Private Mars Rocket II

John Scalzi, quoting Locus Online, are reporting that Sheri S. Tepper died on Saturday.

John is disappointed that Tepper isn't generally considered among the top ranks of SF writers. Personally, I did find her a bit uneven as a writer (The Waters Rising) but when she was hot (Grass, Gate to Womens’ Country) she was hot.

I have to say, when Grass came out it was regarded as “feminist fiction” but now, 30 years later, it reads (to me, at least) as solidly mainstream.

Somebody upthread said she could be a bit preachy. Her work The Fresco was clearly written by somebody who’d spent a lot of time dealing with battered women, but it made some good points and had a unique plot.

Lastly, I have to say I still get a chuckle out of a side-joke from Raising the Stones. A survivor of the events of Grass founds a religion, and she tells her followers “don’t let people mess with your head.” This gets interpreted to be “don’t get a haircut.”