Meet James Tiptree, Jr.

James Tiptree, Jr. A.K.A. Alice Bradley Sheldon, is a science fiction writer who worked in the areas of gender politics and apocalyptic themes. She is best known for her stories such as "The Screwfly Solution" and "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain." I have been meaning to cover her and her works earlier, along with La Jete, but it took a while longer to get used to the student schedule than I expected. And so, without further ado...

Sheldon was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1915. She is the daughter of Mary Hastings Bradley who was a writer of travel literature and Herbert Bradley, who was an attorney, African explorer and a naturalist. Sheldon traveled with her parents to many parts of the world, including Africa between 1921-1922. She originally wanted to be a professional painter and a graphic artist. She married William Davey in 1934 and divorced from him in 1931. Sheldon became an art critic for the Chicago Sun in 1941 and later joined the military's Air Intelligence in 1942. She was discharged from the military in 1946 with the rank of Major.

Sheldon first published story was "The Lucky Ones," which was featured in The New Yorker. She also managed a business with her husband, Huntington Sheldon. Both Tiptree and her husband began working for the C.I.A. in 1952. Tiptree resigned from the C.I.A. in 1959. She attended American University in 1956, eventually receiving a B.A. in 1959. Sheldon worked for her doctorate in experimental psychology at George Washington University, which she earned in 1967. It was after this point Sheldon started to write fiction under the pseudonym "James Tiptree, Jr." She earend acclaim from using a "masculine" point of view to write about female characters and themes in fiction.

Sheldon's/Tiptree's first story story collection, Ten Thousand Light Years from Home, was published in 1974 by Ace Books. Sheldon also adopted the pseudonym "Racoona Sheldon," which went with the short story "Angel Fix" and "The Screwfly Solution." Sheldon's first novel was Up the Walls of the World, published in 1975. By the time another set of her collection of short stories titled Star Songs of an Old Primate was published, it was revealed that Tiptree was indeed a female writer. Regardless of her discovery, Sheldon won a Nebula Award for "The Screwfly Solution. Sheldon died tragically on May 19, 1987 by shooting herself in the head after killing her invalid husband, who was eighty-four, blind and bedridden.

Sheldon's stories have a very pessimistic tone about them, but the pessimism describes humankind's facination with destroying itself. In "The Screwfly Solution," Sheldon's feminist views come to place when men turned violent towards women after being infected by a mysterious disease. Her views also show up in "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain," where the disease-ridden protagonist hungers for an imaginary woman who is supposed to resemble Earth itself. This could possibly be an analogy that mankind-or humankind for that matter-would want to devour the earth and unwittingly poison it with our technologies. Both these stories can be found in Her Smoke Rose Up Forever.

Sheldon deserves to be studied and read because of her contribution to the science-fiction genre. For those who like some horror in their fiction with science-fiction tones, Sheldon will provide a good reading and analysis for those who are interested (and fear) the apocalypse.

- Kristopher