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
Published works
Non-fiction books
Novels
Collections
Anthologies
Short fiction
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
References
Other websites
Reviews of 78 Degrees of Wisdom
at Upcoming4.me
1945 births
2023 deaths
American science fiction writers
American comics writers
American short story writers
American novelists