One of the lovely things about the F&SF culture wars (the only other one I can think of being that good people seem to be winning) is that it introduces me to writers I haven’t seen before whose work I’m likely to like. In Madelyn Ashby‘s case, I didn’t get more than a paragraph into a story picked at random before I needed to share. Ashby also writes very well reviewed futuristic novels.
First of all, I’d like to thank the editors of this website for soliciting a contribution from me. It’s not often that someone without an agenda wants to hear from a woman living the kind of life I live. Normally when an outsider asks my opinion, it’s because they secretly hope that I’ll cast aspersions on my husband or our five boys (and counting!). They always ask the clumsiest questions, like how hard it is to keep this acreage going, or whether I believe in science, or if I really think God wanted me to have those episiotomies. I almost never get asked about zombies.
But as a formerly academic woman later called to missionary work in China and moved to enter the Quiverfull lifestyle, and as a fan of Factory Girl and a regular consumer of MieMie fansubs, I feel I have a unique perspective on the fall of Shenzhen and the spread of Lan Caihe.