{{Short description|British author and illustrator (born 1946)}} '''Jane Palmer''' (b. 1946) is an author and illustrator of speculative fiction from the United Kingdom. In addition to novels, she writes short stories and children's picture books.
==Career== The ''Moosevan'' series, depicting an eponymous alien with the ability to shape-shift visiting Earth, represented Palmer's entry into speculative fiction. The series included ''The Planet Dweller'' (1985), ''Moving Moosevan'' (1990), ''Duckbill Soup'' (2011) and ''Brassica Park'' (2018), and satirizes clichés in speculative fiction.<ref name=NichollsClute2021>{{cite encyclopedia| title= McIntyre, Vonda N.| encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction|date=21 November 2018|first1=John|last1=Clute|first2=David|last2=Langford|url=http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/mcintyre_vonda_n|editor-last1=Nicholls|editor-first1=Peter|editor-last2=Clute|editor-first2=John|editor-last3=Sleight|editor-first3=Graham|publisher=Gollancz|accessdate=August 28, 2021 }}</ref> The protagonist of the first two ''Moosevan'' books, a woman experiencing menopause, was described by scholar Mary Talbot as atypical for science fiction, and an example of how feminist science fiction writers sought to explore marginalized subjects.<ref name="Talbot 2014">{{cite book |last1=Talbot |first1=Mary M. |title=Fictions at Work: Language and Social Practice in Fiction |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317896579 |page=169 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vWKPBAAAQBAJ}}</ref>
Palmer's second novel was ''The Watcher'' (1986), republished in 2008 as ''The Kybion''. It featured an android and some young girls from Earth seeking to protect the fictional planet of Ojal from a threat from Earth.<ref name=NichollsClute2021/><ref name=Broderick2009>{{cite encyclopedia| title= I Know Who I Am, but what's My Brand Name?| encyclopedia=Chained to the Alien: The Best of Australian Science Fiction Review|year=2009|first1=Janeen|last1=Webb|pages=24–31|isbn=9781434457585|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oY2CfmgOURYC|editor-last1=Broderick|editor-first1=Damien|publisher=Wildside Press LLC}}</ref> The story is partially told from the point of view of an alien. The Ojalie, or beings of Ojal, are depicted as hermaphrodites, a device Palmer uses to explore how contemporary women combined the role of a mother with a career.<ref name="Donawerth1997">{{cite book |last1=Donawerth |first1=Jane |title=Frankenstein's Daughters: Women Writing Science Fiction |date=1997 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=9780815626862 |page=164 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fbPt4T8mSnEC}}</ref> They are also depicted as "parodic in their narcissism", and have been discussed as an example of grotesque female characters in feminist fiction.<ref name="Armitt 2000">{{cite book |last1=Armitt |first1=Lucie |title=Contemporary Women's Fiction and the Fantastic |date=2000 |publisher=Macmillan Press |isbn=9780333694534 |pages=29–32}}</ref> A commentary in the ''Australian Science Fiction Review'' discussed ''The Watcher'' as an example of speculative fiction published by The Women's Press, which aimed to publish feminist work. The review described the plot arc of ''The Watcher'' as "adolescent rite-of-passage stuff", which did "little to advance the feminist cause".<ref name=Broderick2009/>
Palmer's other books included ''The Drune'' (1999), described by the ''Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' as "even lighter in tone than ''The Watcher''; ''The Aton Bird'' (2008); ''Nightingale'' (2008); and ''Hunder'' (2010).<ref name=NichollsClute2021/> In 2013, she also released a collection of stories for adults, ''Short SF Stories, Tales for Technophobe'', and she has written and illustrated children's picture books.<ref name=NichollsClute2021/>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Jane}} Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:British women science fiction and fantasy writers Category:British speculative fiction writers