Her Smoke Rose Up Forever

Author - Jr., James Tiptree ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Tachyon Publications was reviewed on 4-Nov-2008.

Search ISBN:1892391201 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Her Smoke Rose Up Forever Reference Book. Classifications : General AAS Qualifying Textbooks Custom Stores Specialty Stores Books General AAS Short Stories Literature & Fiction Subjects Books Tiptree, James Jr. ( T ) Authors, A-Z Science Fiction & Fantasy Subj . Click the following link to view the cover of Her Smoke Rose Up Forever.

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1) Paperback Book Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by Tachyon Publications. 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.


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2) Paperback Book Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by Tachyon Publications. All the best stories written by Sheldon are here, and they are as powerful as they ever were, and more cogent in today´s violent world. We think we´ve come a long way, but there´s so much more to be done. Sheldon says it all, and says it best. Buy this book for your collection, and for your daughters.

I am over the age of 13, but first started reading sci fi when I WAS 13, many eons ago!
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3) Paperback Book Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by Tachyon Publications. I´m an unsure how James Tiptree/Alice Bradley´s work hasn´t appeared in more of the feminist/women´s studies courses I took in either undergrad or graduate school. Her perspective on the future of humanity and the exploration of science has a viewpoint I have never read in science fiction up to this point and I´m glad a book review in a different source led me to reading these stories - in particular The Screwfly Solution, Houston, Houston Do You Read? and a Momentary Taste of Being. Both provocative and incredibly disturbing, I have already recommended this book to other female sci-fi aficionados.¤

4) Paperback Book Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by Tachyon Publications. 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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5) Paperback Book Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by Tachyon Publications. I do remember as a kid ( 60´s ) picking books from my parents library in the middle of a desert peninsula in Venezuelan Caribbean , inside a Shell Oil Refinery and reading Alexander Kazantsev: The Destruction of Faena, Jules Verne and most of his known and unknown classics , the Bible and it´s amazing human tales ; then moving to the Usa and discovering Assimov´s Foundation , Frank Herbert´s Dune , Kurt Vonnegut Jr´s The Sirens of Titan ( after watching 20 or less times Slaughterhouse 5 ) and Galapagos , Aldous Huxley´s Island and Door´s of Perception , Gurdjiell´s All and Everything ; then coming to the Mexican Caribbean and discovering Ann Rice and the Vampires , Daniel Quinn and his adventures of mind and spirit and James Tiptree Jr ( she spent the 70´s in the now Rivera Maya ) . To bad i did not get to read her as a man , it does change some prespective , but the stories in these collection are Up there with the Classics ... Highly entertaining with provoking ideas that we have not been able to surpass as the slow learners we are as humans ...¤

6) Paperback Book Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by Tachyon Publications. 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.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 2-Dec-2008, 18923912019781892391209, 8X0-350-950-640-981-011-WEB-8

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