As long ago as last year and as far away as …well…just around the curve of space-time, I posted Having Fun With Epic Fantasy #13: We All Love To Love The Lovable Rogue. In the comments, Andrew mentioned a 1980s anthology, Amazons II, that contained a story titled The Robber Girl (by Phyllis Ann Karr), whose protagonist  fitted the “lovable rogue” bill.

Amazons II, edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson, was published by DAW in 1982. It followed on from Amazons (1979), “an anthology of original stories by fine writers about women warriors  that was so good it won the World Fantasy Award as the best collection of the year.” 

Amazons II is also a collection of twelve original stories, all of which feature women heroines, and written by authors that include still-familiar names such as Tanith Lee, Gael Baudino, and George RR Martin, .

Although the heroines number warriors, including actual Amazons in Lillian Stewart Carl’s The Borders of Sabazel, the second collection also includes the robber girl, as well as a ropemaker, in Eleanor Arnason’s The Ivory Comb, a gypsy, Tindira, in Gordon Derevanchuk’s Zroya’s Trizub, a priestess, Yassim, in Jo Clayton’s Nightwork, and a witch, Alys, in George RR Martin’s In The Lost Lands.

Perhaps not surprisingly for a collection published in the early 1980s—following the 1970s groundswell of feminism and during the UN’s 1975-1985 Decade for Women—a central theme includes the assertion of women’s independence and strength within the context of patriarchal norms. The stories are by no means all of a kind, however, displaying a range of contexts from the prophecy and battle of The Borders of Sabazel, through the quest-journey of FM Busby’s For A Daughter, the rescue of Nightwork, mystery and sorcery of Tanith Lee’s Southern Lights, and humour of Gael Baudino’s The Lady of Forest End.

Diversity is sometimes discussed as if it were a purely contemporary concern in Fantasy literature, so I was interested that the stories encompassed not only women of diverse abilities, character, and situations, but also a reasonable degree of worldbuilding variation. Nightwork and The Ivory Comb are the two stories that have stayed with me in the latter respect, while The Robber Girl is possibly the most “fantastic” in a folklore/fairytale style of storytelling.

I also learned that the editor, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, apparently transitioned as a transgender woman in the mid 1970s (see Wikipedia.)

What I also noted, however, in terms of diversity and inclusion, was that the author list does not appear to include writers and voices from outside the UK and North America, or any non-white authors from within those countries. I believe this is less likely to be the case in 2021, nearly forty years later.

The cover art is also “classic” for the era, chiefly for the highly improbable levels of nudity, in combination with what little armor there is being both highly impractical and improbable, at best. All those vital organs left exposed; ah, well… Not to mention that it doesna reflect the quality of the fiction within, so the cover would probably have ensured I never read them, if not for last year’s comment. Now, having gotten past the cover, I am glad I did.

Many collections will have a story that sticks with you more than any other. For me, in Amazons II, that story is In The Lost Lands by George RR Martin. Readers of the A Song Of Ice and Fire (A Game Of Thrones) series, will not be surprised to learn that I found the characters compelling and the story powerful and brutal, brilliant and cruel. It’s a story that made quite an impact on first reading, and that I believe I’m unlikely to forget.