Inspirational women: the amazons

Amazons! Edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson (1979 DAW SF $2.25)

by Melinda McGeorge "They came astride gray horses dappled with sun and their hair flew behind them...“

In many guises, many eras we have met her-the amazon fear lessly defying tradition, living wild, living free. She personifies the ideal lesbian sensibility, carving her life of strength and independence, no man her master, no chains to enslave. This remarkable anthology offers thirteen wonderfully diverse stories of amazons as they battle demons and men, challenging custom and ignorance, sliding in and out of reality as only a woman can. Science fiction comes of age in

this collection, adding one more piece to the growing genre of strong inspirational women in. speculative literature.

Salmonsón introduces the edition with a well researched recapitulation of "our amazon heritage". describing scores of women who have taken. the sword into battle and lived a life of adventure. As you well know our amazon ancestors have always existed it is only in the retelling of sci-fi stories that they have been left unnamed. Her account of the amazon archetypes, fierce as a man in battle, fiercely loving her freedom and her unequivocal womanness is engaging.

The stories, all original and written for this collection are the stuff of which legends are born. A delightful sewer rat entertains

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the reader with her scheming as she outwits the inevitable band of villians who would do her in. A deadly serious band of vigilantes are out for revenge in a blood boiling tale of contemporary rape. Women of strength and substance feared and respected are in these very inspiring. enchanting, emotion laden pieces.

My favorite is one so deeply entrenched in spirituality it is sure to touch the most discerning of Cleveland's witches. "The Woman Who Loved The Moon". juxtaposes jealousy, vengeance and love in unforgettable imagery and action.

Amazons! reaquaints us with veteran science fiction authors Joanna Russ. Andre Norton, Margaret St. Clair and Janet Fox and introduces us to many wonderful writers new to the cir-

McNaught

(Cont'd from page 7)

Perhaps tomorrow I will no longer need the word "gay" nor feel it is politically important, for it too can be in the language of oppression.

I am not a man who wants to be a woman. I am a man who wants to discover the full meaning of being human, male and female. Right now I am concentrating on experiencing my masculinity because for so long it has been denied me.

I am not a dizzy queen, though at one time in my life I probably acted a little dizzy. I am not a fairy, faggot, fruit, queer or sissy. Those terms were created by ignorant people who didn't understand me. I need to educate them so that those terms are no longer used to describe homosexuals. They need to know the terms don't describe me and are offensive, regardless of who is using them.

Gay people who use those terms to describe themselves betray self-hate. Gay and lesbian people who use those terms to describe me prove that misery

loves company.

cuit. The entire collection is wellpaced, impossible to put down and demands to be passed on.

If you're tired of searching through dusty sci-fi shelves looking for gutsy heroines, seek no more. This powerful anthology contains some of the best feminist science fiction and fantasy on the market.

Play directory

(Cont'd from page 16)

Appendix of "lost" plays and of gay theatre companies, an alphabetical index of all playwrights included, and an introduction giving background information and commentary of the plays.

Compiled and edited by Terry Helbing, who also wrote the introduction, the volume is designed to be a practical, useful guide for theatre practitioners, gay people, and anyone interested in gay theatre past and present.

.

Coples of the Directory are available at selected gay and theatre bookstores, or directly from the publisher, JH Press, 90 Bank St., #5D, New York, N. Y. 10014. Cover price is $5.95, plus $1.00 postage and handling charge (New York residents add 8% sale tax). A copy of the Directory may be obtained free of charge with membership in the Gay Theatre Alliance; for more Information, write the Gay Theatre Alliance, 51 West 4th St., Room 300, New York, N.Y. 10012.

Ms stays

Nashua, NH--A federal judge has ruled that a New Hampshire school board violated the First Amendment when it banned Ms

magazine from the Nashua High School Library. Judge Shane Divine has ordered the school board to replace back issues and to recubscribe to the magazine. The school board had contended that Ms was "obscene" because it contained information on birth control, sex, and lesbian relationships.

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HIGH GEAR PAGE 17

Poetry

by Greg Leach

I have seen you danceQuicksilver, brilliance and Soft languid grace giving Form and shape to sound and silence.

I have watched, breath caught and

Body trembling, emotions coursing along

My limbs as you move across the floor.

We were well separated by the audience, the stage.

You perform a living dream dance.

Bringing fantasies to form in space

And time you trace out paintings Of secret prayers I have mouthed in my sleep.

Then in meeting you, seeing you Touching close, you gained passage

To a corner of my soul. Crossing lightly

Over my borders, sitting gently in the empty space Laying claim upon it for your use forevermore.

THIS COOL SNOW NIGHT This cool snow night with Blue cloud sky mirror To white dimpled earth as Hours slowly pass to .Murured guitar melodies 1 edge ever closer To sweet soft spent sleep. I am granted now a Brief and gently peace Moving slowly in my limbs Pulsing outward frommy soul.

A brief spark

From one who passes And I am free Once more to be.

Untitled

My Lord gives gifts Most freely all around. While I, sly creature, Careen uncaring in their midst Till some unguarded moment Stops me short. Then I catch Wondrous at this life, these Sights and sound that pass Pure private treasures for My exclusive use. So I write in thanks

Then to the giver of these goods. All-being from whom these causes flow...

After you are gone

In morning mists My mind floats on

Every fleeting fancy. Through simple scenes of Your softest touch through Dreams of days far futured In our lives I wonder, fantasies Slowly forming in slow seconds Passing, brought to birth by their Own accord. Then I gently back to sleep.

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