Find utopia in these sci-fi books.
The Classic Book - Unveiling a Parallel by Alice Ilgenfritz Jones & Ella Merchant
In 1893, two women sat down to write a science fiction novel that would become a key part of feminist utopian science fiction. Alice Ilgenfritz Jones and Ella Merchant sent readers to visit two civilizations on the planet Mars, shining a light on many of the flaws of society at the time and painting a beautiful picture of a future utopia.
A space voyager flies to Mars where he encounters two very different societies. The first is very much like his own, however, women are in charge instead of men. The second believes in a balance of power between men and women. The voyager seeks to learn as much as he can in hopes of creating a perfect world.
Unveiling a Parallel: A Romance
by Jones, Alice Ilgenfritz - Merchant, Ella
Unveiling a Parallel (1893) is a novel by Alice Ilgenfritz Jones and Ella Merchant. Alongside Mary E. Bradley Lane's Mizora (1890) and Elizabeth Corbett's New Amazonia (1889), Unveiling a Parallel is an important early work of feminist utopian science fiction.
"Having launched my aeroplane on the current of attraction which flows uninterruptedly between this world and that, traveling was as swift as thought. My impression is that my speed was constantly accelerated until I neared my journey's end, when the planet's pink envelope interposed its soft resistance to prevent a destructive landing. I settled down as gently as a dove alights, and the sensation was the most ecstatic I have ever experienced."
A nineteenth-century voyager travels by aircraft to the planet Mars, where he encounters two advanced civilizations of Martians. In Paleveria, women have taken control over men by adopting their tactics for violence and oppression. Their capitalist society is highly stratified, allowing wealthy women to hold all financial and political power. In Caskia, men and women have learned to live in harmony. Unlike their neighbors, they value egalitarianism, art, and intellectual advancement over wealth and power. Before returning to Earth, the voyager learns as much as he can about these Martian civilizations, speaking with their leaders to gain a better understanding of the values that guide their progress.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Alice Ilgenfritz Jones and Ella Merchant's Unveiling a Parallel is a classic of feminist utopian science fiction reimagined for modern readers.
More About these Women Science Fiction Authors – Alice Ilgenfritz Jones & Ella Merchant
Alice Ilgenfritz Jones and Ella Merchant were both members of the Progressive movement of the late 19th century. They wrote this science fiction novel with the goal of challenging the inequality and injustice of their time. Unveiling a Parallel inspired readers to seek a better future.
The story was a success, and it continued to be popular for decades. Through their work, Jones and Merchant showed that a society in which men and women are equal can be a reality. Their exploration of the possibilities of a better world on Mars still inspires readers today.
The Modern Companion - A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chamber
For another look at a futuristic, possibly utopian society, look to Becky Chamber’s Hugo-Award-winning novella, A Psalm for the Wild-Built. This solar-punk novella may be short in pages, but it tells a very full-bodied story of a tea monk trying to find their purpose in this seemingly wonderful world.
While trying to find purpose, Sibling Dex leaves the confines of society. They go off the clear and beaten path into the literal wilderness where only the robots live. There they meet Mosscap, a robot who is just as curious as Dex. Together the two explore not only the world around them but what it means to have a purpose.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built
by Chambers, Becky
Winner of the Hugo Award!
In A Psalm for the Wild-Built, bestselling Becky Chambers's delightful new Monk and Robot series, gives us hope for the future.
It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.
One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered.
But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.
They're going to need to ask it a lot.
Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?
If you want more science fiction works by women authors, check out these novels.
Mizora
by Lane, Mary E Bradley
Mizora (1890) is a novel by Mary E. Bradley Lane. Originally serialized between 1880 and 1881 in the Cincinnati Commercial, the novel was rediscovered a decade later and printed by prominent editor Murat Halstead. While little is known about Lane, she seems to have been a dedicated feminist and a gifted writer who nevertheless, by the time Halstead reached out to republish her work, seemed to want nothing to do with the appearance of Mizora in novel form. Regardless, Mizora remains a pioneering work of feminist utopian science fiction and an early example of the hollow earth subgenre of science fiction and fantasy.
"Overhead, clouds of the most gorgeous hues, like precious gems converted into vapor, floated in a sky of the serenest azure. The languorous atmosphere, the beauty of the heavens, the inviting shores, produced in me a feeling of contentment not easily described. To add to my senses another enjoyment, my ears were greeted with sounds of sweet music, in which I detected the mingling of human voices."
Princess Vera Zarovitch has lived a tragic life. Born into wealth, she studied in Paris and gained an understanding of the world beyond Tsarist Russia. Imprisoned for criticizing the state after witnessing her friend's murder at the hands of Russian soldiers, she escapes with a party of smugglers toward the North Pole. Following a devastating shipwreck, their party takes refuge with the local Eskimo, who care for the captain until his death from exposure. Abandoned by the men tasked with bringing her to safety, Vera is lost in a storm. When she awakens, she finds herself in the underground world of Mizora, where an advanced society of women has eliminated war and poverty altogether.
New Amazonia
by Corbett, Elizabeth Burgoyne
New Amazonia: A Foretaste of the Future (1889) is a novel by Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett. In June 1889, British novelist and President of the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League Mary Augusta Ward published her reactionary essay "An Appeal Against Female Suffrage" in The Nineteenth Century. In response, Corbett penned New Amazonia, a feminist utopian novel that depicts the emergence of an advanced society of women in the not-so-distant future. While little is known about Corbett, her surviving novels and stories suggest she was a passionate campaigner for women's suffrage in an era of conservative politics and traditional values.
"This country is New Amazonia. A long time ago it was called Erin by some, but Ireland was the name it was best known by. It used to be the scene of perpetual strife and warfare. Our archives tell us that it was subjugated by the warlike English, and that it suffered for centuries from want and oppression."
Having fallen asleep for hundreds of years, a Victorian man and woman emerge to a vastly different world. Following a devastating war between Britain and Ireland, the British repopulated their colony with women deemed to be surplus. On New Amazonia, these women came to control all aspects of government and culture, leading to the eradication of corruption and oppression. Scientifically advanced, the Amazonians have developed a technique for strengthening the human body and increasing the lifespan of women by hundreds of years. Mesmerized by what she finds in this fascinating new world, the narrator records her reactions alongside those of her male counterpart, who remains openly hostile to the Amazonians throughout. For its depiction of an advanced matriarchal society and celebration of feminist ideals, New Amazonia: A Foretaste of the Future remains an important early work of utopian science fiction.
Discover more classics and their modern companion each week.