 First edition | |
| Cover artist | Ann Dalton |
|---|---|
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Published | May 1976 |
| Publisher | Fawcett Gold Medal |
| Media type | Anthology |
| OCLC | 633283420 |
Aurora: Beyond Equality is ananthology offeminist science fiction edited byVonda N. McIntyre and Susan Janice Anderson and published in 1976.[1][2]
Vonda N. McIntyre and Susan Janice Anderson began work onAurora: Beyond Equality in 1974. The anthology followed other collections, such as the 1975 volumeWomen of Wonder edited byPamela Sargent, that sought to explore gender in science fiction and the variation in writing style between male and female authors. McIntyre's "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand" was among the pieces published inWomen of Wonder.[1] ForAurora: Beyond Equality, McIntyre and Anderson asked contributors for stories that, in their words, "would explore the future of human potential after equality between the sexes had been achieved". The editors disliked many of the stories they received, and the collection needed a year to be put together. It was eventually published in May 1976 byFawcett Gold Medal.[1][2][3]
Aurora: Beyond Equality contained eight stories by seven authors, along with an essay byUrsula K. Le Guin.[1] Le Guin's essay, titled "Is Gender Necessary", was a defense of the society of androgynous individuals she depicted inThe Left Hand of Darkness, and her choice to use male pronouns for all of them.[3] McIntyre and Anderson were under the impression that they had selected stories from four men and four women; in fact, two of the stories had come from the same author,Alice Sheldon, writing under two different pseudonyms (James Tiptree Jr. and Raccoona Sheldon).[1] The other women authors wereMildred Downey Broxon,Joanna Russ, andMarge Piercy, while the male authors wereDavid J. Skal,P. J. Plauger andCraig Strete.[1]
Science fiction scholarMike Ashley stated that most of the stories in the collection failed in their attempt to portray ahumanistic society, instead depicting "how hopeless men were and how superior womencould be". According to Ashley, Piercy's "Woman on the Edge of Time", an excerpt from anovel of the same name published later that year, was the only piece depicting a non-sexist future.[1] Tiptree'sHouston, Houston, Do You Read? won theNebula andJupiter awards for best novella in 1976,[4][5] and theHugo Award for Best Novella in 1977,[6] though it was criticized by some reviewers, includingMarion Zimmer Bradley.[1] Plauger's story "Here Be Dragons" entirely avoided using a pronoun for one of the characters, thereby leaving theirgender ambiguous. The technique, later also used by McIntyre in her novelDreamsnake, is described as delivering a feminist lesson, that an individual's capabilities and character were of greater importance than their gender.[2]
