Gomoll attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she attended the first science fiction course offered at the university, although "I had been really turned off in the later part of high school and college by the really sexist stuff going on in the genre".
Fandom, science fiction and feminism
In 1975, soon after graduating with a B.A. in geography, she was actively involved in a feminist reading group in Madison, Wisconsin, which she tried to convince to explore the potential of the SF genre. Gomoll read an advertisement in the Badger Herald seeking people interested in working on an SF fanzine. The core group was putting together what was to become the feminist science fiction fanzine, Janus. Gomoll was initially recruited as an artist and designer, but became a writer and co-editor by the third issue. Janus was to be repeatedly nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine ; this led to accusations that if Janus had not been feminist, it would not have been nominated. She has worked with WisCon since its inception, and has served as editor of several items for WisCon's sponsoring organization SF and for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award and other efforts related to feminist science fiction fandom.
Gomoll is the author of "An Open Letter to Joanna Russ", a famous and oft-reprinted essay revisiting Joanna Russ' influential critiques of science fiction and the suppression in literary history of the role of women in writing. The essay was a response to Bruce Sterling's exclusion of women's writing of the 1970s from his introduction to cyberpunk anthology Burning Chrome. Gomoll's open letter not only challenged Sterling's account, but recounts the history of women's involvement in science fiction writing and fandom during the 1970s.
Professional work
Gomoll is a professional artist still based in Madison. From September 1979–July 2003, she was employed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as a graphic designer, also serving as illustrator of publications such as Nature's Recyclers Coloring Book and Butterflies & Roadways: How Rights of Way Maintenance Can Help Endandered Species. In 2018 she retired and closed her graphic design business, Union Street Design.
Selected bibliography
; Essays
"An Open Letter to Joanna Russ", Aurora, v.10, n.1.
Introduction: "Visualizing the Future," to Women of Other Worlds: Excursions through SF & Feminism, edited by Helen Merrick & Tess Williams, University of Western Australia Press, 1999
TAFForensic Report: A Cold Case Investigation, Union Street Design/LULU, 2020.
Lefanu, Sarah, In the Chinks of the World Machine: Feminism and Science Fiction London: The Women's Press, 1988.
Merrick, Helen and Tess Williams, editors, Women of Other Worlds: Excursions through Science Fiction and Feminism Crawley, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press, 1999.
various editors WisCon Chronicles, Volumes 1-6. Seattle: Aqueduct Press, 2007-2012.
Merrick, Helen. The Secret Feminist Cabal: A Cultural History of Science Fiction Feminism Seattle: Aqueduct Press, 2009.
