FFB: THE WOMEN WHO WALK THROUGH FIRE edited by Susanna J. Sturgis (Crossing Press 1990)

from liberation: a magazine for freedom issue 0/(in*sit) issue 4.5, Summer 1993 (review written in 1990)

An impressive anthology, a sequel to Memories and Visions, reviewed last issue, and like V. 1 mostly new fiction with a few reprints mixed in. At least four stories here are about as good as they can be: the brilliant Rachel Pollack's "The Girl Who Went to the Rich Neighborhood" (a fairy tale in a modern urban setting), J. L. Comeau's hard-edged, violent contemporary horror "Firebird", and two stories which draw on Polynesian and Native American mythology, Eleanor Arnason's "A Ceremony of Discontent" and Carol Severance's "Shark-Killer". Cathy Hinga Haustein's "Earth and Sky Woman" is also very good, but it's realistic, not fantastic, and apparently was included on the strength of being about a scientist. G. K. Sprinkle's "Road Runner", Deborah H. Fruin's "New Age Baby" and Ruth Shigezawa's "Hills of Blue, an Orange Moon" are all well-handled "small" stories, by which I mean they don't invest as much in their subplots or resonances as the best stories here. Good, flawed stories include "The Forbidden Words of Margaret A." by L. Timmel Duchamp (it posits a quarantine on an Angela Davis-analog; fortunately or not, the U.S. takes more subtle measures against most of its dissidents than do most of its puppet satellites, which Duchamp credits with inspiring this story; even as an allegory for the lack of access most U.S. citizens have to dissident views, the story comes off as heavy-handed); Elaine Bergstrom's "Net Songs" (yet another tyranny overthrown by one bold individual, but AIDS-angst well-channeled); Lucy Sussex's "My Lady Tongue" (which [seemed to me at the time] to be afraid to endorse lesbian separatism more out fear of offense than actual conviction); and Phyllis Ann Karr's "Night of the Short Knives", which strikes me as a minor Frostflower and Thorn story [Karr's sword & sorcery series]--likewise Ginger Simpson Curry's "Sahrel Short Swords" has several imaginative touches but is a too-familiar tale. Nonetheless, all of these repay the reader well; less satisfactory, if still readable, are Rosalind Warren's fannish joke "The Inkblot Test", Merrill Mushroom's "Mamugrandae--the Second Tale" (just as overly cute as the author's handle might suggest), and Cleo Kozol's "Picnic Days", which would've fit well into the back pages of the late 1950s Galaxy magazine as an example of heartfelt, playful, but ultimately bootless "comic inferno" satire. This book is definitely worth owning; the best work sings, and the least hums along well enough.

for more of today's books, please see Patti Abbott's blog.

from the Locus index of sf:

The Women Who Walk Through Fire: Women’s Fantasy & Science Fiction Vol. 2 ed. Susanna J. Sturgis (The Crossing Press 0-89594-419-7, Sep ’90 [Oct ’90], $9.95, 275pp, tp, cover by Beth Avery) Anthology of 16 sf and fantasy stories by women, ten original, with an introduction by the editor. A hardcover edition (-420-0) was announced, but not seen.

• 1 · Introduction · Susanna J. Sturgis · in
• 12 · Earth and Sky Words · Cathy Hinga Haustein · ss *
• 23 · The Inkblot Test · Rosalind A. Warren · ss *
• 27 · New Age Baby · Deborah H. Fruin · ss *
• 34 · Night of the Short Knives · Phyllis Ann Karr · ss *
• 53 · The Forbidden Words of Margaret A. · L. Timmel Duchamp · nv Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine Issue 8, ed. Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Pulphouse, 1990
• 76 · Road Runner · G. K. Sprinkle · ss *
• 85 · Picnic Days · Cleo Kocol · ss *
• 93 · Net Songs · Elaine Bergstrom · ss *
• 111 · Shark-Killer · Carol Severance · nv The Dragon Feb ’88
• 132 · Firebird · J. L. Comeau · nv *
• 162 · A Ceremony of Discontent · Eleanor Arnason · ss Room of One’s Own v6 #1&2 ’81
• 173 · Mamugrandae—The Second Tale · Merrill Mushroom · ss Common Lives/Lesbian Lives, 1982
• 182 · The Girl Who Went to the Rich Neighborhood · Rachel Pollack · ss Beyond Lands of Never, ed. Maxim Jakubowski, Allen & Unwin, 1984
• 194 · Sahrel Short Swords · Ginger Simpson Curry · ss *
• 208 · My Lady Tongue · Lucy Sussex · na Matilda at the Speed of Light, ed. Damien Broderick, Angus & Robertson: Australia, 1988
• 256 · Hills of Blue, an Orange Moon · Ruth Shigezawa · ss *
• 268 · Contributors’ Notes · Misc. · bg *

Happy King Day! (King Day Music Club)

Nina Simone: "Backlash Blues"


Max Roach Quintet: "The Dream"; "It's Time"


Louis Armstrong, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Dave Brubeck, Joe Morello, Gene Wright: "They Say I Look Like God"


American Composer's Orchestra: "Black, Brown and Beige" (Edward Kennedy Ellington)


Martin Luther King, Jr., on jazz:
"God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create—and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations. Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. This is triumphant music. Modern jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument. It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of racial identity as a problem for a multiracial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls. Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down. And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith. In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these." - Martin Luther King Jr.
quoted at the Origins of Jazz pages

SNCC Freedom Singers (2007): "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize"


Bavarian Bluegrass Jamboree participants (2013): "Keep Your Hand to the Plow"