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Area Sci-Fi Writer Adds Woman’s TouchBy JACKIE KNOWLESSierra Madre CorrespondentGenetic engineering — or man's control over how .human beings evolve — is a prevailing theme in stories by Gail Kimberly, a Sierra Madre author who will discuss the topic at a July science fiction writers convention in Oakland.When I suggest that one genetic improvement would be to make people all the same color, 1 know people are going to have a fit, says Mrs. Kimberly, but the more we cut down on the ways we judge people externally, the more we can reach inside for the real person.Unlike some other women science fiction writers, Mrs, Kimberly, in what she calls her speculative fiction, does not contrive to put women into men’s roles.! am not militanlly feminist as I believe Joanna Huss is,” says the Sierra Madre author. Mrs.Kimberly does not, however, portray her heroines as prototypical as Dale Arden of the Flash Gordon fame,Harlan Ellison, a favorite science fiction writer of Mrs. Kimberly’s, has commented, The question of whether women have a different approach to writing is profound, and the answer is yes and no. He feels that although women have existed on this planet along with us (men) in many shared experiences,” they have an entirely different perspective.In her recent first novel, Flyer, for example, Mrs. Kimberly brings several elements of a woman's touch to a field of writing that has been, as she says, dominated mostly by technical-minded men who tend toward male chauvinism.Her central character Is a genetically engineered female flyer, as opposed to a walker or‘‘swimmer. who manages with her gentle lover to bring together the three factions in the world. Trust and innocence are repeatedly whomped, but in the end love and goodness triumph over violence and evil.She points out in wry amusement that the cover of the book, and the introductory come-on, feature the hero, who actually is a secondary character to the heroine.I like the idea that we love each other,” says Mrs. Kimberly.The theme is demonstrated in one of her stories about hippies who colonize another planet vyhere the only food of the resident aliens is emotions. As the aggressive aliens persecute them, the hippies find hate and resentment replacing love. As a consequence, the aliens, feeding on the hate, grow bigger and stronger; theContinued on Page CD)She will live with a family year.*w'i: ■—Staff photo by Walt Man cl n ICHAMPION FOIt CHANGE — Gail Kimberly of Sierra m Madre applies her imagination and writing skills to wide Ul gamut ol topies available to her as a science fictionauthor, including genetic engineering, which she calls ^speculative fiction.
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Star News
Pasadena, California, US
Wed, Jun 25, 1975
Page 83
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USA 07 Jul 2024
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