Rachel Pollack

**Rachel Grace Pollack** (August 17, 1945 – April 7, 2023) was an American science fiction author, comic book writer, and expert on tarot. Pollack was involved in the women's spirituality movement.

## Tarot reading

Pollack wrote a book about Salvador Dali's Tarot deck. Pollack's work _78 Degrees of Wisdom_ on Tarot reading is used by many Tarot readers.

## Comics

Pollack is best known for her run of issues 64–87 on the comic book _Doom Patrol_, on DC Comics' Vertigo imprint, with Grant Morrison. In the comic, Pollack wrote about topics such as menstruation, sexual identity, and transsexuality that are unusual in comics.

## Fiction

Three of Pollack's novels have won or been nominated for major awards in the science fiction and fantasy field: _Unquenchable Fire_ won the 1989 Arthur C. Clarke Award; _Godmother Night_ won the 1997 World Fantasy Award, was shortlisted for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, and was nominated for a Lambda Award; _Temporary Agency_ was nominated for the 1995 Nebula Award and the Mythopoeic Award, and shortlisted for the Tiptree.

## Influences

Pollack was Jewish, and frequently wrote about the Kabbalah.

Pollack was a transsexual woman and wrote often about transgender issues. In _Doom Patrol_ she introduced Coagula, a transsexual character. She also wrote several essays on being transsexual. She attacked the idea that it is a "sickness."  She wrote that it is a passion and helps with greater understanding of others.

_A Secret Woman_ features a police detective who is transgender and Jewish. The detective utters the prayer, "Blessed art thou oh G-d who made me not a woman. Double blessed is Doctor Green who has." Rachel Pollack created the characters known as 'the bandage people' for her _Doom Patrol_ run. The bandage people are 'sexually remaindered spirits' who died in sexual accidents. The initials srs came from the medical term 'sex reassignment surgery'.  Rachel wrote the essay "The Transsexual Book of The Dead" for the anthology _Phallus Palace_. This article is concerning trans men.

## Teaching

For nearly 20 years Pollack taught seminars with Tarot author Mary K. Greer at the Omega Institute, in Rhinebeck, New York.

## Awards

- 1997 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel winner for _Godmother Night_
- 1994 Nebula Award for Best Novel nominee for _Temporary Agency_
- 1989 Arthur C. Clarke Award winner for _Unquenchable Fire_

### Poetry

- The Wild Cows (1993)

### Essays

- "Introduction: A Machine for Constructing Stories" (1989)
- Read This (The New York Review of Science Fiction, October 1991) (1991)
- Read This (The New York Review of Science Fiction, July 1995) (1995)
- Read This (The New York Review of Science Fiction, August 1996) (1996)

### Comics

- _Doom Patrol,_ Issues 64–87, 1993-1995, Vertigo
- _New Gods_ Volume 4, Issues 1–11, 1995-1996, DC Comics
- _Time Breakers_, Issues 1–5, 1995, Helix
- _Vertigo Visions: Tomahawk_, Issue 1, 1998, Vertigo

## Other websites

- Reviews of 78 Degrees of Wisdom
- at Upcoming4.me

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Rachel Pollack
- **nationality**: American
- **birth place**: Brooklyn, New York (state), New York
- **alma mater**: New York University, Claremont Graduate University
- **occupation**: Author
- **notable works**: Issues 64–87 of _Doom Patrol_
- **style**: Magical realism