Posted by Nicky Drayden on Oct 7, 2014 in
Reviews Clarkesworld, August 2013
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/macfarlane_08_13/
Author Website: www.alexdallymacfarlane.com
Short Women in Space, Review # 7
In Found, a merchant peddling spices among a collection of asteroid colonies is making one last run before life there changes forever. Colony life is tough, as evidenced by what the merchant encountered at the last asteroid:
I had found its interior spaces open and airless, blast-marked, most of its equipment broken or gone, debris—shards of metal, rock, old synth materials, blackened bits of bone—still lodged in some deep crannies.
At the sight of the devastation, a thought of Aagot slips past the merchant’s mind. Had Aagot been there, a man who the merchant had once shared a juniper berry flavored kiss with? There is a romance story somewhere, lost in the spaces between asteroids, but there is something of even more significance that has already been found: the colony itself. And they didn’t even know they were lost. The people of Cai Nu are soon coming to save the inhabitants of the asteroids, victims of an intergalactic diaspora gone wrong.
Okay, I’ll admit it. I am still a bit clueless at using alternate pronouns, and have in the past gone through impressive feats of word maneuvering to avoid it in reviews. When reading first person pieces, it seems I go through a mental process of trying to figure out what gender box to put the narrator into. When it is not initially obvious, we become attuned to hints, like the mention of the man that has been kissed by the narrator. Of course, at this point, I have trained myself not to jump to any conclusions based on this alone, but it narrows the field, if only marginally. But why is it so important to for us to put such labels on characters? Why limit our spices to salt and pepper, when there are cinnamon and thyme and cumin and bay and star anise…each different and delectable in their own signature ways?
I don’t know, so maybe by “Short Women in Space”, I really am looking for gender diversity/inclusiveness in space, or maybe something even broader that I cannot yet articulate, but I am interested to see where I come out on the other side of this thing. One thing I do know is that sometimes labels are important, especially when you keep the cinnamon and cumin next to each other on the spice rack. Trust me, cumin in your oatmeal doesn’t taste nearly as appetizing as it sounds…
REAL Women in Space
Millie Hughes-Fulford
First female payload specialist
STS-40 (Jun. 5, 1991)
Creative Commons
Tags: Asteroids, Clarkesworld, Colonies, Short Story, Short Women in Space
Posted by Nicky Drayden on Oct 2, 2014 in
Reviews Lightspeed, June 2014 (Women Destroy Science Fiction Issue)
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/salvage/
Author Website: carrievaughn.com
Short Women in Space, Review #2
No one knows what went wrong with Radigund, a small survey ship–dead and adrift between stars, but curiosity and unspoken fears lead a small away crew to discover the truths aboard. Interpersonal relations weigh heavily in this piece, keeping the reader emotionally tethered while the characters are literally adrift in a husk of a ship, that itself is adrift in the vast nothingness of space. Whether or not they find what they are looking for, the nature of the salvage mission promises to be a haunting one.
This seems like an emotional story with a simple plot, set against the backdrop of space. It could just as easily been set on Earth aboard a couple of frigates. That isn’t to say that the science fiction elements are not well-written, or that the atmosphere (or lack there of) doesn’t draw me in, but if you can take the science fiction out of a story and it still works, is it really science fiction?
According to Christie Yant, Guest Editor of Women Destroy Science Fiction (of which this story was a part):
These are different strokes from the same brush: the belief that only one kind of science fiction—rocket ships, robots, extra-planetary adventures—is the “real” kind. Lightspeed has always rejected the narrow definition. Science fiction, like everything else, has changed over time. It has expanded and altered, just as those reading and writing it have.
So perhaps this is a science fiction story, set against the universal backdrop of grief and fear of the unknown, and the stresses it puts upon those that find themselves forced to face it head on. There is no glamor to this story. This is the grit of space. This is a story of what happens when going boldly goes wrong, and the wounds and healing that take place in its wake.
REAL Women in Space
Eileen Collins
First female shuttle pilot
STS-63 (Feb. 3, 1995)
First female shuttle commander
STS-93 (Jul. 23, 1999)
Creative Commons
Tags: Lightspeed Magazine, Short Story, Short Women in Space, Space Travel, Women Destroy Science Fiction
Posted by Nicky Drayden on Oct 1, 2014 in
Reviews Crossed Genres, July 2014 (Issue 19)
http://crossedgenres.com/magazine/019-space-travel-loses-its-allure/
Author Website: http://www.intrigue.co.uk/
Short Women in Space, Review #1
So, yeah, periods in space. Might as well go there on this first review, right? Let’s take a quick peek at the opening:
Zero G and three light years from the nearest drugstore is a shitty time to realize that you left your spare moon cup at the space station.
Tonight I lost mine to the relief tube. The stuffy musk-and-lemon smell of the hold was invaded by the sharp tang of blood. I was half-asleep, trying to empty it without fuss in the dark. The relief tube suction was just strong enough to whisk the cup out of my still-asleep slick fingers.
There you go, big time problem is introduced right there in the first two paragraphs, accompanied by the perfect amount of sensory detail to pull me in. I can almost feel the moon cup (apparently already a thing) slip from my own fingers, down the chute of the space toilet, and into oblivion.
In that split moment, her fun, care-free, seven-month voyage to Barnard’s Star becomes a bloody nightmare. Cargo space is too precious to allow for storage of bulky feminine products, so she is forced to improvise. Oh my goodness, I could feel for her. Sylvia does an exquisite job of painting the desperation of this woman in so few words. Half of the audience can immediately relate. We’ve been there. Maybe not caught out in the desolation of space, but when you’re unprepared, it doesn’t matter much if the nearest drugstore is a seven blocks away or seven light years.
Overall, this was a quick, fun read, and if you’re further interested in the logistics of menstruation in zero gravity, check out The Straight Dope. Apparently, it’s no big thing, just as it is for the most part here on Earth. If you’re already crapping in peeing in a big diaper, seriously, what’s one more bodily fluid? Ick. No wonder we never saw any restrooms on Star Trek.
REAL Women in Space Valentina Tereshkova
First Woman in Space
Vostok 6 (Jun. 16, 1963)
Creative Commons
Tags: Crossed Genres, Flash Fiction, Moon Cup, Short Women in Space, Space Travel
