Theme & Character Lists: Moms in Feminist SF

Moms (and Grandmas, and Godmothers, and Aunts, and Other Parental-Type Units)

SF about mother-child relationships, motherhood, or women who have mom as a central identity ...

• Anthony, Patricia. "Bluebonnets" in Eating Memories
• Donovan, Rita. The Plague Saint
• Farmer, Philip Jose. "Mother" (originally in Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1953; repritned in Scortia's Strange Bedfellows, 1972) A man and his mother are stranded on a planet; the man is captured by a large cavernous entity who takes care of all his needs. The sf-al exposition of "momism" ...
• Givner, Joan. Half Known Lives (2001)
• Goldstein, Lisa. Dark Cities Underground (Tor: 1999)
• Hall, Sandi. Wingwomen of Hera (Spinsters / Aunt Lute: 1987)
• Kettle, Pamela. The Day of the Women (1969) (the leader of the women's revolution, Diana, and the protagonist of the novel, Eve, both have daughters; the mother-daughter relationships are discussed & become a significiant turning point of the plot)
• Kwasny, Melissa. Modern Daughters and the Outlaw West (Spinsters Book, San Francisco, 1990). A small Wyoming town is infested with quirky lesbians, ghosts, and politics. One of the central lesbian characters is a lesbian mom, who gets involved in a custody dispute.
• McKay, Claudia. Promise of the Rose Stone
• Merril, Judith. "That Only a Mother" (originally, Astounding, 1948; republished in Sargent's Women of Wonder, 1974; The Best of Judith Merril, 1976) - the classic "mom" story. Merril got a good start on the nuclear angst that was about to hit 1950s SF with this story.
• Mitchison, Naomi. Memoirs of a Spacewoman (1962) (This career woman had several children, by several, errr, men, and regarded them in the affectionate-yet-detached way that is common in her future earth.)
• Monteleone, Thomas F. "Breath's a Ware That Will Not Keep" (in Dystopian Visions, edited by Roger Elwood (Prentice Hall: 1975).
• Pollack, Rachel. Godmother Night. Well, obviously, there's a godmother, but there's also a dyke couple experiencing motherhood ...

Anthologies

• Don't Forget Your Spacesuit, Dear