Phyllis Gotlieb has been nominated for the Governor General's Award as well as the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's Nebula Award, and she's the recipient of a lifetime-achievement Aurora Award. Her previous novels include Sunburst, O Master Caliban!, Heart of Red Iron, and Mindworlds. Phyllis is now professor emeritus of Computer Science at University of Toronto. She has three grown children, four grandchildren and lives in Toronto.
Afterword by Nalo Hopkinson. Nalo's novel Brown Girl in the Ring won the Warner Aspect First Novel Contest. She has taken second place in the Short Prose Competition of the Writers' Union of Canada, and is the recipient of the Ontario Arts Council Foundation Award for Emerging Writers, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and the Locus Award for a first novel.
"Space Opera has the reputation - not entirely undeserved - as
being the power fantasies of maladjusted teenage boys. But, for
over fifty years, Toronto author Phyllis Gotlieb has proven that
this subgenre can be complex, intelligent and even feminist. Her
new novel, "Birthstones," is no exception. . . Gotlieb rarely
pauses to dump information upon the reader. Instead, she reveals
much of the society and its problems through glimpses that finally
add up to a cohesive whole. As the story unfolded, so did my
understanding of the world. But I always knew enough. It is this
deftness, as well as Gotlieb's sensitivity to character, that
earned her a Governor General's Award Nomination." -- TOBlog.com
"Gotlieb has a lean poetic style full of irony, intelligence and
subtle humour even when describing unmitigated horror. Mainly what
shines through is her compassion for her endearingly and
realistically flawed characters who muddle on, doing the best they
can." -- The Peterborough Examiner ." . . add up all these tastes
and you get a very potent brew that will keep you turning pages
avidly." -- SciFi Weekly "In Birthstones Phyllis Gotlieb, the
doyenne of Canadian Science Fiction, brings us a novel that is
fresh and exciting in several ways. Gotlieb gives us completely
alien worlds and punches through the issue on the first page of the
book, carrying us in her wake. . . At first, the ending is
disconcerting, because there is no big bang, no huge climax; but it
stays in the reader's mind because what Gotlieb has done is to end
with a beginning. The structure of the book is ingenious: instead
of chapters, Gotlieb transports us from world to world in a see-saw
movement that reminds the reader of a wave ebbing then breaking.
The story itself is a clever political whodunit set in a totally
unfriendly environment with a mix of races that somehow neutralizes
our (humans) ethno-egocentrism. That the novel speaks to the reader
in a variety of ways, and that, as with any great art, it disturbs
the soul, is the sign of an accomplished writer. Phyllis Gotlieb
has shown with Birthstones how she has honed her craft to diamond
clarity. A must read. -- Ohmy News
"Space Opera has the reputation - not entirely undeserved - as
being the power fantasies of maladjusted teenage boys. But, for
over fifty years, Toronto author Phyllis Gotlieb has proven that
this subgenre can be complex, intelligent and even feminist. Her
new novel, ""Birthstones,"" is no exception. . . Gotlieb rarely
pauses to dump information upon the reader. Instead, she reveals
much of the society and its problems through glimpses that finally
add up to a cohesive whole. As the story unfolded, so did my
understanding of the world. But I always knew enough. It is this
deftness, as well as Gotlieb's sensitivity to character, that
earned her a Governor General's Award Nomination."
-- "TOBlog.com"
"Gotlieb has a lean poetic style full of irony, intelligence and
subtle humour even when describing unmitigated horror. Mainly what
shines through is her compassion for her endearingly and
realistically flawed characters who muddle on, doing the best they
can."
-- "The Peterborough Examiner"
." . . add up all these tastes and you get a very potent brew that
will keep you turning pages avidly."
-- "SciFi Weekly"
"In "Birthstones" Phyllis Gotlieb, the doyenne of Canadian Science
Fiction, brings us a novel that is fresh and exciting in several
ways. Gotlieb gives us completely alien worlds and punches through
the issue on the first page of the book, carrying us in her wake. .
. At first, the ending is disconcerting, because there is no big
bang, no huge climax; but it stays in the reader's mind because
what Gotlieb has done is to end with a beginning. The structure of
the book is ingenious: instead of chapters, Gotlieb transports us
from world to world in a see-saw movement that reminds the reader
of a wave ebbing then breaking. The story itself is a clever
political whodunit set in a totally unfriendly environment with a
mix of races that somehow neutralizes our (humans)
ethno-egocentrism. That the novel speaks to the reader in a variety
of ways, and that, as with any great art, it disturbs the soul, is
the sign of an accomplished writer. Phyllis Gotlieb has shown with
Birthstones how she has honed her craft to diamond clarity. A must
read.
-- "Ohmy News"
"Space Opera has the reputation - not entirely undeserved - as
being the power fantasies of maladjusted teenage boys. But, for
over fifty years, Toronto author Phyllis Gotlieb has proven that
this subgenre can be complex, intelligent and even feminist. Her
new novel, ""Birthstones,"" is no exception. . . Gotlieb rarely
pauses to dump information upon the reader. Instead, she reveals
much of the society and its problems through glimpses that finally
add up to a cohesive whole. As the story unfolded, so did my
understanding of the world. But I always knew enough. It is this
deftness, as well as Gotlieb's sensitivity to character, that
earned her a Governor General's Award Nomination."
-- "TOBlog.com" "Gotlieb has a lean poetic style full of irony,
intelligence and subtle humour even when describing unmitigated
horror. Mainly what shines through is her compassion for her
endearingly and realistically flawed characters who muddle on,
doing the best they can."
-- "The Peterborough Examiner" ." . . add up all these tastes and
you get a very potent brew that will keep you turning pages
avidly."
-- "SciFi Weekly" "In "Birthstones" Phyllis Gotlieb, the doyenne of
Canadian Science Fiction, brings us a novel that is fresh and
exciting in several ways. Gotlieb gives us completely alien worlds
and punches through the issue on the first page of the book,
carrying us in her wake. . . At first, the ending is disconcerting,
because there is no big bang, no huge climax; but it stays in the
reader's mind because what Gotlieb has done is to end with a
beginning. The structure of the book is ingenious: instead of
chapters, Gotlieb transports us from world to world in a
see-sawmovement that reminds the reader of a wave ebbing then
breaking. The story itself is a clever political whodunit set in a
totally unfriendly environment with a mix of races that somehow
neutralizes our (humans) ethno-egocentrism. That the novel speaks
to the reader in a variety of ways, and that, as with any great
art, it disturbs the soul, is the sign of an accomplished writer.
Phyllis Gotlieb has shown with Birthstones how she has honed her
craft to diamond clarity. A must read.
-- "Ohmy News"
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