After Class Writing: Star Trek, Samuel R. Delany, and James Tiptree, Jr.

17 Replies

Combine last week’s and this week’s classes into a summary of the Star Trek viewing and the readings by Samuel R. Delany and James Tiptree, Jr. We’re crossing over from the New Wave into Feminist SF this week, too, which should be noted in your summaries.

17 thoughts on “After Class Writing: Star Trek, Samuel R. Delany, and James Tiptree, Jr.”

  1. Brianna

    Brianna Grant
    Eng2420 E255 Science Fiction
    Prof. Ellis
    City Tech
    24 November 2017

    During lecture on November 24,2017, Professor Ellis expounded on the topic of Star Trek, Samuel R. Delaney and James Tiptree Jr. He also elaborated on the essential works that were published by these phenomenal authors and how these works and viewpoints affected the era of the evolution of feminist science fiction.
    The first topic was on the subject of Star Trek. Professor Ellis stated that “Star Trek” (1966-1969) was aired on NBC, had three seasons of showtime and was created by Jean Rottenbury (1921-1991). He then digressed on the six characteristics of Star Trek which are:

    (1) Socially progressive optimistic about future
    (2) Blends the fantastic with the familiar
    (3) Social criticism of the here and now
    (4) Formulaic
    (5) Alien Superbeings
    (6) Scientifically Lax

    Next, he spoke about Samuel R. Delaney (1942-) who informally goes by the name of Chip by those who know him. Professor Ellis states that Professor Delaney is a gay science fiction writer who was once married to a Jewish woman by the name of Marlyn Hacker from 1961-1980 and she bore his only daughter. He has been teaching since 1988 and garnered his education from Temple University. He finally elaborated on the six characteristics of his writing style:

    (1) Main characters usually have physical or psychological damage
    (2) Delaney highlights the social backgrounds in colorful detail
    (3) Mythology is important to his stories
    (4) Communication, linguists/ language
    (5) Explores cultural difference and social construction of identity
    (6) Sexuality& Erotocism

    Some influential works of Professor Delaney are “Einstein Intersection” (1967) and “Dhalgren” (1975).
    The next era of science fiction is called feminist science fiction (19th-20th century). The seven characteristics of the feminist science fiction are:

    (1) Sex
    (2) Gender
    (3) Sexuality
    (4) Sexism
    (5) Patriarchy
    (6)Heteronormativity
    (7) Feminism

    Lastly, Professor Ellis expounded on the topic of James Tiptree Jr. whose actual name is Alice B. Sheldon (1915-1987) who also had an alias named Robert Silverberg. She was an influential individual. In her lifetime, she joined the U.S army , worked with the Pentagon and even worked for the CIA before she decided to write. The themes of her work were sex, fashion, issues of identity, feminist depictions of male and female relations, ecology and even death. In conclusion Alice B. Sheldon died in 1987 after shooting her husband and committing divide thereafter. It was proclaimed that in her suicide note the both her and her husband made a pact that if one of them began to go that the other would do the honors.

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  2. CarissaSimeone

    Carissa Simeone
    ENG 2420
    Afterclass writing
    11/15 & 11/22

    In the week of 11-15, Professor Ellis discussed 2 significant authors of SF. Harlan Ellison (1934), wrote unique short stories and screenplays. Robert Silverberg described Ellison as insecure on the inside, but fearless, hyper-kinetic, and dominates the crowd in any room. In 1967, Ellison peaked, and had 3 major accomplishments. First, he began editing Dangerous Visions, which was a set of anthologies. He wrote “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”, and “Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes”. Lastly, in 1967, he created a screenplay on TV, a teleplay, from the Star Trek series, titled The City on the Edge of Forever.

    The second prominent author that we discussed was Philip K. Dick (1928 – 1982). The K is for Dick’s middle name Kindred. He lived in California majority of his life. Dick wrote mainstream novels but published after his death, and he gained the most fame right before he passed, and after his death. He was accompanied with amphetamines to assist him in his writing, constantly staying by the typewriter. Because of this, he was able to write many stories in one year.

    The six characteristics of Dick’s work are as follows:
    1.Ontological problems → philosophical concepts, dealing with beings/authenticity/existence.
    2.Epistemological problems → relating to the theory of knowledge, methods, beliefs or opinions.
    3.Entropy → falling into chaos. This idea we have to supply energy.
    4.Empathy → being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes
    5.Religion → agnosticism (hidden knowledge), Asia’s religious practices.
    6.The Little Man → Most of the heroes in his writing are little men, i.e. salesman, technician.

    Star Trek was first air in 1966 throughout 1969. The series lasted 3 seasons on NBC. The show was created by Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991). A form WW II polite, and eventually became a L.A.P.D. officer where he his ideas first began circulating, fueling the concept for Star Trek. Professor Ellis described Roddenberry as a humanist, agnosticism, acknowledging that their is a high power beyond humans in our universe, just not sure what exactly who or what it is.

    Star Trek can reflect on influence from the New Wav SF, primarily in Season 1 & 2 of Star Trek.

    The 6 characteristics of Star Trek:

    1.Socially progressive/optimistic about the future
    2.Blends fantasy with the familiar.
    3.Social criticism of the here and now’s is safely valid in the SF.
    4.Formulaic, meaning that the episodes were individualized, the story line did not continue after the episode ended.
    5.Many alien super-beings
    6.Scientifically lax

    Major characters of Star Trek consist of:
    -Captain Tiberus Kurt played by William Shatner
    -Mr. Spock played by Leonard Nimoy
    -Dr. McCoy played by DeForest Kelly
    -Lt. Uhura played by Michelle Nichols

    Samuel R. Delany (1942) a.k.a. Chip, was a prominent SF man of many skills. He critiqued, taught since 1988 as a professor, wrote, edited, and also widely known for being a gay figure in the SF genre. Delany had a wide audience of readership.
    Delany’s 6 characteristics that reflected in his work are as follows:

    1.Main characters usually have physical or psychological damages.
    2.Highlights the social background of stories in colorful detail.
    3.Mythology is important in Delany’s stories.
    4.Focused on the soft science such as communication/linguistics/language. He believed our perception is based on how we communicate.
    5.Explores cultural differences /social construction of identity.
    6.Sexuality and eroticism

    The final author discussed last class was James Tiptree Jr. (1915-1987) a.k.a Alice Bradley Sheldon. Before becoming an SF writer, she joined the U.S. Army, and worked for the CIA.
    The themes of her writing consist of issues of identity, sex, fashion, feministic perspective on female and male relationships. She shot her husband in 1997, and committed suicide right after.

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  3. Rebecca D.

    Rebecca Delgado
    ENG 2420
    Professor Ellis
    November 29, 2017

    On 11/15/17 an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series called The City On the Edge of Forever played. The show was created by Gene Rodenberry (1921-1991) a World War II pilot who later began writing for television. Rodenberry was said to be a humanist meaning he thought we can accomplish great things and agnostist, meaning he believes the earth was created by a higher power. The main characters of Star Trek include Captain James Tiberius Kirk, Mr. Spock who is half human and half vulcan, Dr. McCoy aka Bones, Mr. Sulu (a Japanese American), and Scotty. The bridge crew include Pavel Chekov (a Russian crew member during the time of the Cold War) and Lt. Uhura, a Black woman who outranked her male officers. In the episode mentioned, Dr. McCoy goes temporarily insane due to a cordrazine overdose and ends up time travelling back to New York City during the 1930s, altering the timeline. Kirk and Spock travel back to save him and end up meeting a woman named Edith, who Kirk was fond of. Unfortunately for her, in order to restore the timeline Edith needs to be hit by a car despite Dr. McCoy attempting to save her, to which Kirk restrained him.
    Samuel R. Delaney was born in 1942 and is a SF writer, critic and recently retired college professor. Delaney is a gay African American male, and has written books on what SF is ontop of writing novels/short stories. Some components to his short stories include:

    1. The main character usually has physical or psychological damage.

    2. Highlights the social background of stories in colorful details.

    3. Methodology is important to his stories.

    4. Stories are often about communication linguistics and language.

    5. Explores cultural differences in the social construction of identity.

    6. Sexuality and eroticism.

    In “Aye, and Gomorrah” there are two kinds of people, spacers who were neutered and people who worship them sexuality, frelks. A Turkish woman wanted to have sex with a spacer in the story but did not have money to do so, eventually telling the spacer about a bar with people like himself.
    Feminist SF started to become popular in the 1960s. It dealt with topics of sex, gender, sexism, patriarchy and heteronormativity. Feminism is the belief that people be treated equally regardless of sex, gender and/or sexual orientation. The most up to date feminist movement is called 3rd Wave which began in the 1990s since it recognizes that there is no universal female identity and tends to caters to everyone’s needs.
    James Tiptree Jr. aka Alice B. Sheldon was a popular author who used her pseudo name to publish stories. She was born in 1915 and died in 1987. She was very accomplished; she worked in the Pentagon, the C.I.A., then obtained a Ph.D in Experimental Psychology in 1967 all while writing stories. Common themes included sex, issues of identity, death, feminist depiction of male/female relations and ecology.
    In “The Women Men Don’t See”, the character Ruth was often not heard when she would talk to Don. When Ruth plead with the aliens to take her and Althea away, Don could not understand why they would rather leave Earth and be with aliens. Even though Ruth has spoken to him about feeling alienated since she was a woman, with him brushing her off.

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  4. Jia Du

    Jia Du
    ENG 2420
    Professor Ellis
    11/15/17 &11/22/17

    From November 15, 2017 to the 22nd the professor started the class discussion with the topic about Star trek. The three seasons of Star Trek was aired on NBC (1966-1969). The show was created by Gene Roddenberry (1921-1999) He was a WWII pilot and then went to become a commercial pilot then LAPD. Then he decided to be a writer and pitched the idea Berry to the Stars which was about exploring new worlds and seek new life. There were six characteristics in Star Trek.
    1. Socially progressive optimistic about the future.
    2. Star Trek blends the fantastic with the familiar.
    3. Social Critics of the here and now is safely valid in science fiction.
    4. Formulaic
    5. A lot of Alien with super beams
    6. Scientifically Lax
    Next the professor discussed the characters in star trek and their backgrounds. In addition the writer for star trek was influenced by the New Wave. Samuel R. Delany (1942-present) was married to Marilyn Hacker (1961-1980). Samuel also taught in Temple University and his six writing style characteristics are-
    1. Main characters have physical or physiological damage.
    2. Highlights social background of stories in colorful detail.
    3. Mythology is important to his stories.
    4. Stories about communication linguistics and language.
    5. Explores cultural differences and the social construction of identity.
    6. Sexuality and Eroticism.

    Delany had different audiences and writing style. Some of his works are Babel 17 (1966) which won the Nebula Award. Einstein Intersection (1967) about earth where humans no longer exist so the aliens that arrived took the role as humans. And Dhalgren (1975).

    The Next topic the professor discussed was Feminist SF. The key terms are,
    1. Sex
    2. Gender
    3. Sexually
    4. Sexism
    5. Patriarchy
    6. Feminism

    First wave Feminism was 19th-20th Century about women suffrage (vote rights and education), better working conditions, women inferior to men. Second wave was during 1950-1980 (women liberation and challenging the ideals of WWII nuclear family). Third Wave 1990s recognized different needs, ideas, culture.
    Pamela Sargent published Women of Wonder (1974) and stated that SF and Fantasy are the only genera that enable the author to envision women in her different or alternate surroundings and social structure.
    The Characteristics are:
    1. Explore men and women social disorder
    2. Reimagine gender rolls
    3. Undermine the natural sex gender relationship.
    4. New means of reproduction.
    5. Illustrate various sexuality’s
    6. Consider the ramification of masculine science and Feminist Science.
    Next person the professor mentioned was James Tiptree Jr. which was a pen name. Her real name is Alice Bradley Sheldon (1915-1987). She was in the U.S. Army, Worked at the pentagon, then the CIA. She was married twice and committed suicide. One of her important works were “The Women Men Don’t See”. The story was about a plan that crashed leaving a group of people stranded and that’s when the story talks about feminism. The women Ruth feels alienated because she is a women and the men does not understand her ideas & views. Then they encounter aliens. Ruth plead the aliens to take her and Althea away while Don wanted to save her from them but that the end the aliens left with the females leaving Don behind confused. Basically the story is about the men and how they can’t understand women.
    The novel “Aye, and Gomorrah” by Samuel R. Delany is about a world where astronauts known as Spacers undergo surgical treatment before puberty. They are neutered to avoid any diseases which results them from puberty to occur and have no sexual urges. In the story were are also Frelks who are attracted to Spacers they are known for giving money for sexual favors from the Spacers (prostitution).

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  5. Saif Ahmed

    Saif Ahmed
    Prof. Ellis
    ENG 2420
    11/28/2017

    In class we watched a star trek class named the “The City on The Edge of Forever” this show was created by Gene Roddenberry in 1966 to 1969 and this was on NBC for 3 seasons. Gene was an ww2 pilot, then he became a professional airline pilot, then an LAPD officer and finally he started writing television series. Now the star trek episode Capt. of the starship and crew set out to find the Dr. who had stabbed himself with a drug type substance and now he is hyper and the crew find a time warp that sends them in the past they went to find the doctor who changed time by not allowing a female to die in the past by getting hit with a car. The Capt. and Mr. Spock go to the past and they land not knowing anything of this past go looking for the Dr. The capt. Falls in love with the lady that is supposed to die and Mr. Spock showed the Capt. That she must die in order for the future to have balance. So they find the Doctor and the lady crosses the doctor tries to save her but The Capt. Sacrificing his love for her so that the future may be fixed she gets hit by the car and she dies. The future is back to normal all their technologies work again. In “Aye of Gomorrah” by Samuel R. Delany born 1942 and is still alive his short story is about a bunch of space kids who are raised until they are be able to handle the radiation and these kids are deprived of sexual desires and are sought out by Frelks or a group of individuals who fantasize and the desire of the spacers are due to their own lack of sexual problems. James Tiptree Jr. born 1915 to 1987 wrote “The Women Men Don’t See” this story is set in Mexico and it has a Captain wanting to protect the women and that women always would desire a man’s protection. The captain thinks women should feel helpless and he wanted to be desirable to women. The women get bored of earth and go off with the aliens. Now the man is Alienated.

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  6. Mellissa

    Mellissa Valle
    Prof. Ellis
    ENG 2420

    Still New Wave
    Harlan Ellison(1934-present) Big year for him 1967. First, he began editing “Dangerous Visions”, and then published “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”, and “Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes”. Other works : “Repent, Harlequin, Said the Ticktockman!”(1965), the film “A Boy and His Dog” (1975). Ellison has won eight Hugo Awards, two special awards from annual World SF Conventions; four Nebula Awards of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) Too bad his first day as a writer for Disney Studios he got fired for jokingly suggesting a “porn Disney flick”. XD

    Philip Kindred Dick (1928 – 1982). A romantic man who married 5 times and had 3 children. In 1960 he wrote 24 novels but became famous only after his death. Characteristics of his work: 1) Ontological problem(existence/being/reality) 2) Epistemological problems (philosophy of knowledge) 3) Entropy (order of things). 4) Empathy (being able to feels what others) 5) Religion (gnosticism/ 23-74 February-March 1974). 6) The Little Man (not the all powerful hero).
    Some of his works: “The Man in the High Castle” (1962), “The Grasshopper Lies Heavy”, “Galactic Pot-Healer” (1969) ,”Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”(1968), “A Scanner Darkly”(1977), “VALIS” (1981).

    Star Trek, “The City on the Edge of Forever”
    Star Trek (1966-1969) NBC for 3 seasons. Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991). A form WWII pilot, and then started written for TV in LA. Roddenberry was a humanist(humans are the most important), not exactly religious but he believed that there is a higher being who created the world.
    Opening narration at the beginning of every Star Trek episode “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations…” Meaning that Aliens are people too, they have their own civilization … “ to boldly go where no man has gone before.” Later changed to “no one”

    General characteristics:
    1)Socially progressive and optimistic about the future 2)Blends the fantastic with the familiar. 3)Social criticism of the here and now. SF makes it safe. 4)Formulaic, individualized episodes, maybe cliffhanger within the episode.5) A whole lot of alien super-beings(not gods but sure advanced) 6)Scientifically lax(they used words that sound like science and engineering very smart but they were just making things up) 😀
    Star Trek crew :
    -Captain Tiberus Kurt played by William Shatner
    -Mr. Spock played by Leonard Nimoy
    -Dr. McCoy played by DeForest Kelly
    -Lt. Uhura played by Michelle Nichols
    Nichols wanted to leave the show, but a big fan, Martin Luther King Jr, called her and asked her not to leave. She represented so much more than just her individual aspirations.
    Samuel R. Delany (1942-present) a.k.a. Chip, gay African American figure in the SF genre. Some of his important work: “Aye and Gomorrah” , “Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones”,”Einstein Intersection”(1967),”Babel-17”(1967), “Dhalgren”(1975)…
    Delany’s work:
    1)Main characters usually have physical or psychological damages. 2)Highlights the social background of stories in colorful detail. 3)Mythology is important to his stories. 4) Stories were often about communication, linguistics, language(soft science). He believed that our perception of reality depends on the way that we communicate. 5)Explores cultural differences and social construction of identity. 6) Sexuality and eroticism

    Feminist SF started.
    Alice Bradley Sheldon (1915 – 1987) better known as James Tiptree Jr.
    Terms: 1) Sex/biological 2)Sexuality/sexual feelings for someone 4) Sexism/discrimination female based sex 5) Patriarchy/male domination sociality 6)Heteronormativity 7) Feminism/all people are equal regardless of sex or sexual orientation.
    First Wave Feminism(19’s-1920’s) education rights for girls, better working condition, rejection of the idea that women are less than man. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 –1797) “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”. Women give birth to children, they need education.
    Second Wave Feminism(1950-80’s): its major ideas: Women’s liberation. Challenge to the ideas of the post WWII in nuclear family. Later the foundation of NOW org. Three books on Feminism “The Second sex” by Simone de Beauvoir. “The Feminine Mystique“ by Betty Friedan, “The Dialectic of Sex” by Frestone.
    Third Wave Feminism(1990’s): 1) Recognizes that there is not a universal stereotype female 2) Affinity politics/ work together to achieve goals 2) Fight back to the 2nd wave feminism 3) The RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) 4) “The Empire Strikes Back” by Sandy Stone
    Mary Shelley, Frankenstein(1818) Feminist critique because Victor creates the being without a woman, and women are not giving a voice
    Definition by Pamela Sargent “Women of Wonder” “SF and Fantasy are the only genres that unable the author to envision women in new different or alternative surroundings and social structures”.
    What Feminist SF do:1) Explore , patriarchal , matriarchal, engalaterum social orders.2) Reimagine genre roles. 3) Undermine the neutralized sex genre relationship. 4) Posit new needs? of reproduction. 5) Illustrates varies sexualities 6) consider the ramification of both masculine science and feminist science.

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  7. Justin Tam

    Justin Tam
    ENG 2420
    Professor Ellis
    November 29, 2017
    Star Trek was created by Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991). Roddenberry was a WWII pilot and after a while when he became an LAPD officer, he began writing for television. He pitched Star Trek as “wagon train to the stars.” Star Trek was also the first to show an interracial kiss between two actors in 1968 which caused a lot of controversy. There are 6 characteristics mentioned about Star trek:
    1. They are socially progressive and optimistic about the future
    2. Blends the fantastic with the familiar (evoke things audience can relate to)
    3. Social criticism of the here and now (safe place to indirectly talk about current situations happening in the world without directly confronting it, using Star Trek as front)
    4. Formulaic. Each episode is self-contained, story from each episode doesn’t overlap
    5. Whole lot of super-alien-beings since aliens been around longer than humans, they are portrayed as super beings while humans are relatively “a kid” compared with age
    6. Uses technobabble, which are actors using scientific words to sound like they know what they’re saying but is actually just a bunch of nonsense
    The episode of Star Trek that we saw in class was about
    Samuel R. Delany (1942-present) is an African American SF writer, critic, and taught in many universities. Not only did he write SF stories, he also wrote books about what SF is and things like how it does what it does. He believes that our perception of reality depends on our language. Six characteristics of Delany’s stories include:
    1. Main characters usually have physical or psychological damage
    2. Highlights social backgrounds of story in colorful detail
    3. Mythology is important, he either brings in mythology that was already created or he creates it for his story
    4. Often about communication, linguistic, language (soft science)
    5. Explores cultural difference in the social construction of identity
    6. Brings sexualism and erotism to his SF
    The first wave of feminism was during the 1920s, it included things like woman’s suffrage, education rights for girls, better working conditions, and trying to get rid of the idea that woman is inferior to man. Next comes the second wave of feminism during the 1950s and 1980s, it included things like woman liberation, civil rights, equal pay, challenged the thought of the post-nuclear WWII family and why it became a thing, reproductive rights, and the founding of the National Woman Organization. The third wave of feminism began in the 1990s and into the present (?). It includes the recognition that there is not a universal identity where everyone is the same or assumed the same, had affinity politics where if another political situation group had a similar problem they can group up for the similar cause while working on what they believe in.
    Six feminism SF characteristics include:
    1. Explores patriotic, matrilocal, egalitarian, and social order issues
    2. Reimagine gender roles
    3. Undermines the naturalized sex gender relationship
    4. Pursuit new means of sexual reproduction
    5. Illustrates various sexualities
    6. Considers the ramifications of both masculine science and feminist science
    Alice B. Sheldon (1915-1987) used the pen name of James Tiptree Jr. because she knew that as a female writer she would be looked down upon even if her work was great (short stories was her strong suit), so she used the pen name in order to protect herself and her job. Sheldon was in the US army, worked for air force intelligence (OSS, Office of Strategic Services), worked in the pentagon, then went on to work for the CIA until she became a spy later on. Sheldon received a PHD in psychological science in 1967. Five characteristics of Sheldon’s stories includes:
    1. Often involve sex
    2. Issues of identity
    3. Feminist depictions of female and male relationships
    4. Ecology, describes the environment vividly
    5. Involves a lot of death in the stories

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  8. RafMal87

    In class on November 14, we watched an episode of Stark Trek, entitled “The City on the Edge of Forever” (1967). Before this, however, we spoke a bit about the writer of the episode, Harlan Ellison (b. 1934). Ellison is a leading figure in The New Wave sf writing, with many of his works reflecting upon human ethics, courage and taking place in urban/city environments. He has been awarded 88 Hugo Awards 3 Nebulas and is the 23rd Grandmaster of SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America). He is an outspoken activist, going so far as to pack a trailer with all of his supplies to remain self-sufficient during a convention in Arizona in the 1960s during the peak of the conflicts of the equal rights amendment. His boycott was to assure the public that he did not support the state that would not support the amendment. In 1967, he had what is called “a big year of Ellison:” his anthology called Dangerous Vision was edited, he wrote the teleplay for Stark Trek that we watched in class, which won a Hugo for Dramatic Presentation despite its being softened for the public. Dangerous Visions was a pretty big deal because it broke the mold for sf writers. Many had to “qualify” to get published in the current magazines about, but Harlan was looking for the unconventional, the darker literature, and the stories that made people feel uncomfortable.
    We delved further into Philip K. Dick (1928-1982), and his writing. The characteristics of his stories are that they deal primarily in ontological problems (having to do with the reality of the world and how we view it), epistemological problems (the politics of the world), entropy (the idea that we are all worker ants keeping the world from chaos), empathy, regilion, specifically Gnosticism and and asian religion called ken chi, and the little man (an everyday man without special characteristics is the protagonist). Dick had a strange thing happen to him on February 2, 1974, and it changed his life and his writing thus onward. His writing began to be about figuring out what happened, using religion and an alter ego to try and figure out what the phenomenon was and what it signified. He is a bit like the Picasso of sf, with most of his works emerging and becoming popular after his death. Some amazing movies have been based off of his stories: Bladerunner, Total Recall, Screamers, Minority Report, Imposter, Paycheck, A Scanner Darkly, Next, The Adjustment Borough, and Bladerunner 2049.
    Finally, we watched the episode from Stark Trek, “The City on the Edge of Forever.” This tells the story of time travel, and how Captain Kirk and Spok must go back in time to prevent Doc from changing history while on his accidental adrenaline high. Questions of ethics and sacrifice are brought up, when Captain Kirk begins to fall for the woman who must be sacrificed to maintain the normalcy of the world.
    Some Characterstics of Star Trek are-
    1- Socially progressive and optimistic about the future (social justice warrior)
    2- blends the fantastic with the familiar.
    3- social criticism of the here and now is safely veiled in the science fiction.– social progressivism related to being veiled– a safe place to address social problems (eg first interracial kiss in 1968, super beings force Kirk and Uhura to kiss) a mere year after interracial marriage approved in 1967
    4- formulaic, but unlike the pulp sfs, they are individualized episodes with cliffhangers within the episode to keep watchers tuned in through commercials
    5- a WHOLE lot of alien super beings– the idea is that humanity has only been around for a short period of time, so therefore these aliens would be more progressed and their knowledge is greater than theirs.
    6- scientifically lax- the point is to be entertaining, using techno-babble, not hard science, giving the rhetoric of science, but not real words at all.
    After going over these characteristic of Stark Trek on November 22, we moved on to discuss Samuel R. Delany and James Tiptree Jr. Samuel R. Delany (b. 1942) is a sf writer, critic, and professor. He is one of the first African American sf writers, and self identifies as gay writer.
    Characteristics of a Delany story-
    1) main characters usually have physical or psychological damage
    2) highlights the social background of stories in colorful detail
    3) mythologyy is important
    4) often about communication, linguistics, and language (soft sciences)- believes that our perception of reality are based on our lingistics– semiotics- study of signs (signification)
    5) explores cultural difference and the social construction of identity (Judith Butler)
    6) sexuality and eroticism
    We moved on to feminism sf, talking about the three waves of feminism so far and how many literature helped to steer and support the movements. The writings focused a lot of sex (male, female, intersex), gender (self-identification), sexuality (sexual orientation), sexism and it’s stereotypes, patriarchy (male dominated societies), heteranormativity (the promotion of heterosexuality as normal or preferred), and feminism (all ppl equal regardless of sex gender or orientation)
    Characteristics of feminism sf-
    1- explores patriarchal, matriarchal and egalitarian social orders (all control)
    2- re-imagine gender roles
    3- undermine the naturalized sex-gender relationship
    4- deposit new means of reproduction
    5- illustrate various sexualities (animal, mechanical, etc)
    6- consider the ramifications of both masculine and feminist science- science is not objective, you must modify and alter between different circumstances
    James Tiptree Jr is one of the pseudonyms that Alice B. Sheldon (1915-1987) used in her writing. She wrote “The women men don’t see” (Dec 1973) published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Some of the themes in her work are sex, issues of identity, feminist depictions of male and female relations, ecology (a heavy description of the environment) and death. She went many years assumed a man in her writing to the point that Robert Silverberg insisted adamantly that she could not be a female writer because her writing was so masculine. She worked with law enforcement and was in the CIA, which could be one of the reasons why she kept a pseudonym, because even after she came out as a woman, she wrote under the name Roconna Sheldon.

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  9. Alex G

    Alex Giffen
    ENG 2420
    Prof. Ellis
    29 November 2017

    In class we watched the Star Trek episode “City on the Edge of Forever.” In this episode the crew needs to correct time after Bones jumps through a portal changing time. Captain Kirk and Spock must allow an innocent woman to die for the good of the world. This concept follows the New Wave SF it was derived from, but also has Gene Roddenberry’s influence as well. Roddenberry was a humanist and agnostic which greatly influenced his work. Star Trek has 6 characteristics that it follows: 1. It was socially progressive, having black females in rank was just one example of this. 2. It blends fantastic with familiar, such as the concept of a hierarchy of power on the ship. 3. It veiled issues of the present in SF, like the first interracial kiss on TV. 4. It was formulaic and followed similar plots. 5. Aliens were superbeings always more evolved than humans. 6. It was made scientifically lax with jargon that sounded real but was technobabble. Both positive and negative characteristics of Star Trek helped make it incredibly popular and historic.
    The first reading we had was Samuel R Delany’s “Aye, and Gomorrah.” The story told of Spacers who were astronauts that were bred for a specific purpose. They were made to be of no sex, helping them not be affected by radiation in space. However, they were fantasized by Fleks, people who wanted the Spacers but could never have them. The Spacers take advantage of this by selling themselves to the Fleks to try to feel something, gain money, or just make fun of the Fleks. This follows Delany’s characteristics of his writing. 1. The main characters are hurt, physically in this case. 2. It tells the social background of the Spacers and Fleks in detail. 3. It touches on mythology within the main story. 4. It was about the communication and semiotics of languages and others. 5. It explored new cultures in a way that saw these others as unique and special. 6. It has an erotic nature with those wanting the asexual beings.
    The second reading was James Tiptree Jr. ( Alice B. Sheldon)’s “The Women Who Men Don’t See.” This short story tells of an agent named Don in Mexico. There he meets Ruth and her daughter Althea. They take a plane that ends up crashing and Don brings to be more upset with Ruth than the terrible events happening. He becomes distressed when Ruth is staying calm and collected. When they discover the aliens Ruth wants to leave Earth with her daughter while Don tries to ‘save’ her. This follows not only Sheldon’s characteristics but Feminist SF in general. Don only saw Ruth as a sexual being, never as an equal or a human being, pushing her to want to leave Earth more.

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  10. Gabriel Higuera

    The class got to enjoy a viewing of a Star Trek episode, “The City on the Edge of Forever” aired in 1967. This episode consist of Captain Kirk and Spock following Dr. McCoy into the past, landing in NY and having to prevent McCoy from interfering with history. Star Trek as a form of Science Fiction, was also a way for the creator Gene Roddenberry to make statements within the era it was airing in. Professor Ellis characterizes Star Trek as the following:

    – Optimistic about the future
    – Blends the fantastic with the familiar
    – Social criticism of the here and now
    – Formulaic
    – Presence of alien super beings
    – Scientifically lax

    The writers for the stand alone episodes of Star Trek were influenced by New Wave Science Fiction.
    In class writer Samuel R. Delany (b. 1942) was also discussed. Identified as a homosexual, Delany was writing stories that will have political statements wrapped in very impacting word compositions. For the time he was publishing this short stories, a lot of the ideas like homosexuality taken as a norm was a very far fetched idea. His writing is characterized with the following:

    – The main characters typically have physical or psychologic damage
    – Methodology is important to the story
    – Stories were often about communications, linguistics and language
    – Explored cultural difference in the social culture identity
    – The stories tend to be very sexual
    We finished class speaking about author James Tiptree Jr. whose real name was Alice Bradley Sheldon (1915 – 1987) who brought a whole new wave of Science Fiction called “Feminist SF” and it is identify as:

    – Explore illegalitarian, matrionical social efforts
    – Reimagined gender roles
    – Undermine the naturalized sex gender relationship
    – Posit new means of reproduction
    – Illustrate various sexualities
    – Consider the ramification of masculine science and feminist science

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  11. Randy Valcourt

    In the past few weeks we have been going over the New Wave of SF, which introduced authors like Samuel R. Delaney and we also pieced into Feminist SF as we discussed the author James Tiptree, Jr. AKA Alice Bradley Sheldon. We also went over Star Trek, which was a TV series on NBC that was influenced by New Wave of SF writers. When we where discussing Samuel R. Delaney who was born in 1942, we discussed his achievements in life one being a nebula award for best Novel. His work mostly focuses on the sexuality and Eroticism as well as exploring cultural difference and the social construction of identity among other topics. This can be seen in his short story “Aye and Gomorrah” which dives into the topic of sexuality the story takes place in a dystopia where there lives a group of people called spacers who are basically astronauts that have there genitals removed to stop radiation from getting to there gametes basically sex cells. These spacers are fetishes to a group of people called frelks it is stated that they have a “free-fall-sexual-displacement complex”. The Spacers play tricks and mess with the frelks they even act as prostitutes to the frelks receiving money for the frelks to full fill there sexual desire. The main characters of the story are showing this interaction between a spacer and a frelk shows a relationship where the spacer is diminishing the frelk but you can also since that the spacer is lonely as well and the fact that he has to deal with the pain of having no genitalia. Now onto James Tiptree Jr. she was born in 1915 to 1987 as I have stated before her actual name was Alice Bradley Sheldon and she was a “BAD ASS” (quote by professor) he was apart of the U.S. Army worked at the penigon and later was a spy at the CIA. The themes in her book is usually sex, fashion, feminist depictions of male and female relations. This can be seen in her short story “The Women Men Don’t See” in the story an agent named Don and a women named Ruth along with her daughter Althea get into a plane crash with the plane pilot being a Mayan dissident named Esteban. They survive the crash but Esteban is injured and so Don and Ruth take the initiative and try to find water, as they are doing so Don gets uneasy about Ruth do to the fact that she was not acting like a “how a women is suppose to in that situation”. Don envisioned that she would be panicking and crying but she was calm and that in a way annoyed him. They were having a conversation when they were talking and she described how hard it was for her as women but it’s hard for him to comprehend how women have to survive in this world. In a plot twist aliens visit them all and during which Don tries to save Ruth in what he thinks to be a damsel in distress but in a twist Ruth begged the alien to take her and her daughter with them as they were leaving. For us as the audience it’s obvious that Ruth wanted to escape this cruel world that treats women terribly but Don could not wrap his head around why she would willingly leave with the aliens. Lastly we talked watched Star Trek, which was made by Gene Roddenberry who was born in 1921 and died in 1991 the themes in the show were socially progressive and optimistic about the future, It bends the fantastic with the familiar, scientifically lax and it had a lot of alien super beings.

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  12. Brian Kriczky

    Brian Kriczky
    Prof Ellis
    ENG 2420

    During the last two classes we have discussed many things. First we talked about a revolutionary show called Star Trek. Star Trek was created by Gene Roddenberry(1921-1991) and pushed many boundaries that were different for the time. It aired for 3 seasons on NBC. The show was pitched as a wagon train to the stars. The characteristics of Star Trek include: being socially progressive and optimistic about the future, blending fantastic with the familiar, social criticism of the here and now is safely veiled in SF, formulaic individualized episodes, alien superbeings, and scientifically lax rhetoric of science technobout. Star Trek also aired the first interracial kiss. Also we discussed Samuel R Delany(1942-Present). Delany was a SF critic and SF writer. His writings have a few main characteristics. They include: main characters usually have physical or emotional damage, highlights the social background, mythology is important, often about communication linguistics and language soft sciences, explores cultural differences of social constitution of identity, and sexuality and eroticism. Another person we discussed was James Tiptree Jr, or Alice Sheldon. She wrote fantasy and SF. She accomplished a lot in her life, her parents were very wealthy, she joined the Army, worked in the pentagon, worked for the CIA, she was married twice, and she got a PHD in experimental psychology. He writing focued on sex, idendity, feminist depictions on men, and ecology, sadly she killed herself after she shot her husband because he was getting very sick.

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  13. David

    In class, Professor Ellis talked about Star Trek, Feminism SF, Samuel R. Delaney and James Tiptree Jr. Professor Ellis talked about one of the most famous piece of science fiction, Star Trek. Star Trek aired on NBC for three years, had three seasons and was created by Jean Rottenbury (1921 – 1991). Professor Ellis also gave the six characteristics of Star Trek which are:
    #1: Socially progressive optimistic about future
    #2: Blending the fantastic with the familiar
    #3: Social criticism of the here and now
    #4: Formulaic
    #5: Lots of alien superbeings
    #6: Scientifically “lax”

    Samuel R. Delaney (1942-) who casually goes by the name of “Chip” by those who personally know him, is a famous homosexual science fiction writer who was once married to a Jewish woman by the name of Marlyn Hacker from 1961 to 1980. They had one daughter. He has been teaching since 1988 and contributed to science fiction with his work. Professor Ellis told us the six characteristics of Mr. Delaney’s writing style:
    #1: Main characters usually have physical or psychological damage
    #2: Delaney highlights the social backgrounds in colorful detail
    #3: Mythology is important to his stories
    #4: Communication, linguists/ language
    #5: Explores cultural difference and social construction of identity
    #6: Sexuality and Eroticism

    The next era of science fiction is called “feminist science fiction”. The seven characteristics of the feminist science fiction are:
    #1: Sex
    #2: Gender
    #3: Sexuality
    #4: Sexism
    #5: Patriarchy
    #6: Heteronormativity
    #7: Feminism

    Lastly, Professor Ellis spoke of Alice Bradley Sheldon who used the more famous pen name of James Tiptree Jr., a fake male name she used from 1967 to her death. In her lifetime, she joined the U.S army, worked with the Pentagon and even worked for the CIA before she decided to write science fiction stories. She was most distinguished for breaking down the barriers between writing perceived as characteristically either “male” or “female” and was it was not openly known until 1977 that James Tiptree Jr. was a woman. Alice’s husband was a nearly blind invalid incapable of caring for himself, and she herself was suffering health issues caused by a lifetime of smoking. In 1987, Alice B. Sheldon died from a self-inflicted gunshot, and her husband was shot in his sleep by her. After shooting her husband and shooting herself soon after. Her suicide note that was confessed that her and her husband made a pact that if one of their health start to seriously deteriorate, that the other would do the honors of letting the other rest in peace.

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  14. Sharon Rios

    Sharon Rios
    In class we spoke about “Star Trek” (1966-1969). It was aired on NBC, had three seasons on Showtime and was created by Jean Rottenbury (1921-1991). Star Trek has six main characteristics.
    1. Socially progressive and optimistic about the future
    2. Blends the fantastic with the familiar
    3. Social criticism of the present, here & now
    4. Episodes are formulaic, stories do not overlap
    5. Alien, super-being characters.
    6. Scientific jargon that do not actually exist
    We also spoke about Samuel R. Delany who was born in 1942 and is still alive today. His friends call him Chip, but Professor Ellis will refer to him as Doctor Delany or Professor Delany. Delany identifies as a gay science fiction writer who was once married to a Jewish woman by the name of Marilyn Hacker from 1961-1980. They had one daughter together. Delany has been teaching since1988. He dropped out of City College when he was 19, but garnered his education from Temple University. Some influential works of Professor Delany are “Einstein Intersection” (1967) and “Dhalgren” (1975). Six characteristics are visible in his writing style:
    1. Main characters usually have physical or psychological damage
    2. Highlights the social backgrounds in colorful detail
    3. Mythology is important to his stories
    4. Communication, linguists/ language
    5. Explores cultural difference and social construction of identity
    6. Sexuality& Erotocism

    We also spoke about an era of science fiction called feminist science fiction (19th-20th century). The seven characteristics of the feminist science fiction are:
    1. Sex
    2. Gender
    3. Sexuality
    4. Sexism
    5. Patriarchy
    6. Heteronormativity
    7. Feminism
    This leads up to the discussion of James Tiptree Jr. whose real name is Alice B. Sheldon (1915-1987). Her other alias name was Robert Silverberg. She was a very “badass” individual in an era where women are not really pictured as “badass”. She had to hide her gender and some people did not believe the rumors that the writer was actually a woman because her stories were too intense for a woman. In her lifetime, she joined the U.S army, worked with the Pentagon and even worked for the CIA before she decided to write. The themes of her work were sex, fashion, issues of identity, feminist depictions of male and female relations, ecology and even death. Alice B. Sheldon died in 1987 after shooting her husband and committing suicide in agreement that they would die together. It was proclaimed that in her suicide note a pact was made between them explaining that if one of them got sick, they would die together.

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  15. Jessica

    Jessica L. Roman
    ENG 2420-E255
    New Wave and Feminist Science Fiction
    12/9/2017

    The lecture for the weeks of 11/22 and 11/29 were concerned with New Wave Science Fiction and the introduction of Feminist Science Fiction. In continuing with New Wave Science Fiction we discussed Star Trek: TOS which ran on NBC from 1966-1969. The show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991), was a pilot in WWII turned commercial pilot. Roddenberry would later join the L.A.P.D., during his time with the L.A.P.D he began writing for television. Roddenberry pitched Star Trek as a “Wagon Train” to the stars that leaned on the human spirit of exploration to facilitate meeting new beings we must strive to understand which in turn helps us better understand ourselves. The six characteristics of Start Trek are:
    1. It is socially progressive and optimistic about the future
    2. Blends the fantastic with the familiar
    3. Offer social critique of the here and now under the veil of Science Fiction
    4. Star Trek is formulaic featuring individualized self-contained episodes.
    5. Features a large number of alien super beings.
    6. Scientifically lax and used techno babble.
    Given the time the show ran a number of the crew members were progressive in their casting and characters. Of particular note was Nichelle Nicholas, an African American actress who played Lieutenant Uhura. Not only was her casting progressive because she is African American but even more so she portrayed a woman who outranked male crew members.
    The episode we watched “The City on the Edge of Forever”, was written by New Wave writer Harlan Ellison. Though it was a simplified and not as dark as he originally wrote the episode is a tragic one. In this the ship’s medical officer, Dr. McCoy, goes insane as a result of an accidental cordrazine overdose. In his delusion and paranoia McCoy beams himself to a nearby planet. An away team lead by Captain Kirk (played by William Shatner) heads out in search of McCoy. While on planet they encounter what seems to be a rock structure but is the being known as the Guardian of Forever, which turns out to be a portal to anytime in history. While first office Spock attempts to record the history playing out before them, McCoy escapes through the portal altering the timeline. Kirk and Spock travel back to save him and end up meeting a woman named Edith, who provide an undercover Kirk and Spock work and shelter while they attempt to restore the timeline. Kirk and Edith grow fond of each other however, Kirk discovers Edith’s survival or death of an car accident is what caused the distortion. Unfortunately, Edith’s death is required and Kirk is confronted with the option to have her live and forever change time or let the woman he has developed feelings for die. In the end, he restrains both himself and a now lucid McCoy from saving Edith, successfully restoring the timeline.
    In our transition from New Wave to Feminist SF we read and discussed two authors, Samuel R. Delany and James Tiptree Jr. Samuel R. Delany (1942- ) can be described as a liminal writer between New Wave and Feminist SF. Delany is an African American writer of Science Fiction and self identifies as a gay writer of SF. Delany also wrote books on Science Fiction and though he never received an advanced degree he taught college writing and literature classes. Delany is a recipient of both Hugo and Nebula awards. The six characteristics of his writer we discussed are:
    1. Main characters usually have physical or psychological damage
    2. Delaney highlights the social backgrounds in colorful detail
    3. Mythology is important to his stories
    4. Stories are often about communication language and linguistics
    5. Explores cultural difference and social construction of identity
    6. Sexuality and Eroticism
    The short we read for this week was Delany’s “Aye and Gomorrah” (1967). This story takes place in a world where space travel and habitation requires astronauts, known as spacers, to be made sterile before the onset of puberty to avoid complications from radiation. This leaves the spacers with an androgynous appearance and without sexual urges. The story is narrated from Spacer point of view and we see there is mixed feelings expressed toward them. There are some who (though perhaps mockingly) respect what the spacers are doing, others that believe they should “leave” and lastly those who fetishize them. The latter are known as Frelks, they are attracted to the Spacers mostly because they cannot have them, or rather cannot be sexually desired by them. The Spacers seem to tease each other about encounters with Frelks making it seem like it is something they enjoy but are ashamed to admit. The Frelks also envy the Spacers for not having sexual desires. Ultimately, they are two groups who want what they cannot have, they frelks want to be desired by the Spacers and the Spacers seem to be looking for a place of acceptance or maybe even love, that the frelks provide through their fetish.
    Before delving into our second author, Feminism and Feminist SF was formally introduced. First we got a briefly history of feminism broken down into three waves. Feminism is the belief that people be treated equally regardless of sex, gender and/or sexual orientation. First wave Feminism took place in the 19th-20th Century and focused on women suffrage, educational rights and the rejection of the idea that women are inferior to men. The second wave happened from the 1950-1980, which focused on women’s liberation, equal pay and challenged the concept of the nuclear family. The third wave which began in the 90’s, and is still happening today. It centered on diversity of women, that there is no universal experience of being a woman, and sought to bring fourth different ideas and cultures. After discussing some notable feminist and their writings, we went into the characteristics of feminist SF, which are:
    1) Explores, patriarchal, matriarchal, egalitarian social order
    2) Re-imagines gender roles
    3) Undermine the naturalized sex gender relationship
    4) Posits new means of reproduction
    5) Illustrates various sexualities
    6) Considers the ramifications of both masculine science and feminist science
    James Tiptree Jr. was the pseudonym used by SF author Alice B. Sheldon(1915-1987). Sheldon was the daughter of Chicago socialites and lived quite an extraordinary life by most standards. Sheldon served in the Air Forced, worked for the Pentagon and the CIA, she also held a Ph.D. in experimental psychology These experiences informed much of her writing which was for many years accepted as written by a man. While one reason for her pen name was to avoid the bias of being a woman writer in SF, another reason was her history with the CIA and being an academic in higher education where SF was looked down upon. Common themes in her writing include sex, issues of identity, feminist depiction of male/female relations, ecology and death and she was especially known for her short stories.
    “The Women Men Don’t See” was written by Sheldon under her pen name and published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in December 1973. The narrator, Don Fenton, is on a fishing trip to Mexico when he becomes stranded along with the pilot Captain Esteban, and fellow passengers Ruth and Alethea Parsons after a plane crash. Captain Esteban is injured during the crash; Don, Ruth and Alethea are unharmed. However Don is perplexed that the women are not frantic and only a little shaken up. In fact, throughout the rest of the story Don has trouble figuring out Ruth and Alethea’s reactions to the situation. Eventually they figure they will be stranded for some time and decide they should get some fresh drinking water. Don offers to go and is very surprised when Ruth insists on accompanying him. To Don both of the women’s reactions are atypical of women. While searching for water Don gets injured and is in the hands of Ruth. In their conversations Ruth shares that she feels alienated as a woman in this world, though Don is unable to understand her views. To Don women are only thought of as sexual objects whose only other purpose is to “play house”. While Ruth and Don are waiting to head back to her daughter and Esteban they see some smoke far off. After this point Ruth is constantly finding a reason to go off and while she is around Don she has a pining look toward the smoke. Don assumes it is out of worry for her daughter or some sexual desire or fantasy she is playing in her head but Ruth is hoping for something, something to take her away. Eventually she gets her wish when it is revealed that the cause of the smoke was actually the result of aliens landing in the same vicinity as our party. Don is completely lost while Ruth begs the aliens to take her and Althea away from Earth. The aliens do take the mother and daughter despite attempts from Don and Esteban to “save” them when infact the women are saving themselves. In the end Don is left completely clueless as to why she would want to leave this planet, this male centered place where all women can do is survive .

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  16. Pierre Polycarpe

    Pierre Polycarpe
    ENG: 2420
    Prof Ellis

    Star Trek first air in (1966-169) on NBC in the form of series. These series went on for seasons. The creator of Star Trek, Jean Rotten Bury was born in 1921 and died in 1991. Jean coined six characteristics regarding Star Trek.

    • Socially progressive optimistic about the future
    • Blends the fantastic with familiar
    • Social criticism of the here and now
    • Formulaic
    • Alien super beings
    • Scientifically Lax
    The episode we saw in class entitled “The City on the Edge of Forever” Dr. McCoy unintentionally changes history and sabotage his time. Kirk and Spock pursue him to avert this catastrophe however, it will cost them dearly.

    Aye, and Gomorrah (1967) is a short story written by Samuel R. Delany. Delany was born in 1942 and still alive up to this date. The story is about couple of kids who were taken to space at an early age (Puberty) to work on a special project. These kids were neutered in order not to be affected by harmful radiation.

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  17. JBanschick

    Jacob Banschick
    Prof. Ellis
    ENG2420

    Star Trek was created by Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991) in 1966. Star Trek aired from 1966-1969 on NBC. A good Star Trek story contains the following characteristics:

    1 – Socially progressive optimistic about future
    2 – Blends the fantastic with the familiar
    3 – Social criticism of the here and now
    4 – Formulaic
    5 – Alien Superbeings
    6 – Scientifically Lax

    In today’s lecture, we covered Feminist SF, which is science fiction that deals with topics of sex, gender, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and most importantly sexism. It usually contains the following characteristics:

    1 – Main characters usually have physical or psychological damage
    2 – Delaney highlights the social backgrounds in colorful detail
    3 – Mythology is important to his stories 4) Communication, linguists/language
    5 – Explores cultural difference and social construction of identity
    6 – Sexuality& Eroticism

    “The Women Men Don’t See” was written by Alice Bradley Sheldon (1915-1987) (under the name James Tiptree, Jr.) 1973. It tells the story of 4 people, Ruth, Don, Althea (Ruth’s daughter), and Esteban who get stranded on an island after their plane crashes. To the surprise of Don, Ruth is fully competent in the face of danger, when he expects her to be hysterical. She reveals thats is because she, as a woman, always is in a survival situation, and that this is no different from the norm. When aliens appear, Ruth begs for them to take her and her daughter with them, so she can leave Earth.

    “Aye, and Gomorrah…” was written by Samuel R. Delany(1942- ) in 1967. It tells the story from the perspective of a Spacer, an androgynous astronaut, castrated at birth to avoid the long term effects of radiation. Frelks are people attracted to spacers because of their unattainability, and spacers indulge them in an attempt to recapture their lost sexuality, and have some facsimile of companionship.

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