Women Invent the Future
Jul. 18th, 2018 08:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearDave pointed me towards this free ebook (https://doteveryone.org.uk/women-
Women Invent the Future is a collection of six science fiction short stories and a poem by women writers, designed to present different visions of the future and how gender roles and politics might develop.
I love the idea, but the reality unfortunately didn't really live up to expectations for me. All the concepts were great - babies developed from a single parent's DNA, technology looking into the effects of sleep deprivation, far future space exploration and what biological changes that might require - but the first three stories felt very truncated. There was a lot of exposition and not enough character for me, and they all just kind of stopped without really going anywhere.
Still the other three I did enjoy. There Are Wolves In These Woods by Cassandra Khaw presented a very believable future of being biologically connected to the internet and what that might mean for dating and the ability to have the protection of a group of allies sharing your experience. Chrysalis by Becky Chambers was incredibly short but also incredibly effective, showing a mother's struggle with accepting her daughter's ambitions to go into space. And the last story was that of a priestess discovering a new kind of existence before coming full circle back to her roots.
I didn't really understand the poem, but I've never been very good at poetry.
So, overall, I was glad to have the opportunity to read this, and I would recommend taking a look.
Women Invent the Future is a collection of six science fiction short stories and a poem by women writers, designed to present different visions of the future and how gender roles and politics might develop.
I love the idea, but the reality unfortunately didn't really live up to expectations for me. All the concepts were great - babies developed from a single parent's DNA, technology looking into the effects of sleep deprivation, far future space exploration and what biological changes that might require - but the first three stories felt very truncated. There was a lot of exposition and not enough character for me, and they all just kind of stopped without really going anywhere.
Still the other three I did enjoy. There Are Wolves In These Woods by Cassandra Khaw presented a very believable future of being biologically connected to the internet and what that might mean for dating and the ability to have the protection of a group of allies sharing your experience. Chrysalis by Becky Chambers was incredibly short but also incredibly effective, showing a mother's struggle with accepting her daughter's ambitions to go into space. And the last story was that of a priestess discovering a new kind of existence before coming full circle back to her roots.
I didn't really understand the poem, but I've never been very good at poetry.
So, overall, I was glad to have the opportunity to read this, and I would recommend taking a look.
