Alice Bradley Sheldon (born Alice Hastings Bradley; August 24, 1915 – May 19, 1987) was an American science fiction author better known as James Tiptree Jr., a pen name she used from 1967 to her death.
From an early age Alice traveled with her parents, and in 1921–22, the Bradleys made their first trip to central Africa, which later contributed to Sheldon's short story, "The Women Men Don't See." During these trips, she played the role of the "perfect daughter, willing to be carried across Africa like a parcel, always neatly dressed and well behaved, a credit to her mother." Between trips to Africa, Alice attended school in Chicago.
Newly divorced, she started going by the name Alice Bradley Davey as a journalist, a job she held until she enlisted for the army in 1942. ==Science fiction career== Bradley discovered science fiction in 1924, when she read her first issue of Weird Tales, but she wouldn't write any herself until years later.
Although she illustrated several of her mother's books, she only sold one illustration during her lifetime, in 1931, to The New Yorker, with help from Harold Ober, a New York agent who worked with her mother.
In 1934, at age 19, she met William (Bill) Davey and eloped to marry him.
The illustration, of a horse rearing and throwing off its rider, sold for ten dollars. In 1936, Alice participated in a group show at the Art Institute of Chicago, to which she had connections through her family, featuring new American work.
While examining an anatomy book for an art class, she noticed that the genitals were blurred, so she restored the genitals of the figures with a pencil. In 1939, Alice's nude self-portrait titled Portrait in the Country was accepted for the "All-American" biennial show at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C., where it was displayed for six weeks.
The couple divorced in 1940. After the divorce, she joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps where she became a supply officer.
While these two shows were considered big breaks, she disparaged these accomplishments, saying that "only second rate painters sold" and she preferred to keep her works at home. By 1940, Alice felt she had mastered all the techniques she needed and was ready to choose her subject matter.
Later on, she became a graphic artist, a painter, and—under the name "Alice Bradley Davey"—an art critic for the Chicago Sun between 1941 and 1942. Alice was encouraged by her mother to seek a career, but her mother also hoped that she would get married and settle down.
She kept working at her painting techniques, fascinated with the questions of form, and read books on aesthetics in order to know what scientifically made a painting "good." She stopped painting in 1941.
As she was in need of a way to support herself, her parents helped her find a job as an art critic for the Chicago Sun after it launched in 1941.
Later on, she became a graphic artist, a painter, and—under the name "Alice Bradley Davey"—an art critic for the Chicago Sun between 1941 and 1942. Alice was encouraged by her mother to seek a career, but her mother also hoped that she would get married and settle down.
In 1942 she joined the United States Army Air Forces and worked in the Army Air Forces photo-intelligence group.
Newly divorced, she started going by the name Alice Bradley Davey as a journalist, a job she held until she enlisted for the army in 1942. ==Science fiction career== Bradley discovered science fiction in 1924, when she read her first issue of Weird Tales, but she wouldn't write any herself until years later.
In the army, she "felt she was among free women for the first time." As an intelligence officer, she became an expert in reading aerial intelligence photographs. In 1945, at the close of the war, while she was on assignment in Paris, she married her second husband, Huntington D.
Sheldon, known as "Ting." She was discharged from the military in 1946, at which time she set up a small business in partnership with her husband.
The same year her first story ("The Lucky Ones") was published in the November 16, 1946 issue of The New Yorker, and credited to "Alice Bradley" in the magazine.
In 1952 she and her husband were invited to join the CIA, which she accepted.
She resigned her position in 1955 and returned to college. She studied for her bachelor of arts degree at American University (1957–1959), going on to achieve a doctorate at George Washington University in Experimental Psychology in 1967.
Alice Bradley Sheldon (born Alice Hastings Bradley; August 24, 1915 – May 19, 1987) was an American science fiction author better known as James Tiptree Jr., a pen name she used from 1967 to her death.
She resigned her position in 1955 and returned to college. She studied for her bachelor of arts degree at American University (1957–1959), going on to achieve a doctorate at George Washington University in Experimental Psychology in 1967.
I've had too many experiences in my life of being the first woman in some damned occupation." She also made the choice to start writing science fiction she, herself, was interested in and "was surprised to find that her stories were immediately accepted for publication and quickly became popular." Her first published short story was "Birth of a Salesman" in the March 1968 issue of Analog Science Fact & Fiction, edited by John W.
From 1974 to 1977 she also used the pen name Raccoona Sheldon.
"Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" follows a group of astronauts who discover a future Earth whose male population has been wiped out; the remaining females have learned to get along just fine in their absence. In 1976, "Tiptree" mentioned in a letter that "his" mother, also a writer, had died in Chicago—details that led inquiring fans to find the obituary, with its reference to Alice Sheldon; soon all was revealed.
In 1976, then 61-year-old Sheldon wrote Silverberg expressing her desire to end her own life while she was still able-bodied and active, but saying that she was reluctant to act upon this intention, as she didn't want to leave her husband behind and couldn't bring herself to kill him.
It was not publicly known until 1977 that James Tiptree Jr.
From 1974 to 1977 she also used the pen name Raccoona Sheldon.
Sheldon", and "Raccoona Sheldon". Writing under the pseudonym Raccoona, she was not very successful getting published until her other alter ego, Tiptree, wrote to publishers to intervene. The pseudonym was successfully maintained until late 1977, partly because, although "Tiptree" was widely known to be a pseudonym, it was generally understood that its use was intended to protect the professional reputation of an intelligence community official.
On July 21, 1977, she wrote in her diary: “Ting agreed to consider suicide in 4–5 years.” Ten years later, on May 19, 1987, Sheldon shot her husband and then herself; she telephoned her attorney after the first shooting to announce her actions.
Harlan Ellison had introduced Tiptree's story in the anthology Again, Dangerous Visions with the opinion that "[Kate] Wilhelm is the woman to beat this year, but Tiptree is the man". Only then did she complete her first full-length novel, Up the Walls of the World (Berkley Books, 1978), which was a Doubleday Science Fiction Book Club selection.
According to biographer Julie Phillips, the suicide note Sheldon left was written in September 1979 and saved until needed.
In the last years of her life she suffered from depression and heart trouble, while her husband began to lose his eyesight, becoming almost completely blind in 1986.
Alice Bradley Sheldon (born Alice Hastings Bradley; August 24, 1915 – May 19, 1987) was an American science fiction author better known as James Tiptree Jr., a pen name she used from 1967 to her death.
On July 21, 1977, she wrote in her diary: “Ting agreed to consider suicide in 4–5 years.” Ten years later, on May 19, 1987, Sheldon shot her husband and then herself; she telephoned her attorney after the first shooting to announce her actions.
The awards are voted by magazine readers and annual convention participants respectively: Hayakawa's S-F Magazine Reader's Award, short fiction: 1993, "With Delicate Mad Hands" (1981); 1997, "Come Live with Me" (1988) Seiun Award, short and long fiction: 1988, "The Only Neat Thing to Do" (1985); 2000, "Out of the Everywhere" (1981); 2008, Brightness Falls from the Air (1985) == See also == ==References== === Citations === === General bibliography === Cranny-Francis, Anne.
Martin's Press, 1990. Elms, A.C.
The award-winning science fiction authors Karen Joy Fowler and Pat Murphy created the award in February 1991.
The awards are voted by magazine readers and annual convention participants respectively: Hayakawa's S-F Magazine Reader's Award, short fiction: 1993, "With Delicate Mad Hands" (1981); 1997, "Come Live with Me" (1988) Seiun Award, short and long fiction: 1988, "The Only Neat Thing to Do" (1985); 2000, "Out of the Everywhere" (1981); 2008, Brightness Falls from the Air (1985) == See also == ==References== === Citations === === General bibliography === Cranny-Francis, Anne.
(Tachyon Publications, 1996) Meet Me at Infinity (a collection of previously uncollected and unpublished fiction, essays and other non-fiction, with much biographical information, edited by Tiptree's friend Jeffrey D.
The awards are voted by magazine readers and annual convention participants respectively: Hayakawa's S-F Magazine Reader's Award, short fiction: 1993, "With Delicate Mad Hands" (1981); 1997, "Come Live with Me" (1988) Seiun Award, short and long fiction: 1988, "The Only Neat Thing to Do" (1985); 2000, "Out of the Everywhere" (1981); 2008, Brightness Falls from the Air (1985) == See also == ==References== === Citations === === General bibliography === Cranny-Francis, Anne.
Covina, CA: Edgewood Press, 1998 (2nd edition Lulu.com, 2008).
The awards are voted by magazine readers and annual convention participants respectively: Hayakawa's S-F Magazine Reader's Award, short fiction: 1993, "With Delicate Mad Hands" (1981); 1997, "Come Live with Me" (1988) Seiun Award, short and long fiction: 1988, "The Only Neat Thing to Do" (1985); 2000, "Out of the Everywhere" (1981); 2008, Brightness Falls from the Air (1985) == See also == ==References== === Citations === === General bibliography === Cranny-Francis, Anne.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000.
Some of her best-regarded work can be found in the collection Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, available in paperback through Tachyon Publications as of 2004. ==Death and legacy== Sheldon continued writing under the Tiptree pen name for another decade.
San Francisco, CA: Tachyon Publications, 2004.
San Francisco, CA: Tachyon Publications, 2005.
Le Guin and James Tiptree Jr." The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September 2006. A thorough biography, with insight into Sheldon's life and work.
San Francisco, CA: Tachyon Publications, 2007.
The awards are voted by magazine readers and annual convention participants respectively: Hayakawa's S-F Magazine Reader's Award, short fiction: 1993, "With Delicate Mad Hands" (1981); 1997, "Come Live with Me" (1988) Seiun Award, short and long fiction: 1988, "The Only Neat Thing to Do" (1985); 2000, "Out of the Everywhere" (1981); 2008, Brightness Falls from the Air (1985) == See also == ==References== === Citations === === General bibliography === Cranny-Francis, Anne.
Covina, CA: Edgewood Press, 1998 (2nd edition Lulu.com, 2008).
Sheldon was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2012. ==Early life, family and education== Alice came from a family in the intellectual enclave of Hyde Park, a university neighborhood in Chicago.
The result was elegant, eerie, and deeply moving." ==Awards and honors== The Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted Tiptree in 2012.
World Wide Website (unofficial, archived March 3, 2016) Overview of Alice B.
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