7.2 /10 1 Votes
Publication date June 1993 Originally published June 1993 Publisher Doubleday | 3.6/5 Goodreads ISBN 978-1-56865-101-9 (hc) OCLC 31129110 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (Hardcover & Paperback) Genres Fiction, Speculative fiction Nominations Locus Award for Best Collection Similar Works by George Alec Effinger, Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson is a 1993 anthology by George Alec Effinger, with cover and interior illustrations by Ken Kelly. They collect all of his stories about Maureen 'Muffy' Birnbaum, a Jewish American Princess who is magically teleported to various fantasy and science fiction universes, and later recounts the tales to her best friend, 'Bitsy' Spiegelman. Originally written on his own initiative, the character proved popular enough for Effinger to gain several requests from authors to have versions of their work visited by Muffy.
In addition to satirizing and spoofing the various stories, they had a feminist undertone, as Maureen dealt with the often sexist reactions of the inhabitants of the worlds she met, struggled to find the Martian prince she had fallen in love with, and contrasted her adventures with Bitsy, a housewife with an increasingly unhappy marriage.