The Cascadia Subd uction A LITERARY Z QUARTERLY on April 2014 X Vol. 4. No. 2 e ESSAY Revisiting In the Chinks of the World Machine: Feminism and Science Fiction by Sarah Lefanu by Brit Mandelo POEMS The Swooning by Mark Rich The Etruscan Prince by Sonya Taaffe Autonomous, Spacefaring IN THIS ISSUE & Grow by Bogi Takács R UST GRANDMOTHER MAGMA Y On Angela Davis’s An Autobiography X by Minister Faust Dale McBride Dale BOOK REVIEWS Questionable Practices by Eileen Gunn Fierce Family edited by Bart R. 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Leib reviewed by Caren Gussoff h 8 Questionable Practices, by Eileen Gunn reviewed by Victoria Elisabeth Garcia h 10 The Crane Wife, by Patrick Ness reviewed by Gord Sellar h 12 Red Sonja, Volume 1: Queen of the Plagues, by Gail Simone and Walter Geovanni reviewed by Cynthia Ward h 14 The Stone Boatmen, by Sarah Tolmie reviewed by Thomas Foster h 17 FEATURED ARTIST Dale McBride h 24 Subscriptions and single issues online To order by check, payable to: at: www.thecsz.com Aqueduct Press Print subscription: $16/yr; P.O. Box 95787 Print single issue: $5 Seattle, WA 98145-2787 Electronic Subscription (PDF format): [Washington State Residents $10 per year add 9.5% sales tax.] Electronic single issue: $3 In This Issue Cover banner collagraph of the Cascadia subduction zone by Marilyn Liden Bode Revisiting In the Chinks of the World Machine: y Feminism and Science Fiction by Sarah Lefanu by Brit Mandelo “[O]ne of the aims of this book [is] to chart that extraordinary relationship be- tween feminism and science fiction that flowered in the 1970s and that continues to the present day. I would like to give the lie to a version of events that belittles the achievements of women and our politics in the 1970s, that seeks to dismiss them Written and published in as faddish and passé. I hope to show that the politically reactionary science fiction is one of those areas — and Thatcher-Reagan era, this is a book firmly grounded there are others of course — where the in its time and reflective idea of feminism as a thing of the past of its contemporary critical can be resisted with spirit, as can the in- and literary environment… sidious notion of ‘post-feminism’”(7). So Sarah Lefanu introduces the project of In the Chinks of the World Machine: Femi- heaval that occurred when the “what if?” nism and Science Fiction — grounded in literature of science fiction encountered the then-present, considering the past. the theory and praxis of second-wave And it is with a certain ironic awareness feminism. Furthermore, judging by the that I’d like to revisit this text as a part tendentious conversations occurring to- of the self-same past it initially sought to day about the role of social justice and i document, grounded as I am in our pres- intersectional politics in speculative fic- ent and reading it through the history of tion, there remains a potential utility 1 interactions between feminism and sci- in Lefanu’s discussion of the not-too- ence fiction. distant past in the genre — in particular Initially published in 1988, Lefanu’s for folks like myself who weren’t around In the Chinks of the World Machine is — at the time. though I hesitate to put too fine a point The first half of the book consists of on it — older than I am. Written and ten brief survey-like chapters on top- …it was intriguing to re- published in the politically reaction- ics ranging from the Gothic origins of visit Lefanu’s survey of the ary Thatcher-Reagan era, this is a book science fiction to “The Vicissitudes of productive upheaval that firmly grounded in its time and reflective Love” in the genre, while the second is occurred when the “what of its contemporary critical and literary made up of four longer-form essays ex- if?” literature of sci- ence fiction encountered environment; reading it for the first time amining the works of various relevant writers ( James Tiptree Jr., Ursula K. Le the theory and praxis of nearly twenty-six years later was as much second-wave feminism. an exercise in historicizing the text, Guin, Suzy McKee Charnas, and Joanna for me, as the work Lefanu was doing Russ). This structure is, I think, still use- in considering fiction from (primarily) ful and informative, especially for a read- the ’60s and ’70s. Since the publication er who might be unfamiliar with some of of this book, others have undertaken the earlier concerns of feminism, genre, the task of providing a more complete and criticism. For a new generation of study of feminism(s) and science fic- interested writers and readers, this con- tion — Helen Merrick’s The Secret Femi- textualized overview of the terms, con- nist Cabal is a dense and well-researched cerns, and climate of the feminist turn in project that goes into great contextual science fiction offers a view into the way and historical detail, for example — but, that these issues were being discussed a all the same, it was intriguing to revisit quarter-century ago, while at the same Lefanu’s survey of the productive up- time serving the initial intention of the Cont. on p. 2 n Revisiting In the Chinks of the World Machine her specific criteria, the analyses of Le (Cont. from p. 1) Guin’s novels in terms of their women is still quite sharp. book itself: to make an argument for the I was also pleased that — though many presence and importance of feminist in- of the examples Lefanu uses are going tervention in SF. to be familiar to readers at all conversant The ten chapters of the The ten chapters of the first section with “feminist SF” (Woman on the Edge first section are…primarily are, as previously noted, primarily sur- of Time by Marge Piercy, essays and fic- surveys.…These run-downs veys. Lefanu is not making in-depth ar- tion by Joanna Russ, etc.) — there were are a great taster for more guments, but offering brief explanations also writers under discussion here whom complex ideas about the and contexts for a series of inter-related genre and its criticism. I had never heard of before. For example, issues like the origin of science fiction in … in the chapter “Travelling Heroinism,” the Gothic tradition (and therefore its The second half of- Lefanu discusses the work of Josephine potentially subversive, woman-oriented fers more in the way of Saxton — a writer whose fiction I’ve nev- roots) and the role that utopia/dysto- Lefanu’s own criticism as er encountered, but who sounds fasci- pia has played in feminist genre writ- she explores her four cho- nating. Lefanu calls her work “difficult to sen authors ing. These run-downs are a great taster classify” (more on this idea of classifica- for more complex ideas about the genre tion in a moment); she “produces works and its criticism; it is worth noting that, of political metaphor” that explore issues in several chapters, Lefanu points the of gender, self, and internality” (31). And, reader to related and more dedicated es- more than that, they sound delightfully says on the given topics — primarily, in weird. The work of Tanith Lee (also a fact, essays written by Joanna Russ. This British author) comes up frequently as perhaps also points to the primary util- well; while I would say that US critics do ity I see for this text, particularly its first occasionally discuss Lee, Lefanu puts a half, in revisiting it: as an introduction much finer point on her contributions to H to these concepts and their significance, feminist SF. I would, having read these and a roadmap for where to go to find contexts and arguments about Tanith 2 out more. Lee’s work, be interested in seeing an es- The second half offers more in the way say that revisits her fiction not simply in of Lefanu’s own criticism as she explores terms of its particular second-wave fem- her four chosen authors: three as “good” inism but in terms of her “third wave” examples and one (Le Guin) as a “bad” work, queer work, and work that presses example. The essay on Le Guin is, for beyond the boundaries of what Lefanu is me, the most interesting of the bunch. primarily discussing here. Though I do think that Lefanu makes several strong points However, that notion of the differ- this is a useful and infor- about the fact that, while Le Guin’s sci- ence between second-wave feminism mative text, reading In the ence fiction novels are accessible in their and contemporary intersectional femi- Chinks of the World Ma- traditionally novelistic sensibilities and nism also brings me to another note — chine was an occasionally while they do “deal with” gender, they are and perhaps a different tone, for a bit.