Lauren J. Lacey - The Past That Might Have Been, the Future That May Come: Women Writing Fantastic Fiction, 1960s to the Present

CRITICAL EXPLORATIONS IN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY

(a series edited by Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III)

Worlds Apart? Dualism and Transgression in Contemporary Female Dystopias (Dunja M. Mohr, 2005)

Tolkien and Shakespeare: Essays on Shared Themes and Language (ed. Janet Brennan Croft, 2007)

Culture, Identities and Technology in the Star Wars Films: Essays on the Two Trilogies (ed. Carl Silvio, Tony M. Vinci, 2007)

The Influence of Star Trek on Television, Film and Culture (ed. Lincoln Geraghty, 2008)

Hugo Gernsback and the Century of Science Fiction (Gary Westfahl, 2007)

One Earth, One People: The Mythopoeic Fantasy Series of Ursula K. Le Guin, Lloyd Alexander, Madeleine LEngle and Orson Scott Card (Marek Oziewicz, 2008)

The Evolution of Tolkiens Mythology: A Study of the History of Middle-earth (Elizabeth A. Whittingham, 2008)

H. Beam Piper: A Biography (John F. Carr, 2008)

Dreams and Nightmares: Science and Technology in Myth and Fiction (Mordecai Roshwald, 2008)

Lilith in a New Light: Essays on the George MacDonald Fantasy Novel (ed. Lucas H. Harriman, 2008)

Feminist Narrative and the Supernatural: The Function of Fantastic Devices in Seven Recent Novels (Katherine J. Weese, 2008)

The Science of Fiction and the Fiction of Science: Collected Essays on SF Storytelling and the Gnostic Imagination (Frank McConnell, ed. Gary Westfahl, 2009)

Kim Stanley Robinson Maps the Unimaginable: Critical Essays (ed. William J. Burling, 2009)

The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study of Childrens and Teens Science Fiction (Farah Mendlesohn, 2009)

Science Fiction from Qubec: A Postcolonial Study (Amy J. Ransom, 2009)

Science Fiction and the Two Cultures: Essays on Bridging the Gap Between the Sciences and the Humanities (ed. Gary Westfahl, George Slusser, 2009)

Stephen R. Donaldson and the Modern Epic Vision: A Critical Study of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant Novels (Christine Barkley, 2009)

Ursula K. Le Guins Journey to Post-Feminism (Amy M. Clarke, 2010)

Portals of Power: Magical Agency and Transformation in Literary Fantasy (Lori M. Campbell, 2010)

The Animal Fable in Science Fiction and Fantasy (Bruce Shaw, 2010)

Illuminating Torchwood: Essays on Narrative, Character and Sexuality in the BBC Series (ed. Andrew Ireland, 2010)

Comics as a Nexus of Cultures: Essays on the Interplay of Media, Disciplines and International Perspectives (ed. Mark Berninger, Jochen Ecke, Gideon Haberkorn, 2010)

The Anatomy of Utopia: Narration, Estrangement and Ambiguity in More, Wells, Huxley and Clarke (Kroly Pintr, 2010)

The Anticipation Novelists of 1950s French Science Fiction: Stepchildren of Voltaire (Bradford Lyau, 2010)

The Twilight Mystique: Critical Essays on the Novels and Films (ed. Amy M. Clarke, Marijane Osborn, 2010)

The Mythic Fantasy of Robert Holdstock: Critical Essays on the Fiction (ed. Donald E. Morse, Klmn Matolcsy, 2011)

Science Fiction and the Prediction of the Future: Essays on Foresight and Fallacy (ed. Gary Westfahl, Wong Kin Yuen, Amy Kit-sze Chan, 2011)

Apocalypse in Australian Fiction and Film: A Critical Study (Roslyn Weaver, 2011)

British Science Fiction Film and Television: Critical Essays (ed. Tobias Hochscherf, James Leggott, 2011)

Cult Telefantasy Series: A Critical Analysis of The Prisoner, Twin Peaks, The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost, Heroes, Doctor Who and Star Trek (Sue Short, 2011)

The Postnational Fantasy: Essays on Postcolonialism, Cosmopolitics and Science Fiction (ed. Masood Ashraf Raja, Jason W. Ellis and Swaralipi Nandi, 2011)

Heinleins Juvenile Novels: A Cultural Dictionary (C.W. Sullivan III, 2011)

Welsh Mythology and Folklore in Popular Culture: Essays on Adaptations in Literature, Film, Television and Digital Media (ed. Audrey L. Becker and Kristin Noone, 2011)

I See You: The Shifting Paradigms of James CameronsAvatar (Ellen Grabiner, 2012)

Of Bread, Blood and The Hunger Games: Critical Essays on the Suzanne Collins Trilogy (ed. Mary F. Pharr and Leisa A. Clark, 2012)

The Sex Is Out of This World: Essays on the Carnal Side of Science Fiction (ed. Sherry Ginn and Michael G. Cornelius, 2012)

Lois McMaster Bujold: Essays on a Modern Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy (ed. Janet Brennan Croft, 2013)

Girls Transforming: Invisibility and Age-Shifting in Childrens Fantasy Fiction Since the 1970s (Sanna Lehtonen, 2013)

Doctor Who in Time and Space: Essays on Themes, Characters, History and Fandom, 19632012 (ed. Gillian I. Leitch, 2013)

The Worlds of Farscape: Essays on the Groundbreaking Television Series (ed. Sherry Ginn, 2013)

Orbiting Ray Bradburys Mars: Biographical, Anthropological,Literary, Scientific and Other Perspectives (ed. Gloria McMillan, 2013)

The Heritage of Heinlein: A Critical Reading of the Fiction Television Series (Thomas D. Clareson and Joe Sanders, 2014)

The Past That Might Have Been, the Future That May Come:Women Writing Fantastic Fiction, 1960s to the Present (Lauren J. Lacey, 2014)

Environments in Science Fiction: Essays on Alternative Spaces(ed. Susan M. Bernardo, forthcoming [2014])

Discworld and the Disciplines: Critical Approaches to the Terry Pratchett Works (ed. Anne Hiebert Alton and William C. Spruiell, forthcoming [2014])

CRITICAL EXPLORATIONS IN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY, 43

Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III, series editors

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

e-ISBN: 978-1-4766-1430-4

2014 Lauren J. Lacey. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Front cover image Hemera/Thinkstock

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com

In memory of my parents,

JOAN R. LACEY
(19472010)

and

V. DUANE LACEY
(19322010)

Thank you to my intrepid scholarly writing group, the Wingra Writers, especially Ashley Byock, Laini Kavaloski, Lisa King, and Winifred Morgan, for their willingness to read, re-read, and re-read some more. Also, thank you to Kedar Joyner and Alissa Zimmerman, and to the other colleagues and many students at Edgewood College who have supported me in the writing process.

Since this project originated eons ago in graduate school, I want to thank the faculty members at Rutgers University who helped to shape my original questions and plans. In particular, thank you to Marianne DeKoven, Richard Dienst, and John McClure.