I don't usually read biographies (well, in fact not much non-fiction these days), but after the hype about this book I decided that I should read it.
Another confession, I haven't read any Tiptree fiction. So something new all round.
If you don't know, Tiptree was a man, but a pseudonym for Alice Sheldon (who was obviously a woman). This was apparently a big deal when revealed in the late 70's. But I'm getting ahead of my self. The book starts as biographies do, at the beggining. Alice's childhood was really amazing. When she was young she spent time with her parents exploring Africa, in a time when you had to walk to get to most remote parts. I found Alice's early years completely fascinating. Throughout the book quotes from letters by Alice, which gives a nice insight into how she felt about things. From then on Alice was in the Army, the CIA, ran a chicken farm, got a PhD in psychology and eventually started writing Science Fiction.
I enjoyed reading about Tiptrees initial forays into SF, particularily her letter writing to people such as Ursula Le Guin, Philip K Dick, Harlan Ellison, Frederick Pohl etc. However, as the book continues into the later years of Alice's life, depression seems to overwhelm everything and I found it quite a difficult and depressing read. I was also not interested in the various feminist debates which the book deals with in detail (is that me being a man or the fact that it's the 21st century?).
Overall, interesting, but not gripping. The end result however is that I'm very eager to read some of Tiptree's fiction. I found a few stories online in the Sci Fiction archive, plus there are several anthologies. So that's a good thing.
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