FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #762: The Voice That Murmurs in the Darkness By James Tiptree, Jr. (Edited by Karen Joy Fowler and Jeffrey D. Smith)

DUST JACKET ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID HO

Friend of this blog, Jeffrey D. Smith, with the help of Karen Joy Fowler and Subterranean Press, edited this wonderful collection! I’ve included the Subterranean Press description of The Voice That Murmurs in the Darkness to show how this volume certainly ranks at the top of the James Tiptree, Jr. collections.

If you’re a James Tiptree, Jr. fan, don’t miss this marvelous book! GRADE: A

Introduction by Karen Joy Fowler.

Pioneering science fiction writer Alice Sheldon, who found fame using the pseudonym James Tiptree, Jr., among others, left behind a remarkable body of short fiction, much of it uncollected or out of print. Now The Voice That Murmurs in the Darkness, co-edited by Jeffrey D. Smith and two-time Booker Prize nominee Karen Joy Fowler, brings new light to some of Tiptree’s best and overlooked stories.

The stories represented span Tiptree’s career, and were primarily selected from a list made by Sheldon which she called “the cream of Tiptree,” none of which were included in Her Smoke Rose Up Forever. With a title drawn from Sheldon’s description of Tiptree as “the voice that murmurs in the darkness,” among the wonders featured here are…

In “Excursion Fare,” Dag and Philippa are about to be lost at sea in the wreckage of their balloon Sky-Walker, their grand adventure a failure, when a hospice ship called Charon rescues them, and they find themselves on a cruise exclusively for the dying—which may be carrying far stranger passengers.

A surreal evening ensues in “The Man Doors Said Hello To,” when a tall man enters a bar,  carrying miniature girls as tenants in his pockets, and takes the narrator with him on a strange rescue mission through secrets hiding in the corners and ledges of the city.

At nineteen, Jolyone Schram cries out in “Time-Sharing Angel,” despairing when she glimpses a vision of overpopulation and resulting planetary devastation, only to be heard by an interstellar angel who produces a shocking, simple fix that affects children across Earth and changes the future.

And, in “Yanqui Doodle,” a soldier undergoes a harrowing detox treatment from specialized drugs given to soothe the conscience during combat—a process that might itself be as painful as the memories of atrocities committed under their influence—and grows ever more unstable.

The Voice That Murmurs in the Darkness encompasses thirteen exceptional stories and one essay (“How to Have an Absolutely Hilarious Heart Attack”), covering the years 1968 to 1987, and includes an exclusive introduction from Karen Joy Fowler. Throughout this landmark new collection is Tiptree’s remarkable prose, shot through with invention and big ideas, exploring classic themes of identity, politics, what it is to be human, and the miraculous oddity of life—from what lies inside us out to the very edges of the universe.”

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction by Karen Joy Fowler. — 7

Excursion Fare — 11

The Snows Are Melted, the Snows Are Gone — 59

The Psychologist Who Wouldn’t Awful Things to Rats — 73

Fault — 101

All the Kinds of Yes — 109

The Man Doors Said Hello To — 131

Beam Us Home — 139

The Only Neat Thing to Do — 155

Time-Sharing Angel — 215

How to Have an Absolutely Hilarious Heart Attack — 229

What Came Ashore at Lirios — 239

Yanqui Doodle — 269

Out of the Everywhere — 309

In Midst of Life — 351

18 thoughts on “FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #762: The Voice That Murmurs in the Darkness By James Tiptree, Jr. (Edited by Karen Joy Fowler and Jeffrey D. Smith)

  1. Wolf

    I remember reading her stories around 1970 in Analog and the other SF mags – fantastic!

    But that picture – how dare you???
    I’m sure many US bookstores will not show this – or will they?
    Her wiki is also very interesting …

    Reply
    1. Todd Mason

      Subterranean Books don’t populate too many bookstores…they mostly sell through mail-order, to collectors…but that cover won’t excite too many censors…until they find it in a library…

      Reply
  2. Jerry+House

    Of all the wonderful, thoughtful, and truly amazing stories Tiptree wrote, the one that has stayed with me longest is her charming little fantasy “The Man Doors Said Hello To.” I’m glad to see it back n print.

    Reply
  3. Deb

    This is so cool! When I share my Wordle scores or discuss the baseball playoffs with the two Jeff’s (and their better halves) each morning, I forget that one of them is a renowned editor!

    Reply
  4. Todd Mason

    Was just reading, “Fault”. one of her earliest published short stories the other night–she put it in _Warm Worlds and Otherwise_ but I read it elsewhere–and I wonder if Bob Shaw’s “Slow Glass” stories had her thinking in a way that led up the somewhat inverted concept in this story…

    Reply
  5. Steve Oerkfitz

    I am a big fan of Tiptree. Subterranean Press makes most of their books affordable on kindle. Only $6.99 on Amazon. It must be selling out since Amazon has never received any HC editions.

    Reply
  6. Jeff Smith

    Thanks for all the nice comments, everyone. It was certainly a book I enjoyed working on.

    I believe Subterranean Press has made the decision to not offer their limited edition hardcovers on Amazon. So, Kindle editions there, mail-order and brick-&-mortar stores for the physical books.

    Jerry, I’ve always loved “The Man Doors Said Hello To” as well. I figured it was too slight to include, but as soon as I showed it to Karen, she just said “in!” and that was that.

    Her Smoke Rose Up Forever has all her biggest, most intense stories. I was involved only at the very end of that one, and added “The Man Who Walked Home.” I wouldn’t have minded having that story still available to us for this one. “Beam Us Home” was, I think, the one Alli most missed having in there, as it was a particular favorite of hers; we were glad to give it space. But it was interesting trying to represent her without having the Big Stories available to us. Where Her Smoke focused tightly on her great works, we tried spreading out to show the breadth of it.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Jeff, you and Karen Joy Fowler did a marvelous job putting this wonderful volume together! You should be very proud of your accomplishment with THE VOICE THAT MURMURS IN THE DARKNESS! Well done!

      Reply

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