I have to give this five stars because even though it's messy and (because of the nature of the thing) necesssarily frustrating, it's an important document that is unlike anything else.

In 1974 a science fiction fan started a letters-based Symposium on Women in Science Fiction, at a time when the second wave women's movement in the US was at its height and science fiction was becoming a tool for feminist authors to imagine possible futures. He wrote to some of the biggest names in feminist sf and almost immediately insulted everybody. Yet somehow it went on for seven months. This is the edited result of that, with added commentary from its reprinting in 1993.

Apparently the original letters are lost, which is heartbreaking. It would be more interesting to see how these conversations play out in full and in chronological order. The way it's laid out, by topic, means that you can read somebody's reaction to something BEFORE you read that something, or things are referenced that were edited out of someone else's letter so you have no idea what the reference means. This version includes internal references to page numbers that I assume were from the first layout (for example, someone says they disagree with what Suzy McKee Charnas says on page 51, but Charnas isn't included on page 51). This happens a few times.

However, none of that really matters (just included for the sake of those who can't abide such confusion). This is a group of people attempting to be honest with themselves and others and miscommunicating and misunderstanding and trying to set it straight and often failing. The inclusion of James Tiptree, Jr., pen name of Alice Sheldon who kept her real identity hidden, creates some fascinating cognitive dissonance in readers who know who that person really is who's making everyone mad at the seeming old man.

My sentences are getting convoluted just trying to talk about it. If you are interested in feminism or sf or feminist sf or people trying to talk about important issues, I recommend this (if you can stand the layout). ( )