# Jane Palmer

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{{Short description|British author and illustrator (born 1946)}}
'''Jane Palmer''' (b. 1946) is an author and illustrator of [speculative fiction](/source/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](/source/shape-shift) visiting Earth, represented Palmer's entry into [speculative fiction](/source/speculative_fiction). The series included ''The Planet Dweller'' (1985), ''Moving Moosevan'' (1990), ''Duckbill Soup'' (2011) and ''Brassica Park'' (2018), and satirizes [cliché](/source/clich%C3%A9)s 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](/source/menopause), was described by scholar Mary Talbot as atypical for [science fiction](/source/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](/source/android_(robot)) 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](/source/Narration) of an alien. The Ojalie, or beings of Ojal, are depicted as [hermaphrodite](/source/hermaphrodite)s, 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](/source/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==
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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Jane}}
Category:1946 births
Category:Living people
Category:British women science fiction and fantasy writers
Category:British speculative fiction writers

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jane Palmer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Palmer) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Palmer?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.