Houston, Houston Do You Read?

by James Tiptree Jr.

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1568652518
• ISBN13: 9781568652511
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: New York: Science Fiction Book Club, 1996.
• Length: 150 Pages
• Weight: 0.49 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Stories that intrigue, challenge and interest

James Tiptree, an alias of Alice Sheldon, was one of the most intriguing authors of the Seventies and Eighties. Her stories were frequently bleak in appearance but not always in tone. For instance the title story concerns a space crew suddenly transported to a rather different future. And while we wouldn't wish to share their ultimate fate, it says much about our modern assumptions about gender roles, self-deception, and an ability to see humor in the workings of fate. Tiptree/Sheldon's writing is powerful enough that this story has stuck in my mind for more than twenty years and a few thousand other books. Even if I don't immediately recall the other stories in the book, each offered something different and unique. Even the weakest written of them was the equal of most other short fiction.What I've always valued in this collection in particular is its ability to make me think. I originally read it in my mid-teens, a period when most of us are forming our initial view of the world and personal philosophy. "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" introduced a different viewpoint to me, which influenced some of my later reading interests. You may not find all the stories comfortable to read but don't avoid them simply for that reason or because you don't agree with the central ideas.