Beatrix Gates

A queer cult favorite, The Beatrix Gates is a colorful mix of science fiction, magic realism, memoir, and myth exploring themes of spirituality and transformation. Courage and cowardice contend in a literary odyssey unlike any other. Written especially for this volume, “Trans Central Station” is Pollack’s personal and political take on the transgender experience then and now — and tomorrow? “Burning Beard” is a fiercely revisionist Bible tale of plague and prophecy told through a postmodern prose of many colors. “The Woman Who Didn’t Come Back” is about just what it says. And there is of course PM Press' usual and unusual Outspoken Interview.

“[A] marvelous example of how sci-fi can remythologize the terms of common experience to elucidate and give new and deeper meaning.” Lambda Book Report

“Rachel Pollack’s The Beatrix Gates is a stunning study in identity and mutability. It can be read most easily as a story about transexualism or simply a powerful examination of difference and its more positive consequences, as well as a subtle investigation of exactly what makes our identities.” Green Man Review

“Rachel Pollack is one of the most consistently interesting and individual writers working in the fantasy and science fiction slipstream. Here be magick, real people, alternative worlds, and a fully mature creative consciousness.” Geoff Ryman, author of WAS

"Pollack’s stories flit from fantastical descriptions of transhumanist futures to heartbreaking depictions of young queer people struggling with their bodies and beingness... Equal parts strange and captivating, this collection beautifully speaks Pollack’s truth." Publishers Weekly

Rachel Pollack is a sorceress, a wizard with words who spins together the spiritual, the political, and the passionate in her unique, indeed inimitable, tales. An award-winning SF and Fantasy author, she is also an esteemed Tarot Grand Master with devotees and students around the world. A progressive voice in the transgender community and a trusted guide to the ancient traditions of shamanism, she writes of shimmering and dangerous worlds that have never been imagined before--much less explored. Her queer cult favorite "The Beatrix Gates" draws on magic realism, quantum science, memoir, and myth to tell the story of a girl born not in the wrong body but in the wrong universe.

Plus... "Trans Central Station," written especially for this volume, is Pollack's personal and penetrating take on the transgender experience then and now--and tomorrow? "Burning Beard" is a fiercely revisionist Old Testament tale of plague and prophecy told through a postmodern prose of, shall we say, many colors. "The Woman Who Didn't Come Back" is about just what it says it's about.

And Featuring: Our Outspoken Interview, which tells us all about comics history, the automotive origins of Tarot, the benefits of Nerd celebrity, and why the Sun exists. It will be on the test.

An award-winning science fiction and fantasy author, Rachel Pollack (Unquenchable Fire and Godmother Night) is also an esteemed Tarot Grand Master with followers and students around the world. A progressive voice in the transgender community and a trusted guide to the ancient traditions of spiritualism, she has been for decades a teacher of writing at Goddard College.