She's Fantastical

Judith Raphael Buckrich was born in Budapest and emigrated to Australia in 1958. She is the author of several local histories, a biography of George Turner (1999) and co-editor of She’s Fantastical (1995). She has been very active in PEN in Australia and is convenor of International PEN’s International Women Writers' Committee.Lucy Sussex was born in New Zealand and is published widely as a reviewer and literary critic. She is also an author of sci-fi, horror and detective stories. She edited The Fortunes of Mary Fortune (1989) and was co-editor of She’s Fantastical (1995), among others. Her short story "My Lady Tongue" won the Ditmar (Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award) in 1988. In 1994 she was a judge for the International Tiptree Award for speculative fiction.Among her books are My Lady Tongue and Other Tales (1990), The Scarlet Rider (1996). She has published novels for children, young adults and adults. Her first book was The Peace Garden (1989), followed by Deersnake (1994), The Penguin Friend (1997) and Black Ice (1997). The Revognase, part of the Quentaris series, was published in 2003 and Absolute Uncertainty (2006). Matilda Told Such Dreadful Lies, a collection of her best writing is due out in 2011.She writes a weekly review column in the Sunday Age and the West Australian.

• acknowledgementssaint martha according to deborah klein: cover art / Deborah Kleinforeward / Ursula Le Guinintroduction/ Lucy Sussex and Judith Raphael Buckrichtwo poems: ‘alinta’ and ‘maydina’ from women of the sun / Hyllus Maristhe master builder’s wife/ Lisa Jacobsonthe goddess wakes / Jane Routleywidow wilberforce and the lyrebird / Nadia Wheatleythe pumpkineater/ Isobelle Carmodyaubade from tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow / M. Barnard Eldershawone last picture of ruby-rose (a letter to kevin arnett) / Carmel Birdangel thing / Petrina Smithfrom the sea people / Maurilia Meehanentropy / Leanne Frahmscience fiction / Sarah Carmela Helen Endacottflight / Ania Walwiczpossum lover / Yvonne Rousseauthe blinding of bellevue hearn / Alison Goodmanfrom SAW / berni m. janssenangel jacko / Gabrielle Lorda sky full of ravens / Sue Islefrom a few hours in a far-off age / Henrietta Dugdalea tour guide in utopia / Lucy Sussexthe know-all / Rosaleen Lovenot with love / Philippa C. Maddenthe padwan affair / Tess Williamsour mother land / Daisy Utemorrahbiographies

'Fantasy has always been a rebel’s mode, a means of sneakily saying unwelcome or disturbing things about one’s society, or of offering a more or less plausible alternative to it. The stories and poems in this book are all, in one way or another, fantastic, all are rebellious, subversive, critical, or teasing, cheerfully or fiercely knocking the posts from under the Status Quo… Mothers and daughters, women friends, women lovers, women and children, women and animals – the book is full of pairings, interweavings, minglings, transformations, transgressions of boundaries between generations, between species, between realms. Borders which we’re used to seeing well sprayed and marked with neat piles of scat become crossings, trysting places, meeting grounds… '— Ursula K. Le Guin