Fat Girl in a Strange Land

Fat Girl in a Strange Land, Kay T. Holt and Bart R. Leib (ed.), Crossed Genres Publications, 2012

Many science fiction stories are about tall, square-jawed adventurers boldly exploring the galaxy. The women in such stories are the female equivalent of tall and square-jawed. This anthology looks at a very under-served part of the population - fat women.

A woman in Guatemala dreams of becoming the first female luchador, until she discovers a greater calling that is much closer to home. A midwestern soccer mom, nicknamed Flux, refuses to wear the new spandex outfit given to her by her superhero colleagues. A team is being sent to a far-away planet that is in the middle of being terraformed. They will be working practically non-stop for months, so they need every bit of bodily fuel that they can get. That is why they were instructed to put on a lot of weight before they leave.

Most of Earth's population has emigrated to a new planet, Terra Nova, because Earth is dying. Among those who are left is a teacher at a special school for fat kids. Also fat, she makes the long trip to Terra Nova, but is detained and sent back to Earth. Mary Beth's friends have their own spaceship, for quick jaunts to Mars or the Moon. She is asked to get out of the spaceship, because she is too heavy. With help from a local junkyard, she attempts to build her own spaceship. It is not a short or cheap process. Does she succeed?

This is a pretty good group of stories from a marginalized point of view. Some of the stories were better than others, but this book is still worth reading.