Fiction Writer and Troublemaker
I write award-winning science fiction, fantasy, and historical fantasy about women who defy and subvert their societies’ expectations.
I believe that the stories we read affect our view of the world and what we think of as the “truth.” That’s why I make up new stories for people to live by. That means shaking up the world — changing who is the hero, who is privileged and has power, and who wins in the end. Sometimes it means imagining a new world in which different social rules apply. My fiction echoes my reality — heroes do not act alone; to be heroic, they need the support of allies and their community.
Other useful things to know: My favorite color is ultraviolet. My favorite book is whichever one I am working on right now.
Expert on Reality and Illusion
I spent more than twenty years as head science writer at the Exploratorium, San Francisco’s museum of science, art, and human perception. In that role, I became fascinated by the lessons that optical illusions teach about how your brain makes sense of the world. To understand how and why stories affect your deep and unconscious understanding of the world, read these essays about optical illusions and your brain.
- “Your Future is Out of Date” explains how Robert Heinlein, the Holy Roman Catholic Church and San Francisco’s Exploratorium made me the writer I am today.
- “Illusion, Expectation, and World Domination through Bake Sales” talks about the lies that your brain sometimes tells you, how those lies relate to science fiction, the women who are destroying it, and the future of our society.
- “The Hole in Reality” by Pat Murphy and Paul Doherty explores the nature of reality—a topic that science fiction has been exploring since before it was called science fiction.
“My stories are viruses, carrying my version of the world. My goal is to control your mind for the duration of the story—and in the process to introduce you to different possibilities. If writing those new futures means the destruction of science fiction as we knew it then, so be it.”
Pat Murphy in Your Future is Out of Date
Cofounder of the Otherwise Award/Tiptree Award
Back in 1991, Karen Joy Fowler and I founded the James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award, an annual literary prize for science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender. The aim of the award is to seek out work that is thought-provoking, imaginative, and perhaps even infuriating. It was named for James Tiptree, Jr., a pseudonym of Alice B. Sheldon. By her impulsive choice of a masculine pen name, Sheldon helped break down the imaginary barrier between “women’s writing” and “men’s writing.”
