Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson

Speculative fiction by George Alec Effinger

Blurb

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.

First Published

1993

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