stablished in 1991, the award named for author James Tiptree Jr. has always had a quirky reputation—not surprising, given that its jury decides anew every year what exactly it means to write SF and fantasy fiction that "explores and expands" the concept of gender. Challenging readers and writers alike to question their default beliefs about sexuality and gender identity, the award serves up an annual recommended list of delights for any reader looking for groundbreaking or experimental fiction.
The James Tiptree Award Anthology 2, edited by Karen Joy Fowler, Pat Murphy, Debbie Notkin and Jeffrey D. Smith, is a collection of short stories, speeches, novel excerpts and essays that delve into this tricky subject matter. Fiction featured in the collection includes the notorious story "Five F--ks" by Jonathan Lethem, as well as a heartbreaking Carol Emshwiller story, "All of Us Can Almost ...". The book contains everything from an Ekumen tale by Ursula Le Guin—one that explores the true meaning of the sad old saying "You can't go home again"—to the warped fairy tale "Kissing Frogs," Jay Lawrence's thoroughly charming story about an unlikely princess and the blind date that changes her life.
Some of the nonfiction entries in this anthology include are: a Wiscon Guest of Honor in which Nalo Hopkinson discusses her childhood search for images of herself in books and comics, and a paper by Gwyneth Jones, "The Brains of Female Hyena Twins," which digs into recent scientific explorations of the notion of gender, and about how such research affects her work as an SF author. There is also a letter written by James Tiptree herself, in which she discusses why science fiction became her chosen medium for artistic expression.
Mining the mysteries of gender
In a book whose fiction is so varied and so solidly inventive, it is difficult to pick highlights. Mention, however, does go to a pair of excerpts from the books that together won the 2004 Tiptree Award. In Joe Haldeman's SF novel Camouflage, a shapeshifting alien walks out of the sea and begins mimicking humans in an attempt to understand what makes people tick. Meanwhile, in Johanna Sinisalo's fantasy Troll: A Love Story, a young woman takes an abandoned baby troll into her home without considering the ramifications of this decision. These pieces are interesting mirror-reflections of one another: Written in different genres, yet both about aliens making their way among humans. Each piece intrigues and teases, leaving the reader suitably hungry to seek out the entire novel.
Also outstanding is a Raphael Carter piece, "Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation by K.N. Siri and Sandra Botkin," which outlines two researchers' quest to understand a neurological failure that prevents patients from distinguishing men from women. In Carter's world, a few, rare individuals perceive all the shades of difference on the gender spectrum, instead of easily sorting individuals into the male and female categories. The idea is enticing ... and delivered in such a matter-of-fact manner that it is hard to recall one is reading fiction, not truth.
One of the pleasures—both of this second outing and its predecessor—of the Tiptree anthology is the glimpses it offers into the life of its award's namesake. Tiptree's biographer, Julie Phillips, provides some of these insights in her essay "Talking Too Much: About James Tiptree Jr."; others come from Tiptree's playful and yet enigmatic letter to a friend, psychologist Rudolf Arnheim. These pieces, along with works like the semi-biographical essays by Hopkinson and Jones, blur another boundary—that between the writer and what is written.
Though at first glance the stories and essays collected for The James Tiptree Award Anthology 2 seem to be an eclectic and unrelated mix, similarities inevitably shine through. Each piece sizzles and surprises, slapping readers up against their preconceived notions of how the world and humanity operate, and presenting an entirely different view of our reality. At times, that image may seem distorted. A paragraph later it becomes believable, revealing universes which seem perfectly tangible, vastly complex ... and infinitely more exciting than anyone would have guessed.
