It’s taken some while to locate the sequel to ‘Women Of Wonder’, the aptly named ‘More Women Of Wonder’. In the end, I lucked into it and a third book in the series as a bulk buy. So I was curious as to what made it popular and hard to find. Editor Pamela Sargent explains in her introduction that there wasn’t enough space for everything in the first volume, so the novelettes, some seven of them, were held over for this one. As a review, this is more a case of: if it’s on your wants list, then an assessment can determine how high up it comes.
Oddly, the opening story, ‘Jirel Meets Magic’ by C.L. Moore, is from 1935 and part of her series of ‘Jirel’ stories, and is actually fantasy, not my favourite genre. Even so, there are elements of SF as Jirel pursues a wizard she intends to kill, who escapes to what looks like a future time and safety with his witch love.
Considering the strengths of the first volume in women writing Science Fiction, the opening stories here are, shall we say, more fantasy-orientated or play too heavily with ‘present’ reality, with the saving grace of good writing. Joanna Russ’ ‘The Second Inquisition’ (1970) is set in a boarding house in 1925. One of the guests, a 6ft 4in tall black lady with very long legs and a reader, befriends her host’s late-teen daughter and gets her to explore books.
Kate Wilhelm’s ‘The Funeral’ (1972) is set at a severe all-girl boarding school. When its head teacher dies, Madam Westfall’s body lies in state, with senior pupils standing over her as various people pass through. Carla is one of the seniors and is seen as a future teacher herself, although she is also reaching puberty. However, when Lisa, one of the junior pupils, causes offence to the new head teacher, Madam Trudeau, Carla is ordered to whip her ten times. Reluctantly, she does so but fakes the tenth lash and gets found out. The rest is spoiler. Technically, this story would work in any genre. Wilhelm’s ability to keep you reading, wondering what will happen next, shows her own skill as a writer.
Finally, paydirt. ‘Tin Soldier’ (1974) by Joan Vinge is a superb piece of Science Fiction. It is a future of faster-than-light travel where men cannot live in space and women crews take over. The few men who have survived end up becoming cyborgs with prolonged lives. The Tin Soldier is a bar on the planet New Piraeus and ‘The Soldier’ aka Maris is its owner. The starship Who Got Her-709 arrives and one of her crew, Branduin aka Brandy, takes a liking to Maris and has a brief relationship with him, which develops into a friendship, and he lets her use his flat when she’s there. Her crew go away on their three-year flight while twenty-five years pass there. Beautifully crafted in a period when romance SF didn’t exist, it shows the problems with FTL and, oddly, doesn’t get stuck in romance.
Lastly, ‘The Day Before The Revolution’ (1974) by Ursula K. Le Guin follows old lady and widow Laia Asieo Odo, who spent years in prison, as she reflects on her life. Unusually for Le Guin, it is more a character piece than plot, but it does work.
I should point out that I’ve not seen any of these stories from these writers before. Had these stories been combined with the first volume, I think my comments would still stand, only as part of a bigger book. On their own, their weaknesses show. The first book is far better. Quite why this one is hard to get beats me.
GF Willmetts
October 2026
(pub: Vintage Books/Random House, 1976. 308 page paperback. Price: varies. ISBN: 0-394-71876-3)
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