'As hard and mean and fine as Flannery O'Connor… I wish that everyone would read Joanna Russ' books.' -Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina 'Joanna Russ offers a gallery of some of the most interesting female protagonists in current fiction, women who are rarely victims and sometimes even victors, but always engaged sharply and perceptively with their fate.' -Marge Piercy 'A stunning book, a work to be read with great respect. It's also screamingly funny.' -Elizabeth Lynn, San Francisco Review of Books 'A work of frightening power, but it is also a work of great fictional subtlety… It should appeal to all intelligent people who look for exciting ideation, crackling dialogue, provocative fictional games-playing in their reading.' -Douglas Barbour, Toronto Star 'Joanna Russ offers a gallery of some of the most interesting female protagonists in current fiction… – Marge Piercy, American Poetry Review A stunning book, a work to be read with great respect. It's also screamingly funny. – Elizabeth Lynn, San Francisco Review of Books A work of frightening power, but it is also a work of great fictional subtlety. – Douglas Barbour, Toronto Star [The Female Man] is as hard and mean and fine as Flannery O'Connor. – Dorothy Allison, Salon It's influenced William Gibson and been listed as one of the ten essential works of science fiction. Most importantly, Joanna Russ's THE FEMALE MAN is a suspenseful, surprising and darkly witty chronicle of what happens when Jeannine, Janet, Joanna, and Jael-four alternate selves from drastically different realities-meet.