Alice Hastings Bradley Sheldon wrote most of her fiction as James Tiptree--she was making a point about sexist assumptions and also keeping her US government employers from knowing her business. Most of her books are collections of short stories; Her Smoke Rose Up Forever is the best selection. Sheldon's best stories combine radical feminism with a tough-minded tragic view of life; even virtuous characters are exposed as unwitting beneficiaries of disgusting socio-economic systems. Even good men are complicit in women's oppression, as in her most famous stories 'The Women Men Don't See' and 'Houston, Houston, Do you Read ?' or in ecocide. Much of her work, even at its most tragic, has an attractively ironic tone which sometimes becomes straightforwardly comedy - it is important to stress that Tiptree's deep seriousness never becomes sombre or pompous. Her two novels Up the Walls of the World and Brightness Falls from the Air are both remarkable transfigurations of stock space opera material--the former deals with a vast destroying being, sympathetic aliens at risk of destruction by it and human telepaths trying to make contact across the gulf of stars. When both she and her husband became debilitatingly ill, she shot him and killed herself.
Genres: Science Fiction
Novels
Up the Walls of the World (1978)
Brightness Falls from the Air (1985)
The Starry Rift (1986)
The Girl Who Was Plugged In (1989)
Houston, Houston, Do You Read? (1989)
Brightness Falls from the Air (1985)
The Starry Rift (1986)
The Girl Who Was Plugged In (1989)
Houston, Houston, Do You Read? (1989)
Collections
Ten Thousand Light Years from Home (1973)
Warm Worlds and Otherwise (1975)
The Fiction of James Tiptree, Jr. (1977)
Star Songs of an Old Primate (1978)
Out of Everywhere (1981)
Her Smoke Rose up Forever (1985)
Byte Beautiful (1985)
Tales of the Quintana Roo (1986)
Crown of Stars (1988)
Neat Sheets (poems) (1996)
Meet Me at Infinity (2000)
The Voice That Murmurs in the Darkness (2023)
Warm Worlds and Otherwise (1975)
The Fiction of James Tiptree, Jr. (1977)
Star Songs of an Old Primate (1978)
Out of Everywhere (1981)
Her Smoke Rose up Forever (1985)
Byte Beautiful (1985)
Tales of the Quintana Roo (1986)
Crown of Stars (1988)
Neat Sheets (poems) (1996)
Meet Me at Infinity (2000)
The Voice That Murmurs in the Darkness (2023)
Omnibus editions
Anthologies containing stories by James Tiptree Jr
Best SF: 1969 (1969)
aka The Year's Best Science Fiction 3
Again Dangerous Visions Book 2 (1973)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 2 (1973)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 3 (1974)
Nebula Award Stories 9 (1974)
Final Stage (1974)
The Hugo Winners: Volume 3, Part 3 (1977)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 6 (1977)
The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction 22nd Series (1977)
Nebula Winners 12 (1978)
The Best of New Dimensions (1979)
Aliens! (1980)
Universe 10 (1980)
Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year 1980 (1981)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 10 (1981)
Fantasy Annual V (1982)
The Road to Science Fiction 4 (1982)
The Year's Best Fantasy Stories 10 (1984)
The Year's Best Science Fiction Third Annual Collection (1986)
Terry Carr's Best Science Fiction of the Year 15 (1986)
Universe 17 (1987)
Great Science Fiction of the 20th Century (1987)
A Century of Fantasy 1980-1989 (1990)
The Mammoth Book of Modern Science Fiction (1993)
Future Earths : Under South American Skies (1993)
Invaders! (1993)
The Norton Book of Science Fiction (1993)
The Ascent of Wonder (1994)
New Eves (1994)
The Good Old Stuff (1995)
Women of Wonder (1995)
The Penguin Book of Modern Fantasy by Women (1995)
Cybersex (1996)
Visions of Wonder (1996)
Timegates (1997)
The Science Fiction Century (1997)
Bangs and Whimpers (1999)
Explorers (2000)
The Furthest Horizon (2000)
Aliens Among Us (2000)
aka The Year's Best Science Fiction 3
Again Dangerous Visions Book 2 (1973)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 2 (1973)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 3 (1974)
Nebula Award Stories 9 (1974)
Final Stage (1974)
The Hugo Winners: Volume 3, Part 3 (1977)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 6 (1977)
The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction 22nd Series (1977)
Nebula Winners 12 (1978)
The Best of New Dimensions (1979)
Aliens! (1980)
Universe 10 (1980)
Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year 1980 (1981)
The Best Science Fiction of the Year 10 (1981)
Fantasy Annual V (1982)
The Road to Science Fiction 4 (1982)
The Year's Best Fantasy Stories 10 (1984)
The Year's Best Science Fiction Third Annual Collection (1986)
Terry Carr's Best Science Fiction of the Year 15 (1986)
Universe 17 (1987)
Great Science Fiction of the 20th Century (1987)
A Century of Fantasy 1980-1989 (1990)
The Mammoth Book of Modern Science Fiction (1993)
Future Earths : Under South American Skies (1993)
Invaders! (1993)
The Norton Book of Science Fiction (1993)
The Ascent of Wonder (1994)
New Eves (1994)
The Good Old Stuff (1995)
Women of Wonder (1995)
The Penguin Book of Modern Fantasy by Women (1995)
Cybersex (1996)
Visions of Wonder (1996)
Timegates (1997)
The Science Fiction Century (1997)
Bangs and Whimpers (1999)
Explorers (2000)
The Furthest Horizon (2000)
Aliens Among Us (2000)
Short stories
Beam Us Home (1969) | |||
The Last Flight of Doctor Ain (1969) | Nebula Awards (nominee) | ||
The Snows Are Melted, the Snows Are Gone (1969) | |||
I'm Too Big But I Love to Play (1970) | |||
Mother in the Sky with Diamonds (1971) | |||
And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side (1972) | Hugo (nominee) Nebula Awards (nominee) | ||
The Man Who Walked Home (1972) | |||
The Milk of Paradise (1972) | |||
Painwise (1972) | Hugo (nominee) | ||
The Girl Who was Plugged in [short story] (1973) | Nebula Awards (nominee) Hugo | ||
Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death (1973) | Hugo (nominee) Nebula Awards | ||
The Women Men Don't See (1973) | |||
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever [short story] (1974) | |||
A Momentary Taste of Being (1975) | Nebula Awards (nominee) | ||
Houston, Houston, Do You Read? [short story] (1976) | Hugo Nebula Awards | ||
The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats (1976) | |||
Time-Sharing Angel (1977) | Hugo (nominee) | ||
Slow Music (1980) | |||
A Source of Innocent Merriment (1980) | |||
Lirios: A Tale of the Quintana Roo (1981) | Nebula Awards (nominee) | ||
The Boy Who Waterskied to Forever (1982) | Hugo (nominee) | ||
Beyond the Dead Reef (1983) | |||
The Only Neat Thing to Do (1985) | Hugo (nominee) Nebula Awards (nominee) | ||
Second Going (1987) |
Awards
|
James Tiptree Jr recommends

Cautionary Tales (1978)
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
"Science fiction with fangs and claws... A rich book, no story like any other."
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