Lisa Tuttle is a name I sometimes hear or read about when discussing contemporary fantasy authors. I have never actually read anything by her before this point, but I had high expectations, considering the company she is usually mentioned with. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. This short story is included in George R.R. Martin’s anthology “Rogues.” Which further raised my expectations. I loved GRRM’s
“A Song of Ice and Fire” series, better known as “A Game of Thrones,” and I expected him to gather only amazing stories for his anthology.
This is a Sherlock Holmes-ian type of mystery. With Holmes played by a man named Mr. Jesperson, and Watson played by a woman named Felicity Travers. The whole story is told through the POV of Ms. Travers, a feminist living in Victorian Era England. She certainly has her own ideas about feminism, and that is wonderful. But If I wanted to read an analysis of how women were regarded in that time and place, I would have read an essay. Instead she goes on about how Mr. Jesperson’s mother is almost certainly judging her, although she would never say such a thing out loud. And how she felt bad to assume that another working woman was a secretary, instead of the full fledged partner she was.
The problem is, when I am reading literature, I want to see strong, beautiful, capable women. I want them making decisions and problem solving, and not relying on a man to rescue them. I want to see real interactions between two strong women, which does involve a certain amount of judging. That’s just reality. But I don’t want to read a manifesto. The story, and the characters, and the feelings that the characters have and express should be enough. I can fill the thesis in myself. I don’t need it spoon fed to me.
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