Tiptree Art
Shaenon: Carla has shared this with her readers, so I guess it’s okay for me to do it here. This is concept art for a proposed graphic novel about science-fiction writer James Tiptree, Jr. (a.k.a. Alice Sheldon) written by me and drawn by the great Carla Speed McNeil, whose art has always been what I pictured when I started writing. This is still very much in the planning stages, but I hold out hope for making it happen. It’s kind of my dream book.
Channing: James Tiptree, Jr. is, of course, one of the two core thematic inspirations for the character of Tip in the original “Skin Horse” design document. Being that I was always more of a fantasy nerd than a science fiction nerd growing up (higher unicorn-to-page ratio) I hadn’t even heard of Alice Sheldon before Shaenon introduced me to her (not personally, of course, since she passed away in 1987). I am very excited to see this book, not in the least because my love of recursive humor wants to see this book win the James Tiptree, Jr. Award for science fiction. It would be a very organized and tidy thing to happen, even though I suspect that, inasmuch as it is a biography of a science fiction author and not actually a work of science fiction, it is probably ineligible. Perhaps you could throw a few rocket ships in there and have it be set on Mars or something.
OMG this is guaranteed to be the best thing evar. (Fangirling to be shared equally among Tiptree, Sheldon, McNeil, & Garrity.)
Back in the day, James Tiptree, Jr., was one of my favorites, on the grounds that here was a male SF writer who understood women and could actually write good, comprehensible, relatable female characters. What a miracle! Upon her being outed as prominent fan Alice “Raccoona” Sheldon, my feelings were decidedly mixed. On the one hand, yay, another excellent female SF writer! On the other hand, we “lost” James Tiptree, Jr., miraculously enlightened man of letters.
–the commenter formerly known as Sevendeer & 4deerinmyyard
This explains so much about Tip, and his gun ‘Alice.’
Also, “Tipton, Sheldon, McGee, & Garrity” would be the most awesome name of a lawyer firm, right behind “Dewey, Cheatem, & Howe.”
That would be fucking amazing. I really hope you’re able to do this.
She was such an amazing writer – few can touch her for raw power of emotion – and an amazing person by all accounts.
Oooooo. Please do it. It may be hard work, and not very profitable. But people will love you forever for it.
Never thought of that…somewhere in my files I’ve got the cheap paperback collections put out by James Tiptree Jr. before the, er, “outing.” Old favorites, despite my having been *way* too young to *understand* a lot of ’em.
HOW DID I MISS THAT.
My one complaint with this idea is that I want more Finder as soon as possible. Can we clone Carla?
Why oh why did I never spot this connection for Tip’s name? I got the Tip=Ozma part of it. But I’ve read Tiptree, and been to WisCon and attended the Tiptree award ceremony… Dumb. That’s what I am.
Ooh, this looks promising! Go for it!
Oh, wow. I would so kickstart that.
Wow. I want this to happen.
Alice Sheldon / James Tiptree, Jr. is one of the giants of SF. Since she only authored two novels and they are both mediocre, many people have dismissed her. Her talent and skill shines far brighter in her short stories. If someone hasn’t read her stories, The Last Flight of Dr. Ain is freely available online and it’s a great place to start: http://davidlavery.net/Courses/3840/stories/drain.html
I think her first novel, Up the Walls of the World, is fantastic. The second one is just okay.