Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson

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.

Table of contents

Other stories

• "Maureen Birnbaum on a Hot Tin Roof"
  • South From Midnight (1994) anthology edited by Richard Gilliam, Martin H. Greenberg, & Thomas R. Hanlon
  • The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (August 1996) magazine edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

• "Maureen Birnbaum in the MUD"
  • Chicks in Chainmail (1995) anthology edited by Esther Friesner
  • Chicks Ahoy (2010) anthology edited by Esther Friesner

• "Maureen Birnbaum Pokes an Eye Out"
  • Don't Forget Your Spacesuit, Dear (1996) anthology edited by Jody Lynn Nye

External links

• Amazon.com: Maureen Birnbaum: Barbarian Swordsperson: The Complete Stories
• Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database