Adventures in Bodily Autonomy: Exploring Reproductive Rights in Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror

edited by Raven Belasco

$20 (paperback)
$7.95 (e-book)	EPUB	MOBI (unavailable)

Read a sample from the book.

The fourteen tales in Adventures in Bodily Autonomy flow across alternate universes and through space and time to consider the issues of reproductive justice through a fresh perspectives. There is an adventure here for everyone.

An astronaut on her way to Mars discovers she’s pregnant — can she keep her baby? Bee-like entities try to force a human to be their queen. In 1930s Philly, a vampire offers a novel form of birth control. From a ghost, lessons learned too late. Women who cannot find a comfortable fit in their mythic realities. Future worlds where reproductive choices are different, but individual choice and external battles for that choice are just as real. Adventures in Bodily Autonomy will be released on October 16th, 2023, a date important in the history of women’s healthcare rights. On October 16, 1916, in Brooklyn, New York, Margaret Sanger opened the country’s first birth control clinic. Just nine days later police shut down the clinic, and Sanger served 30 days in prison.

For over 50 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels — including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and postpartum care, and paid family leave—for every body. Authors will include Kathleen Alcalá ~ Elizabeth Bear ~ Raven Belasco ~ Tara Campbell ~ Anya De Niro ~ Jaymee Goh ~ Cynthia Gralla ~ K Ibura ~ Ellen Klages Annalee Newitz ~ Nisi Shawl ~ Sonya Taaffe ~ Cecilia Tan ~ Helena María Viramontes

One hundred percent of the royalties of Adventures in Bodily Autonomy are being donated to Reproductive Freedom for All to help them continue their vital fight for women’s bodily autonomy and basic human rights.

Advance Praise

“So satisfying to read a volume of new speculative fiction stories centered on women’s experience, women’s lives, women’s choices! You’ll find a pleasurable variety here: hard sf, fantasy, ghosts, vampires, horror, sweet lyricism and steel- edged noir — stories from well-known names, and stories from writers you've never encountered before. I guarantee that at least one story in this volume will make you punch the air in triumph, and another will work its way into your dreams, and not let go.”
 ——Elizabeth Lynn, World Fantasy Award Winner

“I’m absolutely blown away. Featuring so many authors who I love, this is a stunning anthology with many different approaches to the subject of bodily autonomy. Readers are going to be captivated by its range and variety. This anthology will be a breath of fresh air in the ongoing fight for the right of women to control and make decisions about their own bodies.”
 —Chinelo Onwualu

Adventures in Bodily Autonomy is a fresh and bold collection. In our current political climate, these stories and imaginings are desperately needed.
 —Myriam Gurba, author of Mean and Painting Their Portraits in Winter

Reviews

For this distinctive anthology, the royalties from which will be donated to NARAL Pro-Choice America, Belasco (Blood Ex Libris) brings together 14 thoughtful speculative tales centered on issues of reproductive freedom and female agency. The opener, Nisi Shawl’s stirring “Queen of Dirt,” about a Black teen at summer camp, explores racial bias and questions about what makes a family, demonstrating that the anthology has more on its mind than a medical procedure....Tones vary throughout: some stories are bleak, presenting hard choices or pyrrhic victories, but others sound more hopeful notes. These timely tales both draw readers in and have the potential to advance important conversations.   (Read the whole review)
  —Publishers Weekly, July 2023

ISBN: 978-1-61976-250-3 (13 digit)
Publication Date: Oct 2023
paperback 308 pages