From Emma Peel with her ""kinky boots"" to Amanda King and her poppy seed cake, from Julie Barnes with her hippie pad to Honey West and her pet ocelot, TV's female spies and crimefighters leave an indelible impression, but there hasn't been a reference book devoted to them until now. This encyclopedic work covers TV's female spies, private investigators, amateur sleuths, police detectives, federal agents and crime-fighting superheroes, with an emphasis on lead or noteworthy characters. The entries include series credits and synopses, notable plot points, important or fun facts, and critical commentary on seminal series and characters. In addition to its A to Z coverage of the topic, the book provides a brief history of female spies and crimefighters on television, placing them in chronological perspective and sociological context. With 350 female spies and crimefighters who have appeared in over 250 television series since the 1950s, this comprehensive reference will appeal to TV fans and popular culture scholars alike.

Samantha Stephens in Bewitched. Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek. Wonder Woman, Xena: Warrior Princess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and many more. Television's women of science fiction and fantasy are iconic and unforgettable yet there hasn't been a reference book devoted to them until now. Covering 400 female characters from 200 series since the 1950s, this encyclopedic work celebrates the essential contributions of women to science fiction and fantasy TV, with characters who run the gamut from superheroes, extraterrestrials and time travelers to witches, vampires and mere mortals who deal with the fantastic in their daily lives.

Jack-o'-Spec: Tales of Halloween and Fantasy features the many faces of science fiction, fantasy, and horror Halloweens: steampunk Halloweens, post-apocalyptic Halloweens, alternate history Halloweens, outer space Halloweens, and noir Halloweens, not to mention new speculative takes on Halloween perennials, such as haunted houses, witches, ghosts, vampires, and, of course, jack-o'-lanterns. Twenty-six authors have contributed short stories, flash fiction, and poetry to the anthology, transporting us to the mysterious realm of the Pumpkin King, introducing the trick-or-treating Norse gods, or describing a lover's visit on a brief reprieve from Purgatory. Contributors include Paul L. Bates, Bruce Boston, James S. Dorr, Lyn C. A. Gardner, Jude-Marie Green, Samantha Henderson, Geoffrey A. Landis, Elissa Malcohn, Gregory L. Norris, Jason S. Ridler, Marge Simon, John F.D. Taff, Cliff Winnig, and 13 more. If there is a holiday ripe for exploration, speculation and new myths, it is Halloween. Come and celebrate this night of nights with us. -- From the Publisher "Reading Jack-o'-Spec is like stepping into a Halloween party that's been going on for 2,000 years. There's something delightfully pagan about these stories and poems, something that captures Halloween's dark, autumn atmosphere. Whether it's a mad scientist invoking Halloween ghosts on Mars, boys trapped in not one but two haunted houses, or a rich evocation of poetic seasonal spirits, Jack-o'-Spec has something for all Halloween lovers." -- Lisa Morton, Author, The Halloween Encyclopedia

RETRO SPEC: TALES OF FANTASY AND NOSTALGIA uses the prisms of science fiction, fantasy, and horror to examine the culture, society, and politics of our recent past, the 1920s to the 1980s, in the United States and Europe. Twenty-six authors have contributed short stories and poetry to the anthology, twining history with speculation to find out what happens when suffragettes construct robots, insects spread cultural movements, women carry out the first "manned" space flights, or hair metal bands make deals with the devil. Along the way, RETRO SPEC hits many of the notches on the 20th century timeline, including World War II, the 60s counterculture, Chernobyl, and the fall of the Berlin wall, testing their limits with genre elements such as alien invasion, ghosts, alternate history, and time travel. Contributors include Robert Borski, Bruce Boston, Don D'Ammassa, Dayle A. Dermatis, Lyn C. A. Gardner, David D. Levine, Cat Rambo, Leonard Richardson, Ann K. Schwader, Marge Simon, and 16 others.

Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic views sports and games with a speculative twist, in prophesied futures, parallel presents, and imagined pasts. From tennis matches with Death to chess games with Oberon, from free throws with the Fairy Court to surfing with werewolves, every sport imaginable (and a few unimaginable) exist within this speculative city of games. 42 authors, veterans and rookies alike, have contributed flash fiction and poetry that will take you from pong with a dust mote at the beginning of the world to sailboarding through the stars at the universe's edge. Contributors include: Paul Abbamondi, Marge Simon, Robert Frazier, E. C. Myers, C. A. Gardner, James S. Dorr, Todd Wheeler, Deborah P Kolodji, Jude-Marie Green, Marcie Lynn Tentchoff, Samantha Henderson, Roger Dutcher, Amanda M. Hayes, Ruth Berman, Lawrence Schimel, Larry Hodges, G. O. Clark, Jennifer Crow, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Rob Rosen, Andrew C. Ferguson, and 21 more.

The House of Forever: Selected Poems by Samantha Henderson is a collection of 21 time-bending poems, nine never before published--poems which fold, collapse, and conflate time, so that now becomes then, and then becomes now. From "Cabazon," where the prehistoric past meets the lonely present, to "After the Crash," which invokes the Bronte sisters in deep space, each poem is a tapestry of life sewn with the unraveling threads of time.