Women of wonder

science fiction stories by women about women

Paperback, 282 pages

English language

Published July 21, 1978 by Penguin.

ISBN:
978-0-14-004867-4
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OCLC Number:
12383332

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4 stars (1 review)

2 editions

reviewed Women of Wonder by Pamela Sargent (Vintage Books V41)

Valuable survey of the time

4 stars

“The Child Dreams,” Sonya Dorman — A nice poem about girls escaping boundaries. “That Only a Mother,” Judith Merril — While our worries about nuclear war and its aftermath have subsided somewhat (although the current state of Russia makes one wonder), for a time in the 40s and 50s, it was household fodder. As one of the few women writing SF at the time, Merril tackled subjects men avoided: pregnancy, childbirth, and rearing. The mother in the story, unfortunately, does show an irrational tendency common to how male writers portrayed women, although in this case, there’s plenty cause. The ending is devastating and quite effective. “Contagion,” Katherine MacLean — I really enjoyed this story although it took a bit for it to get going and I won’t comment on the worldbuilding which reflects the ideas of the time. Instead, I’ll compare it to Philip K. Dick’s “Colony” in how it …

Subjects

  • Short stories, English.