Monday, December 13, 2021

Helicopter Story, by Isabell Fall

This story was withdrawn from publication in Clarkesworld.  I am able to find it on the Internet, but out of that much respect for the author I will make you find the link for yourself.  I have read some of the backstory but not nearly all of the spilled ink.  But I am an activist in this space so was motivated to chase it down.

I understand it being viewed as controversial--it is a very unusual and continually disturbing take on the harnessing of gender roles for other purposes.  The protagonist told her story in extremely personal terms.  Isabell Fall is a writer who can really write, and I think it is a true loss for SF that she probably will never write again.  I have seen so many tired takes on LGBTQ+ support and gender issues get nominated for awards, where the main contribution seems to be simply role reversal--putting women in place of men and homosexual for heterosexual relationships.  This story takes gender seriously.  And the setting--a postapocalyptic matchup between a fugitive human government and one run by an AI--pretty much gets lost in the controversy.  I am sad that this went down the way it did.

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