Early Science Fiction and women

[miriam_e]

I'm often surprised how much early science fiction was written by women. It seems to have been made-over into a male domain until fairly recently when a number of women have reclaimed some of the genre. (Some of my favorites are James [Alice Sheldon] Tiptree Jr, Kate Wilhelm, Ursula Le Guin, Melissa Scott.)

What is arguably the most famous science fiction story of all time was written by Mary Shelley: Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus (most people today would know it as Frankenstein's Monster, though of course the 'monster' was a victim of prejudice and was, like Mary Shelley herself, a vegetarian -- in the story the 'normal' people were the actual monsters). You can download it (for free) from Project Gutenberg at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/84

She also wrote another science fiction novel, The Last Man Likewise available from Project Gutenberg at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18247

There is also a strange little short story by her called The Invisible Girl at Project Gutenberg Australia http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0603151h.html

And another short story The Mortal Immortal http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0602391h.html

Louisa May Alcott, best known for Little Women, also wrote a short story Lost in a Pyramid, or the Mummy's Curse, which is at Project Gutenberg Australia http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0603041h.html
Another short story by her, Perilous Play http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0603031h.html is about a drug-induced fantastic voyage.

Comments

Re: Catherine Spence

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Wow! Thank you. It wasn't long ago I was musing on a $5 note and wondering who she was. I should have looked on the net. Silly me!

I've now downloaded and will read A Week in the Future text (http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0603381.txt) or html (http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0603381h.html) on my Palm.

The Wikipedia entry was interesting too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Helen_Spence