View source for James Tiptree Jr.

{{Short description|American sci-fi writer (1915–1987)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = James Tiptree Jr.
| image = James Tiptree Jr.jpg
| caption = Sheldon in January 1946
| birth_name = Alice Hastings Bradley
| pseudonym = {{ubl|James Tiptree Jr.|Raccoona Sheldon}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1915|8|24}}
| birth_place = [[Chicago]], Illinois, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1987|5|19|1915|8|24}}
| death_place = [[McLean, Virginia]], U.S.
| education = {{ubl|[[American University]], BA|[[George Washington University]], PhD}}
| occupation = {{flatlist|
* Artist
* intelligence analyst
* research psychologist
* writer
}}
| period = 1968–1988 (new fiction)<ref name="isfdb" />
| genre = Science fiction
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks =
| awards = {{plainlist|
* 1974 [[Nebula Award for Best Short Story]]
* 1977 [[Nebula Award for Best Novella]]
* 1978 [[Nebula Award for Best Novelette]]
* 1987 [[World Fantasy Award—Collection]]
}}
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* William Davey (1934–1941)
* [[Huntington D. Sheldon]] (1945–1987, their deaths)
}}
| relatives = {{plainlist|
* [[Mary Hastings Bradley]] (mother)
* [[Herbert Edwin Bradley]] (father)
}}
| signature = Three autographs by Alice Sheldon and her pseudonyms.jpg
}}

'''Alice Bradley Sheldon''', better known as '''James Tiptree Jr.''' (born '''Alice Hastings Bradley'''; August 24, 1915 – May 19, 1987), was an [[American people|American]] [[science fiction]] and [[fantasy]] author. It was not publicly known until 1977 that James Tiptree Jr. was a [[pen name]] of a woman, which she used from 1967 until her death. From 1974 to 1985, she also occasionally used the pen name '''Raccoona Sheldon'''. Tiptree was inducted into the [[EMP Museum#Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame|Science Fiction Hall of Fame]] in 2012.<ref name="sfhof2012" />

Tiptree's debut story collection, ''[[Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home]]'', was published in 1973 and her first novel, ''[[Up the Walls of the World]]'', was published in 1978. Her other works include the 1973 novelette "[[The Women Men Don't See]]", the 1974 novella "[[The Girl Who Was Plugged In]]", the 1976 novella "[[Houston, Houston, Do You Read?]]", the 1985 novel ''[[Brightness Falls from the Air]]'', and the 1974 short story "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever".

==Early life, family and education==
Alice Hastings Bradley came from a family in the intellectual enclave of [[Hyde Park, Chicago|Hyde Park]], a university neighborhood in [[Chicago]].{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=11}} Her father was [[Herbert Edwin Bradley]], a lawyer and naturalist, and her mother was [[Mary Hastings Bradley]], a prolific writer of fiction and travel books.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Speller|first=Maureen Kincaid|date=2007|title=James Tiptree, Jr.|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=103331MLA200710970300304851&site=ehost-live|journal=Magill's Literary Annual 2007|pages=1–3|url-access=subscription|via=EBSCOhost}}</ref> From an early age she traveled with her parents, and in 1921–22, the family made their first trip to [[central Africa]]. During these trips, she played the role of the "perfect daughter, willing to be carried across Africa like a parcel, always neatly dressed and well behaved, a credit to her mother." This later contributed to her short story, "The Women Men Don't See."<ref name=":0" />[[File:Alice Sheldon aka James Tiptree, Jr. with Kikuyu people.jpg|thumb|left|Alice Sheldon with the [[Kikuyu people]], 1920s]]

She is the title character in two non-fiction accounts by her mother of their travels: ''Alice in Jungleland'' (1927) and ''Alice in Elephantland'' (1929).  These were both travel books for children which included photos of young Alice visiting parts of Africa not yet fully discovered by Westerners.  The illustrated cover of ''Alice in Jungleland'' is credited to Alice Hastings Bradley.

Between trips to Africa, Bradley attended school in Chicago. At the age of ten, she went to the [[University of Chicago Laboratory Schools]], which was an experimental teaching workshop with small classes and loose structure. When she was fourteen, she was sent to [[finishing school]] in [[Lausanne]] in [[Switzerland]], before returning to the US to attend [[boarding school]] in [[Tarrytown, New York|Tarrytown]] in New York.

== Adulthood and early career: 1934–1967 ==
Bradley was encouraged by her mother to seek a career, but her mother also hoped that she would get married and settle down.<ref name=":0" /> In 1934, at age 19, she met William (Bill) Davey and [[Elopement|eloped]] to marry him.<ref name=":0" />{{Sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=64}} She dropped out of [[Sarah Lawrence College]], which did not allow married students to attend. They moved to [[Berkeley, California]], where they took classes and Davey encouraged her to pursue art.<ref name=":0" /> The marriage was not a success; he was an [[Alcoholism|alcoholic]] and irresponsible with money and she disliked keeping house.<ref name=":0" /> The couple [[divorce]]d in 1940.<ref name=":0" /> Later on, she became a graphic artist, a painter, and—still under the name "Alice Bradley Davey"—an art critic for the ''[[Chicago Sun]]'' between 1941 and 1942.{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=104}}

After the divorce, Bradley joined the [[Women's Army Corps|Women's Army Auxiliary Corps]] where she became a supply officer.<ref name=":0" /> In 1942 she joined the [[United States Army Air Forces]] and worked in the Army Air Forces photo-intelligence group. She later was promoted to [[Major (United States)|major]], a high rank for women at the time. In the army, she "felt she was among free women for the first time." As an intelligence officer, she became an expert in reading aerial intelligence photographs.{{Sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=64}}

In 1945, at the close of the war, while she was on assignment in Paris, she married her second husband, [[Huntington D. Sheldon]], known as "Ting." She was discharged from the military in 1946, at which time she set up a [[small business]] in partnership with her husband. The same year, a non-fiction piece about Polish refugees working in Germany (entitled "The Lucky Ones") was published in the November 16, 1946 issue of ''[[The New Yorker]]'', and credited to "Alice Bradley" in the magazine. In 1952 she and her husband were invited to join the [[CIA]], which she accepted. At the CIA, she worked as an intelligence officer, but she did not enjoy the work.{{Sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=64}} She resigned her position in 1955 and returned to college.

She studied for her bachelor of arts degree at [[American University]] (1957–1959). She received a doctorate from [[George Washington University]] in [[Experimental Psychology]] in 1967. She wrote her doctoral [[dissertation]] on the responses of animals to novel stimuli in differing environments. During this time, she wrote and submitted a few science fiction stories under the name James Tiptree Jr., in order to protect her academic reputation.<ref>Phillips, Julie. [http://jamestiptreejr.com/africa.htm "Alice Bradley Sheldon, 1915–1987"]. ''James Tiptree Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon''. October 23, 2011. Retrieved October 31, 2011.</ref>

=== Art career ===
Bradley began illustrating when she was nine years old, contributing to her mother's book, ''Alice in Elephantland'', a children's book about the family's second trip to Africa, appearing in it as herself.{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=38}} She later had an exhibit of her drawings of Africa at the Chicago Gallery, arranged by her parents.{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=24}} Although she illustrated several of her mother's books, she only sold one illustration during her lifetime, in 1931, to ''[[The New Yorker]]'', with help from [[Harold Ober]], a New York agent who worked with her mother. The illustration, of a horse rearing and throwing off its rider, sold for ten dollars.{{sfn|Phillips|2006|pp=63–64}}

In 1936, Bradley participated in a group show at the [[Art Institute of Chicago]], to which she had connections through her family, featuring new American work. This was an important step forward for her painting career. During this time she also took private art lessons from [[John Sloan]]. Bradley disliked prudery in painting. While examining an anatomy book for an art class, she noticed that the genitals were blurred, so she restored the genitals of the figures with a pencil.{{sfn|Phillips|2006|pp=92–93}}

In 1939, her nude self-portrait titled ''Portrait in the Country'' was accepted for the "All-American" biennial show at the [[Corcoran Gallery of Art|Corcoran Gallery]] in Washington D.C., where it was displayed for six weeks. While these two shows were considered big breaks, she disparaged these accomplishments, saying that "only second rate painters sold" and she preferred to keep her works at home.{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=95}}

By 1940, Bradley felt she had mastered all the techniques she needed and was ready to choose her subject matter. However, she began to doubt whether she should paint. She kept working at her painting techniques, fascinated with the questions of form, and read books on aesthetics in order to know what scientifically made a painting "good."{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=98}} She stopped painting in 1941. As she was in need of a way to support herself, her parents helped her find a job as an art critic for the [[Chicago Sun-Times|''Chicago Sun'']].{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=104}}

==Science fiction career: 1967–1987==
Bradley discovered [[science fiction]] in 1924, when she read her first issue of ''[[Weird Tales]],'' but she didn't write any herself until years later.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Holmes|first=John R.|date=2007|title=James Tiptree, Jr.|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=103331LM74349790307358&site=ehost-live|journal=Guide to Literary Masters & Their Works|volume=1|url-access=subscription|via=EBSCOhost}}</ref> Unsure what to do with her new degrees and her new/old careers, she began to write science fiction. She adopted the [[pseudonym]] of James Tiptree Jr. in 1967. The name "Tiptree" came from a [[Wilkin & Sons|branded jar of marmalade]], and the "Jr." was her husband's idea. In an interview, she said: "A male name seemed like good camouflage. I had the feeling that a man would slip by less observed. I've had too many experiences in my life of being the first woman in some damned occupation."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tOcpTQik4tHYyjzN6HuFZI0za4V9r_64/view?usp=embed_facebook|title=ASI_1983_04.pdf|website=Google Docs}}</ref><ref>''Profile'' in April 1983 issue of ''[[Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine]]''.</ref> She also made the choice to start writing science fiction she, herself, was interested in and "was surprised to find that her stories were immediately accepted for publication and quickly became popular."{{Sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=64}}

Her first published short story was "Birth of a Salesman" in the March 1968 issue of ''[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact|Analog Science Fact & Fiction]]'', edited by [[John W. Campbell]]. Three more followed that year in ''[[If (magazine)|If]]'' and ''[[Fantastic (magazine)|Fantastic]]''.<ref name="isfdb" />  She continued to work as James Tiptree, Jr, keeping the identity a closely guarded secret, never attending book signings, science fiction conventions, or having in-person or even phone contact with agents or editors.  For close to a decade, Tiptree worked exclusively in the field of science fiction short stories, publishing several stories each year in various magazines, usually to acclaim within the industry.  In 1974, Sheldon also started submitting stories to various outlets as "Raccoona Sheldon", but was not successful getting published until her other alter ego, Tiptree, wrote to publishers to intervene.{{Sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=65}}  After that, for a short time, the two personas were both selling work to various magazines.

The Tiptree pseudonym was successfully maintained until late 1977,{{Sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=65}} partly because, although "Tiptree" was widely known to be a pseudonym, it was generally understood that its use was intended to protect the professional reputation of an intelligence community official. Readers, editors and correspondents were permitted to assume gender, and generally, but not invariably, they assumed "male". There was speculation, based partially on the themes in her stories, that Tiptree might be female.  In 1975, in the introduction to ''[[Warm Worlds and Otherwise]],'' a collection of Tiptree's short stories, [[Robert Silverberg]] wrote: "[i]t has been suggested that Tiptree is female, a theory that I find absurd, for there is to me something ineluctably masculine about Tiptree's writing."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=The Secret Sci-Fi Life of Alice B. Sheldon. (Transcript).|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6468136|access-date=December 12, 2015|website=NPR.org|page=}}</ref> Silverberg also likened Tiptree's writing to [[Hemingway|Ernest Hemingway]]'s, arguing there was a "prevailing masculinity about both of them—that preoccupation with questions of courage, with absolute values, with the mysteries and passions of life and death as revealed by extreme physical tests, by pain and suffering and loss."<ref name=":1" />{{quote box
| width = 23em
| quote = [Tiptree's work is] proof of what she said, that men and women can and do speak both to and for one another, if they have bothered to learn how.
| salign = right
| source = —[[Ursula K. Le Guin]],<ref name="James. 2014">Quoted in Tiptree Jr., James. ''Brightness Falls from the Air''. Open Road Media, 2014. Ebook.</ref> ''Khatru''
}}"Tiptree" never made any public appearances, but she did correspond regularly with fans and other science fiction authors through the mail. When asked for biographical details, Tiptree/Sheldon was forthcoming in everything but her gender. According to her biographer, Julie Phillips, "No one had ever seen or spoken to the owner of this voice. He wrote letters, warm, frank, funny letters, to other writers, editors, and science fiction fans". In her letters to fellow writers such as [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] and [[Joanna Russ]], she would present herself as a feminist man; however, Sheldon did not present herself as male in person. Writing was a way to escape a male-dominated society, themes Tiptree explored in the short stories later collected in ''Her Smoke Rose Up Forever''. One story in particular offers an excellent illustration of these themes. "[[Houston, Houston, Do You Read?]]" follows a group of astronauts who discover a future Earth whose male population has been wiped out; the remaining females have learned to get along just fine in their absence.

In 1976, "Tiptree" mentioned in a letter that "his" mother, also a writer, had died in [[Chicago]]—details that led inquiring fans to find the [[obituary]], with its reference to Alice Sheldon; soon all was revealed. Once the initial shock was over, Sheldon wrote to Le Guin, one of her closest friends, confessing her identity. She wrote, "I never wrote you anything but the exact truth, there was no calculation or intent to deceive, other than the signature which over 8 years became just another nickname; everything else is just plain me. The thing is, I am a 61-year-old woman named Alice Sheldon—nickname Alli—solitary by nature but married for 37 years to a very nice man considerably older [Huntington was 12 years her senior], who doesn't read my stuff but is glad I like writing".<ref>Phillips, Julie. "Dear Starbear: Letters Between Ursula K. Le Guin and James Tiptree Jr." ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (2006).</ref>

After Sheldon's identity was revealed, several prominent science fiction writers suffered some embarrassment. Robert Silverberg, who had argued that Tiptree could not be a woman from the evidence of her stories, added a postscript to his introduction to the second edition of Tiptree's ''Warm Worlds and Otherwise'', published in 1979.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Publication: Warm Worlds and Otherwise|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?WRMWRLDS1975|access-date=2021-12-10|website=www.isfdb.org}}</ref> [[Harlan Ellison]] had introduced Tiptree's story in the anthology ''[[Again, Dangerous Visions]]'' with the opinion that "[Kate] [[Kate Wilhelm|Wilhelm]] is the woman to beat this year, but Tiptree is the man".<ref>{{cite book |title=Again, Dangerous Visions |editor-first=Harlan |editor-last=Ellison |year=1972 |publisher=Doubleday |page=814}}</ref>

Only then did she complete her first full-length novel, ''[[Up the Walls of the World]]'', which was a [[Doubleday Science Fiction Book Club]] selection.<ref name="isfdb" /> Before that she had worked on and built a reputation only in the field of short stories.

After the revelation of her real identity, Sheldon continued to use the Tiptree name on her fiction for the rest of her life, with the exception of one further short story credited to "Raccoona Sheldon".

=== Themes ===
{{quote box
| width = 23em
| quote = "Tip" was a crucial part of modern SF's maturing process … "He"… wrote powerful fiction challenging readers' assumptions about everything, especially sex and gender.
| salign = right
| source = —[[Suzy McKee Charnas]],<ref name="James. 2014" /> ''The Women's Review of Books''
}}
A constant theme in Sheldon's work is gender; she was influenced by the rise of [[second-wave feminism]]. A strong example is "The Women Men Don't See" (1973), where Sheldon, as in most of her stories, devises a convincing male point of view. We see the two women in the story (Ruth Parsons and her daughter) through the eyes of Don Fenton, who assesses them critically as possible sexual partners and is also concerned to protect them. He is confused when Ruth shows courage and common sense, failing to "fulfill stereotypical female roles," according to Anne Cranny-Francis.<ref name="cranny" /> Ruth tries to explain the alienation of women in general and herself in particular, but to Fenton it seems nonsense. The Parsons' decision to leave Earth on an alien spaceship jars him into, if not understanding, at least remembering Ruth's words. The title of the short story itself reflects the idea that women are invisible during Sheldon's time. As Cranny-Francis states, "'The Women Men Don't See' is an outstanding example&nbsp;… of the subversive use of genre fiction to produce an unconventional discursive position, the feminist subject."<ref name="cranny">Cranny-Francis, Anne. ''Feminist Fiction''. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1990. pp. 30, 38.</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Sheldon continued writing under the Tiptree pen name for another decade. In the last years of her life, she suffered from depression and heart trouble, while her husband began to lose his eyesight, becoming almost completely blind in 1986.{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=388}} In 1976, then 61-year-old Sheldon wrote to Silverberg expressing her desire to end her own life while she was still able-bodied and active; she said that she was reluctant to act upon this intention, as she did not want to leave her husband behind and could not bring herself to kill him.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/05/20/bullets-end-2-fragile-lives/74c52032-0abb-4df1-af85-0eaa65689fe1/|title=Bullets End 2 'Fragile' Lives|last=Davis|first=Patricia|date=May 20, 1987|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=September 3, 2019}}</ref> Later, she suggested to her husband that they make a [[suicide pact]] when their health began to fail. On July 21, 1977, she wrote in her diary: "Ting agreed to consider suicide in 4–5 years".{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=366}}

Ten years later, on May 19, 1987, Sheldon shot her husband and then herself; she telephoned her attorney after the first shooting to announce her actions. They were found dead, hand-in-hand in bed, in their Virginia home.<ref name="google">{{cite book |title=Suicide in Later Life: Recognizing the Warning Signs |author=Osgood, N.J. |date=1992 |publisher=[[Lexington Books]] |isbn=9780669212143 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K202uE6QiDUC |page=7 |access-date=April 8, 2015}}</ref> According to biographer [[Julie Phillips]], the suicide note Sheldon left was written in September 1979 and saved until needed.{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=390}} Although the circumstances surrounding the Sheldons' deaths are not clear enough to rule out caregiver [[murder–suicide]] (in that perhaps her husband was not ready to die), testimony of those closest to them suggests a suicide pact.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tiptree.org/2019/09/alice-sheldon-and-the-name-of-the-tiptree-award|title=Alice Sheldon and the name of the Tiptree Award|last=Lothian|first=Alexis|date=September 2, 2019|website=James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award|language=en-US|access-date=September 3, 2019}}</ref>

== Sexual orientation ==
Sheldon was attracted to women throughout her life and described herself as a lesbian in the years before her death. In 1980 she wrote to [[Joanna Russ]] and stated "I am a Lesbian {{sic}} [...] I {{em|like}} some men a lot, but from the start, before I knew anything it was always girls and women who lit me up".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Russ |first1=Joanna |date=January 4, 1990 |title=Letters |url=https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/extr.1990.31.1.83 |journal=Extrapolation |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=83–88 |doi=10.3828/extr.1990.31.1.83|url-access=subscription }} {{emphasis in original}}</ref>{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=491}} Sheldon had affairs with men{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=129}} and "passionate crushes" on women{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=98}} during her first marriage, and later remarked "the 2 or 3 great loves of my life were girls".{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=98}}

== James Tiptree Jr. Award ==
The [[James Tiptree Jr. Award]], honoring works of science fiction and fantasy that expand or explore the understanding of gender, was created by authors [[Karen Joy Fowler]] and [[Pat Murphy (writer)|Pat Murphy]] in February 1991.<ref>{{cite web |title=Our History |url=https://otherwiseaward.org/about-the-award/our-history |website=Otherwise Award |date=December 22, 2019 |access-date=17 February 2021}}</ref> Works of fiction such as ''Half Life'' by [[Shelley Jackson]] and ''Light'' by [[M. John Harrison]] have received the award. Due to controversy over the circumstances of her and her husband's deaths, the name of the award was changed to the Otherwise Award in 2019.<ref>{{cite web |title=From Tiptree to Otherwise |url=https://otherwiseaward.org/2019/10/from-tiptree-to-otherwise |website=Otherwise Award |date=October 13, 2019 |access-date=17 February 2021}}</ref>

==Works==
=== Short story collections ===
* ''[[Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home]]'' (1973)
* ''[[Warm Worlds and Otherwise]]'' (1975)
* ''[[Star Songs of an Old Primate]]'' (1978)
* ''[[Out of the Everywhere and Other Extraordinary Visions]]'' (1981)
* ''[[Byte Beautiful: Eight Science Fiction Stories]]'' (1985)
* ''[[The Starry Rift (Tiptree)|The Starry Rift]]'' (1986) (linked stories)
* ''[[Tales of the Quintana Roo]]'' (1986) (linked stories)
* ''[[Crown of Stars]]'' (1988)
* ''[[Her Smoke Rose Up Forever]]'' (omnibus collection) (1990)
* ''[[The Voice That Murmurs in the Darkness]]'' (omnibus collection) (2023)

The abbreviation(s) after each title indicate its appearance in one or more of the following collections:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Collection title !! Year of publication !! Abbreviation
|-
| ''[[Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home]]'' || 1973 || ''LYFH''
|-
| ''[[Warm Worlds and Otherwise]]'' || 1975 || ''WWO''
|-
| ''[[Star Songs of an Old Primate]]'' || 1978 || ''SSOP''
|-
| ''[[Out of the Everywhere and Other Extraordinary Visions]]'' || 1981 || ''OE''
|-
| ''[[Byte Beautiful: Eight Science Fiction Stories]]'' || 1985 || ''BB''
|-
| ''[[Tales of the Quintana Roo]]'' (linked stories) || 1986 || ''QR''
|-
| ''[[The Starry Rift (Tiptree)|The Starry Rift]]'' (linked stories) || 1986 || ''SR''
|-
| ''[[Crown of Stars]]'' || 1988 || ''CS''
|-
| ''[[Her Smoke Rose Up Forever]]'' (omnibus collection) || 1990 || ''SRU''
|-
| ''[[Meet Me at Infinity]]'' (fiction, essays & other non-fiction) || 2000 || ''MM''
|-
| ''[[The Voice That Murmurs in the Darkness]]'' (omnibus collection) || (2023) || ''VNM''
|}
* 1968
** "The Mother Ship" (later retitled "Mamma Come Home") (novelette): ''LYFH''
** "Pupa Knows Best" (later retitled "Help"; novelette): ''LYFH''
** "Birth of a Salesman" (short story): ''LYFH''
** "Fault" (short story): ''WWO, VNM''
** "Happiness Is a Warm Spaceship" (short story): ''MM''
** "Please Don't Play With the Time Machine" (very short story): ''MM''
** "A Day Like Any Other' (very short story): ''MM''
* 1969
** "Beam Us Home" (short story): ''LYFH, BB, VNM''
** "The Last Flight of Doctor Ain" (short story): ''WWO, SRU''
** "Your Haploid Heart" (novelette): ''SSOP''
** "The Snows Are Melted, The Snows Are Gone" (novelette): ''LYFH, VNM''
** "Parimutuel Planet" (later retitled "Faithful to Thee, Terra, in Our Fashion") (novelette): ''LYFH''
* 1970
** "The Man Doors Said Hello To" (short story): ''LYFH, VNM''
** "I'm Too Big But I Love to Play" (novelette): ''LYFH''
** "The Nightblooming Saurian" (short story): ''WWO''
** "Last Night and Every Night" (short story): ''CS''
* 1971
** "The Peacefulness of Vivyan" (short story): ''LYFH, BB''
** "I'll Be Waiting for You When the Swimming Pool Is Empty" (short story): ''LYFH, BB''
** "And So On, and So On" (short story): ''SSOP, SRU''
** "Mother in the Sky with Diamonds" (novelette): ''LYFH''
* 1972
** "The Man Who Walked Home" (short story): ''LYFH, BB, SRU''
** "And I Have Come Upon This Place by Lost Ways" (novelette): ''WWO, SRU''
** "[[And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side]]" (short story): ''LYFH, SRU''
** ''On the Last Afternoon'' (novella): ''WWO, SRU''
** "Painwise" (novelette): ''LYFH''
** "Forever to a Hudson Bay Blanket" (short story): ''LYFH''
** "Filomena & Greg & Rikki-Tikki & Barlow & the Alien" (later retitled "All the Kinds of Yes") (novelette): ''WWO, VNM''
** "The Milk of Paradise" (short story): ''WWO''
** "Amberjack" (short story): ''WWO''
** "Through a Lass Darkly" (short story): ''WWO''
** "The Trouble Is Not in Your Set" (short story): ''MM'' (previously unpublished)
** "Press Until the Bleeding Stops" (short story): ''MM''
* 1973
** "[[Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death]]" (short story): ''WWO, BB, SRU''
** "[[The Women Men Don't See]]" (novelette): ''WWO, SRU''
** "[[The Girl Who Was Plugged In]]" (novelette): ''WWO, SRU''
* 1974
** "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever" (novelette): ''SSOP, SRU''
** "Angel Fix" (novelette, under the name "Raccoona Sheldon"): ''OE''
* 1975
** ''[[A Momentary Taste of Being]]'' (novella): ''SSOP, SRU''
* 1976
** "Your Faces, O My Sisters! Your Faces Filled of Light!" (short story, under the name Raccoona Sheldon): ''OE, BB, SRU''
** "Beaver Tears" (short story, under the name Raccoona Sheldon): ''OE''
** "She Waits for All Men Born" (short story): ''SSOP, SRU''
** ''[[Houston, Houston, Do You Read?]]'' (novella): ''SSOP, SRU'' (Hugo award winner; Nebula award winner)
** "The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats" (novelette): ''SSOP, VNM''
* 1977
** "[[The Screwfly Solution]]" (novelette, under the name Raccoona Sheldon): ''OE, SRU''
** "Time-Sharing Angel" (short story): ''OE, VNM''
* 1978
** "We Who Stole the Dream" (novelette): ''OE, SRU''
* 1980
** ''Slow Music'' (novella): ''OE, SRU''
** "A Source of Innocent Merriment" (short story): ''OE''
* 1981
** "Excursion Fare" (novelette): ''BB, VNM''
** "Lirios: A Tale of the Quintana Roo" (later retitled "What Came Ashore at Lirios") (novelette): ''QR, VNM''
** "Out of the Everywhere" (novelette): ''OE, VNM''
** ''With Delicate Mad Hands'' (novella): ''OE, BB, SRU''
* 1982
** "The Boy Who Waterskied to Forever" (short story): ''QR''
* 1983
** "Beyond the Dead Reef" (novelette): ''QR''
* 1985
** "Morality Meat" (novelette, under the name Racoona Sheldon): ''CS''
** ''The Only Neat Thing to Do'' (novella): ''SR, VNM''
** "All This and Heaven Too" (novelette): ''CS''
** "Trey of Hearts" (short story): ''MM'' (previously unpublished)
* 1986
** "Our Resident Djinn" (short story): ''CS''
** "In the Great Central Library of Deneb University" (short story): ''SR''
** ''Good Night, Sweethearts'' (novella): ''SR''
** ''Collision'' (novella): ''SR''
** ''The Color of Neanderthal Eyes'' (novella): ''MM''
* 1987
** "Second Going" (novelette): ''CS''
** "Yanqui Doodle" (novelette): ''CS, VNM''
** "In Midst of Life" (novelette): ''CS, VNM''
* 1988
** "Come Live with Me" (novelette): ''CS''
** ''Backward, Turn Backward'' (novella): ''CS''
** "The Earth Doth Like a Snake Renew" (novellette): ''CS'' [written in 1973]

===Novels===
* ''[[Up the Walls of the World]]'' (1978)
* ''[[Brightness Falls from the Air]]'' (1985)

===Other collections===
* ''Neat Sheets: The Poetry of James Tiptree Jr.'' ([[Tachyon Publications]], 1996)
* ''[[Meet Me at Infinity]]'' (a collection of previously uncollected and unpublished fiction, essays and other non-fiction, with much biographical information, edited by Tiptree's friend [[Jeffrey D. Smith]]) (2000)

===Adaptations===
* "The Man Who Walked Home" (1977): [[comic book]] adaptation in Canadian [[underground comic]] ''[http://comicsyrup.com/2011/06/02/andromeda/ Andromeda]'' [http://sirrealcomix.mrainey.com/page/a/Andromeda01-1.htm Vol. 2], [https://web.archive.org/web/20110629222650/http://www.comicsbronzeage.com/?p=5214 No. 1]; September; Silver Snail Comics, Ltd.; Toronto; pp.&nbsp;6–28. Pencils by John Allison, inks by Tony Meers.
* "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" (1990): radio drama for the [[National Public Radio]] series ''Sci-Fi Radio''. Originally aired as two half-hour shows, February 4 and 11.
* "Yanqui Doodle" (1990): half-hour radio drama for the [[National Public Radio]] series ''Sci-Fi Radio''. Aired March 18.
* ''Weird Romance'' (1992): [[Off-Broadway]] [[musical theatre|musical]] by [[Alan Menken]]. Act 1 is based on "[[The Girl Who Was Plugged In]]".
* "The Girl Who Was Plugged In" (1998): [[List of Welcome to Paradox episodes|television film]]: episode 5 of the series ''[[Welcome to Paradox]]''
* ''The Screwfly Solution'' (2006): [[The Screwfly Solution (Masters of Horror episode)|television film]]: season 2, episode 7 of the series ''[[Masters of Horror]]''
* ''Xenophilia'' (2011): based on the lives and works of Tiptree and [[Connie Converse]]; arranged and choreographed by [[Maia Ramnath]]; produced by the aerial dance and theater troupe Constellation Moving Company, performed at the [[Theater for the New City]], presented November 10–13, 2011. Reviewer Jen Gunnels writes, "The performance juxtaposed some of Tiptree's short stories with Converse's songs, mixing in biographical elements of both women while kinesthetically exploring both through dance and aerial work on trapeze, lyra (an aerial ring), and silks (two lengths of fabric which the artist manipulates to perform aerial acrobatics). The result was elegant, eerie, and deeply moving."<ref>{{cite journal |author=Gunnels, Jen |date=January 2012 |title=''Xenophilia'', based on the works of James Tiptree Jr. and Connie Converse |journal=The New York Review of Science Fiction |volume=24 |issue=5 |pages=1, 8–11 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Roberts, Lauren |title=Aerial Dance Theater Show Features Draper's Maia Ramnath |url=http://draperprogram.blogspot.com/2011/11/aerial-dance-theater-show-features.html |publisher=Draper Program |date=November 1, 2011 |access-date=August 12, 2012}}</ref>

==Awards and honors==
The [[EMP Museum#Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame|Science Fiction Hall of Fame]] inducted Tiptree in 2012.<ref name="sfhof2012" /> She also won several annual awards for particular works of fiction (typically the preceding calendar year's best):<ref name="SFAwards" />
* [[Hugo Award]]s: 1974 novella, ''The Girl Who Was Plugged In''; 1977 novella, ''Houston, Houston, Do You Read?''
* [[Nebula Award]]s: 1973 short story, "Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death"; 1976 novella, ''Houston, Houston, Do You Read?''; 1977 novelette, "The Screwfly Solution" (published as by Raccoona Sheldon)
* [[World Fantasy Award]]: 1987 collection, ''Tales of the Quintana Roo''
* [[Locus Award]]: 1984 short story, "Beyond the Dead Reef"; 1986 novella, ''The Only Neat Thing to Do''
* ''Science Fiction Chronicle'' Award: 1986 novella, ''The Only Neat Thing to Do''
* [[Jupiter Award (science fiction award)|Jupiter Award]]: 1977 novella, ''Houston, Houston, Do You Read?''

[[Japanese-language]] translations of her fiction also won two [[Hayakawa Award]]s and three [[Seiun Award]]s as the year's best under changing designations (foreign, overseas, translated). The awards are voted by magazine readers and annual convention participants respectively:<ref name="SFAwards" />
* ''Hayakawa's S-F Magazine'' Reader's Award, short fiction: 1993, "With Delicate Mad Hands" (1981); 1997, "Come Live with Me" (1988)
* Seiun Award, short and long fiction: 1988, "The Only Neat Thing to Do" (1985); 2000, "Out of the Everywhere" (1981); 2008, ''Brightness Falls from the Air'' (1985)

== See also ==
{{Portal bar |LGBTQ |Science fiction }}
*[[Akeley-Derscheid Expedition]]

==References==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist |25em |refs=
<ref name="isfdb">{{ISFDB name |57}} (ISFDB). Retrieved April 18, 2013.</ref>
<!-- some awards refs -->
<ref name="sfhof2012">{{cite web|url=http://www.empmuseum.org/exhibitions/index.asp?categoryID=203 |title=Science Fiction Hall of Fame: EMP Museum Announces the 2012 Science Fiction Hall of Fame Inductees |access-date=July 22, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722092713/http://www.empmuseum.org/exhibitions/index.asp?categoryID=203 |archive-date=July 22, 2012 }}. May/June 2012. EMP Museum (''empmuseum.org''). Archived July 22, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2013.</ref>
<ref name="SFAwards">[http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit137.html#5226 "Tiptree, James Jr."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050315141033/http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit137.html |date=March 15, 2005 }}. ''The Locus Index to SF Awards: Index of Literary Nominees''. [[Locus Publications]]. Retrieved April 18, 2013.</ref>
}}

=== General and cited bibliography ===
{{refbegin|}}
* Cranny-Francis, Anne. ''Feminist Fiction''. New York: [[St. Martin's Press]], 1990.
* Elms, A.C. "Painwise in space: The psychology of isolation in Cordwainer Smith and James Tiptree Jr." in G. Westfahl (Ed.), ''Space and Beyond: The Frontier Theme in Science Fiction''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. {{ISBN|978-0-313-30846-8|}}.
* [[Karen Joy Fowler|Fowler, Karen Joy]] with [[Pat Murphy (writer)|Pat Murphy]], Debbie Notkin and Jeffrey D. Smith (eds.). ''The James Tiptree Award Anthology 1: Sex, the Future, and Chocolate Chip Cookies''. San Francisco, California: Tachyon Publications, 2004. {{ISBN|978-1-892391-19-3|}}.
* Fowler, Karen Joy with Pat Murphy, Debbie Notkin and Jeffrey D. Smith (eds.). ''The James Tiptree Award Anthology 2''. San Francisco, California: Tachyon Publications, 2005. {{ISBN|978-1-892391-31-5|}}.
* Fowler, Karen Joy with Pat Murphy, Debbie Notkin and Jeffrey D. Smith (eds.). ''The James Tiptree Award Anthology 3: Subversive Stories about Sex and Gender''. San Francisco, California: Tachyon Publications, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-892391-41-4|}}.
* {{cite journal|last=Kirkpatrick|first=Kim|s2cid=161379989|date=2007|title=Begin Again: James Tiptree, Jr.'s Opossum Tricks|journal=Biography|volume=30|issue=1|pages=61–73|doi=10.1353/bio.2007.0024}}
* Notkin, Debbie and The Secret Feminist Cabal (eds.). ''Flying Cups and Saucers: Gender Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy''. Covina, California: Edgewood Press, 1998 (2nd edition Lulu.com, 2008). {{ISBN|978-0-9629066-8-8|}}.{{self-published source|date=February 2020}}
* Phillips, Julie. "Dear Starbear: Letters Between Ursula K. Le Guin and James Tiptree Jr." ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction]]'', September 2006.
* {{cite book|last=Phillips|first=Julie|year=2006|title=James Tiptree Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon|place=New York|publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]|isbn=978-0-312-20385-6|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/trent_0116405583547}} A thorough biography, with insight into Sheldon's life and work. Extensive quotation from her correspondence, journals, and other papers. [[Times Literary Supplement]] review [https://web.archive.org/web/20070924234311/http://www.tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25336-2399227,00.html The Times & The Sunday Times]
* Phillips, Julie. [http://jamestiptreejr.com/ "James Tiptree Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon"] (jamestiptreejr.com).: the biographer's website dedicated to Tiptree/Sheldon
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote|James Tiptree, Jr}}
{{commons category|James Tiptree}}
; References
* {{ISFDB name|57}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303195747/http://davidlavery.net/Tiptree/ James Tiptree Jr. World Wide Website] (unofficial, archived March 3, 2016)
* [https://scua.uoregon.edu/repositories/2/resources/8549 Alice B. Sheldon, pen name James Tiptree, Jr., papers] at the University of Oregon
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/books/review/20Itzkoff.html ''New York Times'' review of ''James Tiptree Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon'' by Julie Phillips]
* [http://jamestiptreejr.com/ Website for Julie Phillips's biography of Tiptree]

; Online fiction
* {{cite web|url=http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/tiptree2/tiptree21.html |title=The Women Men Don't See |access-date=January 19, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119040143/http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/tiptree2/tiptree21.html |archive-date=January 19, 2008 }} Text of the short story
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080217013204/http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/tiptree4/index.html |date=February 17, 2008 |title=Painwise }} Text of the short story
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208172158/http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/tiptree3/index.html |date=February 8, 2008 |title=Beam Us Home }} Text of the short story
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220093234/http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/sheldon/sheldon1.html |date=February 20, 2008 |title=The Screwfly Solution }} Text of the short story
* {{cite web|url=http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/tiptree/tiptree1.html |title=Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death |access-date=May 19, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050415031819/http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/tiptree/tiptree1.html |archive-date=April 15, 2005 }} Text of the short story
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080528054512/http://mtsu32.mtsu.edu:11072/3050/Stories/Two_by_Tiptree.pdf "Two Stories by James Tiptree, Jr.: The Last Flight of Doctor Ain and The Screwfly Solution"] PDF file containing both short stories
* {{OL author|OL2677446A}}

; Online radio
* "[https://archive.org/details/Sci-fiRadio Houston, Houston, Do You Read?]" (Selection 17) from the NPR series ''Sci-Fi Radio'' (20 & 21), February 4 & 11, 1990 (55:32)
* "[https://archive.org/details/Sci-fiRadio Yanqui Doodle]" (Selection 21) from the NPR series ''Sci-Fi Radio'' (26), March 18, 1990 (27:49)

{{Hugo Award Best Novella}}
{{Locus Award Best Novella}}
{{Locus Award Best Short Story}}
{{Nebula Award Best Novella}}
{{Nebula Award Best Novelette}}
{{Nebula Award for Best Short Story}}
{{World Fantasy Award Best Collection}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiptree, James Jr.}}
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