The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction edited by Mark Bould, Andrew M. Butler, Adam Roberts and Sherryl Vint

Ch27. Posthumanism and Cyborg Theory by Veronica Hollinger – this essay discusses ideas of intellectuals such as Katherine Hayles and Donna Haraway (and a bit of Foucault) regarding the concept and the role of the posthuman in today’s, technocultural societies. It asks the question what are we? According to Hayles some discourses tend to define humanity as information patterns giving the human body a secondary role, as carrier of the mind. According to Haraway the concept of “cyborg” helps us to blur the differences between the human (nature) and the machine (culture). Thanks to that we can beat those rules which have been historically enforced to us because they were “natural” rules. For example, the role of women in society as mothers. The essay mentions a few Science Fiction works such as He, She and It by M. Piercy, Schismatrix by B. Sterling and Air by Geoff Ryman. 

Ch32. Virtuality by Thomas Foster. This was a difficult read because of the language and the reference to previous philosophical work. Foster discusses the term Virtuality not only in relation with technologies but with our everyday life. For example the Virtuality in writing and reading. Foster quotes Hansen (2004) "far from being a synonym of the digital, the virtual must be understood as the capacity, so fundamental to human existence, to be in excess of one's actual state". Foster draws connections between Virtuality and the concept of Cyberspace (a narrower term specific to the use of technology coined by William Gibson) citing well known SF works such as Gibson's Neuromancer, Gwyneth Jone's North Wind and Damien Broderick's The Judas Mandala (where Broderick uses the term virtual reality for the first time). The text turns very complicated as Foster introduces the work of Katherine Hayle. He quotes her definition of Virtuality "the cultural perception that material objects are interpenetrated by information patterns." Hayles sees the opposition between materiality and information as a duality or dichotomy in which Information is privileged over materiality. The text ends with a reference to Richard Morgan's Alter Carbon (a novel/trilogy I've wanted to read for some time now). 

Ch22. Feminisms by Jane Donawerth - provides a brief overview of feminist theory and the history of feminism: first, second and third (or postfeminist or postmodern...) waves. Since the 1600s and 1700s women have written about their rights to education and to preach (e.g. Women's speaking justified by Margaret Fell, 1666). SF (?) Fiction mentioned: The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World by Margaret Cavendish (1666). During the 19th century and early 20th century women fought for property rights, sexuality and enfranchisement. Mentioned SF references are feminist technological utopias (e.g. Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman's, 1915), critiqued housewife oppression as they saw women confined in comfortable concentration camps (e.g. The Heat Death of the Universe by Pamela Zoline, 1967), The Women Men don't see by James Tiptree Jr, 1973). The 1970s saw a development of Women's studies and a resurrection of feminist utopias (e.g. The female man by Joanna Russ, 1975; The Gate to Women's Country by Sherri Tepper, 1988) and slave narratives (e.g. Kindred by Octavia Butler, 1979; Floating Worlds by Cecelia Holland, 1975). In the third wave, postmodernist thinkers questioned earlier feminist theories with for example proposing an interlocking matrix of identity for women (Collins, 1989) and intersectionality (Collins, 1999) which examines the intersection of science, gender, race and ethnicity. Donna Haraway (1985) proposed that "we live in a postmodern society where are all cyborgs and we should begin dreaming a monstrous world that is postgender ... The cyborg, the sf part-human/part-machine fantasy that is rapidly becoming our reality, represents 'transgressed boundaries' and unsettles the concept of heterosexuality as natural" (1991). (Works mentioned: Drinking sapphire wine by Tanith Lee, 1977; Dreaming Metal by Melissa Scott, 1995; The Pride of Chanur by C.J. Cherry, 1982 and others). 

Ch51. Feminist SF by Gwyneth Jones - this short essay recounts the literary devices Feminist SF writers have used in the past: e.g. imaginary domains where women are capable of governance, where women are morally superior, where women are intelligent; utopias and dystopia; role reversal; stories with destructive value systems (subjection of women, violence); catastrophe that wipes the male population; multiverse stories; stories where women and men are equal, and more. Works I am interested in checking are Gateway by Frederick Pohl (which they say a feminist work), and James Tiptree's work. There is an entire paragraph dedicated to Tiptree and how the revelation as "him" being a woman resulted in a decline of her reputation, and a decline of Mainstream SF interest in feminism. 

Ch53. Hard SF by David N. Samuelson - this essay tries to define Hard Science Fiction, what it involves and doesn't, not necessarily in literary terms but in terms of the Science reflected in the stories. Hard SF requires a plausible and reasonable connection with Science and technology. This means that the Science and technology depicted need not to be real but believable, connected in some way to reality. This may involve rigorous scientific knowledge by the writer. The essay explains that the term Hard SF was first used in the late 1950s when SF began to emphasise social and psychological issues. Another important thing I learned, or maybe confirmed, was the lack of Female Hard SF writers. The world of Hard SF seems to be centralised in English speaking countries and is predominantly written by men. Samuelson explains that "males seem statistically more fascinated with looking under the hood and taking mechanisms apart" also that social conditioning emphasise in males the "hardness" of making and enforcing laws. Women on the contrary show little interest or satisfaction in writing... overly mechanical and unconcerned with human values." One exception is C.J. Cherryh's space operas (now on my list!) 

Ch55. Space Opera by Andy Sawyer - tries to define Space Opera by providing a short historical account. Starting from being a pejorative term to describing a kind of story with particular settings, technologies and goals. Space Operas are committed to action and adventure and focus on the heroic. In the 1950s some space opera got inspiration from westerns, with the aliens taking place of the Indians. Trends: galactic empire stories, influences of the new wave movement, influences of the visual aspects of film and TV and modern space operas reflecting American politics, warfare and history. For example using Terraforming stories as an analogy of stories about American settlers in hostile environments in the west. (Scifi Novels mentioned: the Culture series by Iain Banks which for Sawyer is more character based fiction than Space Opera, Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh who "matured the form" as she incorporated detailed historical background in her stories. Other authors mentioned Peter F Hamilton, Alistair Reynolds, Scott Westerfeld, John C Weight and M.John Harrison.)