Susie Bright’s Journal

Susie Bright’s Journal

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Rachel Pollack, Rest in Power
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Rachel Pollack, Rest in Power

Our SF/F heroine and Tarot futurist TransSister, has left us. —A remembrance and an audio interview

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Susie Bright
Apr 08, 2023
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Rachel Pollack, Rest in Power
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Author, Tarot-futurist, and science-fiction pioneer Rachel Pollack has left us, earlier this afternoon, the seventh of April. She was 78. She was ageless.

Her wife Zoe Matoff announced her passing this afternoon, with a heavy heart. She was surrounded by loved ones.

Rachel Pollack 1978, courtesy Zoe Matoff

Rachel’s work is the stuff of legend. When I interviewed her (see clip below), I said, “How long do you have? All day?”

Pollack’s authorship is a map of 20th century consciousness— she was one of the first women working in the science fiction genre. It was Rachel, along with Joanna Russ, Marge Piercy, Octavia Butler, and of course LeGuin, who first rattled my fantasy cage.

When I became a producer at Audible, I called Rachel and said, “How’d you like to crack the audiobook sci-fi-patriarchy wide open — let’s produce your novels!”

She laughed as hard as I hoped she would— and then we fucking did it.

If you haven’t heard Godmother Night or Temporary Agency, I think you’ll love them — …

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