Daughters of Frankenstein: Lesbian Mad Scientists
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- 5,49 €
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- 5,49 €
Publisher Description
In the field of mad science, women have for too long been ignored, their triumphs misattributed to mere men. Society has seen the laboratory as the province of men. Jacob's Ladder electric arcs, death rays, even test tubes have phallic connotations, subliminally reinforcing the patriarchy. The mother of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, advocated that women appear more masculine to earn respect. If Marie Curie had been allowed to develop her Atomic Gendarmerie for the Institut du radium, surely she would have been awarded her third Nobel Prize, for Peace.
Thankfully, the women working to dangerous and/or questionable ends in the pages of Daughters of Frankenstein are unafraid of the patriarchy--indeed, as lesbian mad scientists, they prefer the company and comforts of their own gender. Androids? Pfeh, the gynoid is superior. Etheric dynamos have a more pleasing design, one that is vulvar, than Tesla coils. Eighteen imaginative, if not insane, women; eighteen stories told by some of the finest writers working in queer speculative fiction.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Berman's (Wilde Stories 2014) collection of 18 stories mostly originals with a few reprints is as offbeat and expectation-defying as the title suggests. The contents range from whimsical to serious, from romantic to tragic, and from historical to futuristic. The book might as well have been subtitled Women Who Misbehave, given how many of the protagonists flout custom, challenge authority, and make a mockery of the laws of both society and nature by robbing banks, raising the dead, or building mechanical wonders. Standouts include Gemma Files's "Imaginary Beauties: A Lurid Melodrama," in which college geniuses become innovative drug dealers, and Traci Castleberry's "Poor Girl," wherein an ambitious alchemist uses her concoctions to heal grievous wounds. Among the most unusual selections, Tracy Canfield's "Meddling Kids" is an oddball riff on Scooby-Doo, and Sean Eads's "Riveter" is a truly unexpected take on Hitler's mistress, Eva Braun, here envisioned as ruthless but sympathetic. Lesbian protagonists can be found in every story, but their sexual orientation sometimes feels a little tacked on, as in Tim Lieder's unsatisfying "The Moorehead Maze Experiment." Even when specific stories fall short, this intersection of mad science and lesbian leanings is entertaining and wonderfully weird.
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