Amazons!

Amazons!

Cover of the first edition
Editor	Jessica Amanda Salmonson
Cover artist	Michael Whelan
Language	English
Genre	Fantasy
Publisher	DAW Books
Publication date	1979
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (paperback)
Pages	206
ISBN	0-87997-503-2
OCLC	5951403
Followed by	Amazons II

Amazons! is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson, with a cover and frontispiece by Michael Whelan. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in December 1979, and was the first significant fantasy anthology of works featuring female protagonists by (mostly) female authors. ^[1] It received the 1980 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology. ^[1] A follow-up anthology, Amazons II , was released in 1982. The story "Agbewe's Sword" by Charles R. Saunders was adapted into the 1986 film Amazons . ^[2]

Summary

The book collects 14 short stories, novelettes and poems by various fantasy authors, with an introduction by Salmonson and an essay on additional reading by Salmonson and Susan Wood.

Contents

• "Amazons" (poem) (Melanie Kaye)
• "Introduction: Our Amazon Heritage" (Jessica Amanda Salmonson)
• "The Dreamstone" (C. J. Cherryh)
• "Wolves of Nakesht" (Janrae Frank)
• "Woman of the White Waste" (T. J. Morgan)
• "The Death of Augusta" (poem) (Emily Brontë; edited by Joanna Russ)
• "Morrien's Bitch" (Janet Fox)
• "Agbewe's Sword" (Charles R. Saunders)
• "Jane Saint's Travails (Part One)" (Josephine Saxton)
• "The Sorrows of Witches" (Margaret St. Clair)
• "Falcon Blood" (Andre Norton)
• "The Rape Patrol" (Michele Belling)
• "Bones for Dulath" (Megan Lindholm)
• "Northern Chess" (Tanith Lee)
• "The Woman Who Loved the Moon" (Elizabeth A. Lynn)
• "Additional Reading" (Jessica Amanda Salmonson and Susan Wood)

Awards

The collection won the 1980 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology/Collection, placed fourth in the 1980 Locus Poll Award for Best Anthology, and was nominated for both the 1980 and 1981 Balrog Award for Collection/Anthology. ^{[1] [3]}

References

1. Amazons! title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
2. Ellsworth, Lawrence (June 15, 2023). Cinema of Swords: A Popular Guide to Movies about Knights, Pirates, Barbarians, and Vikings (and Samurai and Musketeers and Gladiators and Outlaw Heroes). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 17. ISBN   9781493065639.
3. "SALMONSON, Jessica Amanda". Encyclopedia.com . Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2025.