Feminist Voices: The Best of Femspec's Creative Work, the First Ten Years

I'm pleased to announce the release of Feminist Voices: The Best of Femspec's Creative Work, edited by Batya Weinbaum, which collects the fiction and poetry that a jury judged the best published in each of the first ten years of the feminist speculative fiction journal Femspec. Here's an excerpt from Pamela Sargent's introduction:

[H]aving as many outlets as possible for feminist voices is as necessary as ever. I recall that some years after editing the Women of Wonder anthologies of science fiction by women for Vintage, in the 1970s, people would occasionally ask me if publishing such volumes was still necessary. The implied assumption underlying such a question was that this particular battle had already been won. I heard the same kinds of questions asked again after I had edited two new Women of Wonder volumes for Harcourt Brace during the 1990s. What we have, however, isn’t a battle with a decisive end but is instead an ongoing struggle, as recent political controversies have shown, with whatever gains being made often in danger of being rolled back. It often seems that as soon as you’re foolish enough to believe an issue has been settled, that issue once again emerges as a subject for heated debate….

What these dissimilar and individual writers have in common is an ability and willingness to illuminate feminist concerns in their poetry and fiction while viewing them through the lenses of speculative fiction.

Contributors include Marleen S. Barr, Lorraine Schein, Karen Alkalay-Gut, Finisia Fideli, Gina Wisker, K.A. Laity, Rebecca Lesses, Debra Jo Schleef, Doreen Russell, Barbara Minchinton, Glenis Redmond, Susan McLean, Tara Leonard, Phebe Beiser, and Jane Liddell-King.

Aqueduct has published the volume in both paperback and ebook editions.It can be purchased now through our website (www.aqueductpress.com), and will shortly be available in the usual venues selling our books.

A New Feminist Press

Just received, a press release announcing the debut of Femspec Books:

Femspec Books Publishes The Nightmares of Sasha Weitzwoman

The Nightmares of Sasha Weitzwoman

(Femspec Books, 2010) pp. 583, $35 (includes s+h)

For more information on Femspec Books visit: http://thevoicesoffemspec.blogspot.com/2010/09/femspec-announces-femspec-books.html

Cleveland Heights, OH, September 20, 2010.  Femspec is announcing the first book published by our new publishing imprint, Femspec Books.  The book titled The Nightmares of Sasha Weitzwoman, was written by Batya Weinbaum.  She began writing during the women’s liberation movement, mainly focusing on Jewish themes in her fiction. Much of her work has been published in anthologies, such as “Bapka in Brooklyn” in Magic Realism by Women: Tales in a Minor Key, edited by Susana Sturgis. 

The lengthy 583 page novel The Nightmares of Sasha Weitzwoman, was written over an 18 year period and has been excerpted and anthologized in a few venues, including journals such as Bridges and Sinister Wisdom.  This imaginative creation is about a female American journalist who goes to Jerusalem “to cover the first Intifada,” only to end up trapped in a haunted hotel. The book interestingly grips the reader by presenting a controversial feminist version of the Jewish faith and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, written in the genres of surrealism and fantasy.  Many would enjoy this book, however those who will truly appreciate it will be creative writers and those who show interest in topics such as sexuality, war, the Middle East, Jewish and Women’s Studies, and feminist science fiction. 

For readings, workshops, or orders email femspec@aol.com .