Mark Tiller <mtiller at ntlworld.com> writes on 26 November 2002 at 12:12:28 -0000 > >The *are* in many clear ways male-centric, and at least one friend > >simply can't read them for that reason. On the other > >hand, it was in one of the Skylark books that Dorothy insists on > >strapping on her guns and going with Seaton on a critical > >mission, and makes him accept it, and makes him acknowledge afterwards > >that that was where she belonged. Even though they > >had a young child (left with safe reliable people at the time). > > And in the 2 Galaxy Primes books, the males & females are equal. The > female Earth prime is (what would now be called agressively feminist). > It didn't strike me when I first read the books, because the Women's lib > movement was just getting started. The books were however quite old > even then. Yes, that's true. That was one of his later books (1959 magazine publication). (And unless there's a Doc Smith book I've never heard of, there was only on Galaxy Primes book.) Same thing in the Subspace books, actually. Even in Spacehounds of IPC (1931), the woman goes out and hunts (with a 100-lb bow) while the man forges civilization >from scratch. All mixed in with some of the most appalling romantic love clap-trap it has ever been my pleasure to read. -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b at dd-b.net / http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/ John Dyer-Bennet 1915-2002 Memorial Site http://john.dyer-bennet.net Dragaera mailing lists, see http://dragaera.info