guilty selfish people agreeing because it made them feel better, leading to a pervasive and persistent ideology of 'natural order' that outlived slavery. The fact that this ideology is less than 500 years old and was created so simply means that it can be dismantled. It is not part of human life. It is not inevitable. It was created with a handful of ideas and can be destroyed with better ideas. The history of white people is still being created, and every white person is responsible for unlearning racial ideology and cleaning it out of all of the places it has infected society.

If you care about the truth and understanding humanity, you need to read this book.

"Door Into Ocean" is a subset of sci-fi, "varying humanoids on multiple planets." It follows a young adult human from a patriarchal planet as he interacts with the single-sex pacifist egalitarian race of the nearest planet, becoming involved in their efforts to maintain balance on their planet and resist exploitation. It includes themes of: ecological balance, consensus versus coercion, economic exploitation, phallocentric perceptions of sex versus relational perceptions, language as it creates and defines culture, definitions of mental illness, and responsibility as it relates to adulthood, self-knowledge, and civic identity.

Honestly I can't express just how intensely I love this book. I just finished my fourth re-read, and I got more from it than ever before. It is an amazing allegory on so many different levels, most of all about the nature of hierarchy and reciprocity. I love the thoroughness of world-building, the depth and evolution of characters, the variety of personalities, and the many layers of meaning. If I could get everyone to read one fiction book, this would be the one I would choose.

( more details )

"Imago" is a subset of sci-fi, "far-future humans on earth after alien contact." It follows a neuter-gender alien-human biracial person named Jodahs as they mature into an adult and navigate the difficulties of being the first of their kind. It includes themes of: primary motivation of sentient beings (suggesting the options of control/hierarchy versus consensus/learning), the value of fertility, and the importance of place. It complicates questions like what makes humans human? what is desire? What is sex? What is consent? What is a disease?

I most enjoyed the sex scenes, short though they were. They were of necessity not focused on genitalia, which is unusual and more creative than most depictions of sex. I also enjoyed the concept of an organ attuned to learning genetically, and feel disappointed that this was not explored more in-depth. I feel like there were many sensory aspects that were glossed over, but I quite enjoyed the small bit of exploration done of non-human sensory capacities. The need that the main character had for connecting to the environment is something I felt great resonance with.

Content note: possible triggers are the passive violation of boundaries (knowing that if something is left alone it will remove the possibility of choice for someone, but choosing not to inform them so that one can benefit from what they are forced into). [[[Spoilers this sentence: Jodahs allows their mates to become addicted to them without informing them.]]] It ruined some of the book for me.

Characters: The characters are all cis, all non-disabled, all straight. The main characters consist of: neuter-gender alien-human (Jodahs) who chooses to look 'male' and latinx, Jodahs' five parents (male alien, female alien, neuter alien, male brown human, female black human), Jodahs' twin (neuter-gender alien-human), Jodahs' human mates one male one female (both Spanish-speaking and brown), and a few side characters, all brown. The minor characters are interesting and unique. Other than Jodahs, there is little exposure of characters' feelings and motivations. There seems to be no prejudice except by some humans toward aliens, and by almost all characters toward the human-alien neuter-gender (though not toward the purely alien neuter-gender, such as Jodahs' agender parent). I felt that the story was very plot-driven, and not enough attention was paid to developing the characters. At only 220 pages I think it was simply too short and too thin, like a first draft.

Imagination: Concepts I hadn't seen before included a race which can perform genetic alterations with an organ in the body of the third (neuter) gender; organic spaceships/buildings which communicate with the alien race who designed them; sensory arms which function as sexual organs and have the ability to grow microscopic filaments which can reach into the flesh of other beings to inject substances or perform surgery or perform genetic alterations; sensory spots and sensory tentacles which allow for the sending and receiving of information and pleasure; reproduction by the conscious mixing of genetic material in the neuter-gender parent before incubation in the female parent; a race motivated by novelty/exploration on the micro level; desire for touch and sex controlled completely by pheromones.

Issues: Many of the interesting concepts just took too many assumptions. I felt this was extremely ciscentric and heterocentric, as the new family size was EXACTLY five, with two males and two females and one neuter. Trans people cannot exist in this world, intersex people cannot exist, polyamorous people cannot exist. The idea that after marriage, there is one hub who is the only way that any of the other four can touch ANYONE: this is horrifying but no one expressed horror. No one was horrified that they would cease to be able to be touched by anyone of the 'opposite' sex. It was assumed that all touch with the 'opposite' sex had to do with sex. I don't care how great being with one person is, I would not be willing to give up touch from half of the world. I really wanted to like this book, but it was so full of mental control and gender binary that I found it extremely frustrating.

Plot: the plot was quite well-paced and intriguing, though fairly simple as a coming-of-age story. It would have been easy to finish this in one sitting.

Setting: this is set on a future earth which has been ravaged by war and then healed for many years with assistance. Most people live in alien-human families in cities which are made from a single organism. Groups of humans called 'resisters' live in the wild and re-forested earth, some aliens live on spaceships, and Mars has been made into a colony for resisters to go live as exclusively human. Most of the book takes place in the re-born jungle.

Point of view: 1st person (Jodahs), but it doesn't feel intimate. Usually first person draws me in more to the character and helps me feel like I'm in the story, but I actually thought this was written in 3rd person until I double-checked. I feel like the book suffered from not being in 3rd person.

Dialogue: There's about the same amount of description as dialogue, making this a very easy read. The dialogue maybe passes the bechdel test- questionably, as the author writes Jodahs in a way that conforms to masculine stereotypes. Tone is hardly varied from person to person. I would say that the variety in speech patterns is less than average: notably too-similar, to the point that I have to double-check names to see who said what.

Writing style: Quite emotive, but spare. Many of the actions of characters are described with their emotions (which makes sense given that the main character is highly emotionally intuitive). It didn't create much of a visual but it created very clear moods in scenes with people.

Length, cover: 220 pages in paperback. The cover pictures a thin brown person with a narrow waist standing with back to the viewer, hair as tentacles, tentacles coming from elbows and fingers, lower half blue and scaly. They're topless, wearing a brown skirt, and a starry night sky is the background. Either the artist did not read what the main character was supposed to look like, or they created something they thought more likely to appeal to humans reading it (the sensory arms are supposed to come from underneath the strength arms, and should be much thicker). I think this speaks to Western white sensibilities, since multiple arms don't have a negative connotation in some Eastern cultures. The feel of it is extremely self-absorbed and passive, because the person is staring at their finger tentacles. It conforms to pose rules for female models, which is why it does not look neuter at all.

Author: Octavia Butler, feminist, black, age 42 at the time of writing this in 1989, dyslexic, cisgender, straight American woman. Butler wrote from the age of 10 (while growing up under Jim Crow), and this was approximately her 9th novel. In 1995, she was the first science-fiction writer to be awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.

Context of this reviewer: White, afab, genderfree, trans, queer, non-disabled, poly, add-pi neurodivergent, poor, intersectional feminist, age 32, from southern US.

on amazon: biracial agender alien coming of age. A great story but too spare, too short: needs more fleshing out.

My favorite author and biologist, Joan Slonczewski, wrote a review on this book and its two prequels (the last four paragraphs on the page cover this book).

"The Grace Keepers" is "Scottish magical realism" according to the author. I would describe it as a subset of sci-fi, "humans on earth moved far into a dystopian future." It follows a carnival worker named North and a funeral director named Callanish as they cope with a world almost entirely covered in water. It includes themes of: evolutionary development; the interactions of environment and religion, especially in regards to scarcity; relationships between humans and animals; sex as currency; gender as performance.

I most enjoyed the multifaceted way the author approached the change of culture that would arise from such a shift in environment. The connectedness and yet cliquishness of the carnival workers, the worship of that which is scarce while degrading and avoiding that which is plentiful, the refusal to accept nature's offerings in favor of continuing the way things have always been -- these all rang true to human nature. I also enjoyed the weird mix of beauty and horror in the carnival and in grace-keeping.

Content note: possible triggers are the threat of rape (not carried out) in the minds of some characters. I was tense expecting it, but it did not happen. Also, abuse to animals happens throughout.

Characters: The characters are all cis, all white, nearly all non-disabled, nearly all straight. The main characters consist of: a ship-dwelling carnival woman (North), a land-dwelling funeral director woman (Callanish), a messenger man, an over-the-top jealous pregnant woman, a woman who has dementia, and two men (ringmaster and son) who see women as objects. The minor characters are interesting but not distinguishable from each other. The only characters who have depth are North, Callanish, and to some extent the messenger man. While class is certainly part of the story, it seems to exist externally to the characters, as none of them apply stereotypes individually. I felt that the story was very plot-driven, and not enough attention was paid to developing the characters. I did like that gender did not interfere with love, but I didn't feel that that was supported in the culture of the book. If it was taboo, the characters should have had turmoil or fear about it, and if it wasn't taboo, then the carnival wouldn't have used it as part of their show.

Imagination: Concepts I hadn't seen before included the performance of gender as a paid job (but I was disappointed that this was not developed to make sense within the world culture), and the use of ritual to limit mourning periods in a world that faces too much death. Many of the interesting concepts were just not well-developed enough for me, such as the clash between revivalist and pagan traditions. I felt the revivalists would surely create a myth of the waters receding if enough people 'came back to god.' I mean, they had a flood myth already, it seems really obvious. And I would think that the pagans would worship the sea as much as the land, and give extra honor to people born with traits that could enable them to live in water. I feel like not enough research on the source religions was done.

Plot: the plot was the best element of this novel. I was intensely curious as to why Callenish felt so guilty, and also as to how North would escape a fate that seemed to be closing in. I read the last 75% of it in one sitting.

Setting: this is set on a future earth which is almost entirely covered in water. Most people live on ships, and the primary class difference is between those who live on land and those who live at sea. Somehow, everyone is white.

Point of view: 3rd person, usually watching North or Callanish but occasionally other people.

Dialogue: There's significantly more description than dialogue. The dialogue passes the Bechdel test easily, and tone is varied from person to person. I would say that the variety in speech patterns is about average: neither notably too-similar nor notably unique.

Writing style: somehow both rich and spare. Rather than multiple lines of description, the author layers description into the action. I found it less evocative than some but very effective nonetheless. It gave less of a visual image but more of a sense of mood.

Length, cover: 308 pages in hardcover. The cover pictures a thin white woman walking among birdcages that are floating in water with a foggy background: the image is mysterious and to me, implies endless repetition and a sense of hopelessness. I'd take from the image that the audience is meant to be people who like the surreal and thoughtful. The summary on the inside jacket sketches a quick image of the lives of the two main characters and describes the story as their quest to end their loneliness.

Author: Kirsty Logan, 29-year-old white (seemingly non-disabled & cisgender) queer Scottish woman. This is her first full-length novel. She describes herself as a professional daydreamer, studied creative writing at university, and works as a literary editor as well as writing.

Context of this reviewer: White, afab, genderfree, trans, queer, non-disabled, poly, add-pi neurodivergent, poor, intersectional feminist, age 32, from southern US.

I received a free copy of this book from BloggingForBooks in exchange for my unbiased review. Also posted on amazon: fascinating plot, great concept, underdeveloped world-building.

I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5: definitely worth reading at least once. (1 star: worse than staring at a blank wall, possibly actively damaging to read. 2 stars: a waste of time, okay if you have lots of time to spare. 3 stars: worth reading at least once; you could borrow it from the library and be okay giving it back. 4 stars: worth reading at least twice; you should buy it if you can because you won't want to give it back. 5 stars: worth reading over and over because there is always something new to ponder or realize.)

"Shadow's End" inhabits a subset of sci-fi I'd sum up as "future humans interacting with alien species on non-earth planets." Three women from different cultures/classes are unwillingly pulled into a quest to learn how to stop an unexplained extermination of humans. It includes themes of: ecological responsibility; justice (especially sex-related); definitions of sentience, intelligence, and personhood; what it means to be noticed/visible; definition of deity; habits and uses of religion.

I was fascinated by the culture of Dinadh (the world where most of the story takes place) as it was slowly revealed and by the various unique creatures. I love the commentary on religion especially in its use of beauty and mortality as motivation, and the sense of connection between the narrator and the main character. I was left wanting to know more, while feeling satisfied with what I read.

Content note: TW for a ritualistic rape while restrained: it is not described directly but it is clear that it happens. Also possibly triggering is the method of indentured servitude, which is controlled through technology that does not allow resistance.

Characters: The characters are all cis, nearly all white, nearly all non-disabled, nearly all straight, nearly all upper-class. The main characters consist of: a brown highly-educated woman, two empath-race men, a king, an assassin who exemplifies patriarchy, an under-class woman in tech-enforced indentured servitude, an uneducated lesbian agrarian woman, a fat woman whose fat is constantly referred to in extravagant language, and a child who is considered 'non-human' because they do not speak, have sensory issues, and do not abide by societal norms. Out of the non-defaults, I think that the writing shows understanding of the under-class woman and the lesbian, but I am not so sure about the fat woman and cognitively disabled child. The fat woman is shown as a multifaceted person with skills that are valued, which I appreciate, but none of the other characters have traits which are referred to so constantly, so it feels objectifying. Still better than all the characters being the same shape. The cognitively disabled child is alternately presented as a burden that is undeserving of life or as a magical symbol, both of which are ableist tropes. I'm not sure how to take the wrap-up of the child's story, but most of the book does not treat the child respectfully.
I also felt queer-baited by

< -- possible spoilers -- > the way that the main character spoke about two others. I thought they were implying an eventual poly lesbian triad, which did not happen. Also, the lesbian character did not get much time with their partner, so while it was great that they weren't all straight, most of the love and relationship in this book was straight. < -- end spoilers -- >

Imagination: As usual Tepper is vividly imaginative in creating creatures and cultures. Unfortunately to describe them is to spoiler you, as they are slowly revealed and explained. The use of taste as a sense is used in this book in a way I have never experienced and quite appreciated. The combined horror and mystery of "the beautiful people" is fascinating, more so as you come to understand them better. The main cultures, Dinadh and Firster, were easy to understand in the context of their history while still being unique. The main characters both critique and defend their cultures, sometimes within the same person. The poverty of the mostly-barren planet was shown in cultural habits and a seemingly simple agrarian society was revealed to have quite a number of layers.

( pacing, plot, setting, POV, dialogue, writing style, length, cover, author info, reviewer context )