While perusing Eric Garber and Lyn Paleo’s indispensable resource Uranian Worlds: A Reader’s Guide to Alternative Sexuality in Science Fiction and Fantasy (1983, second ed. 1990), my eyes fell on stories by Lisa Tuttle and Grania Davis.1 I’ve never read the work of Lisa Tuttle and I know little to nothing about Grania Davis beyond “My Head’s in a Different Place, Now” (1972), which I tersely dismissed as “zany and forgettable.” I’m glad I decided to pair the stories. Both tackle the inability of 60s radicalism to create a lasting ideological movement. Both stories come with caveats.
Preliminary Note: In the future, I might cover problematic stories on this theme or others with a strong heterosexual bias. They too reveal how people thought about queer topics through the lens of science-fictional extrapolation at different points in history.
Let’s get to the stories!
Tom Barber’s cover for Amazing Stories, ed. Ted White (March 1976)
4.25/5 (Very Good)
Lisa Tuttle’s “Stone Circle” first appeared in Amazing Stories, ed. Ted White (March 1976). You can read it online here. It was nominated for the 1977 Nebula Award for Best Short Story.
As the forces of fascism transform a near-future America, a nameless female narrator (henceforth N) attempts to find meaning in the ashes. This is a world in which N must use her body to acquire the necessities for survival. The story opens with N observing herself, “woman of stone, lying on the floor” as a man above her “smiling, masculine, buckling his belt, congratulating himself” (42). Later a government inspectors enters her apartment with his “payment”–a mysterious piece of uncooked meat in a plastic bag. In another instance, a man attempts to seduce her in his apartment (in exchange for cooking the meat as she has no stove)–they watch television, he falls asleep, she observes, distant, a roach crawl up his chair and across his arm (44).
The sad exploitive ritual of her existence is interrupted after she wanders into an area of the city “untouched by reconstruction” (44). It’s implied riots or draconian attempts to crack down on resistance created ruinous zones across America’s cities. N encounters a young woman, a “moon-faced” revolutionary named Kit, wandering the streets high on Chill (44). The government allows revolutionaries to eek out their harmless self-destroying existence in the ruins. While their ideologies might be transformative and confrontational, the drive for action burns out on drugs. She buys Kit a warm drink with her dwindling supply of food stamps. Something kindles inside of her. Kit imagines a real revolution occurring among the harmless: “we’re so far beyond suspicion” (45). N shakes her head, “Chill freaks are harmless […] There will never be a revolution. It’s been tried before. I don’t believe in that stuff” (45). N falls in love: “I thought her very like a kitten, small and soft, clear-eyed and vulnerable” (45).
Kit moves into N’s apartment and her bed: “I felt something within me, a tightening in my stomach and then a slow throb, like an extra heart” (46). They settle into a domestic routine. But everything changes when Kit comes home excited: “There is an underground! There is a an organization!” (46). N attempts to caution her that the government will soon root out their plans. The personal relationships might last but the grander transformation of society will be crushed by the arbitrary forces of dictatorship. But soon Kit unwittingly pulls N into a conspiracy of which there might not be an escape.
This is a hard story to read and write about: “emotionally uncomfortable” might be the best description I’ve seen.2 N imagines herself a stone statue as protection against the trauma she experiences at the hands of the men who attempt to control her life. Her love of Kit momentarily gives life to the stone. Little’s nightmare reflects, in harrowing strokes, the late-70s viewpoint of a frustrated radical in the era of conservative backlash. “Stone Circle” manifests the disappointment in the perceived failure of the New Left transform American into a more egalitarian, anti-martial, and democratically participatory society.3 The jaded one-time radicals can only look back on the strung out remnants of the movement with dismissive sadness. There is no hope for change. And the hope for more meaningful personal relationships quickly turn to stone.
I am fascinated by the evolution of leftist thought in science fiction. I found “Stone Circle” and (to an even greater degree) Grania Davis’ “New-Way-Groover’s Stew” (1976) discussed below, a worthy foil to Marge Piercy’s underrated Dance the Eagle to Sleep (1970). Piercy charts the rise and fall of an Students for a Democratic Society-style revolutionary group (with an insider’s eye). While the movement fails and the forces of fascism transforms society in its own image, Dance at least suggested that the movement’s ideology had meaning. Tuttle (and Davis) look from a vantage point of complete despair. The corrosive forces of fascism turns everyone against everyone. Dark. Grungy. Beautiful in its telling.
Recommended with caveats. Why this Nebula-nominated short story never appeared in an anthology or Tuttle collection frustrates.
Stephen Fabian’s cover for Fantastic, Ted White (August 1976)
3.75/5 (Good)
Grania Davis’ “New-Way-Groovers Stew” first appeared in Fantastic, Ted White (August 1976). You can read it online here.
As with Lisa Tuttle’s “Stone Circle” (1976), Grania Davis also crafts a deeply unsettling look–with a bit more interest in its horror implications–backwards at the failure of the New Left. At some indeterminant point in the near future (perhaps), the aging lesbian narrator (henceforth N) reflects back on her life with Jule, a “swishy” gay author (62). After the inevitable failure of the previous relationship, Jule always returns with another “Chuck (or Stud)” and attempts to woo him with his money (62). N always comes to Jule’s parties with the hope of meeting a potential partner. Both sought “something permanent, a real relationship with warmth, love” (62). They tried to be a couple once: “picture a flaccid white worm trying blindly to find its way into a reluctant wound” (63). Lonely, they share each other’s company and perpetually dream of finding someone. And then the hippies come to Haight Ashbury.
A hippie collective called the New-Way-Groovers set up a Free Store in an abandoned laundry. They collect odds and ends of clothing and give them out to whoever comes by. They formed a guerilla theatre group and “persuaded well-known rock bands to give free concerts in the park” (64). They set up free child-care, housing co-ops, and a fund to provide bail for protestors. And everyone comes for the free port of stew. Jule and N offer food and shelters to the newcomers with the hope of meeting someone. And everything takes a sinister turn when Jule falls for a young biracial radical who preaches confronting violence with violence.
It’s rare you find a deeply sympathetic story about queer friendship. Yes, the story is horrifically depressing and a bit cliched in its depiction of N and Jules, but Davis attempts something different. I imagine that most readers will find elements deeply problematic– in particular, the actions of the Black Panther-esque radical. Davis appears sympathetic to elements of the New Left’s vision for a new future but despairs at the disconnect between generations and the evolution of the movement over the late 60s and early 70s. “New-Way-Groovers Stew” suggests older radicals who attempt to interact with the new generations were cast off as interlopers. It’s a queasy and uncomfortable story despite its sympathetic main characters, exactly as Davis intended.
Notes
- For a bit about Eric Garber (1945-1995) and his research interests and activism, check out this biographical blurb. ↩︎
- David Barrett, quoted in this 2003 interview here. ↩︎
- I’ve been reading a ton about the New Left recently: including Kevin Mattson’s wonderful discussion of its origins, Intellectuals in Action: The Origins of the New Left and Radical Liberalism, 1945-1970 (2002) and a worthwhile survey of the movement proper, see Van Gosse’s Rethinking the New Left: An Interpretive History (2005). ↩︎
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Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 
Very interesting, both of these are new to me. The collective in the Davis story sounds like its pretty specifically modeled on the Diggers: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers_(theater)
After her marriage to Avram Davidson ended in divorce, she moved to California in the mid-60s (I think). I can’t help but assume the story contains some first-hand experience or knowledge as she conveys some of the ideology of the various Counterculture movements in a precise manner. So yeah, I think you’re 100% correct. It’s why I can’t help but view her as sympathetic to some of the ideas but frustrated by their treatment of older radicals and sympathizers.
Huh didn’t know she and Davidson were married (in the home of Damon Knight, no less!), that’s an interesting wrinkle. Wasn’t a huge fan of the short fiction compendium I read of Davidson’s (a little too on the goofy/Twilight Zone irony side of things), Grania sounds more up my alley.
And apparently, as Rich said in his comment, they collaborated later on in their careers. I guess they remained on good terms. Rich is also a defender of Davidson. I can’t say, from what I’ve read so far, that I’m the biggest fan of his work either.
I feel like I should give you (and Shaky Mo!) a list of great Davidson stories. A certain subset of his work can come off as “goofy/Twilight Zone irony”, and indeed his Hugo winner “Or All the Seas with Oysters” probably fits that description, but I think his best work is astonishing. “The Sources of the Nile”. “The Slove Stove”. “Take Wooden Indians”. “Dragon Skin Drum”. “Sacheverell”. Etc.
I feel like you’ve given me this list! Haha. I’ll read whatever appears in an anthology that I might pick up. As of now, I probably won’t seek his stuff out. But hey, my whim could change and a suggestion that one of his stories might fight one of my series!
Tuttle is interesting, though it seems she’s not that well known. I’ve only read the recent reissue of her novel My Death and it’s excellent.
Yeah, I find it bizarre that a Nebula-nominated story wasn’t anthologized or collected. Perhaps she retrospectively found her own story problematic. Who knows.
I have both those magazines — curiously, Black Gate today has a discussion of the cover artist for the Amazing issue!
Alas, I don’t remember either story. I have liked a lot of Lisa Tuttle’s work over the years, and indeed I had the opportunity to reprint one of her stories, “Ragged Claws”, in Lightspeed when I was reprint editor. I’ve enjoyed her recent Jesperson and Lane stories — “psychic mysteries” set in the 19th century — and I’ve just bought the first novel in that series. And I remember her story “The Bone Flute”, which won the Nebula but for which she refused the award (due, apparently, to disgust with the nominating process.) I’ve liked Grania Davis’s collaborations with her ex-husband Avram Davidson (The Boss in the Wall and Marco Polo and the Sleeping Beauty) but I’m not that familiar with her solo work.
Hello Rich, glad the comment finally went through. I’ll take a peek at the incredibly coincidental Black Gate article today. I find it interesting that she collaborated with her ex-husband. I guess they remained on good terms!
Indeed, Avram and Grania remained on good terms (as far as I know) for the rest of Avram’s life. Avram was godfather to Grania’s son Seth Davis. And Seth has become — as you know, because he can be a bit sensitive about Avram’s reputation! — a very energetic manager of Avram’s literary estate, including publishing some further previously unpublished works.
Yeah, my interactions with him haven’t been the best. Disliking a story isn’t an attack on a person who might adore that author — it takes some people a while (if ever) to understand that.
I bought that issue of Fantastic about 25 years ago for the then uncollected Avram Davidson novella, and also read the Grania Davis story, just to get my full money’s worth. The story stuck with me even over all this time as I thought it had rather more of a flavour of retrospective authenticity (inasmuch I was born in 1975 in the English Midlands so what do I know) than many other stories. A nice surprise to see someone else read and enjoy it.
If you haven’t got Delany’s memoir of late 60’s commune life, this article “Back to the Garden: Queer Ecology in Samuel Delany’s “Heavenly Breakfast” may be of some value:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/23358454
The theme you were reading for was “alternative sexuality”, but as far the New Left alternative lifestyle’s aspect goes have you got around to reading Gerald Jonas’s “The New Shaker Revolution”?
I’ve read loads of Tuttle short stories over the years and greatly enjoyed her. For many years she was the obligatory female entry in what were often very boy’s club “Year’s Best Horror” anthologies. Which isn’t intended as slight, just that I think she became an expected fixture in that field, whereas she sort of fell out of the sf radar. Valancourt Books have done a good job in reprinting some of her essential collections from the 80s and also compiling new books as she’s gone uncollected for a very long time.
I agree re-Grania Davis. As Shaker Mo Collier mentioned, Davis is 100% inspired by the ideology of The Diggers. It felt like a very realistic take on the language used by groups at the time. That’s what elevated the story in my view (and the non-traditional main characters).
Thank you for the re-reminder about Gerald Jonas’s “The New Shaker Revolution.” I know there have been discussions of it on the site before — maybe you were a participant. I am chronically awful in actually reading what I promise I’m going to read. Three major reasons: 1) I’m a reader of whim who struggles to make a plan and adhere to it when its a hobby 2) I own maybe 2k unread SF volumes and 3) no clear sense at the moment what my next major project or trajectory will be (I don’t know whether to return to my media in the future series on the site or continue this sex and sexuality angle with the eye to write about the impact of Counterculture and/or the failure of the New Left in 70s SF). So we shall see! I’m definitely picking up whatever I think about reading at the moment vs. a long-term plan. I definitely have the Jonas story on one of my many lists (a few include SF about Vietnam, sex and sexuality, commentaries on McCarthy, Race and Racism, etc. etc.).
Thanks for the Delany link.
Ted White’s magazine’s were an interesting mix of stories. From the traditional fantasy and science fiction, to the more edgy stuff that coulda/shoulda appeared in Ellison’s “Dangerous Visions” anthologies, and their progeny. Always liked Tuttle’s fiction, although she isn’t a widely known or appreciated author. She was one of the young new women authors that came bursting out of the early seventies along with Vonda McIntyre, Pamela Sargent, Joan D. Vinge, etc. She even collaborated on a novel with, the then, hot young turk George R. R. Martin.
That’s the sense I’m getting too. I’m curious about the stories White published in his own magazine. They seem, at least the one or two I’ve skimmed through to see if they fit the various lists I’m compiling, to be on the grungy/dark/urban decay side of things (one’s about a gay pimp for example). No wonder he was drawn to the Tuttle and Davis.
I read it when it was first published, but a stay in the hospital got me to re-read Amazing Stories, March 1977. A full review can be found on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Amazing-Science-Fiction-Stories-March/dp/B000KOY7RS/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1TRNRYFB0H47L&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.tp4Khzld6c7k5CjiHpMWTUXfvidkKbeWkwr67J35nScFO6-HKzGSpszYENlh3q0NpHaYMEhwpC_CI09-Gjkv45YA69UWrBIMX9N9TEpESIk.AiqWrnfcSxAMG1D_ZPZe0Dri2NLPRAWyIOK29eI1cek&dib_tag=se&keywords=Amazing+Stories%2C+March+1977&qid=1726454348&s=digital-text&sprefix=amazing+stories%2C+march+1977%2Cdigital-text%2C289&sr=1-1. I’ve always loved reading the letter sections of old magazines, but none of the prozines do letter sections anymore, and Ted White’s were the best of the time.
Some of the stories in that issue sound up my alley. I’ll put a few of them on my various lists. Thanks for the link!