‘The Dark Hand of Darkness’ is a science fiction classic
Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1969 novel
Left of Darkness it’s about a planet where the genetically engineered population randomly becomes male or female for a few days each month. Professor of science fiction Lisa Yaszek he says the book is one of the most important explorations of the genre.
“This whole thing was in the air, so I think Le Guin is definitely thinking at the right time,” Yaszek says in section 464.
Guide to the Geek Galaxy podcast. “No one really put it together in a permanent novel – well, I think some did, but they hadn’t published it yet. It was certainly the first. So this is picking up on some of the avant-garde and sometimes richer science fiction that started to happen.”