By now, most science fiction readers know that James Tiptree, Jr was not James Tiptree, Jr, but rather Alice Bradley Sheldon. Sheldon was a retired CIA officer (and scientist/artist/critic/businesswoman) who, between 1968 and her death in 1987, published some of the most acclaimed short stories in the genre, using Tiptree as her nom de plume. (She also published a few stories – mostly ignored at the time – under the name Raccoona Sheldon.) I was too young to discover her work while she was living, […]