In the Americas, the oral tradition has created one of the oldest surviving bodies of literature on earth. Native American storytelling, in particular, stands out for its distinctive honoring of womanly power and the female forces of the universe. Gathered here are traditional versions of stories and songs that best portray this strength and vitality. Illuminating the scope of human behavior—from treacherous mates and medicine men to magical sages and murderous mothers—these tales offer universal truths. And for readers who wish to explore the transformative healing gifts of these stories in a more personal way, each is accompanied by thought-provoking exercises and meditations. Also included are brief introductions to provide historical and cultural context. Entertaining, educational, and inspirational, this collection of timeless wisdom will shed light on the lives of readers for generations to come.

Traditional horror has often portrayed female characters in direct relation to their sexual role according to men, such as the lascivious victim or innocent heroine; even vampy, powerful female villains, such as the classic noir ''spider women,'' use their sexual prowess to seduce and overwhelm married men. Fist of the Spider Woman is a revelatory anthology of horror stories by queer and transgressive women and others that disrupts reality as queer women know it, instilling both fear and arousal while turning traditional horror iconography on its head. In this collection, horror (including gothic, noir, and speculative writing) is defined as that which both titillates and terrorizes, forcing readers to confront who they are. Kristya Dunnion's ''Homeland'' reveals the horrors that lurk on your average night in a lesbian bar; Elizabeth Bachinsky's ''Postulation on the Violent Works of the Marquis de Sade'' is a response to Sade from a feminist (yet kinky) perspective; and Amber Dawn's ''Here Lies the Last Lesbian Rental'' is a paranormal fantasia about urban gentrification, set in a house rented by lesbians on the eve that it is sold to new owners. Subversive, witty, sexy - and scary - Fist of the Spider Woman poses two questions; ''What do queer women fear the most?'' and ''What do queer women desire the most?''

"Impressive....Haunting....Enchanting...Every story in the book, which covers nearly a century of tradition, is interesting, written with intelligent passion." THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW Native American scholar, literary critic, poet, and novelist Paula Gunn Allen, who is herself a Laguna Pueblo-Sioux Indian, became increasingly aware in her academic career that the writings of Native Americans, especially women, have been marginalized by the Western literary canon. Allen set out to understand why this was so and, more importantly, to remedy the situation. The result is this powerful collection of traditional tales, biographical writings, and contemporary short stories, many by the most accomplished Native American women writing today, including: Louise Erdrich, Mary TallMountain, Linda Hogan, and many others.

Presents Hopi Indian legends of the Creation, the adventures of the hero Tiyo, and the Twin War Gods and their activities on behalf of the Hopi.

Weaves together the stories of tiny elusive Spider Woman as she is mythologized by the Keresan Pueblo, Hopi and Navajo people. The myths in On the Trail of Spider Woman are those that were left in the petroglyphs and pictographs of the San Juan Basin, southeastern Utah, and northwestern New Mexico.

Collects Spider-Woman (2020) #1-5. Spider-Woman is back, and she’s pulling no punches! Jessica Drew hasn’t been feeling like herself lately. When the angry, irritable and unwell Spider-Woman takes a simple security gig to help her get back on her feet, she finds herself besieged by unknown forces out to destroy everything around her. But what does Jessica’s illness have to do with the daughter of her old nemesis, Otto Vermis? And how does a shipment of black-market spiders fit in? Jessica Drew is fighting for her life while someone is pulling the strings of her web. She soon finds herself forced back to where it all began — Wundagore Mountain, the nightmarish place that gave her powers — but who is making her relive her traumas? The answers are about to get personal! This is the Spider-Woman book you’ve been waiting for!

General readers and undergraduate students who are interested in archaeology are often put off by the mass of detail they find in any but the most introductory account. Therefore, Carmean (anthropology and archaeology, Eastern Kentucky U.) offers an account of archaeological work and findings on the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona that discusses some difficult issues, but refers readers to other sources for the mass of underlying data. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Kiss of the Spider Woman is a graceful, intensely compelling novel about love and victimization. In an Argentine prison, two men share a cell: Molina, a gay window dresser who is self-centered, self-denigrating, yet charming as well; and Valentin, an articulate, fiercely dogmatic revolutionary haunted by memories of a woman he left for the cause. Both are gradually transformed by their guarded but growing friendship and by Molina’s obsession with the fantasy and romance of the movies.

A huge earthquake opens deep fracking water contaminated caverns and a huge spider creature with the head of a woman and the sting of a scorpion crawls up from the abyss and begins terrorizing and stinging and eating and killing the locals. Ground zero for the humongous chasm in the earth is the old funeral parlor owned by the family of the local sheriff, Jake Trapper. And, amazingly, not so coincidentally, the head of the giant spider woman thing bears a striking resemblance to his long lost cousin, Sara, who vanished in her thirteenth summer, some fifteen years prior, off the face of the planet. Jake Trapper must deal with his own recurring nightmares regarding his missing cousin; conquer his fear of spiders, while all the while attempting to save his relationship with the fiery woman he loves, Ellie. Attempting to mirror the world we live in, my tale explores, depicts, includes: gay, heterosexual, LGBT, even cross-species extraterrestrial characters- all of course, intended in good fun.