Alien Sex: Ellen Datlow’s Overview of the SF Orgasm

In this chapter, Jones reviews Ellen Datlow’s anthology, Off Limits: Tales of Alien Sex. Jones unpacks Datlow’s description of sex, gender and abuse and supplements the discussion with her knowledge of other authors, including Pat Cadigan and Ed Bryant, whose literature deals with the treatment of human sexual relations with aliens. In her review, Jones also points out the significance of female writers writing about sex.

No Man’s Land: Feminised Landscapes in the Utopian Fiction of Ursula Le Guin

In this chapter, Jones reviews various texts by Ursula Le Guin, including Always Coming Home, The Dispossessed, The Word for World is Forest, The Left Hand of Darkness, and Sur. Jones draws attention to the depiction of the ‘South’ in literature as a whole, but more specifically in terms of the feminist utopias that Le Guin creates in her narratives. She also foregrounds the significance of navigating the political, social and gender codes of society and explores the ways in which masculinity and femininity often correspond to an imbalance of power.

Consider Her Ways: The Fiction of C.J. Cherryh

This chapter contains Jones’ review of Carolyn J. Cherryh’s novels, mainly Serpent’s Reach and Cyteen. In her review, Jones foregrounds Cherryh’s use of strong female protagonists, and looks at the methods and techniques used to realistically put forward a futuristic piece of fiction.

Trouble (Living in the Machine)

This chapter was originally read at a postgraduate conference called Looking at the Future, held at the University of Sussex in May 1994. The main body of the essay focuses on the difference in the description used to define the physical body compared to the language used when describing human consciousness, and analyses what it means for the genre now that cyberspace isn’t mere science fiction anymore.

Alien Influences: Kristine Kathryn Rusch in the Dark

In this chapter, Jones offers a review of Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Alien Influences. She defines the boundaries between science fiction and fantasy and notes the difficulties that arise when writing about aliens, because of the fact that they have not yet been met by human society. Jones states that Alien Influences is fixated with alienation, instead of aliens, and provides a harsh reflection of humanity.

Plague of Angels: The Fiction of Sheri Tepper

In this chapter, Jones discusses the way that control, sexual politics, and behaviour of men and women is utilised in Tepper’s literature. The review offers an analysis of Slideshow, Plague of Angels, Shadow’s End, and The Gate to Women’s Country, and assesses the portrayal of gender within society.

Return to the Age of Wonder: John Barnes’s A Million Open Doors

In this review Jones provides a commentary on John Barnes’s A Million Open Doors, addressing its involvement in the coming of age genre and its status as a humanist novel. Jones focuses her review on the social and political context both surrounding the novel and present within it, drawing on the characterisation and art forms put forward in the narrative.

Glory Season: David Brin’s Feminist Utopia

In this review of David Brin’s Glory Season, Jones foregrounds the issues that arise when feminism is looked at from a male perspective. She criticises the text for presenting a feminist utopia so clearly designed by a man and analyses the sexual stereotyping that comes out of it.

In the Chinks of the World Machine: Sarah Lefanu on Feminist SF

This chapter contains the first review in the final section of the book, ‘The Reviews’. Within it, Jones critically analyses Sarah Lefanu’s In the Chinks of the World Machine. In her review, Jones addresses the relationship between feminism and science fiction and assesses the relevance of gender roles.

The Furies: Suzy Charnas Beyond the End of the World

In this review of Suzy Charnas’s Holdfast Chronicles trilogy, Jones analyses the treatment of male and female gender roles and explores the significance and consequences of a female utopia with a total absence of men. Jones references social engineering and power dynamics in all books in the trilogy: Walk to the End of the World, Motherlines, and The Furies.