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From: tillson%latour.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Feminist/Non-sexist SF & Fantasy
Message-ID: <150@caip.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: Mon, 21-Oct-85 12:24:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: caip.150
Posted: Mon Oct 21 12:24:11 1985
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Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
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From: tillson%latour.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM


Mary,

In my opinion, the best writer of feminist/non-sexist SF and fantasy is
a man!  I am referring to Samuel Delaney.  I especially liked his Neveryona
series (Neveryona, Tales of Neveryona, and Flight From Neveryona).  It is fine
feminist fantasy; while I was reading it I had to keep checking the cover to 
convince myself that it was not written by a women!  I also really enjoyed
Dhalgren and his latest, Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sands.  No flames,
please, - I realize that Delaney is not to everyone's taste.  He can be 
verbose and has never felt obliged to stick to traditional forms of fiction.
He IS very non-sexist, whether one likes his literary style or not (I do!).

Other feminist/non-sexist authors you might enjoy: Elizabeth Lynn, Vonda 
Macintyre, Ursula Leguin, and Johanna Russ.  If you haven't discovered these
fine writers already, I will gladly recommend titles for you.

One last note:  I am an avid reader of Marion Zimmer Bradley.  I do not
consider her radical feminist works non-sexist because of her often derogatory
attitude towards her male characters.  This is especially true of her most
recent book, Warrior Woman, which read like a feminist version of Gor.  (I read
it and enjoyed it anyway.  Took it with the same grain of non-sexist salt that
I take with H. Rider Haggard and Robert Heinlein's (rather sexist) writing.)
It just goes to show that the sexist shoe fits as badly on the other foot.

/phae