*Thank you to NetGalley and Library of America for granting me access to an early copy*
Why I Requested It: I was curious to read older science fiction by women and this anthology conveniently compiled a bunch of stories together, all written by women.

Overall Thoughts: A very good collection. Aged well. What I find feminist about this collection is not just the focus on the female perspective but also on being an outsider and being an "other." Below I have the stories ranked from my most favorite to least favorite along with a summation of my thoughts on each story. Dying for a third volume.

Ranking:
When It Changed by Johanna Russ
Despite my extreme disappointment with The Female Man, which is based on this story, I thought When It Changed was phenomenal. Unlike The Female Man, it has aged quite well and feels like a complete story, even though it has an open ending. It also perfectly encapsulates the theme of this collection, with a future society composed entirely of females that are about to face a huge change. Can see why this won an award.

The Best is Yet to Be by M. Lucie Chin
Like the previous story this one felt fully fleshed out. What I probably loved best about this story was the interaction between the female leads, and how this causes them to question the concept of autonomy and how choices can impact the future.

Of Grass and Mist and Sand by Vonda McIntyre
A beautiful story that really showcases McIntyre's writing skills. A woman healer makes a critical mistake and underestimates the fear and ignorance of a small community. There is a gentleness that I really liked, both within the narrative and from the healer herself and despite the very realistic portrayal of the flaws of humanity, the story never feels hopeless. Serves as the basis for her award winning novel Dreamsnake, which I am looking forward to reading.

Frog Pond by Chelsea Quinn Yarbo
Great story about the environment, how it is altered due to pollution and nuclear fallout, and how different people respond to it. There's also a smidgen of weirdness that highlights the message(s) of the story without being distracting.

If Ever You Should Leave by Pamela Sargent
A heartfelt time travel story about two lovers. Really what makes this story stand out in such positive way is the fact that it packs such an emotional punch in a short period of time and doesn't fall victim to the frustrations that tend to come with a time travel story.

The Warlord of Saturn's Moons by Eleanor Arnason
First exposure to Arnason, and I preferred this to Woman of the Iron People. Pulpy with deceptive depth, the narrative switches between a woman writing a short story in the vein of stories that came out during the Golden Age of science fiction and the contents of the story (so there's also a bit a meta feel to it). There's enough pulpiness in it to be entertaining, in part because its self aware, but enough depth to ground it by exploring themes of war and its effects on people as well as women's presence in all aspects of science fiction.

Daisy in the Sun by Connie Willis
I was initially very skeptical about this story because I hated The Doomsday Book, but this surprisingly turned out okay. The whole story uses the “apocalypse” as a metaphor for puberty and growing up and seems to end with this message of embracing change, because its not the end of everything.

A Scarab in the City of Time by Marta Randall
A science fiction “Allegory of the Cave” set in a closed off city, what makes this one stand out is that its the only one that explicitly addresses race as the “otherness” and the city disregards those that don't fit their archetype. Following the trend of me preferring optimistic stories, it ends on a hopeful note with a hole in the city and focus on the children with the potential for connection.

Wives by Lisa Tuttle
Completely forgot about this one for awhile. Good but dark, with a focus on gender and sex as aliens are forced to conform to the restrictive roles imposed on them by the patriarchy.

A Way Out by Miriam Allen DeFord
When first compiling this list I had this one much higher up because I liked the comedic narrative as a curmudgeonly alien is forced to interact with humans, but as time has passed the thing that I remember best is the ending which was my least favorite part of the story because the author chose to portray this important female politician as a ditz.

The Screwfly Solution by Raccoona Sheldon
If Lament of the Keeku Bird is the goriest and Bitching It is the most sexual, than The Screwfly Solution is definitely the bleakest. In fact I've tried to block out much of the narrative because of how grim and violent it is. The narrative centers on this mysterious wave of male mob mentality that results in genocide, particularly aimed at females. I liked that it was a fusion of biology and sociology yet I feel much of it went over my head, but again that's probably due to how I responded to the nature of the story.

The Girl Who was Plugged In by James Tiptree Jr
This was my first Tiptree story and it very much fits the bill of a cyberpunk narrative. Very chaotic writing which I expect in this genre but as such confused me, which is one of the two main reasons I tend not to like cyberpunk in the written format. Lots of tech was also featured, along with a dark tone beneath all glitter and glamour, which actually works well with the story which is essentially about influencers before they were a thing.

View from a Height by Joan D. Vinge
This one is the reverse of A Way Out wherein initially I had this one lower because it was one of the more forgettable ones and it barely counts as science fiction. How it does incorporate genre, however, highlights exactly why I prefer speculative fiction to literary fiction. In the story, an immune comprised woman is chosen for a solo mission in space. Because there is just one person who has been isolated her entire life the story focuses on her grappling with this, possibly permanent, loneliness yet there emerges this thread of hope in opportunities for a better future. It's a story you have to patient with but can be rewarding.

No One Said Forever by Cynthia Felice
A really good story that is very relevant about a woman choosing between her job and relationship, just not sure how it counts as speculative fiction (maybe at the time it was published there were speculative elements). What stands out to me about this story is not only how topical the subject has remained but also how maturely it was presented, without the constant petty bickering and gaslighting, which gives both sides of the debate validity.

Pale Hands by Doris Piserchia
Another story where sex is at the forefront so very 70s but more palatable than Bitching It because the sex isn't quite as in your face and there did seem to be a point to the story besides performing sexual acts on page, even if I couldn't tell what it was (I think sexual liberation and gender dynamics).

The Funeral by Kate Wilhelm
I was intrigued at the beginning of this, wanting to see where it went, but with an increasingly militaristic tone that was reminiscent of a YA Handmaid's Tale, I actually became less interested, and the end just lost me.

The Anthropologist by Kathleen M. Sidney
Interesting set up of a nature vs nurture conflict, about this alien that was raised by humans and then going back to study his own race. Then things took a left turn after the sex scene and the story really lost its momentum and direction.

Bitching It by Sonya Dorman
Well, I wouldn't say this is a good story, but it is a very 70s story with its rough and graphic sex and I can appreciate it for that (though the sex came across as non consensual).

Lament of the Keeku Bird by Kathleen Sky
This is probably the most gory story in this collection, which does make an impact. I think this was trying to make some commentary about motherhood, but I could not get beyond the grizzly exterior to the core of this story.

The Day Before the Revolution by Ursula K. LeGuin
It feels sacrilegious to say anything bad about anything by this author, but I just did not like this story. LeGuin's works are frequently too short for their own good and this was the worst example of that so far. It does follow an older woman, which I'm sure was a novelty when this story was first written, but there's something about the way she judges women and their bodies that rubbed me the wrong way. Also like many other stories in this collection and LeGuins full length works, this story was the basis for another novel The Dispossessed, which was frankly better.

Hey Lilith by Gayle Netzer
A very short story that's basically a post apocalyptic first wives club and with all men always chasing something younger. Its not exactly wrong but its so short that I don't really have much to say beyond that.

Time to Kill by Eleanor Busby
Like the previous one I get what this story was going for, showing that religious extremists will always exist, but I'm very particular with my time travel stories and this one didn't shine. Too simple with an unlikeable leading lady, being both obtuse and a cold blooded child killer.

Cassandra by C.J. Cherry
Even before completing this collection, after reading this story I knew this was one of the worst ones. It's just a bad retelling of the Cassandra myth because you really have to squint to find any retelling aspect aside from the name but its also an insufficient story. Neither thought provoking nor entertaining but at least it wasn't as dark as I would expect from C.J. Cherry.

This book is a science fiction short story collection where all the stories were written by women in the 70s.

Overall, I feel just OK about the stories, which for most of them, I just wished they were longer because I didn't have time to really care about anything. One of the story, though, I absolutely loved which is the one where those machines can bring someone to a certain time in the past.

Unfortunately, I also DNF'D a few which were really weird, too weird for me even though I usually love that.

A great new entry in a long lineage of reclamations of women’s sci-fi stories. Important literary artefacts from the history of a genre seen to be dominated by men’s voices.

Lisa Yaszek did a great work with this collection. She made visible the thread between feminism and science fiction, writing the historical context behind the stories in the introduction and adding a brief biography of the authors by the end.
I haven't read the book that precedes this one yet, so I made sure to add it to my tbr list.

➡ Bitching It (1971) by Sonya Dorman Hess - ★☆☆☆☆
Am I to take it as a precursor of the omegaverse?

➡ Frog Pond (1971) by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro - ★★★☆☆
[But to hear him tell it, you'd think it changed the whole world.]

It's the kind of reveal you know to expect, but don't really know what exactly it is that you're expecting until the end; and it builds really well before you get there.

➡ The Funeral (1972) by Kate Wilhelm - ★★★★★
It does feel like The Handmaid's Tale, but somehow I liked this one better.

➡ When It Changed (1972) by Joanna Russ - ★★★★☆
A colony of Earth, left for a while, becomes host to a female-only society. Their men are all dead and have been for generations, so why do they have to come back and ruin this world, too?

➡ Lament of the Keeku Bird (1973) by Kathleen Sky - ★★☆☆☆
While I don't really mind gore, incest and cannibalism, I know some people may; however, my greatest pet peeve was not understanding what she was supposed to be - a coyote? a furry?? And oh, don't let me started on how annoying I found all those animal verses...
I think what saved this one from being a complete failure in my eyes was how she seemed to gain greater conscience as the story went on, as she crawled on, reflecting so her journey to become an Old Being.

➡ A Way Out (1973) by Miriam Allen Deford - ★☆☆☆☆
A tentacled alien is an ambassador on future Earth; not liking it, he tries to escape. Unfortunately humans are weird, so his plans fail successfully.

➡ Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand (1973) by Vonda M. McIntyre - ★★★★☆
A precursor or prequel of sorts of her late novel Dreamsnake, this story is a great example of how fear of cultural differences can be a source of harm.

➡ The Girl Who Was Plugged In (1973) by James Tiptree, Jr.* - ★★★☆☆
[“The news.” He laughs. “There’s nothing in the news except what they want people to know. Half the country could burn up and nobody would know it if they didn’t want. Dee, can’t you take what I’m explaining to you? They’ve got the whole world programmed! Total control of communication. They’ve got everybody’s minds wired in to think what they show them and want what they give them and they give them what they’re programmed to want—you can’t break in or out of it, you can’t get hold of it anywhere. I don’t think they even have a plan except to keep things going round and round— and God knows what’s happening to the people or the earth or the other planets, maybe. One great big vortex of lies and garbage pouring round and round getting bigger and bigger and nothing can ever change. If people don’t wake up soon we’re through!”]

Influencers in a world when and where the internet was just starting to exist but social media didn't appear yet.
Great concept, especially relevant nowadays, but I had a few problems with the writing style.

➡ If Ever I Should Leave You (1974/77) by Pamela Sargent - ★★★★☆
A paradoxical time travel romance.

➡ Pale Hands (1974) by Doris Piserchia - ★★★★★
Humanity controlled via sexual conditioning.

➡ The Day Before The Revolution (1974) by Ursula K. Le Guin - ★★★★★
[The young people went about the halls of the House in becoming immodesty, but she was too old for that. She didn’t want to spoil some young man’s breakfast with the sight of her. Besides, they had grown up in the principle of freedom of dress and sex and all the rest, and she hadn’t. All she had done was invent it. It’s not the same.
Like speaking of Asieo as “my husband.” They winced. The word she should use as a good Odonian, of course, was “partner.” But why the hell did she have to be a good Odonian?]

A short story following the last day in the life of Laia Asieo Odo, the semi-legendary woman who led the revolution that founded the anarchist society in The Dispossessed, reminescing her past actions and words and whether they held any true intention.

➡ The Warlord of Saturn's Moons (1974) by Eleanor Arnason - ★★☆☆☆
While her own world goes up in flames outside her home, a woman writes science fiction.

➡ A Scarab in the City of Time (1975) by Marta Randall - ★★★★☆
If you move across the desert, you'll find a city; a domed city of which the intended use was to seal people inside in advent of the end of the world, but whose application, years later, seems to be that of keeping the world – and other people – outside of it.
And yet, a woman manages to tunnel in, in the hope of showing the population of the dome that their sun is an artificial one that doesn’t compare with the one outside, at the cost of being trapped in and considered an heretic, a ghost, a demon.

➡ The Anthropologist (1975) by Kathleen M. Sydney - ★★★★☆
With a human mind and an alien body, []he may be alone among the humans, but is alone among the aliens, too.
And while the loneliness in this tale may have been what truly made it take place in my heart, the theme of nature vs. nurture makes a great starting point for reflection.

➡ Hey, Lilith! (1976) by Gayle N. Netzer - ★☆☆☆☆
Tries to be both funny and meta, just reads as annoying.

➡ The Screwfly Solution (1977) by Raccoona Sheldon* - ★★★★★
A virus outbreak sees the exponential death of women at the hand of the men that surround them – both those who once were friendly faces and the unknown ones.
The Screwfly Solution takes up the theme of a humanity made fragile by its sexual impulses, as the title indeed refers to the sterile insect technique – one of eradicating the screwfly population by releasing large quantities of sterilized males which would compete with fertile ones, further reducing the native population with each generation – of which the story is a similar distortion.
If the Angels from Evangelion were to take inspiration from what happened here, they would've succedeed for sure.

➡ Time to Kill (1977) by Elinor Busby - ★★★☆☆
Given the opportunity to go back in time, would you take the choice of killing a character with a playing role in history – if it meant it could change the outcome of the future present? Who would you choose? And would it even change anything?
Just know you should strike the goat when it’s still a lamb.

➡ The Best Is Yet to Be (1978) by M. Lucie Chin - ★★★★☆
From the Latin, nomen omen: the name is a sign.
And it is a pretty telling one for Kitty, the pet of the Harvard family, a cat in her ninth life. She's the longest living woman at her ninth brain transplant in a new body, living a new life for the last time; but then, like an ouroboros, she begins again from where she left out.

➡ View from a Height (1978) by Joan D. Vinge - ★★★★★
[When you confront the absolute indifference of magnitudes and vistas so overwhelming, the swollen ego of your self- important suffering is diminished...
And I remembered one of the things that was always so important to me about space—that here anyone has to put on a spacesuit before they step outside. We’re all aliens, no one better equipped to survive than another. I am as normal as anyone else, out here.]

A woman with no functioning immune system to speak of, has somehow decided to work in space because of it. She felt alone before, she is even more so now, but will the choice she made back then mean anything less in retrospect?

➡ No One Said Forever (1978) by Cynthia Felice - ★★★☆☆
While the past still finds ways to hurt us in the present, it’s our current choices and opportunities that will haunt us in the future; especially if those splitting paths were made visible not only by looking back, but by moving forward.

➡ Cassandra (1978) by C.J. Cherryh - ★★★☆☆
[One could live in ruins, only so the fires were gone.
And the ghosts were all in the past, invisible.]

You only ever hear of Cassandra during the war, and while you never believe her before, the proof inevitably comes after. But if we were in a period of peace, would you even try and stay to listen?

➡ Wives (1979) by Lisa Tuttle - ★★★☆☆
[I’m not what I used to be, she thought. I’m something else, now—a “wife,” created by man in the image of something I have never seen, something called “woman.”]

It reminded me a little of Jackalope Wives, if the wives were spiders instead, at first; and then of a possible outcome of the previous story When It Changed, if instead of just coming back, the men made a pit-stop on some other planet.
As Simone de Beauvoir said, one is not born a woman, but becomes one.

➡ Daisy, in the Sun (1979) by Connie Willis - ★★★★★
[“That’s what you think! You think you know everything. Well, you don’t know what anything is. I read a book about it and you know what it said? They don’t know what memory is. They think maybe it isn’t even in the brain cells. That it’s in the atoms somewhere and even if we’re blown apart that memory stays. What if we do get burned by the sun and we still remember? What if we go on burning and burning and remembering and remembering forever?”]

Of my fifteenth summer I only remember falling asleep on the beach, under the sun. I slept there for hours and woke up with a fever that lasted the whole week, and a second degree burn of which I bear some traces, still. I know I dreamt, before my awakening, but nothing again ever came near to what it felt like, in those few hours - before this story, at least.

This is a must have for any fan of science fiction. Bravo to the Library of America and Lisa Yaszek. This was so well done from the curated short stories to the cover art that I simply had to purchase the first volume.

'The Future is Female! Vol. 2' is a solid collection of stories for anyone looking to read more classic SF by women (or even if not!). I found a good mix of award-winning stories, some authors and stories I'd already read and some authors I read for the first time here.

It's easy to see why these works were trail-blazing in the 1970's and why they are classics still widely read now. The writing is, simply put, powerful. The characters and plots are well constructed for short stories. The world-building gets top marks of course.

Some stories were hit and miss for me, but that would happen with any anthology. The rating for the whole collection is five stars.

[One star for the premise and the whole collection; One star for the characters; One star for the story arcs; One star for the writing; One star for the world-building - Five stars on the whole.]

Thanks to NetGalley and the Library of America for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have an interest in voices at the margins of SFF and in noting the stories and authors that fall out of print--or fall out of mainstream awareness--in a way that reflects social forces more than it reflects the writing itself. I'm pretty reliably interested in collections of this type and followed James Davis Nicoll's "Fighting Erasure" series of articles for Tor with interest.

Yazek's in-depth introduction is excellent; she pays homage to the landmark collections of women's SF (such as Pamela Sargent's Women of Wonder) that have preceded this one and brings both the stories and the authors into personal and social/historical context. The biographical notes at the end are similarly astute and in-depth, for readers interested in the lives and in some cases controversial legacies of the authors whose works are represented. (The only detail that I found puzzling was classifying Joan D. Vinge and Marta Randall both as a BIPOC authors.) Note that the stories are listed in the table of contents with the name under which they were originally published--so Alice Sheldon's two entries are credited there as James Tiptree, Jr. and Raccoona Sheldon--but Yazek makes this clear in the forward and biographical notes at the end.

No anthology or collection contains stories that every reader will find unanimously excellent, and naturally I connected more with some stories than others. The first story in the collection, Sonya Dorman Hess' "Bitchin It" was not my thing, and Joanna Russ' "When It Changed" left me breathless and thoughtful and I finished and immediately read it again. The breadth of styles and storytelling in this collection, the quality of the writing, and the range of authors represented were superb. (I was absolutely delighted to see a Doris Piserchia story in this collection--she consistently seems to be overlooked in similar anthologies.) A couple of the stories were familiar to me, but most were not, and I was happy to see that a number of authors were new to me... as well as new aspects to authors I thought I knew (I'd had no idea that Chelsea Quinn Yarbro wrote any short fiction--or speculative fiction, for that matter--and particularly enjoyed her entry).

Altogether an excellent collection that's left me wanting to hunt down a copy of the first volume. I received a copy from Library of America and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Future Is Female! Volume Two, The 1970s: More Classic Science Fiction Stories By Women

A Library of America Special Publication (2022)

A Thank-you

Before starting this review I would like to thank NetGalley and A Library of America for this reviewers copy of the book.

Blurb

In the 1970s, feminist authors created a new mode of science fiction in defiance of the “baboon patriarchy”—Ursula K. Le Guin’s words—that had long dominated the genre, imagining futures that are still visionary. In this sequel to her groundbreaking 2018 anthology The Future is Female! 25 Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women from Pulp Pioneers to Ursula K. Le Guin, SF-expert Lisa Yaszek opens a time portal to the decade when women changed science fiction forever with stories that made female community, agency, and sexuality central to the American future. (Library of America, n,d)

Ebook version

This is the second review of an ebook version that has a contents page, like (Chinese Adventure Stories in Space) but no links. Check out the last review for Writers of the Future Volume 39; this had a contents page and a link to every single short story. THIS is the way ebooks should be done! Unfortunately, The Future is Female has no links and you have to manually scroll the ebook to get to every story. This is NOT ergonomic for reading or reviewing. I will not rehash the same arguments as to why, please read the other reviews and find out why.

Favourite Stories

1.The Girl Who Was Plugged In (1973) James Tiptree, Jr.

I have previously read this story before in a James Tiptree, Jr. anthology and enjoyed it. James Tiptree, Jr is one of my favourite Science Fiction writers. The biography at the back of the book was astounding to read. It turns out Tiptree (or Sheldon, her real name) enlisted in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and rose to the rank of major! (Library of America, 94%) After the war she joined the CIA in 1953 (Library of America, 94%)…And if that was not enough she also went on to become a Doctor with a Ph.D. in Psychology! (Library of America, 94%). If you have never read Tiptree, or never heard of this story – go out and buy everything you can get your hands on.

2. If Ever I should Leave You (1974/77) Pamela Sargent

Time travel done right. I have read a few time travel stories now in these short story anthologies and this was a heart breaking, interesting tale, focussing on two lovers entangled in a web of time. It was poignant, but ultimately demonstrated the power of time.

3.Pale Hands (1974) Doris Piserchia

This story was a surprise! It explores sexuality, politics, overpopulation and conditioning.

4. The Warlord of Saturn’s Moons (1974) Eleanor Arnason

Bizarre is one word to describe this story. I thought it was great. Here we have a tale told by the writer and her writing journey. Although not your typical science fiction story it was interesting.

5. A Scarab in the City of Time (1975) Marta Randall

A scientist turned vandal. It was an interesting story and a good concept. It was interesting to see how Randall shows the conflict between different generations.

6. Hey, Lilith! (1976) Gayle N. Netzer

Humorous, refreshing, but also quite a bit dark if you think about it too long.

7. The Screwfly Solution (1977) Racoona Sheldon

This was a great story! Well executed and the final line was brilliant. I read this and I was reminded of a book I recently read, Moths – Jane Hennigan. it’s amazing to see how similar ideas can be tackled by different writers, in different times. I believe this short story was well done and it deserves a read.

8. Time to Kill (1977) Elinor Busby

A good story. Another time travel story about going back in time to save the future. But as with all time travel, there are consequences with everything. I did not expect it to turn out the way it did, but I was glad that Busby did not make it too predictable.

9. No One Said Forever (1978) Cynthia Felice

The Science Fiction within this story was subtle and this focussed more on the relationships of the characters. I felt like I was in the middle of their conversation and the characters were well developed even through the first few lines. It alluded to various Science Fiction themes, but it centres more on the people involved.

10. Wives (1979) Lisa Tuttle

A harrowing idea. Assessing men, their desires and breaking down social constructs. What would men do if they were thrown on another planet with beings which resemble women? This was a sad tale and a very good one.

Would I Recommend?

Yes. There are 25 Science Fiction stories included in this anthology and I picked out my favourite ten to talk about. I don’t want to spoil plots, or ruin stories for you, but they were great. An overall good collection, full of great writers and James Tiptree, Jr. I am glad Library of America are going back in time and plucking out these brilliant writers and highlighting their work from stories of the past. Buy it. Support Library of America and The Future is Female!

References

Library of America. (n,d). The Future Is Female! More Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women. Accessed via: https://www.loa.org/books/721-the-future-is-female-more-classic-science-fiction-stories-by-women
Library of America (2023). The Future Is Female! More Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women. New York. United States of America.

This is a wonderful collection of classic science fiction from some excellent feminist writers, some of whom I'd never read before. As with a lot of sci-fi written in the 1970s, there are a few stories that feel somewhat dated, but all the tales in this collection are worth reading. My favorites were "The Girl Who Was Plugged In", "The Day Before the Revolution", and "The Anthropologist". I highly recommend this book to readers who like thought-provoking science fiction and I look forward to the next book in this series.

I received a copy via NetGalley.

It seems like older science fiction was overwhelmingly written by men, so this collection was refreshing to read to see some of the work that women were putting out in the 1970s. That being said, many of the stories fell flat for me, and I found myself wishing that this collection had been edited down to less short stories.

I very much appreciate being gifted this copy of The Future Is Female! Vol. Two, and the opportunity to read & review it. Thanks to the publisher.

The Future is Female! Volume Two The 1970s: More Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women edited by Lisa Yaszek

450 Pages
Publisher: Library of America
Release Date: October 18, 2022

Fiction (Adult), General Fiction (Adult), Sci Fi, Fantasy, Feminist

The book contains the following short stories.

Bitching It (1971)
Frog Pond (1971)
The Funeral (1972)
When It Changed (1972)
Lament of the Keeku Bird (1973)
A Way Out (1973)
Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand (1973)
The Girl Who Was Plugged In (1973)
If Ever I should Leave You (1974/77)
Pale Hands (1974)
The Day Before the Revolution (1974)
The Warlord of Saturn’s Moons (1974)
A Scarab in the City of Time (1975)
The Anthropologist (1975)
Hey, Lilith (1976)
The Screwfly Solution (1977)
Time to Kill (1977)
The Best is Yet to Be (1978)
View from a Height (1978)
No One Said Forever (1978)
Cassandra (1978)
Wives (1979)
Daisy, in the Sun (1979)

I was a preteen/teenager when these stories were written but I was able to connect and appreciate them. The authors all have distinct writing styles and some I enjoyed more than others. A few stories made me think, others made me laugh, and some confused me, but I enjoyed them all. If you enjoy science fiction, especially written by women, you should read this book.

I tend to prefer science fiction in short story form. It is a cliché that science fiction books are huge volumes, but I found this cliché to be often true… and daunting for a dabbler like me. I can’t commit to a whole 600 pages world, but I can commit to… a 450 pages collection, if each story is short and different. Which is exactly what this book offers: a compendium of female sci-fi writers with a sample of their work from the 1970s. This one is volume two, but by definition you don’t need to have read volume one. In fact, I found myself picking up a story or another from this volume depending on my mood, and it worked quite well.

The range of the 23 stories in the collection is quite wide. There are post-apocalyptic worlds, there are aliens, there are human colonies on other planets, there are spaceships, there are different ends of the world, there are dystopias. Tones range from comedy to tragedy. The comedic ones are few, most of them have rather dark premises or conclusions (still, there are a few happy ends). It will be impossible to talk about them all, out of 23 there’s only one story that didn’t appeal to me and that I skipped.

Memorable stories include “The Funeral” by Kate Wilhelm (reminiscent of Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid Tale), “The Day before the Revolution” by Ursula Le Guin, “The Screwfly Solution” (1977) by Raccoona Sheldon, and many others…

The only author I knew before starting reading was Ursula Le Guin, although I haven’t read her (yet?). I really enjoyed the female point of view of each of the stories. I found that many of them explored gender issues, racism, difference, love, relationships and ageing in a way that would probably be different with a male author. Let’s say that in most versions of the future that these authors paint, discrimination and violence against women hasn’t disappeared at all. That’s not encouraging, but that makes those stories still relevant today.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book for review consideration.

An amazing collection of deeply philosophical stories that also entertain.

"The Future is Female! Volume Two." contains 23 stories by such renowned authors as Ursula K. Le Guin, James Tiptree, JR, Connie Willis, and others.

Each story is well written with a definite message. They are all creative and worthy to read. They tend to be dark, ranging from tantalizingly confusing dystopian to reassuringly comfortable dystopian to entertainingly and/or humorously dystopian to oddly disturbingly dystopian to thought-provoking dystopian to sadly understandable dystopian to terrifyingly real dystopian to psychologically depressingly dystopian to abjectly horrifying end-of-the-world in a really really bad way dystopian.

In all honesty, a few stories did not deserve my overly general "dystopian" label. For example, the story of an alien assigned to represent his species as an ambassador at the United Planet was more humorous and entertaining than dystopian. Though one has to feel sorry for the poor alien since things did not exactly work out according to his plan. Another story was downright amusing in the conclusion that time travel to the past can not be easily used to solve dystopian problems. And one of the stories that felt dystopian had an absolutely happy ending, but I can't go in any detail since that would be a spoiler...

I absolutely recommend this book to the discerning thinking reader, and look forward to Volume Three of this series.

I thank the editor, authors, and publisher for kindly sharing a temporary electronic review copy of this work. Thank you!

The Future Is Female! Volume 2 continues to highlight and celebrate the work of feminist science fiction writers. Lisa Yaszek gathers 18 stories from the 1970s. Volume 1 highlighted the work from the 1920s through to the end of the 1960s.

This collection takes its name from the 1972 merchandise slogan created by Jane Lurie and Marizel Rios to support the New York City feminist bookstore Labyris Books. As Yaszek discusses in the introduction to this volume, the 1970s were a time when the science fiction was reaching a wider audience thanks in part to the success of Star Trek and towards the end of the decade Star Wars. This meant more writers working in the genre, and while women were still a minority, there were more of them active. At its best fiction can serve as a medium to explore, reflect on or react to contemporary issues. In this collection we see many authors doing just that.

And of course, we need to talk about the stories! I picked up this book recognizing Ursula K. Le Guin and James Tiptree, Jr. From having read the two volumes of Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions anthologies I'd read "The Funeral" and "When It Changed." Otherwise most of the stories here were new to me.

Arranged chronologically, these stories explore the traditional sandbox of Science fiction. There are stories of space travelers, encounters with non human life, poking fun or criticisms of the stock characters, and most importantly the possible futures of gender relations. While each story will not be detailed in few, below are the stories that were the most memorable.

When It Changed (1972) by Joanna Russ
- A planet that hosts a female only society encounters men for the first time in generations.

A Scarab in the City of Time (1975) by Marta Randall
- After tunneling in to a domed city, our narrator explorer is trapped. She now spends her time stealing food and graffitiing and pranking the population of the dome trying to find her way out.

The Screwfly Solution (1977) by James Tiptree, Jr.
- Told through letters, news reports, interviews inter cut with the story of a scientist in the field, this story presents the outbreak and spread of an unnamed condition that sees men killing all women and children.

No One Said Forever (1978) Cynthia Felice
- Carol and Mike are both professionals. Mike is in mining and Carol does undisclosed computing work. Carol has been offered a wonderful professional opportunity but it means leaving the life she's built with Mike for at least two years. Through conversations, we see the splitting paths of choices or opportunities open to Carol as they try to reach a decision.

A great collection of works of science fiction that offer plenty of new worlds to explore. As with any anthology work, one can read a story as the mood strikes. Worth reading for any fan of the genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the Library of America for this wonderful eARC.

I’ve been reading a lot of women’s fiction lately—the proper definition, as in, fiction written by women, and not the other, silly definition. I have not, traditionally, been terribly interested in old sci-fi, finding it stilted, racist, and sexist. Admittedly, I had mostly been reading Western white men, and then the one book by Ursula the Great (which I loved). So I was curious to read this collection, particularly because these stories are from the Seventies, roughly at the beginning of second-wave feminism. Some of the authors included here are also quite famous, so this was a great way to be introduced to their writing.

Although I didn’t like every single story—usual when one reads an anthology—I found this collection refreshing and thoughtful in all of the right ways. Much more importantly, this was fun (sometimes laugh-out-loud funny). Women, girls and non-binary people are doing all kinds of things here: living, growing old, sometimes dying, existing, having offspring, growing up, saving the world or not, cleaning or not, pairing up or not, escaping, being adopted, migrating, leaving. So much womanhood, ordinary and extraordinary, presented in interesting ways.

I am a sci-fi fan, so this works out to be my kind of thing. If you’re not, you can still read this for what sci-fi is really good at: between its lines, challenging the status quo, which is what these authors achieved. Lisa Yaszek’s introduction to the anthology is also excellent. I will be reading the first volume (2018) for completeness.

These were my favourite stories:

Kate Wilhelm The Funeral (1972)
Miriam Allen Deford A Way Out (1973)
Vonda N. Mcintyre Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand (1973)
James Tiptree, Jr. The Girl Who Was Plugged In (1973)
Pamela Sargent If Ever I Should Leave You (1974/77)
Doris Piserchia Pale Hands (1974)
Ursula K. Le Guin The Day Before the Revolution (1974)
Eleanor Arnason The Warlord of Saturn’s Moons (1974)
Marta Randall A Scarab in the City of Time (1975)
Kathleen M. Sidney The Anthropologist (1975)
Raccoona Sheldon The Screwfly Solution (1977)

My rating: 8/10

Love science fiction stories featuring female protagonists and/or written by female or nonbinary authors? This anthology series meets those criteria. Have you ever been frustrated that an anthology of stories were all told from a male POV? The writing in this collection will solve that issue. Perhaps you wish it was easier to find sci-fi by various female writers and your local library is not meeting that need? You should grab a copy of The Future Is Female! and satisfy your cravings.

Volume Two was published on October 18 and contains two dozen stories from female writers in the 1970s. Whether you are already a fan and just want more writing from a favorite author, or are looking for new-to-you writers, this is a smorgasbord of options. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Vonda N. McIntyre, Pamela Sargent, Ursula K. LeGuin, C.J. Cherryh...the list is full of well-known names. If you have read The Saint-Germain Chronicles, Star Trek and Star Wars novels, or The Earthsea Cycle, then you have already met some of these women through their writing. For others, it could be an appetizer that will have you looking for more books by the same creator.

The stories themselves range from distant futures where humans have mutated to survive in a polluted and endangered ecosystem to a revolutionary thinking back on the history of the movement. James Tiptree's "The Girl Who Was Plugged In" paints a frightening picture of the future that foreshadows M.T. Anderson's Feed. "The Funeral" by Kate Wilhelm seems eerily similar in tone to Margaret Atwood's work. Other stories depict the impact of man's colonization of outer space or delve into possible causes of mass femicide. A couple even toy with the temptations of time travel.

There is such a range of topics, settings, and styles that every story may not be the perfect match for every reader, but there is something within the collection that will resonate with each of us and keep us circling back to it in our thoughts long after we have closed the book. This is a great introduction to each of these writers.

I found this anthology to be a great introduction to many female science fiction authors, I look forward to seeing more from this editor in the future.

"Go back to the Future Is Female in this all new collection of wildly entertaining stories by the trailblazing feminist writers who transformed American science fiction in the 1970s.

In the 1970s, feminist authors created a new mode of science fiction in defiance of the "baboon patriarchy" - Ursula Le Guin's words - that had long dominated the genre, imagining futures that are still visionary. In this sequel to her groundbreaking 2018 anthology The Future is Female!: 25 Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women from Pulp Pioneers to Ursula K. Le Guin, SF-expert Lisa Yaszek offers a time machine back to the decade when far-sighted rebels changed science fiction forever with stories that made female community, agency, and sexuality central to the American future.

Here are twenty-three wild, witty, and wonderful classics that dramatize the liberating energies of the 1970s:

Sonya Dorman, "Bitching It" (1971)
Kate Wilhelm, "The Funeral" (1972)
Joanna Russ, "When It Changed" (1972) NEBULA AWARD
Miriam Allen deFord, "A Way Out" (1973)
Vonda N. McIntyre, "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand" (1973) NEBULA
James Tiptree, Jr., "The Girl Who Was Plugged In" (1973) HUGO AWARD
Kathleen Sky, "Lament of the Keeku Bird" (1973)
Ursula K. Le Guin, "The Day Before the Revolution" (1974) NEBULA and LOCUS AWARD
Eleanor Arnason, "The Warlord of Saturn’s Moons" (1974)
Kathleen M. Sidney, "The Anthropologist" (1975)
Marta Randall, "A Scarab in the City of Time" (1975)
Elinor Busby, "A Time to Kill" (1977)
Raccoona Sheldon, "The Screwfly Solution" (1977) NEBULA AWARD
Pamela Sargent, "If Ever I Should Leave You" (1974)
Joan D. Vinge, "View from a Height" (1978)
M. Lucie Chin, "The Best Is Yet to Be" (1978)
Lisa Tuttle, "Wives" (1979)
Connie Willis, "Daisy, In the Sun" (1979)"

No one, literally NO ONE puts out anthologies of the quality Library of America does.

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.

The second volume in The Future is Female! series focused on the 1970s, presenting 23 science fictions stories written by women. Though I had read several of the authors and recognized many, I don't believe I have read any of these specific stories before. The breadth of topics is fascinating, ranging from alien worlds to earthly apocalypses to travels through deep space. Many thoughtfully examine gender roles, and indeed, the role of being a human or an alien being.

Some of my favorites included :Frog Pond" by Chelsea Quinn Yarbo, "The Day Before the Revolution" by Ursula K. Le Guin, and the very creepy "The Screwfly Solution" by Raccoona Sheldon. Other stories struck me as almost incomprehensibly weird and not to my liking, but I still found them fascinating and I appreciated their bold spirit. It's a solid anthology overall.