James Tiptree Jr.

**Alice Bradley Sheldon** (born **Alice Hastings Bradley**; August 24, 1915 – May 19, 1987) was an American science fiction author. She was better known by her pen name **James Tiptree Jr.**. She used the pen name for her books from 1967 until her death. Before 1977, most people didn't know that James Tiptree Jr. was really a woman. Sheldon was added into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2012.

In 1936, Sheldon participated in group shows at the Art Institute of Chicago. She had connections to the institute through her family. It showed some new American work. This was an important step forward for Sheldon's painting career. At this time Sheldon also took private art lessons from John Sloan. She disliked prudery in painting. While examining an anatomy book for an art class, Sheldon saw that the genitals were blurred. She then restored the genitals of the figures with a pencil.

In 1939, a nude self-portrait from Sheldon named _Portrait in the Country_ was accepted for the "All-American" biennial at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.. The portrait was displayed there for just over six weeks. While these two shows were seen as big breaks, she downplayed the accomplishments. She said then that "only second-rate painters sold." Sheldon preferred keeping her art works at home.

## The science fiction career

Not long after Sheldon started writing science fiction, in 1967 she adopted the name James Tiptree Jr. The name _Tiptree_ was from branded jars of marmalade. The _Jr._ was the idea of her husband. In one interview, Sheldon said: "A male name seemed like good camouflage. I had the feeling that men would slip by less observed. I've had too many experiences in my life of being the first woman in some damned occupation."

The "Tiptree" pen name was maintained until late in 1977. That was in part because though the name was widely known as a pen name, it was well understood that its use was to protect the professional reputations of the intelligence community official.

But then, in 1976, "Tiptree" said during a letter that "his" mother, also a writer, died in Chicago. Those details led the fans to see the obituary. Sheldon's actual identity was then exposed.

## The themes

Before Sheldon's real identity was exposed, Tiptree was often known as an unusually macho male. However, Sheldon's view of sexual politics was ambiguous.

## Death

On May 19, 1987, Sheldon shot her husband and then herself. They were discovered dead, near each other in their Virginia home in bed.

### Short story collections

- _Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home_ (1973)
- _Warm Worlds and Otherwise_ (1975)
- _Star Songs of an Old Primate_ (1978)
- _Out of the Everywhere and Other Extraordinary Visions_ (1981)
- _Byte Beautiful: Eight Science Fiction Stories_ (1985)
- _The Starry Rift_ (1986) (linked stories)
- _Tales of the Quintana Roo_ (1986) (linked stories)
- _Crown of Stars_ (1988) (linked stories)
- _Her Smoke Rose Up Forever_ (omnibus collection) (1990)

The abbreviation(s) after each title indicate its appearance in one or more of the following collections:
|Collection title|Year of publication|Abbreviation|
| --- | --- | --- |
|_Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home_|1973|_LYFH_|
|_Warm Worlds and Otherwise_|1975|_WWO_|
|_Star Songs of an Old Primate_|1978|_SSOP_|
|_Out of the Everywhere and Other Extraordinary Visions_|1981|_OE_|
|_Byte Beautiful: Eight Science Fiction Stories_|1985|_BB_|
|_Tales of the Quintana Roo_ (linked stories)|1986|_QR_|
|_The Starry Rift_ (linked stories)|1986|_SR_|
|_Crown of Stars_|1988|_CS_|
|_Her Smoke Rose Up Forever_ (omnibus collection)|1990|_SRU_|
|_Meet Me at Infinity_ (fiction, essays & other non-fiction)|2000|_MM_|
- 1968
    - "The Mother Ship" (later retitled "Mamma Come Home") (novelette): _LYFH_
    - "Pupa Knows Best" (later retitled "Help"; novelette): _LYFH_
    - "Birth of a Salesman" (short story): _LYFH_
    - "Fault" (short story): _WWO_
    - "Happiness Is a Warm Spaceship" (short story): _MM_
    - "Please Don't Play With the Time Machine" (very short story): _MM_
    - "A Day Like Any Other' (very short story): _MM_
- 1969
    - "Beam Us Home" (short story): _LYFH, BB_
    - "The Last Flight of Doctor Ain" (short story): _WWO, SRU_
    - "Your Haploid Heart" (novelette): _SSOP_
    - "The Snows Are Melted, The Snows Are Gone" (novelette): _LYFH_
    - "Parimutuel Planet" (later retitled "Faithful to Thee, Terra, in Our Fashion") (novelette): _LYFH_
- 1970
    - "The Man Doors Said Hello To" (short story): _LYFH_
    - "I'm Too Big But I Love to Play" (novelette): _LYFH_
    - "The Nightblooming Saurian" (short story): _WWO_
    - "Last Night and Every Night" (short story): _CS_
- 1971
    - "The Peacefulness of Vivyan" (short story): _LYFH, BB_
    - "I'll Be Waiting for You When the Swimming Pool Is Empty" (short story): _LYFH, BB_
    - "And So On, and So On" (short story): _SSOP, SRU_
    - "Mother in the Sky with Diamonds" (novelette): _LYFH_
- 1972
    - "The Man Who Walked Home" (short story): _LYFH, BB, SRU_
    - "And I Have Come Upon This Place by Lost Ways" (novelette): _WWO, SRU_
    - "And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side" (short story): _LYFH, SRU_
    - _On the Last Afternoon_ (novella): _WWO, SRU_
    - "Painwise" (novelette): _LYFH_
    - "Forever to a Hudson Bay Blanket" (short story): _LYFH_
    - "Filomena & Greg & Rikki-Tikki & Barlow & the Alien" (later retitled "All the Kinds of Yes") (novelette): _WWO_
    - "The Milk of Paradise" (short story): _WWO_
    - "Amberjack" (short story): _WWO_
    - "Through a Lass Darkly" (short story): _WWO_
    - "The Trouble Is Not in Your Set" (short story): _MM_ (previously unpublished)
    - "Press Until the Bleeding Stops" (short story): _MM_
- 1973
    - "Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death" (short story): _WWO, BB, SRU_
    - "The Women Men Don't See" (novelette): _WWO, SRU_
    - "The Girl Who Was Plugged In" (novelette): _WWO, SRU_
- 1974
    - "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever" (novelette): _SSOP, SRU_
    - "Angel Fix" (novelette, under the name "Raccoona Sheldon"): _OE_
- 1975
    - _A Momentary Taste of Being_ (novella): _SSOP, SRU_
- 1976
    - "Your Faces, O My Sisters! Your Faces Filled of Light!" (short story, under the name Raccoona Sheldon): _OE, BB, SRU_
    - "Beaver Tears" (short story, under the name Raccoona Sheldon): _OE_
    - "She Waits for All Men Born" (short story): _SSOP, SRU_
    - _Houston, Houston, Do You Read?_ (novella): _SSOP, SRU_ (Hugo award winner; Nebula award winner)
    - "The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats" (novelette): _SSOP_
- 1977
    - "The Screwfly Solution" (novelette, under the name Raccoona Sheldon): _OE, SRU_
    - "Time-Sharing Angel" (short story): _OE_
- 1978
    - "We Who Stole the Dream" (novelette): _OE, SRU_
- 1980
    - _Slow Music_ (novella): _OE, SRU_
    - "A Source of Innocent Merriment" (short story): _OE_
- 1981
    - "Excursion Fare" (novelette): _BB_
    - "Lirios: A Tale of the Quintana Roo" (later retitled "What Came Ashore at Lirios") (novelette): _QR_
    - "Out of the Everywhere" (novelette): _OE_
    - _With Delicate Mad Hands_ (novella): _OE, BB, SRU_
- 1982
    - "The Boy Who Waterskied to Forever" (short story): _QR_
- 1983
    - "Beyond the Dead Reef" (novelette): _QR_
- 1985
    - "Morality Meat" (novelette, under the name Racoona Sheldon): _CS_
    - _The Only Neat Thing to Do_ (novella): _SR_
    - "All This and Heaven Too" (novelette): _CS_
    - "Trey of Hearts" (short story): _MM_ (previously unpublished)
- 1986
    - "Our Resident Djinn" (short story): _CS_
    - "In the Great Central Library of Deneb University" (short story): _SR_
    - _Good Night, Sweethearts_ (novella): _SR_
    - _Collision_ (novella): _SR_
    - _The Color of Neanderthal Eyes_ (novella): _MM_
- 1987
    - "Second Going" (novelette): _CS_
    - "Yanqui Doodle" (novelette): _CS_
    - "In Midst of Life" (novelette): _CS_
- 1988
    - "Come Live with Me" (novelette): _CS_
    - _Backward, Turn Backward_ (novella): _CS_
    - "The Earth Doth Like a Snake Renew" (novellette): _CS_ [written in 1973]

## The novels

- _Up the Walls of the World_ (1978)
- _Brightness Falls from the Air_ (1985)

### Other collections

- _Neat Sheets: The Poetry of James Tiptree Jr._ (Tachyon Publications, 1996)
- _Meet Me at Infinity_ (a collection of previously uncollected and unpublished fiction, essays and other non-fiction, with much biographical information, edited by Tiptree's friend Jeffrey D. Smith) (2000)

## The adaptations

- "The Man Who Walked Home" (1977): comic book adaptation in Canadian underground comic _Andromeda_ Vol. 2, No. 1; September; Silver Snail Comics, Ltd.; Toronto; pp. 6–28. Pencils by John Allison, inks by Tony Meers.
- "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" (1990): radio drama for the National Public Radio series _Sci-Fi Radio_. Originally aired as two half-hour shows, February 4 and 11.
- "Yanqui Doodle" (1990): half-hour radio drama for the National Public Radio series _Sci-Fi Radio_. Aired March 18.
- _Weird Romance_ (1992): Off-Broadway musical by Alan Menken. Act 1 is based on "The Girl Who Was Plugged In".
- "The Girl Who Was Plugged In" (1998): television film: episode 5 of the series _Welcome to Paradox_
- _The Screwfly Solution_ (2006): television film: season 2, episode 7 of the series _Masters of Horror_
- _Xenophilia_ (2011) – based on the lives and works of Tiptree and Connie Converse; arranged and choreographed by Maia Ramnath; produced by the aerial dance and theater troupe Constellation Moving Company, performed at the Theater for the New City, presented November 10–13, 2011. Reviewer Jen Gunnels writes, "The performance juxtaposed some of Tiptree's short stories with Converse's songs, mixing in biographical elements of both women while kinesthetically exploring both through dance and aerial work on trapeze, lyra (an aerial ring), and silks (two lengths of fabric which the artist manipulates to perform aerial acrobatics). The result was elegant, eerie, and deeply moving."