With Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women (1958-1963), which we informally call Rediscovery 1, it was easy. I’d already been running Galactic Journey for the six years that volume would cover. All I had to do was pick out my favorite stories by women (which were often my favorite stories, period), and then whittle down the list to a manageable number. 

After that, it was a matter of figuring out how to make the anthology meaningful. As Judith Merril would tell you (with not a little acid), anyone can put together an anthology. Just slap some reasonably well-regarded stories together, maybe add a couple of pages of introduction, bingo-bango, there’s your anthology on the cheap.

That’s not what we wanted to do.

We wanted Rediscovery to not just be entertaining; we wanted it to be a time capsule. To introduce its readers to this amazing time that was the Silver Age of Science Fiction. That meant we needed context. So introductions for each story were a must.

And since the mission of Journey Press is to spotlight unusual and diverse voices, it was just as important to assemble a corps of introducers as interesting and eclectic as the authors they were introducing. “Yesterday’s luminaries introduced by today’s rising stars” is the tagline for the series–not just catchy, but accurate!

We also wanted to make sure that you readers weren’t just getting the same old stories that have been republished again and again. That’s not “rediscovery”. To that end, many of the tales in Rediscovery 1 had never been reprinted before our volume was released. Others, highly regarded in their day, disappeared from the public eye after anthologization shortly after first print. Or as Hugo Finalist SF historian James Davis Nicoll put it:

“Kudos to the editing team for going beyond the usual selections for the classic authors featured herein. Most of these stories were entirely new to me.”

And that’s saying something!

Okay, so that was Rediscovery 1. That book was a walk in the park compared to Rediscovery 2!

We’d always meant to go backwards with the time scope for the second Rediscovery volume. I figured we’d do Rediscovery 3, covering the period after the first volume, after Galactic Journey had reviewed enough stories to fill another volume. That’ll probably happen by 2024. But I didn’t want to wait until 2024 to release another Rediscovery.

The problem, such as it was, was that I hadn’t had a chance to read all the stories by women from the mid-1950s, and those I had, I had not taken sufficient notes to be able to curate a collection. We had to start from scratch.

That meant reading three hundred and fifty stories, not to mention nonfiction articles and poetry pieces. 

Don’t get me wrong. This wasn’t going to be a chore. After all, this wasn’t reading through the slush pile. All of these stories had been published, which was its own kind of quality sieve. Still, logistically, it is very difficult to read 350 stories in a few months and do…anything else.

I needed help this time.

Me, Erica Frank, Jason Sacks, Kris Vyas-Myall and Katie Heffner spent the summer of 2021 enjoying the trove. We didn’t split it up. Indeed, many of the stories got two sets of eyes (at least) so we could objectively pick the best stories. Then, Janice L. Newman read the finalists and helped trim the list.

Even so, Rediscovery 2 was going to be a bigger book, no two ways around it. There were simply more women writing in the mid-50s than the late 50s/early 60s, and more outlets for them to write in, too. To cut the list down to 14 selections, as we had with Rediscovery 1, would have been an injustice.

More stories meant more introducers (whose introductions we turned into afterwords so as not to spoil the stories thanks to feedback from our readers!) We brought back most of the Rediscovery 1 team who had, in fact, risen as stars since the publication of the first book. We also got to add some wonderful new introducers to our team.

Additionally, we had to secure the rights to the stories that had not entered the Public Domain. We’re happy to say that we got all of the ones we wanted. No story was left unprinted due to legal concerns. 

Finally, we had to have a cover that suitably reflected the subject. Kelly Freas, one of the brightest lights of the ’50s and ’60s, came through for us again. His widow, Dr. Laura Brodian Freas Beraha, graciously licensed the art originally commissioned for the September ’56 cover of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, which we think is just beautiful. Christine Sandquist turned it into a lovely cover for Rediscovery 2.

The result is available as of today, the first day of Women’s History Month. It’s been a long time coming, and we think the hard work has produced one of the very best science fiction anthologies ever put together.

We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed making it!

When I was putting together our first collection of classic science fiction, Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women (1958-1963), one name kept popping up. Rosel George Brown exploded onto the SF scene in the late ‘50s, earning a nomination for the Best New Author Hugo in 1959. It was deserved — Brown combined a savviness for the genre with a fresh viewpoint. Her work was thought-provoking and (as importantly!) fun to read. She is the one author who was featured twice in our flagship volume.

So imagine my excitement when, in the course of writing Galactic Journey, I discovered that she had written a novel in 1966! And not just any novel. Sibyl Sue Blue was pretty much the first science fiction novel to star a kick-ass mom: a woman who was intelligent, resourceful, and determined. A marriage of the detective novel and the space opera adventure, Sibyl Sue Blue opened the genre up for the heroines we love today, from Ellen Ripley to Naomi Nagata.

But Sibyl Sue Blue is more than just a fun thriller. Composed at the height of the civil rights and feminist movements, the novel has a lot to say on those subjects. Or as Judith Merril (also in Rediscovery) put it in her 1967 review:

…under all the froth and fun and furious action, there is more acute comment on contemporary society than you are likely to find in any half dozen deadly serious social novels.

Sadly, after this promising debut, Brown succumbed to leukemia the next year at the age of just 41. A sequel to Sibyl Sue Blue, The Waters of Centaurus, was published in 1970, however. 

In the process of making Rediscovery, I made contact with Robin Brown, one of Rosel’s two children. When I suggested bringing his mother’s work back into print, he enthusiastically gave the project his blessing. So not only does Sibyl Sue Blue continue the Journey Press tradition of bringing lost classics back into print, it is also a personal project for all involved.

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did — as an entertaining read, as a landmark book, and as a glimpse at the potential of what could have been one of the genre’s brightest lights.

Stop a murder, save two planets!

Who she is: Sibyl Blue, single mom, undercover detective, and damn good at her job.

What she wants: to solve the mysterious benzale murders, prevent more teenage deaths, and maybe find her long-lost husband.

How she’ll get it: seduce a millionaire, catch a ride on his spaceship, and crack the case at the edge of the known galaxy.

“Rosel George Brown’s long-overdue first novel, SIBYL SUE BLUE, is something, believe me, else…froth and fun and furious action.”

— Judith Merril

 

ISBN: 978-1-951320-08-9
Categories: All Ages, Science Fiction

Physical & Digital Editions available at the following retailers:

Journey Press has blown out of the gate in a big way, thanks to your support, and we’re already planning our next releases. Here’s a list of upcoming publications and events:

Sad All Over

What if November 22, 1963 had seen a double tragedy — not just the loss of our President, but four other people vital to our history and culture? That’s the premise to Sad all Over, a short story I’m giving out for free on the 22^nd of November, this year.

You can get more details here and here.

​

Kitra

We’ve decided what Journey Press’ next release is going to be. Kitra is the first novel in a Young Adult space adventure series, sort of a “Lost in Space” meets “The Martian.” We’re looking forward to sharing it with you in March 2020!

Rediscovery

We are so gratified at the success of Journey Press’ first book. It has sold hundreds of copies so far, and we’re in nearly 50 bookstores as of this week. If you’ve picked up the book, thank you so much. We’d love to know what you thought. And if you haven’t gotten it yet, we promise it’s a good read!

Appearances

We’ve got a ton of live events planned for November and December. They are free (at least, we don’t charge, and only LosCon has a door fee) so if you’re in the neighborhood, please stop on by! Here’s the list:

• • Space Cowboy Books, Joshua Tree, CA, November 10, 2019 6:00 PM
    Talking about the Women Pioneers of Space Science at a great dark sky site

• • Loscon, Los Angeles, Dec. 1, 1:00 PM
    “Crest of a New Wave“, discussing 1964 in science fact and fiction

• • Vista City Library, December 5, 2019 6:00 PM
    Talking about “What Science Fiction got wrong…and right!“

• • Wavelength Brewing Co., Vista, December 6, 2019 8:00 PM
    “The First Moon Race“, talking about the troubles and ultimate triumph of Project Ranger.

• • Anza Borrego Public Library, Borrego Springs, CA, December 14, 2019 2:00 PM
    Once more, talking about the Women Pioneers of Space Science at another great dark sky site.

I hope to see you at one or more of these events. They’re always lots of fun.

In any event, thanks once again for making Journey Press such a pleasure. We hope you’re enjoying it as much as we are!

Gideon