I'm struck

[cornerofmadness]

by the irony of the fact that I'm rereading Frankenstein right now for the 200th anniversary of it (the writing I'm assuming since I know it was published in 1818) and realizing that if you think about it, this is one of the very first science fiction stories. All the nonsense last year with the Sad Puppies and the Hugos over women/non-white/non-straight authors and characters and one of the first first SF books was written by a woman.

When I saw Cinda Williams Chima the other day she did mention that she was asked (and this is within the last 15 years) to use her initials because the publisher was afraid no one would buy a fantasy book written by a woman. She refused.

And it's pretty obvious Mary Shelley wasn't an idiot. I've often seen her depicted as a flighty teenager, a mere appendage of her husband. She knew enough science to make it believable for the time period. (I understand that she had seen some of the reanimation exhibitions that were going on back then as they experimented with Galvani's work). She understood alchemy and knew who Von Hohenheim was. In fact Paraclesus's work was part of Frankenstein's inspiration as he looks for the elixir of life.

But women shouldn't write fantasy and SF. Eye rolls.

I had wanted to share this for the last couple days and kept forgetting sadly. It made me sniffle (and makes me wish you could comment to tumblr without having one!)



Today was a waste. All I managed to do was finish reading the scientific papers I needed to get through and picked some mulberries. Sigh.

I need to be writing.

Comments

[mjules.livejournal.com]

You can go to someone's tumblr URL/ask and if they have Anonymous asks turned on, you can send them a message that way. A lot of people don't, though, because that is of course people's favorite way to say stupid, hurtful things.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yes that's true. Even in the rainbow snippet group I'm in on FB there's at least two of them who are playing along and have that turned off (and tumblr does not seem to be a popular format for authors) but thanks

[kerkevik-2014.livejournal.com]

I number myself amongst those who regard Frankenstein as the first Sf novel; everything beforehand being called proto-SF.

Of course I did make a list of my top ten SF authors, and only Joe Haldeman made that list, so maybe a little biased.

kerk

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I think you make a good point really. I consider it one of the first myself though I'll admit I'm not sure I can even think of anything much earlier than that in the SF vein

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Mary Shelley wasn't just a one-hit-wonder either. I can really recommend The Last Man, which she wrote quite a few years later, and which is pretty much The Stand before Stephen King's great great great great grandfather was a gleam in the town cryer's eye.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I have not read that one. I knew she had written others but I hadn't ever investigated them. I'll see if I can find that one.