Gender and Science Fiction

Two new critical books that focus on gender and science provide an opportunity to reflect on how far science-fiction criticism has developed in the last decade. Justine Larbalestier's The Battle of Sexes in Science Fiction and Brian Attebury's Decoding Gender in Science Fiction demonstrate a level of sophistication and complexity that reveal it is difficult to discuss science fiction without addressing gender issues. The appearance of these two books suggests the importance and marketability of science-fiction criticism and science fiction itself to redefinitions of modern fiction.