What do you think?
Rate this book
The Adventures of Alyx
Alyx, assassin and thief — meet her in palaces and back alleys, on the frozen wastes of a distant planet
Since the time of the ancient Phoenicians, Alyx has courted danger like a lover, sweeping through centuries of intrigue, passion and plunder.
Venture with her to the wicked city of Ourdh, to rescue an innocent heiress whose fortune flames a murderous lust. Escape to adventure on pirate-infested seas when she signs on with the ruthless Blackbeard. Plunge into battle as Alyx attacks the cunning Barbarian who traps her in murder and blackmail. Journey 4,000 years to a future world, where her cunning and courage save stranded wayfarers from planetary war.
But be warned—for the right price, Alyx will serve the Devil himself!
Contents:
- Bluestocking (1967)
- I Thought She Was Afeard till She Stroked My Beard (1967)
- The Barbarian (1968)
- Picnic on Paradise (1968)
- The Second Inquisition (1970)
Since the time of the ancient Phoenicians, Alyx has courted danger like a lover, sweeping through centuries of intrigue, passion and plunder.
Venture with her to the wicked city of Ourdh, to rescue an innocent heiress whose fortune flames a murderous lust. Escape to adventure on pirate-infested seas when she signs on with the ruthless Blackbeard. Plunge into battle as Alyx attacks the cunning Barbarian who traps her in murder and blackmail. Journey 4,000 years to a future world, where her cunning and courage save stranded wayfarers from planetary war.
But be warned—for the right price, Alyx will serve the Devil himself!
Contents:
- Bluestocking (1967)
- I Thought She Was Afeard till She Stroked My Beard (1967)
- The Barbarian (1968)
- Picnic on Paradise (1968)
- The Second Inquisition (1970)
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
About the author
Joanna Russ
185 books437 followersJoanna Russ (February 22, 1937 – April 29, 2011) was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as How to Suppress Women's Writing, as well as a contemporary novel, On Strike Against God, and one children's book, Kittatinny. She is best known for The Female Man, a novel combining utopian fiction and satire.
(from Wikipedia)
(from Wikipedia)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
December 5, 2012
Alyx, her personal history, and her adventures all stubbornly refuse to be pigeonholed. She is not the stereotype of a sword-and-sorcery hero and not that stereotype's inversion, and her history before and during the stories doesn't seem to make conventional sense.
Each story challenges the reader to figure out its rules, which may not apply to the next story in the series. Each one presents a subtly altered Alyx which may not mesh with the one before.
Each story challenges the reader to figure out its rules, which may not apply to the next story in the series. Each one presents a subtly altered Alyx which may not mesh with the one before.
October 11, 2017
Is this Joanna Russ' earliest work? Certainly the first stories of a women adventurer in classical times are among her most conventional adventure yarns, but they still have a nuance of character and gender identity that look ahead the the futuristic novel included here (and reviewed by me elsewhere in a stand-alone edition -- Picnic on Paradise) and at last to the closing meta-story set in the 20s and looking further ahead to her magnum opus, The Female Man. Quick but deft and well-conceived. A good companion, perhaps, to her friend Delaney's later forays into early civilization and fantasy in his Neveryon stories.
Shelved as 'i-want-money'
March 15, 2016 171 Ratings · 18 Reviews
Still suppressed?
Samuel R. Delany dug it.
Still suppressed?
Samuel R. Delany dug it.
October 9, 2009
Not bad, but the essential credit I give this book is for the influence it had on Delany's Neveryon series, a true masterpiece we are lucky to have.
A couple of good points, otherwise: the ideas are not bad, it's always good to have some feminism around, since I sincerely don't believe we've had too much of that (just read Harry Potter or watch The X-Files to see what I mean...). I like the structure of the book as well: starting in a past clearly inspired by Fritz Leiber, and moving to the far future, eventually to drop Alyx altogether and settle for the last story in a very mundane 1920's context with only an allusion to Alyx's last adventure in the future. It is not common for a fantasy/SF writer to drag the reader forcefully back to his own world, and I must admit it worked rather well here, as you are forced to see that there were deeper thoughts in this book than just big swords and barbarian killers.
That said, I would also point out that the characters are far too caricatural to be engaging, and Alyx spends too much time punching stupid people and getting angry to sound really human at all. At times the stories are verging on slapstick, which might be fun when subtly done (cf Buster Keaton and the rest), however I did not find any subtle humour in those texts, be it the crazy drunken wit of Fritz Leiber or the more classical acidic tone of parodies. All in all I was a bit disappointed: I expected much, and the author seemed to be aiming high, but the result was nowhere near the hopes.
A couple of good points, otherwise: the ideas are not bad, it's always good to have some feminism around, since I sincerely don't believe we've had too much of that (just read Harry Potter or watch The X-Files to see what I mean...). I like the structure of the book as well: starting in a past clearly inspired by Fritz Leiber, and moving to the far future, eventually to drop Alyx altogether and settle for the last story in a very mundane 1920's context with only an allusion to Alyx's last adventure in the future. It is not common for a fantasy/SF writer to drag the reader forcefully back to his own world, and I must admit it worked rather well here, as you are forced to see that there were deeper thoughts in this book than just big swords and barbarian killers.
That said, I would also point out that the characters are far too caricatural to be engaging, and Alyx spends too much time punching stupid people and getting angry to sound really human at all. At times the stories are verging on slapstick, which might be fun when subtly done (cf Buster Keaton and the rest), however I did not find any subtle humour in those texts, be it the crazy drunken wit of Fritz Leiber or the more classical acidic tone of parodies. All in all I was a bit disappointed: I expected much, and the author seemed to be aiming high, but the result was nowhere near the hopes.
September 4, 2017
I get what it was doing, but it felt woefully second-wave. Disappointingly heterosexual, with very few non-white characters (aside from, well! in the future we are all brown, I guess!) and no space for female characters other than bratty, useless young girls for Alyx to be maternal to.
May 11, 2016
A peculiar book. Its influence on Delany's Tales of Neveryon (how I ended up reading it) is clear in the first couple of stories, in the ancient setting unconcerned with worldbuilding and interested only in vague outlines, coupled with a female protagonist with a feminist mythology and stone-cold badass fighting skills coupled with some precociously and acontextually clever ideas. But Alyx was sunk by two things for me.
The first I could have gotten over. It's that the stories are poorly written in a very odd way. They aren't clumsy in the way derivative genre fiction is. But they are told ineptly, moving so quickly, skimming over so much, that it's really hard to grasp a lot of what's going on. The gist of the plot and character arc outlines is clear enough, though often only after several pages do the details of an event really become clear. The problem is that it glides over all the meat of the story. It's hard to put my figure on exactly how it does so; there are important plot developments dropped as afterthoughts at the end of one section and picked up without reintroduction in the next, and characters are often referred to by name only once or not at all. Little context is provided in terms of not just timing and backstory but even in how characters feel about each other or respond to events in the story. Action is described in broad strokes. There are plenty of nice touches in the prose, things you wouldn't expect from a truly poor author, but there are very few moments that feel tangible, in dialogue, introspection, or action. All that said, it reads very quickly and I wouldn't have minded finishing it.
The second thing, though, is that Alyx is not like Neveryon. The protagonist is swiftly plucked from her context in ancient Phoenicia when she discovers a meddling time traveler (whose motivations are conflicting and capricious at best), and is subsequently catapulted forward in time to shepherd a group of far-future dilettante tourists across a vacation planet in advance of a trade war. There's way too much jumping to cope with Russ's ambiguity in establishing any of these scenarios. It's hard to give a shit about any of it. More than that, though, I find the idle mashup of genres and settings distasteful for some reason and the first 120 pages of this book only confirmed that bias. Presumably one would only attempt such a span with some end in mind, but I didn't get the impression that was the case here (maybe unfair?).
I did enjoy the silhouette of Alyx that can be gleaned from the prose. She's refreshingly blunt and violent, in ways that hint at how she was shaped by patriarchy and abuse but not in any particularly obvious or victimized sense. It's hard to convey because there's not a lot there, but I can see how it would have been an inspiration for later writers.
The first I could have gotten over. It's that the stories are poorly written in a very odd way. They aren't clumsy in the way derivative genre fiction is. But they are told ineptly, moving so quickly, skimming over so much, that it's really hard to grasp a lot of what's going on. The gist of the plot and character arc outlines is clear enough, though often only after several pages do the details of an event really become clear. The problem is that it glides over all the meat of the story. It's hard to put my figure on exactly how it does so; there are important plot developments dropped as afterthoughts at the end of one section and picked up without reintroduction in the next, and characters are often referred to by name only once or not at all. Little context is provided in terms of not just timing and backstory but even in how characters feel about each other or respond to events in the story. Action is described in broad strokes. There are plenty of nice touches in the prose, things you wouldn't expect from a truly poor author, but there are very few moments that feel tangible, in dialogue, introspection, or action. All that said, it reads very quickly and I wouldn't have minded finishing it.
The second thing, though, is that Alyx is not like Neveryon. The protagonist is swiftly plucked from her context in ancient Phoenicia when she discovers a meddling time traveler (whose motivations are conflicting and capricious at best), and is subsequently catapulted forward in time to shepherd a group of far-future dilettante tourists across a vacation planet in advance of a trade war. There's way too much jumping to cope with Russ's ambiguity in establishing any of these scenarios. It's hard to give a shit about any of it. More than that, though, I find the idle mashup of genres and settings distasteful for some reason and the first 120 pages of this book only confirmed that bias. Presumably one would only attempt such a span with some end in mind, but I didn't get the impression that was the case here (maybe unfair?).
I did enjoy the silhouette of Alyx that can be gleaned from the prose. She's refreshingly blunt and violent, in ways that hint at how she was shaped by patriarchy and abuse but not in any particularly obvious or victimized sense. It's hard to convey because there's not a lot there, but I can see how it would have been an inspiration for later writers.
November 12, 2014
She was a soft-spoken, dark-haired, small-boned woman, not even coming up to their shoulders, like a kind of dwarf or miniature—but that was normal enough for a Mediterranean Greek of nearly four millennia ago, before super-diets and hybridization from seventy colonized planets had turned all humanity (so she had been told) into Scandinavian giants. The young lieutenant, who was two meters and a third tall, or three heads more than herself, very handsome and ebony-skinned, said ‘I'm sorry, ma'am, but I cannot believe you're the proper Trans-Temporal Agent; I think—‘ and he finished his thought on the floor, his head under one of his ankles and this slight young woman (or was she young? Trans-Temp did such strange things sometimes!) somehow holding him down in a position he could not get out of without hurting himself to excruciation.
The first two stories are about an assassin and thief called Alyx who lives in a city in the ancient world, while the third story, if it is about the same woman, may be set earlier in her life although this is not clear. The Alyx of the fourth story is a Trans-Temporal Agent who is sent through a portal to rescue a group of future tourists trapped when war breaks out on a tourist planet. The final story told from the point of view of a teenage girl in prohibition era America whose family has a exceptionally tall paying guest staying with them while she is hiding out in the past. The links between the stories in this book become a lot clearer when the visitor tells her hosts' daughter that her great-grandmother became the first ever Trans-Temporal Agent after being accidentally scooped up in Ancient Greece during a time travel experiment.
My favourites were "I Thought She Was Afeard Till She Stroked My Beard" and "The Second Inquisition".
The first two stories are about an assassin and thief called Alyx who lives in a city in the ancient world, while the third story, if it is about the same woman, may be set earlier in her life although this is not clear. The Alyx of the fourth story is a Trans-Temporal Agent who is sent through a portal to rescue a group of future tourists trapped when war breaks out on a tourist planet. The final story told from the point of view of a teenage girl in prohibition era America whose family has a exceptionally tall paying guest staying with them while she is hiding out in the past. The links between the stories in this book become a lot clearer when the visitor tells her hosts' daughter that her great-grandmother became the first ever Trans-Temporal Agent after being accidentally scooped up in Ancient Greece during a time travel experiment.
My favourites were "I Thought She Was Afeard Till She Stroked My Beard" and "The Second Inquisition".
December 27, 2016
This is a slightly odd book. It's composed of four loosely linked short stories and a novella (Picnic on Paradise) mostly with the same protagonist (the titular Alyx, although the last story, The Second Inquisition does away even with this). The first two stories are entirely set in the past with no SFnal element to them, and reminded me of some of the Conan stories that I've read. The third introduces a 'sorcerer' while the novella relocates Alyx to the far future as she's accidentally lifted from her own timeline and she's recruited to help a group of trapped civilians cross a planet to safety in the midst of a war. This is the contribution that gives Alyx the most depth as she has to shepherd her group and inevitably gets involved with their lives. The final story is set in 1925 and only obliquely references the rest.
The slim volume is dense in multiple senses of the word. The print is small and closely packed but the imagery and metaphor are also sometimes dense, requiring close reading to process and unpack. Not exactly the light lunchtime reading that I was expecting, but mostly worth it.
Russ is, of course, known for her feminist work and this woman who starts as a cipher, a female Conan, develops into something much more complex, having an inner life of her own. She is always an actor, always driving the story, never being a passive character to whom events happen, which is something that I always enjoy in a protagonist.
So an odd set of stories, but enjoyable both in themselves, and for their place in the greater history of the genre.
The slim volume is dense in multiple senses of the word. The print is small and closely packed but the imagery and metaphor are also sometimes dense, requiring close reading to process and unpack. Not exactly the light lunchtime reading that I was expecting, but mostly worth it.
Russ is, of course, known for her feminist work and this woman who starts as a cipher, a female Conan, develops into something much more complex, having an inner life of her own. She is always an actor, always driving the story, never being a passive character to whom events happen, which is something that I always enjoy in a protagonist.
So an odd set of stories, but enjoyable both in themselves, and for their place in the greater history of the genre.
December 23, 2013
I am a huge huge fan of Fritz Leiber. His stylish, literate writing style, combined with a strong storyteller's charm, really appeal. I'd heard on several occasions over the years a character (Alyx, a woman thief and adventurer) who appeared by name in a couple of Leiber's "Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser" stories was actually another writer's. This imprimatur by Leiber motivated me to seeking out "The Adventures of Alyx". This is a fantastic piece of writing, an example of what genre writing can achieve by hewing true to the format's avenues of imaginative exploration by expanding it not just to Fantastic Worlds, but to the inner life of human beings. (C.f., James Tiptree, Jr., Theodore Sturgeon.) The book gathers short and long stories, framed around sword and sorcery/science fantasy themes, but in fact much wider ranging excursions, and more often very little about swords or fights or magic or aliens. I am going to scan a passage from one of the stories (in which the titular character has hooked up for a spell with Bluebeard, the pirate). I thought this description of sea battles amazing, not romantic or heroic, but rather poetic and sensual and painterly:
http://tinyurl.com/l6z3pfs
http://tinyurl.com/l6z3pfs
May 10, 2019
These are early stories by Joanna Russ following her departure from writing traditional patriarchal fiction. They all feature the character of Alyx, a renaissance woman often toeing the line of the law, alternating between roles of thief, mercenary, adventurer-for-hire, etc. The first few lean toward the swashbuckling space pirate type of tale, with various Russ flourishes. She is beginning to challenge gender roles here, but has not gone totally radical yet (though at the time these were published [late 60s] they probably would've been radical enough for some). The first story, at least, was written before Russ said she began identifying as a feminist. 'Picnic on Paradise' approaches novella length and concerns Alyx's time as an agent sent to lead a group of vacationers to safety through harsh conditions on a planet under war. The last story includes Alyx only as a relative of one of the characters and might fall under the genre of 'slipstream' these days. None of the stories are hard sci-fi, though, and the focus is always on the interaction between characters rather than the 'otherworldliness' of the surroundings. Definitely recommended for existing Russ fans, as well as to those newly curious about her legacy as a feminist science fiction writer.
May 6, 2015
This is a pretty solid collection. While each story is fine by itself, what makes it great is the interplay between the stories.
The first few are essentially sword and sorcery stories, with Picnic on Paradise pulling the character into the distant future, and the final story taking place in the 1920s, where Alyx is a character only referenced by those in the story.
What's nice about Russ is that her prose is great and she writes dialogue maybe better than anyone. The way she has characters say so much without actually speaking anything of consequence is brilliant.
But, yeah, a mix of sword and sorcery and future science fiction and contemporary science fiction all with near perfect dialogue[especially the early stories] and prose that remains strong throughout.
Easy to see the huge influence she had on Delany, too. After reading this, you can see her fingers all over Neveryon and Triton, which is interesting to see.
The first few are essentially sword and sorcery stories, with Picnic on Paradise pulling the character into the distant future, and the final story taking place in the 1920s, where Alyx is a character only referenced by those in the story.
What's nice about Russ is that her prose is great and she writes dialogue maybe better than anyone. The way she has characters say so much without actually speaking anything of consequence is brilliant.
But, yeah, a mix of sword and sorcery and future science fiction and contemporary science fiction all with near perfect dialogue[especially the early stories] and prose that remains strong throughout.
Easy to see the huge influence she had on Delany, too. After reading this, you can see her fingers all over Neveryon and Triton, which is interesting to see.
September 2, 2013
No, I did not misspell my own name (although someone at work did yesterday...) - Joanna Russ called her character Alyx, and I have finally read the collection of four short stories + one novella about said adventurer.
The thing you have to know about Alyx is that although the name stays the same, and some aspects of the character remain the same, trying to establish an internal chronology for these stories is likely to bust your brain. It doesn't work, and it doesn't have to work. Maybe it's the same woman, maybe she's a time traveller, maybe the name lends certain characteristics (like Julias in Tansy Rayner Roberts' Love and Romanpunk) ... or maybe Russ is playing, and it actually doesn't matter. Although once you accept that it doesn't necessarily work, making connections is a lot of fun.
These stories are different genre, with different approaches to narrative - what makes a narrative - so don't go in expecting a cohesive whole. Of course, it is a whole in that Russ is doing confronting things with her female character: making her the lead, and not making romance important, and exploring reactions to women. That's still a bold thing to do, and my edition of these stories was published in 1983; they originally came out between 1967 and 1970. I really wish I was alive to experience Russ As She Happened. And it makes me wonder who, if anyone, fills a similar niche today - and whether I am completely missing their stuff, for whatever reason.
I feel like a barbarian myself to admit that I did not love the first two stories. In fact, it took me ages to get through this slim volume because I was so not in love with the first one, and then the second, that I was worried I wouldn't enjoy the rest. I persevered though, partly from an admittedly perverse desire to be able to say that I had read it, and partly because I knew that the stories changed up so I was hoping that I would come across stories more to my taste later on. And I did. Some of what comes below is my analysis of my own reactions to the stories, rather than a pure review. This might be dismissed as navel gazing; for me, it's a way of working out how I work with Joanna Russ, such a powerful influence over what I'm interested in.
"Bluestocking" begins in a very self-deprecating way - "This is the tale of a voyage that is on interest only as it concerns the doings of one small, gray-eyed woman." Not a great start? It gets subversive within moments, though, suggesting that the first man was created from the sixth finger of the left hand of the first woman... but our lady, Alyx, has all six fingers. Alyx is a pickpocket; she gets hired to look after a spoiled young woman. Then there are adventures, of a sort. There's travelling, and bickering, and a sword fight. It is also supremely brief. I'm not sure whether it was that aspect that most didn't work for me, but it certainly contributed - I found this story quite frustrating, with all its lacunae and its teasing and... something. "I Thought she was Afeard till she stroked by Beard" worked similarly on me. In this case, Alyx escapes an unhappy marriage; gets on board a ship and has a complex relationship with the captain; and is frustrated by the place of women in the world. I think it's clever, but for mine there's just not enough.
I should say at this point that there is more going on here than 'just' a narrative, especially in narrative connections; I know Russ is addressing Fritz Lieber, and others. I haven't read any Lieber. Perhaps this is a fault in me, and the stories would be greatly improved with that background knowledge. But I know Terry Pratchett riffs off Lieber too, and I enjoy those stories; I know Mieville and Reynolds are riffing off others, but I still enjoy theirs too. So... perhaps it's ok that I don't enjoy all of Russ' work? Maybe?
"The Barbarian" is a story that Gary Wolfe, in his essay in On Joanna Russ (... I think?? eep maybe I'm wrong...) suggests is the switch for Alyx between fantasy and SF, which is an intriguing way of seeing it. Here Alyx is again a crim-for-hire, but she doesn't like what she's hired to do and things go downhill from there. For me as a reader, though, things started going up. This story appealed more, although I'm not sure why. Maybe it's a simpler story but with more flesh, more detail?
Then - next - oh, delight: "Picnic on Paradise." This was originally published alone, as a novel; I guess it's a novella, by today's standards? 90 pages in my little pocketbook edition. Alyx, a Trans-Temporal Agent brought from the ancient Mediterranean world to both the future and a different planet. She's being used to guide a disparate group of tourists across a war-ravaged planet, to keep them safe in the most horrific of circumstances: no access to their technology. There's an incredibly profound moment at the start, where one of the women asks why Alyx is "covered up" - wearing clothes. So Alyx takes off her shift, therefore mimicking those around her, which group promptly have apoplexy. Alyx is confused, naturally; one of them says that she is wearing her history, which they are not used to. This goes a long way to demonstrating some of the rather large differences between Alyx and her charges. The story is a straightforward one of flight, and fighting for survival: getting lost, getting hungry, literally fighting (nature, each other, etc). It's Russ, and having read We Who Are About To... I wasn't surprised that things do not go according to plan, in a drastic way. One of the remarkable aspects is, of course, that the leader is a woman. Making the hard decisions, being contemptuous, fighting - being well-rounded. The tourists are a motley bunch: nuns, macho men, wannabe robots, high-society ladies. They too have their chance to be well-rounded, to interact especially with Alyx but also each other. This isn't a fun story but it's a great story, an intriguing one, and one I am so pleased to have read.
The final story in the set is a difficult one in terms of "Alyx canon," the idea of which I rather suggest Russ would either have rolled her eyes or laughed at. Because Alyx probably isn't in it. Her descendants might be, but if you read this by itself you wouldn't have a clue about her. It's also frustrating me because I know I have read it - "The Second Inquisition" - before, but I don't know where. Some anthology, some time. Anyway... this too is science fiction, focussed on a young girl whose family is hosting a very odd stranger, who leads the girl in all sorts of directions: physically, introducing her to other, even more strange people; intellectually, introducing her to books and ideas she has never encountered; and culturally, challenging a whole bunch of assumptions within the family and society more broadly. There's also questions about reality and imagination going on here that I think I missed the first time through. Intriguingly I think this gets a little close to the 'galactic suburbia' stories that Russ dismissed, since the focus is very much a suburban home with the occasional break-in of the science fictional. At any rate it certainly makes a challenging and difficult-in-a-good-way conclusion to the collection, because it doesn't fit neatly into Alyx's adventures. Which is as it should be, because Alyx - as a woman and as a character - doesn't fit anywhere comfortably either. And she wouldn't want to.
The thing you have to know about Alyx is that although the name stays the same, and some aspects of the character remain the same, trying to establish an internal chronology for these stories is likely to bust your brain. It doesn't work, and it doesn't have to work. Maybe it's the same woman, maybe she's a time traveller, maybe the name lends certain characteristics (like Julias in Tansy Rayner Roberts' Love and Romanpunk) ... or maybe Russ is playing, and it actually doesn't matter. Although once you accept that it doesn't necessarily work, making connections is a lot of fun.
These stories are different genre, with different approaches to narrative - what makes a narrative - so don't go in expecting a cohesive whole. Of course, it is a whole in that Russ is doing confronting things with her female character: making her the lead, and not making romance important, and exploring reactions to women. That's still a bold thing to do, and my edition of these stories was published in 1983; they originally came out between 1967 and 1970. I really wish I was alive to experience Russ As She Happened. And it makes me wonder who, if anyone, fills a similar niche today - and whether I am completely missing their stuff, for whatever reason.
I feel like a barbarian myself to admit that I did not love the first two stories. In fact, it took me ages to get through this slim volume because I was so not in love with the first one, and then the second, that I was worried I wouldn't enjoy the rest. I persevered though, partly from an admittedly perverse desire to be able to say that I had read it, and partly because I knew that the stories changed up so I was hoping that I would come across stories more to my taste later on. And I did. Some of what comes below is my analysis of my own reactions to the stories, rather than a pure review. This might be dismissed as navel gazing; for me, it's a way of working out how I work with Joanna Russ, such a powerful influence over what I'm interested in.
"Bluestocking" begins in a very self-deprecating way - "This is the tale of a voyage that is on interest only as it concerns the doings of one small, gray-eyed woman." Not a great start? It gets subversive within moments, though, suggesting that the first man was created from the sixth finger of the left hand of the first woman... but our lady, Alyx, has all six fingers. Alyx is a pickpocket; she gets hired to look after a spoiled young woman. Then there are adventures, of a sort. There's travelling, and bickering, and a sword fight. It is also supremely brief. I'm not sure whether it was that aspect that most didn't work for me, but it certainly contributed - I found this story quite frustrating, with all its lacunae and its teasing and... something. "I Thought she was Afeard till she stroked by Beard" worked similarly on me. In this case, Alyx escapes an unhappy marriage; gets on board a ship and has a complex relationship with the captain; and is frustrated by the place of women in the world. I think it's clever, but for mine there's just not enough.
I should say at this point that there is more going on here than 'just' a narrative, especially in narrative connections; I know Russ is addressing Fritz Lieber, and others. I haven't read any Lieber. Perhaps this is a fault in me, and the stories would be greatly improved with that background knowledge. But I know Terry Pratchett riffs off Lieber too, and I enjoy those stories; I know Mieville and Reynolds are riffing off others, but I still enjoy theirs too. So... perhaps it's ok that I don't enjoy all of Russ' work? Maybe?
"The Barbarian" is a story that Gary Wolfe, in his essay in On Joanna Russ (... I think?? eep maybe I'm wrong...) suggests is the switch for Alyx between fantasy and SF, which is an intriguing way of seeing it. Here Alyx is again a crim-for-hire, but she doesn't like what she's hired to do and things go downhill from there. For me as a reader, though, things started going up. This story appealed more, although I'm not sure why. Maybe it's a simpler story but with more flesh, more detail?
Then - next - oh, delight: "Picnic on Paradise." This was originally published alone, as a novel; I guess it's a novella, by today's standards? 90 pages in my little pocketbook edition. Alyx, a Trans-Temporal Agent brought from the ancient Mediterranean world to both the future and a different planet. She's being used to guide a disparate group of tourists across a war-ravaged planet, to keep them safe in the most horrific of circumstances: no access to their technology. There's an incredibly profound moment at the start, where one of the women asks why Alyx is "covered up" - wearing clothes. So Alyx takes off her shift, therefore mimicking those around her, which group promptly have apoplexy. Alyx is confused, naturally; one of them says that she is wearing her history, which they are not used to. This goes a long way to demonstrating some of the rather large differences between Alyx and her charges. The story is a straightforward one of flight, and fighting for survival: getting lost, getting hungry, literally fighting (nature, each other, etc). It's Russ, and having read We Who Are About To... I wasn't surprised that things do not go according to plan, in a drastic way. One of the remarkable aspects is, of course, that the leader is a woman. Making the hard decisions, being contemptuous, fighting - being well-rounded. The tourists are a motley bunch: nuns, macho men, wannabe robots, high-society ladies. They too have their chance to be well-rounded, to interact especially with Alyx but also each other. This isn't a fun story but it's a great story, an intriguing one, and one I am so pleased to have read.
The final story in the set is a difficult one in terms of "Alyx canon," the idea of which I rather suggest Russ would either have rolled her eyes or laughed at. Because Alyx probably isn't in it. Her descendants might be, but if you read this by itself you wouldn't have a clue about her. It's also frustrating me because I know I have read it - "The Second Inquisition" - before, but I don't know where. Some anthology, some time. Anyway... this too is science fiction, focussed on a young girl whose family is hosting a very odd stranger, who leads the girl in all sorts of directions: physically, introducing her to other, even more strange people; intellectually, introducing her to books and ideas she has never encountered; and culturally, challenging a whole bunch of assumptions within the family and society more broadly. There's also questions about reality and imagination going on here that I think I missed the first time through. Intriguingly I think this gets a little close to the 'galactic suburbia' stories that Russ dismissed, since the focus is very much a suburban home with the occasional break-in of the science fictional. At any rate it certainly makes a challenging and difficult-in-a-good-way conclusion to the collection, because it doesn't fit neatly into Alyx's adventures. Which is as it should be, because Alyx - as a woman and as a character - doesn't fit anywhere comfortably either. And she wouldn't want to.
November 19, 2021
If you come to this sword & sorcery novel hoping for mighty thews style stories, you'll be disappointed. However if you're looking for something a little different, and/or Joanna Russ' highly specific voice expressing her own special take on S&S, then you'll do just fine.
The first three stories, of five, are sword & sorcery and I'm reluctant to compare it to anybody else as Russ is so much her own thing, here and elsewhere, but I suppose you could compare them to a mix of Leiber's Fafhrd & Grey Mouser stories and a Dunsany-like fairy tale logic to how things play out. All three delighted me greatly.
But the fourth story pulls Alyx into a far, far future novella centering on her leading a band of people who are almost entirely unsuited for their long, arduous journey. There were parts in it where I felt perhaps too much empathy with the sensation of slog the characters wrestled with, however it's worth a read if only to set up the last story. It's a bit like a more upbeat version of Russ' "We Who Are About To...".
The last story may or may not even feature Alyx, but instead a character from the previous tale, and the setting changes entirely again for something of an Alice *Almost* in Wonderland tale. It seems utterly mundane, until it isn't, and when it ends, that's it. Book over!
So yes, if you've enjoyed Russ' work before, like her classic "The Female Man", then come on down! If you're up for a very different take on sword & sorcery, come on down! But I wouldn't recommend coming to it looking for something akin to Conan, or even Fafhrd & Grey Mouser (despite a fun, oblique reference to Alyx hooking up with Fafhrd, which was sanctioned by Leiber who in turn mentions Alyx in "The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar"), or even a terribly straightforward narrative.
The first three stories, of five, are sword & sorcery and I'm reluctant to compare it to anybody else as Russ is so much her own thing, here and elsewhere, but I suppose you could compare them to a mix of Leiber's Fafhrd & Grey Mouser stories and a Dunsany-like fairy tale logic to how things play out. All three delighted me greatly.
But the fourth story pulls Alyx into a far, far future novella centering on her leading a band of people who are almost entirely unsuited for their long, arduous journey. There were parts in it where I felt perhaps too much empathy with the sensation of slog the characters wrestled with, however it's worth a read if only to set up the last story. It's a bit like a more upbeat version of Russ' "We Who Are About To...".
The last story may or may not even feature Alyx, but instead a character from the previous tale, and the setting changes entirely again for something of an Alice *Almost* in Wonderland tale. It seems utterly mundane, until it isn't, and when it ends, that's it. Book over!
So yes, if you've enjoyed Russ' work before, like her classic "The Female Man", then come on down! If you're up for a very different take on sword & sorcery, come on down! But I wouldn't recommend coming to it looking for something akin to Conan, or even Fafhrd & Grey Mouser (despite a fun, oblique reference to Alyx hooking up with Fafhrd, which was sanctioned by Leiber who in turn mentions Alyx in "The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar"), or even a terribly straightforward narrative.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 13, 2018
'First British Publication' claims the back cover of this Women's Press edition but that's not quite the case. The greater part of the volume is taken up by 'Picnic on Paradise', a short novel that had been put out minus the accompanying short stories by Wyndham's 'Star' imprint, some time in the 70s. I can see why WP might have wanted to airbrush the 'Star' edition out of history; its cover bore an image - Chris Achilleos, possibly - of the familiar teenette dressed in that kind of armour - peculiar to 1970s sci-fi paperbacks and heavy metal album sleves - that leaves the breasts and belly uncovered. Try working out the logic of that. Of course, such a figure bears no resemblance to Russ' greying and embittered thirtysomething protagonist; the cover of this WP collection gives you a much better idea of the character you're about to encounter.
Readers picking up the 'Star' edition expecting something on the lines of 'High Couch of Silistra' or even 'Floating Worlds' would, let's not mince words here, have shit themselves. Russ' sexual politics may not be the same as Andrea Dworkin's or Sarah Daniels', but it's tough stuff. Whether you want to call it feminism or not is up to you and whether it's justified or not is a question I'll not engage with. I tend to find male reviewers who try to express an opinion - ANY opinion on such issues inevitably make themselves look utter nobcheeses. So see what you think.
Readers picking up the 'Star' edition expecting something on the lines of 'High Couch of Silistra' or even 'Floating Worlds' would, let's not mince words here, have shit themselves. Russ' sexual politics may not be the same as Andrea Dworkin's or Sarah Daniels', but it's tough stuff. Whether you want to call it feminism or not is up to you and whether it's justified or not is a question I'll not engage with. I tend to find male reviewers who try to express an opinion - ANY opinion on such issues inevitably make themselves look utter nobcheeses. So see what you think.
March 4, 2024
Great collection of stories including the exceptional short novel, Picnic on Paradise. (Review of Picnic here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...).
Starting and ending with stories in a Swords and Sorcery vein, Russ manages to turn Alyx's story into science fiction through a simple and effective explanation in the short novel. The novel is stand-alone, and yet if you read the early stories, I think it adds depth and understanding of Alyx, where she came from and what motivates her.
Note, I didn't read directly from this collection, but from Joanna Russ: Novels & Stories (LOA #373): The Female Man / We Who Are About To . . . / On Strike Against God / The Complet e Alyx Stories / Other Stories, which includes a story not in this collection, "A Game of Vlet".
Starting and ending with stories in a Swords and Sorcery vein, Russ manages to turn Alyx's story into science fiction through a simple and effective explanation in the short novel. The novel is stand-alone, and yet if you read the early stories, I think it adds depth and understanding of Alyx, where she came from and what motivates her.
Note, I didn't read directly from this collection, but from Joanna Russ: Novels & Stories (LOA #373): The Female Man / We Who Are About To . . . / On Strike Against God / The Complet e Alyx Stories / Other Stories, which includes a story not in this collection, "A Game of Vlet".
February 21, 2021
I don't know how many times I read this book in the 1980s and early 1990s, but it must have been quite a few because I found myself finishing some of the sentences as I read it. The stories are fifty years old now, but the anger still resonates.
September 28, 2019
Background reading for the Modal Calculus. The last story's pretty good but I couldn't tell if the title character was in it. Much vagueness and Style.
April 5, 2020
Enjoyable feminist (I guess?) fantasy, which segues into science fiction. Bonus oblique reference to Fritz Lieber’s character Fafhrd.
September 19, 2022
A delightful read. Pure, no-nonsense entertainment. I wish we had more of that.
December 19, 2023
Conceptually interesting at times, but frequently hard to follow.
April 24, 2021
"Never confuse the weapon and the arm," and taking the candle, she went away and left him in the dark.
I'm so glad I found this (very) loosely connected collection of stories from 1968 at Goodwill!
Alyx is a total badass as she makes her way through space and time and Russ has great fun playing with themes of identity and independence. The main draw is the 140 pp. "Picnic on Paradise" which turns out to be neither. Her writing is still fresh after all this time.
(Now, if I can give And Chaos Died one more try.)
I'm so glad I found this (very) loosely connected collection of stories from 1968 at Goodwill!
Alyx is a total badass as she makes her way through space and time and Russ has great fun playing with themes of identity and independence. The main draw is the 140 pp. "Picnic on Paradise" which turns out to be neither. Her writing is still fresh after all this time.
(Now, if I can give And Chaos Died one more try.)
December 10, 2018
Is a book easy to read
June 4, 2017
What a strange and wonderful collection. The first three stories could fit into fantasy pulp easily (and in fact there's a mention that the main character Alyx hooked up with Fafhrd at some point in the past.) But then there's a bizarre turn, as Alyx ends up stolen into the future and serving as an escort for idle tourists in a warzone that is sweet and powerful and bitter at the same time; and finally, a gentle coda showing what came of that, told by a girl in 1925. Overall, it was delightful.
September 29, 2012
2010 bookcrossing review:
Well, hurah, I have finally gotten around to reading this book. I've just finished it, and to be honest, my initial thought is, what on earth was that all about? This is actually the second book by Joanna Russ I've read now, and I probably preferred The Female Man, which was just as strange and disjointed, but it felt as though it worked better. Here it just got a bit random and disconnected and I'm really not sure what the point of it all was.
It's a kind of sci-fi fantasy book, split into chapters that all seem to be seperate from one another, and all of which are about a woman called Alyx except the last one where she might feature but its all a bit unclear. There's stories about her guiding a spoilt rich bratt across the world, becoming a pirate's woman and a really long one about her guiding a goup of small people across paradise, which is a frozen world. Not entirely sure why they were travelling across there either but anyway.
All very random and not a book I'd want to read again. One of these odd things I must have picked up on a whim because it was cheap. Anyway, I have already promised that I am going to send this to a bookmoocher so it will soon be moving on.
Well, hurah, I have finally gotten around to reading this book. I've just finished it, and to be honest, my initial thought is, what on earth was that all about? This is actually the second book by Joanna Russ I've read now, and I probably preferred The Female Man, which was just as strange and disjointed, but it felt as though it worked better. Here it just got a bit random and disconnected and I'm really not sure what the point of it all was.
It's a kind of sci-fi fantasy book, split into chapters that all seem to be seperate from one another, and all of which are about a woman called Alyx except the last one where she might feature but its all a bit unclear. There's stories about her guiding a spoilt rich bratt across the world, becoming a pirate's woman and a really long one about her guiding a goup of small people across paradise, which is a frozen world. Not entirely sure why they were travelling across there either but anyway.
All very random and not a book I'd want to read again. One of these odd things I must have picked up on a whim because it was cheap. Anyway, I have already promised that I am going to send this to a bookmoocher so it will soon be moving on.
September 11, 2014
The cover of my paperback copy of The Adventures of Alyx features a woman, an odd, child-faced, red-headed magician, and a spaceship; the back has a short synopsis of a trashy space opera plot. Both covers lie. This is a collection of loosely-connected short stories in the grand tradition of mid-century sci fi, which leave you wondering "WTF was that all about?" The crucial difference, of course, is that Joanna Russ was a pioneering feminist writer, and her Alyx is a unique character in that genre (or rather, Alyxes - the same character is explored from several angles, much like "Annie" in Martin Crimps' play "Attempts on Her Life").
As a last note, I want to point out the final story, "The Second Inquisition"; this one has a very different feel from the others and provides an unexpectedly gut-wrenching commentary on childhood; it's close to the top of the list of my favorite pieces of short fiction.
As a last note, I want to point out the final story, "The Second Inquisition"; this one has a very different feel from the others and provides an unexpectedly gut-wrenching commentary on childhood; it's close to the top of the list of my favorite pieces of short fiction.
June 26, 2023
The Alyx story-cycle is a thing of beauty. From Leiber-esque Swords and Sandals fantasy in the ancient Mediterranean to time travel, science fiction and beautifully expressed culture shock in Picnic on Paradise. Alyx is a wonderfully realised heroine, sharp but warm at the same time, clever, practical, brave, competent. The wisest amongst a sex that is exceedingly wise, to paraphrase Russ. Alyx, the grey-eyed, the quiet wonag. Wit, arm, kill-quick for hire. I adore her and find her endlessly compelling. It was a treat to travel with her from fantastical Ourdh to brooding Tyre to the rocky snowscapes of Paradise.
May 18, 2011
As eager as I was to read this book, outspoken feminist author with a female protagonist, I couldn't get over the weird 70s overly vague and twisted writing style. I'll try something else by her. Why all the girls gotta write so strangely? Ursula K. LeGuin does it too. Sigh.
May 27, 2014
This was a fun collection of stories, some fantasy, some science-fiction. Theoretically they share a protagonist, but the back-story isn't consistent. The last one was particularly intriguing in its ability to be read several different ways.
August 8, 2007
Karen and I named our domain, alyx.com, after this book. Enough said.
September 8, 2009
Very enjoyable fantasy/science fiction featuring a female character in the Fritz Leiber tradition. Recommended.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews