Four alternate selves from radically different realities come together in this “dazzling” and “trailblazing work” (The Washington Post). Widely acknowledged as Joanna Russ’s masterpiece, The Female Man is the suspenseful, surprising, darkly witty, and boldly subversive chronicle of what happens when Jeannine, Janet, Joanna, and Jael—all living in parallel worlds—meet. Librarian Jeannine is waiting for marriage in a past where the Depression never ended, Janet lives on a utopian Earth with an all-female population, Joanna is a feminist in the 1970s, and Jael is a warrior with claws and teeth on an Earth where male and female societies are at war with each other. When the four women begin traveling to one another’s worlds, their preconceptions on gender and identity are forever challenged. With “palpable anger . . . leavened by wit and humor” (The New York Times), Russ both employs and upends genre conventions to deliver a wickedly satiric and exhilarating version of when worlds collide and women get woke. This ebook includes the Nebula Award–winning bonus short story “When It Changed,” set in the world of The Female Man.

A new kind of sci-fi heroine, the tough-as-nails Alyx, is introduced in this Nebula Award finalist that Poul Anderson called an “extraordinary” novel. Set in a semi-utopian world, Joanna Russ’s groundbreaking debut novel is the story of Alyx, a female soldier, survival guide, and agent of the Trans-Temporal Authority. Displaced in time from her ancient Greece, Alyx is tasked with safely leading a group of pampered human vacationers—including some unconventional nuns and a detached teenager known as the Machine—across an uninhabited scenic terrain to a relief station. But the journey proves more challenging than anticipated as they confront one another’s failings; the physical dangers of an icy, hostile wilderness; and Alyx’s own personal demons. Long before the kick-ass heroines of current science fiction and fantasy, Russ unapologetically introduced readers to a short, strong, middle-aged (for her world/time) woman of twenty-six who knows how to survive but struggles with the emotional nuances of her charges and the confusion of her own mixed feelings. With iconic characters like Alyx, Russ “four decades ago helped deliver science fiction into the hands of the most alien creatures the genre had yet seen—women . . . [and] helped inaugurate the now flourishing tradition of feminist science fiction” (The New York Times).

A time-traveling heroine vows to rescue a subjugated girl from a fundamentalist society by any means necessary in this “extraordinary novel” (Marge Piercy). Rebelling against her repressive 1950s upbringing in a sexist America, Irene Waskiewicz flees in search of liberation and adventure as a time-and-space-traveling agent of the Trans-Temporal Authority. Her partner is Ernst Neumann—a mentor, father figure, friend, and lover. When the two are assigned to a repressive fundamentalist colony, they meet a twelve-year-old poet whose spirit is being crushed by the harsh restrictions of the society in which she lives. But Irene’s attempt to rescue Zubeydeh doesn’t go as planned—especially when Ernst proves unexpectedly resistant. To follow through on her commitment to the girl, Irene must undertake a drastic course of action—no matter the cost . . . In this fierce and moving speculative science fiction novel of female solidarity, Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author Joanna Russ “digs deep into her anger and comes up with a rich and lively tale” (Ms. Magazine).

This critical anthology presents a multifaceted look at one of the most original and influential voices in both science fiction and feminism. Best known for her groundbreaking feminist sci-fi novel The Female Man (1975), Joanna Russ has produced an important and wide-ranging body of fiction and essays. Her many publications include How to Suppress Women’s Writing (1983), and she has won both of science fiction’s most prestigious awards, the Nebula and the Hugo. In this volume, a diverse range of scholars examine every aspect of Russ’s body of work and provide a critical assessment that is long overdue. The first section gives readers a contextual overview of Russ’s works, including discussions of Russ’s role in the creation of a feminist science fiction tradition. The second section offers detailed analyses of some of Russ’s writing. Contributors include: Andrew M. Butler, Brian Charles Clark, Samuel R. Delany, Edward James, Sandra Lindow, Keridwen Luis, Paul March-Russell, Helen Merrick, Dianne Newell, Graham Sleight, Jenéa Tallentire, Jason Vest, Sherryl Vint, Pat Wheeler, Tess Williams, Gary K. Wolfe, and Lisa Yaszek.