Birthing in a Hotel Room in San Antonio, Femspec Issue 1.1

This brief introduction to the journal explains why the women writers and critics felt a need to begin an interdisciplinary journal. One reason for this need to create the journal was a common feeling of being alienated as writers in male-dominated publishing circles. The women who met in the Popular Culture meetings in San Antonio at the SF/Fantasy Area party decided the journal should include subjects that deal with spirituality, creative works. They wanted to expand from science fiction to speculative fiction and to also include women writers of mythological or imaginative stories written with the intent to debunk the historical perspective of gender roles. The articles contained in the journal are on different media critiques, art styles, poetry and authors of speculative literature who write about gender-bending roles. The articles the editors want to include in the journal are a representation of changes in gender roles and in the historical depiction of womanhood. The editorial states it was important to the professional women authors to create a journal that explained how feminism was a part of their lives and gave them reasons to use these literary devices. The literature covered in the issue reflects the avant-garde in writing and examines gender-bending creative art.