ABSTRACT
In this country during the last decade, an increasing amount of interest has been generated around the subject of science fiction writing in general, and that by women in particular. In part the latter has accompanied the very welcome explosion of interest in women's writing of all kinds, which has taken place over the last ten or fifteen years; and in this context one must begin by acknowledging that the relatively recent growth of critical attention paid to women's science fiction is in no small part due to the efforts of ccrtain sections of the publishing industry (perhaps most notably the Women's Press, whose sf series has played, and continues to play, a very significant part in this development). But whatcvcr the reasons underlying this growth of interest, the result is that attitudes towards thc writing, the reception and the publication of science fiction are also changing - hopefully for the better. For too long science fiction has been relegated lock, stock and barrel to the murky depths of that rather intangible, but often indiscriminately used term 'pulp fiction'. Finally, science fiction is taking the first steps towards ovcrcoming the stigma which it has attracted in the eyes of the literary establishment, and not only has it becomc an item well and truly on the agenda at conferences, writers workshops and book fairs, but also in higher education establishments, where texts are increasingly included on the more progressive undergraduate syllabuses.
