A Guide to Speculative Fiction at Gustavus Library: Identities

Librarian's Note: The following is a list of primary and seconday texts discussed in NDL-112 Themes in Science Fiction Literature as the class explored how sf has dealt with diversity in the past and how its evolution has continued into the present. It is important to note that cultural change is never linear or predetermined and it is important to (as one enthusiast of the New Wave told me) "avoid triumphal narratives."

We instead hope to show both that (1) people of diverse gender, ethnic, and other identities have in fact been producing speculative fiction works for a long time, even if their work was not always recognized or was marginalized, and (2) mainstream attitudes in speculative fiction fandom have not always been hospitable to people of diverse backgrounds, the fight against intolerance continues today (but we can also celebrate the "expanding universe" of diversity in SFF authorship and fandom whose emergence has accelerated in the past two decades.)

• "Introduction : Women in Science Fiction" by Pamela Sargent in Women of Wonder (1975)
• “Fault: Love, Sex, and Women in Science Fiction” in The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction by Justine Larbalestier, pp. 125-144
• "The Image of Women in Science Fiction" by Joanna Russ in Science Fiction Criticism : An Anthology of Essential Writings edited by Rob Latham
• "American SF and the Other" by Ursula K. Le Guin in Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 2, No. 3, The Science Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin (Nov., 1975), pp. 208-210
• "Lost Races of Science Fiction" by Octavia E. Butler in Octavia E. Butler : Kindred, Fledgling, Collected Stories edited by Gerry Canavan and Nisi Shawl
• "Racism and Science Fiction" by Samuel R. Delany in The New York Review of Science Fiction, August 1998
• RaceFail '09 - Fanlore
• "‘Sad Puppies’ campaign fails to undermine sci-fi diversity at the Hugo Awards" (Los Angeles Times, August 24, 2015)
• "John W. Campbell, for whom this award was named, was a fascist,” by Jeanette Ng, Medium.com
• “Jeanette Ng was right: John W. Campbell was a fascist” by Cory Doctorow, Locus Magazine
• Isabel Fall’s sci-fi story “I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter” drew the ire of the internet. This is what happened next. (Vox.com, June 30, 2021)
• "The Fat Body Problem" by Meg Elison in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 48.

Three essay anthologies edited by Jim C. Hines related to this subject are available as Kindle e-Books: Invisible: Personal Essays on Representation in SF/F, Invisible 2, and Invisible 3. Modern online sff magazines routinely feature essays and special issues devoted to diverse identities (e.g. Uncanny Magazine Issue Twenty-Four: Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction!) The history of speculative fiction has been shaped by an incredibly diverse group of people, and would seem to have something for everyone (if you know where to find it.)