This essay is a result of some thoughts that occurred during one of the weekly FeministSF chats on Twitter, when we were discussing exceptionality of female characters in urban fantasy novels—that is, their tendency to be the only woman in the book. This essay is meant to summarize some thoughts on [...]

I herd the clouds as I do every day. Their ghostly protuberances wrap around the wings of the plane, obscuring the blue AOL logo with their wispy fingers, and then retreat under the stream of air from the props, swirling and compacting into tight white formations that remind me of those [...]

This month’s audio fiction is Herding Vegetable Sheep written by Ekaterina Sedia and read by Kate Baker.

 

 Herding Vegetable Sheep by Ekaterina Sedia - Clarkesworld Magazine 03/09 [22:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (12038)

In recent years, popular science journals have been full of articles excitedly reporting "genetic markers" for depression, sexual orientation, alcoholism, IQ, and any number of other behavioral traits. The scientific journals cheerfully publish heritability statistics, which are often mistaken for estimates of genetic contributions to behavior, and used as justification [...]

Siblicide and deadly sperm — both of these are just two examples of wide-ranging and downright creepy consequences of competing interests of males and females. "Battle of the sexes" is a cliché; however, it is fascinating to see this battle play out on the level of genes. Dawkins wrote about ’selfish [...]

Dominique came from solid peasant stock, not frequently given to fancy; still, in the privacy of the thick bones of her skull, she dreamt of an Asian gentleman who insisted on being called Buddha, and small dogs with sharp white teeth.
The heavy sleep descended unannounced, smothering her with dreams in the middle of dinner [...]