tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8259460772864393968.post8624766904775914234..comments2024-03-26T21:58:50.501-04:00Comments on MPorcius Fiction Log: Three stories by James Tiptree, Jr. published in 1972MPorciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15515742639389937221noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8259460772864393968.post-49086560424508694252023-07-19T12:55:32.037-04:002023-07-19T12:55:32.037-04:00You do have problems with Tiptree. I'll deal o...You do have problems with Tiptree. I'll deal only with "Amberjack". His parents are not " nagging, neglectful, etc;", they are unrelentingly demanding, pushing him to overachieve. After he finishes med school he tosses the fast track away, breaks contact with his parents, and becomes "just Amberjack", the doctor at an inner-city clinic. 'Rue's parents are not " nagging, neglectful, etc;", they are kind and well-meaning, but they just don't connect to her, and prefer her sister Pompy (not Pompey), described as an improved model of 'Rue. On the fire escape, a deliberately-unspecified tear in the space-time continuum (maybe the hippies a few floors down plugged in one too many strobes) shows Amberjack his future - married to a cold, manipulative, conformist version of Rue "a female voice as sweet as cold jelly on a proctoscope" In other words, a marriage very much like his parents'. He panics, and kills 'Rue. When Pompey reveals herself and blackmails him into marriage, it's clear that the vision he had was not his future with 'Rue, but rather his marriage to Pompy, (she looks a lot like 'Rue did) and he has caused his own doom. It is a profoundly bleak story.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com