From LISTSERV@listserv.uic.edu Thu Aug 24 18:45:01 2000 Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 20:41:31 -0500 From: "L-Soft list server at University of Illinois at Chicago (1.8d)" To: Laura Quilter Subject: File: "FEMINISTSF-LIT LOG9910D" ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 16:13:28 +0200 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: =?iso-8859-1?q?pascicutte=20De=20Pascicutte?= Subject: Re: BDG Nomination: Octavia Butler MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit I nominate - author: Octavia Butler - title: Dawn (book one of the xenogenesis trilogy) - publisher:Mass Market Paperback / Published 1997 - list price: 5.20$ at Amazon.com - ISBN: 0446603775 I'm particularly interested in the biblicak references the book offers ===== ______________________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Il tuo indirizzo gratis e per sempre @yahoo.it su http://mail.yahoo.it ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 22:11:49 -0500 Reply-To: quiltedpoetry@att.net Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Liz Bennefeld Subject: BDG Nomination: Remnant Population MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT This is still listed as available at Barnes & Noble and on the shelves at my local book store. One of my favorites. I've included Booklist's synopsis. Elizabeth Moon Remnant Population Publisher: Baen Books Retail Price: $5.99 ISBN: 0671877704 Pub. Date: March 1997 Synopsis "When the Earth-based sponsors of a distant colony planet decided to pack it up and move the citizens elsewhere, the widow Ofelia, determined to spend the rest of her days on the planet, evades the evacuation party. She contentedly resumes tending her garden and livestock and writing a history of the colony. Then a new landing party encounters bloody resistance from aliens on the planet whom Ofelia and her fellow colonists never knew existed. Although expecting to suffer the same fate as the new arrivals, Ofelia slowly establishes an alliance with the aliens. . . . As word of her achievement spreads, Ofelia gains respect as humanity's unlikely first ambassador to an alien species."(Booklist) ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 23:47:57 -0400 Reply-To: Amy Harlib Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Amy Harlib Subject: FSF-L BDG Nomintion: Flesh and Gold MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit -- Amy Harlib aharlib@worldnet.att.net Phyllis Gotlieb Flesh and Gold Publisher Tor Books Retail Price (trade paperback): $13.95 available at Amazon.com @ $11.16 ISBN: 0312868308 Publication date: May 1999 This one gets unanimously good reviews and has a certain exotic/weird appeal: Skerow, a telepathic alien woman judge, fights to protect the rights of an enslaved amphibious human in planetary settings peopled by a wide variety of sentient beings. Gotlieb, also a poet, uses her language skills to tell a colorful, exciting SF murder mystery with layered subtextual meanings and commentary on contemporary social/political issues. I'm yearning for a good excuse to read this one! ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 14:47:41 0100 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Petra Mayerhofer Subject: BDG Nomination Interim MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT So far 5 books have been nominated for the BDG January-April 2000: Octavia Butler: Dawn. (Xenogenesis, Bk. 1.). (April 1997), Warner Books; ISBN: 0446603775, List price $6.50 (Amazon $5.20) Raphael Carter: The Fortunate Fall. List Price: $13.95 (Amazon $11.16), Paperback 288 pages (May 1997), Tor Books; ISBN: 0312863276 Phyllis Gotlieb: Flesh and Gold. Tor Books, Retail Price (trade paperback): $13.95, available at Amazon.com @ $11.16, ISBN: 0312868308, Publication date: May 1999 Elizabeth Moon: Remnant Population. Available at Amazon: Mass Market Paperback - 352 pages (March 1997), Baen Books; ISBN: 0671877704; List price: $5.99 (Amazon $US 4.79) Terri Windling: The Wood Wife. List Price: $6.99, Mass Market Paperback,Reprint edition (August 1997), Tor Books; ISBN: 0812549295 Books can be nominated until 28 October (incl.). The nomination list with comment and links to reviews can be looked up at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Comet/1304/bdg_nom_1099.htm One nominator wrote: >I'm particularly interested in the biblicak references the book >offers. One of these ignorant questions: What are biblicak references? Petra Petra Mayerhofer mailto:mayerhofer@usf.uni-kassel.de -- BDG website http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Comet/1304/ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 15:15:42 0100 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Petra Mayerhofer Subject: 1999 Gaylactic Network Spectrum Awards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT News about the winners of the newly created Gaylactic Network Spectrum Awards at Locus. One question: Can anybody explain the difference between this award and the Lambda Literary Award for SF? Does this new award replace the former Lambda Award or is it an additional award for homosexual SF? Petra Locus Magazine News 21 October, 1999 at http://www.locusmag.com/1999/News/News10a.html : Spectrum Awards Winners of the 1999 Gaylactic Network Spectrum Awards were presented at Gaylaxicon: 1999 in Washington, DC on October 9. Best Novel (co-winners): - Accidental Creatures, Anne Harris (Tor) - Dark Water's Embrace, Stephen Leigh (Avon Eos) Best Other Work: - Bending the Landscape: Science Fiction, Nicola Griffith and Stephen Pagel, eds. (Overlook) Hall of Fame (co-winners): - China Mountain Zhang, Maureen F. McHugh (Tor) - Uranian Worlds, Eric Garber and Lyn Paleo (G.K. Hall) Peoples' Choice Award: - Shadow Man, Melissa Scott (Tor) The Hall of Fame category is for works published before 1998, the initial year of eligibility for the annual Spectrum Awards, while the Peoples' Choice Award goes to the single work receiving the most nominations from members of the Gaylactic Network. The Gaylactic Network Spectrum Awards were created to honor works in science fiction, fantasy and horror that deal positively with gay characters, themes and issues. Nominations are open to everyone, and winners are selected by a small final judging committee. A complete list of nominated works and finalists is available at http://www.lambdasf.org/spectrum/. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 10:26:24 EDT Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Kathleen Friello Subject: Re: BDG Nomination Interim MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 10/25/99 8:52:56 AM Eastern Daylight Time, mayerhof@USF.UNI-KASSEL.DE writes: << One nominator wrote: >I'm particularly interested in the biblicak references the book >offers. One of these ignorant questions: What are biblicak references? >> Biblical typo, maybe? ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 12:20:00 -0500 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Susan Hericks Subject: BDG nominations MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I would like to nominate 2 books: _The Merro Tree_ by Katie Waitman. Del Rey, 1997. Available for $5.99. This book was the "Del Rey discovery of the Year." Synopsis: "Mikk of Vyzania, the galaxy's greatest performance master,commanded stages on all the myriad worlds with his sublime and ethereal performances. But when the Somalite songdance--the extraordinary dance form Mikk treasured to the point of obsession--was banned, he was devastated, until his sense of justice forced him to defy the law. His trial will be the most sensational in the galaxy's history.And the sentence he faces is death--unless he can summon all his gifts to overthrow the stranglehold of censorship. " > > _The Dazzle of Day_ by Molly Gloss. Tor,1997. Available for $12.95. (BTW,this book has a beautiful cover!) > > Synopsis: " Earth is ailing, and Quakers from various countries >band together for a brave mission: build a self-sustaining spaceship, and travel to the stars to find another home. The Dazzle of Day chronicles the lives of people who grew up on the Dusty Miller and lived to see it reach its destination. Spiritual, steady Kristina plays the middle note in Gloss's triadic exploration of the inner lives of women; Verano begins >the journey from Earth, and Vintro's story comprises the finishing >notes after the journey's end. Onboard the Dusty Miller, a depressive >malaise spreads throughout the colonists, and Kristina's daughter-in-law Juko witnesses a suicide by a co-worker while mending the ship's solar sails. Other players include Juko's son Cejo, her quiet ex-husband Humberto, and her husband Bjoro, a scientist who visits the new planet's inhospitable surface and lives to bring back reports. The colonists, who've lived their entire lives on a small climate-controlled ship, must decide whether to adjust to life on the chilly planet, prepare to terraform a section on its surface, or continue on to search for a more suitable home. > Gloss's lyrical and leisurely prose describes the lives of the spacefarers: religion and politics, quarrels and friendships, love and despisal, illness and death. At times this science fiction feels homespun as the gentle but human Quakers strive for consensus in their community during a time of wrenching change. " For those who prefer to support independent booksellers, I humbly recommend Powells.com instead of Amazon. Powells has both new and used titles from independent stores. > > >Susan ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 18:44:33 +0200 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: =?iso-8859-1?q?pascicutte=20De=20Pascicutte?= Subject: Re: BDG Nomination Interim MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit > > One nominator wrote: > >I'm particularly interested in the biblicak > references the book > >offers. > One of these ignorant questions: What are biblicak > references? > > Petra > Sorry for mistyping: i meant Biblical references. Restituta ===== ______________________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Il tuo indirizzo gratis e per sempre @yahoo.it su http://mail.yahoo.it ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 10:37:45 -0700 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Jessie Stickgold-Sarah Subject: Re: BDG Nomination Interim In-Reply-To: <0.7165758c.2545c290@aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed > One of these ignorant questions: What are biblicak references? > >> >Biblical typo, maybe? Is that an older version of a Freudian slip? :) j ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 18:16:18 -0700 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Margaret McBride Subject: Discussion-Ring of Swords MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I'm feeling bad because I haven't written anything about RofS and I do like the book. I'd love to teach it some time although that doesn't seem very likely unless A. can get it reprinted. I have been so busy and evidently so have other people as not many have written about it. I took notes as I reread it and realized that I was jotting down things that mostly fit under 3 categories: humor and style comments, ethical issues or how humans make decisions--ethics is maybe not quite the right term--and otherness or how we treat those we see as different from ourselves. I have taught a class that looked at different kinds of SF aliens as their works related to Otherness in anthropology, religion, feminism, etc. I love the genuine sense of another culture that this book gives--one that seems logical in its own context. I like how A. parallels that question with the research of the ocean creatures and how she turns our usual reaction upside down by making us realize that the "aliens" are deciding if we're "human" enough to be dealt with. Stories that give a genuine sense of alienness and can still be understood to make some comment on humans are rare. I can think of "Death and Designation Among the Assadi" by Michael Bishop, "The Maze" by LeGuin, one by Karen Fowler in her book Artificial Things and a few others. A. carries it off beautifully here. I particularly like that she gives us a sense of the myth/literature/sayings of the aliens. Again I can't think of many who do that well--Left Hand of Darkness-Leguin, The Color of Distance-Amy Thomson are the ones that come to mind. Other than that whole area of alienness/new ways to think about my own society (one of the things I read SF for), I find this book worth rereading because it makes me think of how people make choices especially when faced with decisions where nothing seems good or what one wants to do. I'm sorry if this is a bit unorganized; I felt a need to send something out before the end of the month. Do you all think this book would work well in a class? As I have said earlier, my students sometimes find works too didactic. Although I see RofS as thought-provoking, it doesn't seem to "hit you over the head" with its ideas as some of my students have said of Native Tongue and Gate to Women's Country for example. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 13:26:48 0100 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Petra Mayerhofer Subject: BDG Nomination Interim 2 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT As each list member can nominate only ONE book the second nomination by Susan was not accepted. Susan decided on Molly Gloss's _The Dazzle of Day_, therefore _The Merro Tree_ by Katie Waitman is currently not part of the nomination list. This rule was introduced after the very lively (and nearly unmanageable) nomination period in February. At the moment we would not need it but I don't want to change rules in mid-term. We have 6 nominations now (see list below). We will select 4 books so I urge you to nominate some more. Books can be nominated until 28 October (incl.). The nomination list with comment and links to reviews can be looked up at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Comet/1304/bdg_nom_1099.htm Petra Present nominations: Octavia Butler: Dawn. (Xenogenesis, Bk. 1.). (April 1997), Warner Books; ISBN: 0446603775, List price $6.50 (Amazon $5.20) Raphael Carter: The Fortunate Fall. List Price: $13.95 (Amazon $11.16), Paperback 288 pages (May 1997), Tor Books; ISBN: 0312863276 Molly Gloss: The Dazzle of Day. Tor, 1998. Paperback, ISBN: 031286437X ; List Price: $12.95 Phyllis Gotlieb: Flesh and Gold. Tor Books, Retail Price (trade paperback): $13.95, available at Amazon.com @ $11.16, ISBN: 0312868308, Publication date: May 1999 Elizabeth Moon: Remnant Population. Available at Amazon: Mass Market Paperback - 352 pages (March 1997), Baen Books; ISBN: 0671877704; List price: $5.99 (Amazon $US 4.79) Terri Windling: The Wood Wife. List Price: $6.99, Mass Market Paperback, Reprint edition (August 1997), Tor Books; ISBN: 0812549295 Petra Mayerhofer mailto:mayerhofer@usf.uni-kassel.de -- BDG website http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Comet/1304/ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 07:53:41 -0400 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Tracy Mitchell Subject: Re: BDG Nomination Interim Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii One nominator wrote: >I'm particularly interested in the biblicak references the book >offers. One of these ignorant questions: What are biblicak references? Petra These refer to Bible references....... Tracy ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 10:46:16 -0700 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Jessie Stickgold-Sarah Subject: BDG nomination In-Reply-To: <199910261127.NAA07022@cserv.usf.uni-kassel.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Elizabeth Moon: The Deed of Paksenarrion. $15 trade pb. Baen. ISBN: 0671721046. Paksenarrion, the daughter of a sheep-farmer, runs away to join the army. She works her way up through the ranks, then takes a sudden twist to become a sort of spiritual knight--but things don't work out as planned. I bought this when it was nominated a couple of cycles ago and enjoyed it a whole lot more than the average Epic Fantasy Trilogy (TM). Although it seems to appeal to many because of its peasant-rises-to-greatness theme, I liked it for the way Moon demonstrated the effect of epic wars on the grunts, the soldiers and the non-combatants. Towards the end of the trilogy there's some clever perspective reversal, exposing the tendency of heroic fantasy to show only the superheros and nobles. The traditional meteoric rise to greatness and power is subverted to some degree; and to top it all off, we've got a strong, independent female hero and a fun read. jessie ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 13:55:08 -0400 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Claudia Mastroianni Subject: Re: BDG Nomination Interim 2 : As each list member can nominate only ONE book the second : nomination by Susan was not accepted. Susan decided on Molly : Gloss's _The Dazzle of Day_, therefore _The Merro Tree_ by Katie : Waitman is currently not part of the nomination list. Well, in that case I would like to nominate it. And state that I disapprove of the rule. *shrug* Claudia -- "And you can walk me home, but I was a boy too" --Dar Williams ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 14:13:18 -0700 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Joyce Jones Subject: BDG Nominations I nominate The Kin of ATA Are Waiting for You -- Dorothy Bryant; (from amazon.com) Synopsis A car crash causes a young writer to journey into a dream world, where, for three weeks, he encounters people from the island of Ata and embarks on a series of adventures, accompanied by a woman seeking spiritual and sexual enlightenment. Reprint. Synopsis Part love story, part utopian fantasy, part spiritual fable, The Kin of Ata Are Waiting for You is "a beautiful, symbolic journey of the soul" (Berkeley Monthly). Into the world of the Ata comes a desperate man, running from a fast life of fame and fortune, drugs and crime. He is led by the kin of Ata on a spiritual journey that, sooner or later, we all must take. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1999 03:25:43 EDT Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: digest Kathy Robertson Subject: Re: BDG Nomination MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit I would like to nominate: The Terrorists of Irustan Author: Louise Marley ISBN 0-441-00619-1 Pub: Ace Science Fiction (June 1999) List price: $13.95 trade paperback Review From Booklist , May 15, 1999 On Irustan, a planet settled long ago by humans, the Book of Second Prophet painstakingly details the proper way of being. Despite space travel and advanced technologies, men are the absolute decision makers. Women, draped in shapeless silks, their faces heavily veiled, are chattel. Only a select few get a glimpse at independence by becoming medicants, who are trained in the medical sciences. Such work is regarded as too distasteful for men. The beautiful Zahra is a young wife, a talented medicant, and a murderer. Sickened by a world of abusive husbands, Zahra's choice to kill is believably righteous, but it is fraught with treacherous subsequent ramifications. Marley realizes Irustan in dynamic detail, and she manages real, consistent character development so that not only does Zahra mature, but secondary characters subtly grow as situations demand. Throughout, Marley's acclaimed, exquisite prose and her universal themes of feminist heroism light the book brightly. (Karen Simonetti,Copyright© 1999, American Library Association. All rights reserved ) Review from SF Weekly (by A.M. Dellamonica) -- rated as an "A" pick: Zahra IbSada has a life of rare privilege. On a world where women are rarely taught to read, she has slipped through a gap in Irustan's strict religious laws to become a medicant, a doctor and surgeon. Her devoted husband Qadir is respectable, intelligent and even gentle. Zahra's career widens what would otherwise be her very limited contact with society, and when the time comes to take an apprentice, she can choose from the brightest girls the colony has to offer. It is her apprentice's arrival that changes everything for Zahra in Louise Marley's The Terrorists of Irustan. Childless by choice, Zahra finds that her relationship with the brilliant and energetic Ishi erodes her carefully nurtured detachment from the world. On Irustan, women are veiled and hidden from everyone but the men of their household. They are forbidden upon pain of death to travel unescorted, to use a wavephone or even to visit with friends more than twice a month. Upon reaching sexual maturity, they are ceded by their fathers to become the wives of strangers, men who are usually 30 years older than their brides. Even before Ishi comes into her life, Zahra is rebellious, struggling with Qadir to be allowed to treat prostitutes in her clinic. As she and the child become close, she finds it harder and harder to live within Irustan's restrictions. Then danger threatens when a close friend's husband agrees to marry her daughter to a brutal mine worker. Torn between her duty as a healer and her friend's plight, and all too able to envision Ishi falling prey to a similar fate, Zahra must decide if she will cross the line from minor rule-breaking to open revolution. Marley is unflinching in her portrayal of the repressive and unjust society on Irustan. There are no pulled punches here--Zahra's patients bleed both physically and spiritually, and readers bleed with them. But The Terrorists of Irustan is realism in the best sense of the word--it is neither one-sided nor simplistic. The characters in this novel are drawn with precision, and each has made a different accommodation to the Irustani regime. Qadir, for example, is motivated at times by his responsibilities, at others by his love for Zahra. His actions run the spectrum from villainous to heroic. The Terrorists of Irustan also boasts vivid imagery, meticulous medical writing and complex relationships, with plenty of terror and suspense thrown in. The pace is as measured as slow poison. Despite its dark tone, the novel entertains while informing. Readers who like happy or tidy endings will not appreciate this one. Nor will those who strongly dislike feminist SF, though The Terrorists of Irustan avoids most of the pitfalls of the sub-genre. Perhaps its only weakness is that, in basing Irustan's culture on civilizations far from North America, Marley is giving readers a chance to distance themselves from the day-to-day horror of Zahra's life. The Terrorists of Irustan is set apart from other books of its type by an understanding that people are as enmeshed in their societies as Zahra is hidden in her concealing veil. Marley shows readers a world where women collaborate in their own oppression, and where it is life-threatening for even the men to talk of change. Totalitarianism is so absolute that fighting it seems impossible, and it is so diffuse that Zahra and her friends despair of even identifying a target. Fight they do, however, and though Zahra IbSada pays a high price for her revolution, readers will appreciate the payoff. (NOTE: There are lots more reviews at Amazon.com -- but a word of warning: the Kirkus review contains a major spoiler and should be avoided). Kathy ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 00:49:26 -0700 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Laurel Lamme Subject: Re: BDG Nomination Briar Rose MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="------------1C2DE2AE0D49287210DFDB4F" --------------1C2DE2AE0D49287210DFDB4F Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I would like to nominate: Briar Rose by Jane Yolen. Tor Books, 1993. ISBN: 0812558626. A 1992 Nebula nominee. Mythopoeic Award winner in 1993. List price is $5.99. Summaries from amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com: "A young woman's promise to her dying grandmother leads her on a quest to {Poland to} discover the truth of her own family's mysterious beginnings in this . . . retelling of the classic fairy tale 'Briar Rose,' or 'The Sleeping Beauty.' In Yolen's modern-day {novel}, the wall of thorns becomes a barbed-wire prison, while the sleeping princess is both victim and heroine." (Libr J) . . . Around the castle there grew a hedge of thorns, which every year grew higher, and at last there was nothing more to be seen, not even the flag upon the roof. But the story of the beautiful sleeping princess, Briar Rose, went about the country so that from time to time the King's sons came and tried to get through the thorny hedge . . . So goes the German fairy tale of Briar Rose, the Sleeping Beauty ... an old, old tale, yet so potent that few among us do not know it today. Now one of America's most celebrated writers tells it afresh, set this time in forests patrolled by the German army during World War II - a tale with no guarantee of an ending that reads they lived happily ever after. A young American journalist is drawn to Europe and to the past as she investigates the mystery of her grandmother's life. From her grandmother she inherited a silver ring, a photograph, and the traditional tale of Briar Rose: clues that will ultimately lead her to a distant land and an astonishing revelation of deathand rebirth. The story of the Holocaust, like the story of Sleeping Beauty, is indeed familiar - yet such is a master storyteller's skill that along the way we learn the tale anew. This is a tale of life and death, of love and hate, despair and faith. A tale of castles and thorns and sharp barbed wire. This is Briar Rose. A powerful and moving novel that deftly blends the legend of Sleeping Beauty with the historical tragedy of the Holocaust. After her grandmother's death, a young American woman struggles to uncover the truth behind the old woman's past. The trail eventually leads to Europe and the darkest days of WWII. The only review I could find, from Kirkus Reviews, was very negative. You can read it at amazon.com. I was originally unsure if this book fit the speculative fiction category, although it is listed at several of the online booksellers as science fiction and fantasy. It is also a part of Terri Windling's excellent Fairy Tale Series. If anyone else on this list who has read Briar Rose considers it realistic fiction and therefore unsuitable for the BDG, I will withdraw the nomination. Do not confuse this book with Briar Rose by Robert Coover, published in 1997. --------------1C2DE2AE0D49287210DFDB4F Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I would like to nominate:
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen.  Tor Books, 1993.  ISBN: 0812558626.
A 1992 Nebula nominee.  Mythopoeic Award winner in 1993.
List price is $5.99.

Summaries from amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com:

                   "A young woman's promise to her dying grandmother leads her on a quest to {Poland to} discover the truth of her own family's mysterious beginnings in this . . .  retelling of the classic fairy tale 'Briar Rose,' or 'The Sleeping Beauty.' In Yolen's   modern-day {novel}, the wall of thorns becomes a barbed-wire prison, while the  sleeping princess is both victim and heroine." (Libr J)

                   . . . Around the castle there grew a hedge of thorns, which every year grew higher, and at last there was nothing more to be seen, not even the flag upon the roof. But the story of the beautiful sleeping princess, Briar Rose, went about the country so  that from time to time the King's sons came and tried to get through the thorny hedge  . . . So goes the German fairy tale of Briar Rose, the Sleeping Beauty ... an old, old tale, yet so potent that few among us do not know it today. Now one of America's  most celebrated writers tells it afresh, set this time in forests patrolled by the German army during World War II - a tale with no guarantee of an ending that reads they  lived happily ever after. A young American journalist is drawn to Europe and to the past as she investigates the mystery of her grandmother's life. From her grandmother she inherited a silver ring, a photograph, and the traditional tale of Briar Rose: clues   that will ultimately lead her to a distant land and an astonishing revelation of deathand rebirth. The story of the Holocaust, like the story of Sleeping Beauty, is indeed familiar - yet such is a master storyteller's skill that along the way we learn the tale  anew. This is a tale of life and death, of love and hate, despair and faith. A tale of castles and thorns and sharp barbed wire. This is Briar Rose.

A powerful and moving novel that deftly blends the legend of Sleeping  Beauty with the historical tragedy of the Holocaust. After her grandmother's death, a young American woman struggles to uncover the truth behind the old woman's past. The trail eventually leads to Europe and the darkest days of WWII.

The only review I could find, from Kirkus Reviews, was very negative.  You can read it at amazon.com.

I was originally unsure if this book fit the speculative fiction category, although it is listed at several of the online booksellers as science fiction and fantasy.  It is also a part of Terri Windling's excellent Fairy Tale Series.  If anyone else on this list who has read Briar Rose considers it realistic fiction and therefore unsuitable for the BDG, I will withdraw the nomination.  Do not confuse this book with Briar Rose by Robert Coover, published in 1997. --------------1C2DE2AE0D49287210DFDB4F-- ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 07:25:29 -0700 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Lyla Miklos Subject: Re: BDG Nomination Briar Rose MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > I would like to nominate: > Briar Rose by Jane Yolen. Tor Books, 1993. ISBN: > 0812558626. > A 1992 Nebula nominee. Mythopoeic Award winner in > 1993. > List price is $5.99. I read this book years ago. It's wonderful. Lyla ===== __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 12:17:35 -0400 Reply-To: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: eva piccininni Subject: BDG Nomination: C.J. Cherryh, _Cyteen_ MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII I'd like to nominate C.J. Cherryh's _Cyteen_, winner of the 1989 Hugo Award for best novel. This was the first Cherryh book I ever read, and it made me a fan for life. Although its main focus is not on overtly feminist themes, I think it would be very interesting to discuss the character of Ariane Emory in a feminist context. A word of warning: it's a tough book to get into, and Cherryh's writing style is purposely very dry and dense. However, she's a master at developing and interweaving politics, ethics, science, and personal relationships, and it all comes together in _Cyteen_. In my opinion, it's worth a bit of grinding to get to the good stuff. Amazon.com synopsis and review: "Genetic manipulation, murder, intrigue and politics are just part of the story of a young scientist in this substantial book. C. J. Cherryh, who won the 1989 Hugo Award for this novel, following on her Hugo Award-winning Downbelow Station, offers another ambitious work. A geneticist is murdered by an adviser, but the scientist is replicated in the lab, leaving a prodigy who attempts to chart a different fate. The book is intense and complex yet always presented with the flow of true storytelling." "This book gripped me for three days straight. Cherryh has a profound gift for imagining the extraordinary as normal, developing and sustaining characters and their relationships, and offering at once a profoundly disturbing and hopeful vision of a future. I also should add that this work has one of the most tender treatments of same-sex relationships that I have seen in print." _Cyteen_ has been nominated twice before (Oct. 1998 and June 1999) - see relevant BDG nominations pages for more comments: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Comet/1304/bdg_nom_0699.htm http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Comet/1304/bdg_nom_1098.htm Warner Books. 1995 paperback reprint, ISBN: 0446671274. List price $14.99. Available from Amazon.com for $11.99 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 19:28:19 -0800 Reply-To: shander@cdsnet.net Sender: Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Literature ON TOPIC From: Sharon Anderson Subject: BDG Nominations MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I would like to ask a question, and then, maybe, nominate a book. If I nominated one of Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan books, would anybody vote for it? If so, which one would you like to see nominated? ---Sharon