Most of the books and stories that Tiptree Award jurors read to pick a winner are recommended by authors and readers. We need your suggestions. If you’ve read a work of science fiction or fantasy that explores or expands our notions of gender, please tell us about it by filling out the recommendation form below. If you have more than one, just fill out the form again with a new recommendation and submit it until you’ve told us about them all.
NOTE: Because any work can be recommended for the Tiptree Award, we ask publishers, editors, and writers not to publicize their works as “nominated” or “recommended” for the Tiptree Award. We’re delighted to have you publicize works that win, or are listed by the jurors on the honor list or the short list. Thank you so much!
Recommendations close on December 1st, 2012.
The 2012 James Tiptree, Jr. Award will be announced at WisCon 37, May 2013.
To let us know something related to recommendations that doesn’t fit in the form, please email email hidden; JavaScript is required.
Hard boiled PI meets aliens, robots, art, dystopia and complex gender issues - a follow up to Kelly's 2004 Nebula finalist story "Men Are Trouble." Asks some hard questions to which there are no easy answers.
2012-04-23 05:51:49
Jonathan
Trigell
Genus
2011
Corsair (Constable & Robinson)
A future London where the children of the wealthy are not only sex selected but genetically enhanced and poor women are frequently forced to become surrogate mothers to earn a living. In a world where sex is completely seperated from reproduction, do gender roles become blurred or starker?
2012-04-15 06:51:02
Conrad
Williams
Genaria
2012
Amazon - Kindle
Triggered by extreme events - pain, fear etc. - some of the characters in this book change into an alter ego (quite often of the other gender) to help them in their quest.
A truly exciting read.
2012-04-03 01:12:54
David
Berger
Task Force: Gaea
2012
self-published
Gay novel involving modern day Olympian gods
2012-04-02 13:04:23
Peter
Saenz
Coven of Wolves
2012
DoorQ Publishing
Gay novel involving witches and werewolves.
2012-04-02 13:02:28
Greg
Egan
The Eternal Flame
2012
Nightshade
This is the second book of a trilogy, so may not make much sense if you haven't read the first one. However, with the alien species built up in this hard sf story, Egan really tackles the different issues that women face in the sciences. In this second book, he digs into the ways that women, as the continuation of a species, become seen as property that must be protected, even from themselves. There's a lot to unpack in his alien society. The books as a whole are somewhat unbalanced between the hard sf physics lesson and the societal and personal plots, but they're definitely worth looking at.
2012-03-30 07:42:49
Egle
Skei
The life and death of Benjamin Brash
2012
Grosvenor House Publishing
Ms Skei presents a ghost story in a very unusual way, in that the ghosts are characters rather than purely being there to scare. The book takes us into the ghosts' world with the different types and skills of the different ghosts. The book explores issues of equality and diversity through the interaction and inter-dependence of the living humans and the ghosts. In addition the strength of a young female poltergeist called Steph, in many ways the central character of the ghost world has proved very popular as a role model for teenage girls.
2012-03-30 05:04:23
Jennifer
Pelland
Machine
January 2012
Apex
Interesting ideas about gender and bodies.
2012-03-27 10:33:25
Brit
Mandelo
Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction
2012
Lethe Press
Just received a starred review in PW.
2012-03-25 17:21:37
Alex
Jeffers
Tattooed Love Boys
2012
Giganotosaurus
A story that not only embraces the fluidity of gender but also has some excellent queer identity themes.
2012-03-18 05:27:31
Anna
LaForge
The Marcella Fragment
February 2012
Newcal Publishing
The first book from this author, and it's a wonderfully written story. Earth was destroyed by the neglect of its inhabitants, and a lucky few were transported by mysterious aliens referred to simply as "Sowers" to this new planet. There, the transplanted population begins the long struggle back to civilization. The matriarchal society formed by one group in Pelion follows the words of a myth, hoping their plans and actions will ultimately lead to the enlightenment of the population of the entire planet.
2012-03-16 15:02:41
Susan Jane
Bigelow
Fly Into Fire
2012
Candlemark & Gleam
The last surviving members of the extrahumans must come together to face an oppressive government that's hunting them, and attempting to use a young girl for its own means, with the help of a transgender refugee from the same regime.
2012-03-13 07:57:11
Pearl
North
The Boy From Ilysies
2010
Tor Teen
sequel to Libyrinth -- The Boy From Ilysies deals much more with gender.
2012-03-12 21:33:33
Rosemary
Maisarah Abu
Lim,
Samah
The Steampowered Globe
January 2012
AS¡FF
This is Singapore's first Steampunk anthology, consisting of 7 short stories by various authors, edited by Rosemary Lim, Maisarah Abu Samah.
The book "explores or expands our notions of gender", according to Jess Nevins, who said in io9 about having mostly women writers, women protagonists, plus two women editors.
2012-03-12 19:42:36
K.V.
Taylor
Scripped
2011
Belfire Press
Beautifully crafted world and excellent characterization.
2012-02-19 14:12:41
Jenn Manley
Lee
Wander (Dicebox Vol. 1)
December 2011
Supersticery Press
Collected print edition of the first volume of an SF graphic novel about itinerant laborers in space. Reviews consistently note the attention paid to changes in gender roles and social norms rather than tech; "Makes Battlestar look vanilla," was one memorable pullquote. --A recent review: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/01/27/dicebox-comic-webcomic/
2012-02-17 11:32:04
lionpyh
Fifty Years in the Virtuous City
2011
n/a
A piece based off of one of the earliest works of feminist SF, Roquia Sakhawat Hussain's "The Sultana's Dream." I love how the author thinks through many of the implications of the short story.
http://archiveofourown.org/works/276516
2012-02-13 13:32:35
Carole
Jahme
Worth Their Weight in Blood
December 2011
Mira Intelligent Read
This is the most original science fiction/fantasy novel I've ever read. Issues of what it means to be a female human are central. The author is an evolutionary psychologist she spcialises in sex differences, this is her first novel and it is full of beautifully woven-in facts. It's a page turner, I couldn't put it down.