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Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr.

Female Fantasy Authors, November 2012

Alice Bradley Sheldon was the Kaiser Soze of her day. In 1968 she began publishing science fiction stories under the name James Tiptree, Jr. -- a pseudonym she would successfully hide behind for nine years until it would finally be discovered, somewhat shockingly, that she was a woman. Her stories are dark science fiction, teeming with sexual tensions, often pessimistic, and weighted with a feminist theme. Hidden in her work were the struggles of a woman suffering emotional troubles, and she would take her own life in 1987. An award in her name is presented each year to a work of science fiction or fantasy that expands/explores understanding of gender.