Set in the near future and inspired by the captivating myth of the warrior queen Califia, this brilliantly inventive novel tells the story of a small, peaceful community of women tucked away in a world gone mad. Only the elders of the Valley remember life the way it used to be…when people traveled in automobiles and bought food others had grown. When the male-to-female ratio was nearly the same. Before the bombs fell, and a deadly virus claimed the world’s men. Now civilization’s few surviving males are guarded by women warriors like Dian. When an unexpected convoy of strangers rides into her village, it is Dian who meets them, ready to do battle. To her surprise, the visitors come in peace and bear a priceless gift, whose arrival is greeted with as much suspicion as delight. It is up to Dian to discover their motive, in a journey that will cost her far more than she ever imagined, a journey from which she may never return.

Set in the near future and inspired by the captivating myth of the warrior queen Califia, this brilliantly inventive novel tells the story of a small, peaceful community of women tucked away in a world gone mad. Only the elders of the Valley remember life the way it used to be…when people traveled in automobiles and bought food others had grown. When the male-to-female ratio was nearly the same. Before the bombs fell, and a deadly virus claimed the world’s men. Now civilization’s few surviving males are guarded by women warriors like Dian. When an unexpected convoy of strangers rides into her village, it is Dian who meets them, ready to do battle. To her surprise, the visitors come in peace and bear a priceless gift, whose arrival is greeted with as much suspicion as delight. It is up to Dian to discover their motive, in a journey that will cost her far more than she ever imagined, a journey from which she may never return.

Launched in 1975, the Califia Community organized activist educational camps and other programs in southern California until its dissolution in 1987. An alternative to mainstream academia’s attempts to tie feminism to university courses, Califia blended aspects of feminism that spanned the labels “second wave” and “radical,” attracting women from a range of gender expressions, sexual orientations, class backgrounds, and races or ethnicities. Califia Women captures the history of the organization through oral history interviews, archives, and other forms of primary research. The result is a lens for re-reading trends in feminist and social justice activism of the time period, contextualized against a growing conservative backlash. Throughout each chapter, readers learn about the triumphs and frictions feminists encountered as they attempted to build on the achievements of the postwar Civil Rights movement. With its backdrop of southern California, the book emphasizes a region that has often been overlooked in studies of East Coast or San Francisco Bay–area activism. Califia Women also counters the notions that radical and lesbian feminists were unwilling to address intersectional identities generally and that they withdrew from political activism after 1975. Instead, the Califia Community shows evidence that these and other feminists intentionally created an educational forum that embraced oppositional consciousness and sought to serve a variety of women, including radical Christian reformers, Wiccans, scholars of color, and GLBT activists.

Poetry collection by devorah major, third San Francisco Poet Laureate.

The second book opens with all the characters of the first book headed to a grand celebration. The evil Gogatt has not been seen in at least two suns. Things are going so well for the Kalifee people. The crops are good and the brothels are at their highest revenue. The divine lives within all people and the Kalifee know it and express it so well. There is love and love lost. Betrayal is waiting in the wonderful disguise of love, giving, and commitment. These fighting women and men do so much more than fight the enemy. The internal struggle, after all, is the greatest fight of all.

Mysteries are among the most popular books today, and women continue to be among the most creative and widely read mystery writers. This book includes alphabetically arranged entries on 90 women mystery writers. Many of the writers discussed were not even writing when the first edition of this book was published in 1994, while others have written numerous works since then. Writers were selected based on their status as award winners, their commercial success, and their critical acclaim. Each entry provides biographical information, a discussion of major works and themes, and primary and secondary bibliographies. The volume closes with appendices and a selected, general bibliography. Public library patrons will value this guide to their favorite authors, while students will turn to it when writing reports.

In this follow-up volume in the Black Fire—This Time series, over seventy-five poets and writers come together on the ongoing theme of "Black is Beautiful, Black is Powerful, Black is Home." Works ranging from poetry, fiction, essays, and drama cover a wide range of Black literature. This "continuum" of writing, as coined by Volume 1 editor Kim McMillon, brings together legends of the Black Arts era with contemporary writers in the tradition. This edition includes a hallmark work from the Black Arts era, We Own the Night by playwright and one of the last living legends Jimmy Garrett. Volume 2 of Black Fire—This Time will educate and inspire the next generation.