UNITED STATES AUTHOR · SCIENCE FICTION · SHORT
James Tiptree, Jr.
Also known as: Alice B. Sheldon, Alice Sheldon
Alice Bradley Sheldon (August 24, 1915 - May 1987), aka James Tiptree, Jr., was an American science fiction writer. She was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Herbert Bradley, a lawyer, African explorer, and naturalist, and Mary Hastings Bradley, a prolific writer. As a child, she travelled the world with her parents, including an African safari in 1921-22. Initially, she worked as a graphic artist and a painter. In 1934 she married William Davey, and they divorced in 1941. Also in 1941, she became an art critic for the Chicago Sun, but she left that position in 1942 to join the U.S. Army Air Forces photo-intelligence group. In 1945 she married her second husband, Huntington D. Sheldon, and became Alice Sheldon. In 1946 she was discharged from the Army, and she and her husband started a business. Her first published story, "The Lucky Ones," appeared in The New Yorker in November of 1946 In 1952 she joined the C.I.A. as an agent in the Near East. She resigned in 1955 to enrol in American University. She earned her B.A. in 1959, then her doctorate in Experimental Psychology from George Washington University in 1967. She began writing science fiction using the pseudonym "James Tiptree Jr." Although her true identity became known in 1977, she continued using the Tiptree pseudonym name for another decade. In May of 1987, at age 71, she took the life of her 84-year-old husband and then took her own. Over the course of her career she wrote almost one hundred short stories and several novels. She received two Hugo Awards: 1974 Best Novella for "The Girl Who Was Plugged In", and 1977 Best Novella for "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" She received three Nebula Awards: 1973 Short Story for "Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death," 1976 Novella for "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" and 1977 Novelette for "The Screwfly Solution" (published under her other pseudonym, Raccoona Sheldon). She also received the World Fantasy Award in 1987 for the collection Tales of the Quintana Roo.
Most acclaimed
Houston, Houston, do you read?
After a solar flare damages their ship, three astronauts are rescued by survivors of an Earth that has undergone dramatic change.
Masterpieces of Fantasy and Wonder
1993
A rich & varied collection of the best short fantasy fiction of the last two centuries. Escape into the fantastic worlds of Charles Dickens, J.M. Barrie, Graham Greene, Harlan Ellison, and others found in these 38 magical tales.
Microcosmic Tales
The Last Answer - short story by Isaac Asimov Package Deal - short story by Donald Franson Lycanthrope - short story by Norm Hartman [as by Norman E. Hartman] Gemini 74 - short story by Jack Ritchie Geever's Flight - short story by Charles E. Fritch Lost and Found - short story by Phyllis Eisenstein Pattern - short story by Fredric Brown Discovering a New Earth - short story by Robert Mattingly Varieties of Technological Experience - short story by Barry N. Malzberg Listen, Love - short story by Jack Dann and George Zebrowski That Strain Again - short story by Charles Sheffield Take Me to Your Leader - short story by George H. Smith [as by George Henry Smith] Put Your Head Upon My Knee - short story by Jack Ritchie The Big Fix - short story by Robert F. Decker Speed of the Cheetah, Roar of the Lion - short story by Harry Harrison Just Call Me Irish - short story by Richard Wilson Renaissance Man - short story by T. E. D. Klein Pulpworld - short story by Richard K. Lyon [as by R. K. Lyon] The Other Tiger - short story by Arthur C. Clarke Little William - short story by Patricia Matthews Steel - short story by Alan Brennert Appointment on the Barge - short story by Jack Ritchie And So On, and So On - short story by James Tiptree, Jr. Nellthu - short story by Anthony Boucher Taste of Battle - short story by Donald Franson Deflation 2001 - short story by Bob Shaw Do Androids Dream of Electric Love? - short story by Walt Liebscher Dog Star - short story by Mack Reynolds The Great Judge - short story by A. E. van Vogt 2001: A Love Story - short story by Paul Dellinger Answer - short story by Fredric Brown Hadj - short story by Harlan Ellison Good Morning! This Is the Future - short story by Henry Slesar A Shape in Time - short story by Anthony Boucher Linkage - short story by Barry N. Malzberg Murder in the Nth Degree - short story by Ron Montana [as by R. A. Montana] Useful Phrases for the Tourist - short story by Joanna Russ The Burning - short story by Theodore R. Cogswell One Small Step - short story by Marcia Martin and Eric Vinicoff Dead End - short story by Mack Reynolds Paths - short story by Edward Bryant Woman's Work - short story by Garen Drussaï? Death Double - short story by William F. Nolan Tag - short story by Helen M. Urban [as by Helen Urban] Nightmare in Time - short story by Fredric Brown (variant of The End 1961) The Nature of the Place - short story by Robert Silverberg True Love - short story by Isaac Asimov The Game of the Name - short story by Alice Laurance Down the Digestive Tract - short story by Robert Sheckley (variant of Down the Digestive Tract and Into the Cosmos with Mantra, Tantra, and Specklebang) Upon My Soul - short story by Jack Ritchie Drawing Board - short story by Charles A. Spano, Jr. Shell Shock - short story by Donald Franson Speak - short story by Henry Slesar Your Cruel Face - short story by Craig Strete The Best-Laid Plans... - short story by Rick Conley Devil to Pay - short story by Mack Reynolds Who Else Could I Count On? - short story by Manly Wade Wellman (variant of Who Else Could I Count On 1962) The Rat and the Snake - short story by A. E. van Vogt The Finest Hunter in the World - short story by Harry Harrison Life - short story by Dennis R. Caro Love Story - short story by Eric Frank Russell Exile in Lakehurst - short story by Robert Payes The Bait - short story by Fritz Leiber The Humanic Complex - short story by Ray Russell Friends? - short story by Roberta Ghidalia Take a Deep Breath - short story by Arthur C. Clarke The Quest of the Infidel - short story by Sherwood Springer Legal Rights for Germs? - short story by Joseph F. Patrouch, Jr. [as by Joe Patrouch] Blood - short story by Fredric Brown The Diana Syndrome - short story by Ron Montana [as by R. A. Montana] Emergency Rations - short story by Theodore R. Cogswell Buy Jupiter! - short story by Isaac Asimov The Old Man - short story by Henry Slesar Exile's Greeting - short story by Roland J. Green The Biography Project - short story by H. L. Gold [as by Dudley Dell] The Grapes of the Rath - short story by Jan Howard Finder Mr. Lupescu - short story by Anthony Boucher What I Did During My Park Vacation - short story by Ruth Berman A Fragment of Manuscript - short story by Harry Harrison The Boy with Five Fingers - short story by James E. Gunn [as by James Gunn] The King of Beasts - short story by Philip José Farmer (variant of The King of the Beasts) Displaced Person - short story by Eric Frank Russell A Clone at Last - short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini X Marks the Pedwalk - short story by Fritz Leiber The Mission - short story by Arthur Tofte Proof - short story by F. M. Busby Dreamworld - short story by Isaac Asimov The Reunion - short story by Paul J. Nahin The Futile Flight of John Arthur Benn - short story by Richard Wilson [as by Edward Halibut] Servants of the Lord - short story by James A. Stevens [as by James Stevens] Mattie Harris, Galactic Spy - short story by Rachel Cosgrove Payes Changeover - short story by Juleen Brantingham Hometown - short story by Richard Wilson The Penalty - short story by Henry Slesar The Pill - short story by Maggie Nadler The Final Battle - short story by Harry Harrison Earthbound - short story by Lester del Rey Rotating Cylinders and the Possibility of Global Causality Violation - short story by Larry Niven The Voice in the Garden - short story by Harlan Ellison If Eve Had Failed to Conceive - short story by Edward Wellen