The Calculating Stars

Lady astronauts are all the rage these days, but what would it have taken to get women into spaceships in the notably more misogynist 1950s? According to this book, it would take the threat of a world-destroying cataclysm—which sounds about right.

This book doesn’t stop at sexism, though. It tackles a variety of -isms, and doesn’t hold back in showing how absurd it would be to hold onto them as the world burns. Some critics have even suggested that there are too many types of bigotry on display here, to which I would reply, “Dude, wait ‘till you hear about… show more.

This is somewhat science fiction, but more of an alternate historical fiction novel. This is the first in the Lady Astronaut series. It starts off with a bang, literally, when a meteorite hits Earth in 1952. This meteorite destroys much of the east coast and sets off a ticking time bomb where Earth will no longer be habitable in a matter of decades. Now there is a full effort to colonize space so humans can find another home. Women who were once thought not able to become astronauts are now able to vie for spots in the Astronaut Corps along… show more.

A fresh approach, a strong character who is still open and vulnerable. This multiple-award-winning alternate history of women astronauts is set in a very realistic 1950s, with telling scenes and reflections about the treatment of Blacks and women. After a meteor strikes the Earth and warms the atmosphere, there’s a similar resonance re the urgency of global warming. This novel is at the adult edge of Young Adult, with some sex scenes and a certain glorification of drinking—both also very 1950s, especially among test pilots and astronauts. (Full disclosure: my own father was a test pilot who crashed in the… show more.