James Tiptree

This off-beat musical by the composer ofLittle Shop of Horrorsand the Disney filmsAladdin Beauty and the Beast andThe Little Mermaidis two one-act musicals of speculative fiction. The first The Girl Who Was Plugged In is about a homeless bag-lady whose soul is transplanted into the body of a gorgeous female android by a company which manufactures celebrities. The second Her Pilgrim Soul is about a scientist who researches holographic imaging. One day a mysterious "living" holograph apparently a woman long dead appears and changes his life forever.

'Tiptree's narratives of alien worlds and alienation make up one of science fiction's most vivid and influential bodies of work' The New York TimesThis landmark collection of short stories shows the feminist pioneer James Tiptree Jr. at her most inventive and daring. Here a fake girl becomes a living advertisement, women choose alien invaders over the men of Earth, a creature discovers that love means death and a pandemic engulfs the planet.'Feminist dystopian fiction owes just as much to this woman - who wrote as a man - as Margaret Atwood' Vox

'Unquestionably one of the brightest-burning talents in the constellation of science fiction' The New York TimesWritten under the pseudonym James Tiptree Jr., the pioneering and outlandish tales of Alice B. Sheldon are some of the greatest science fiction short stories of the twentieth century, telling of dystopian chases, alien sex and the loneliness of the universe.'What her work brought to the genre was a blend of lyricism and inventiveness, as if some poet had rewritten a number of clever SF standards and then passed them on to a psychoanalyst' Brian Aldiss'Feminist dystopian fiction owes just as much to this woman - who wrote as a man - as Margaret Atwood' Vox

These 18 darkly complex short stories and novellas touch upon human nature and perception, metaphysics and epistemology, and gender and sexuality, foreshadowing a world in which biological tendencies bring about the downfall of humankind. Revisions from the author's notes are included, allowing a deeper view into her world and a better understanding of her work. The Nebula Award-winning short story Love Is the Plan, the Plan Is Death , the Hugo Award-winning novella The Girl Who Was Plugged In , and the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novella Houston, Houston, Do You Read? are included.