It’s time for the second of three episodes recorded during my recent trip to Quincy, Massachusetts for Readercon, following up on last episode’s lunch with horror writer John Langan, and preceding next episode’s dinner with comic book writer and old Marvel Bullpen pal Don McGregor. This episode, you’ll get to sit at the table with the award-winning writer Rachel Pollack.

We had lunch on the final day of Readercon at Pho Pasteur. This Quincy restaurant is a 2017 spin-off of the original Boston Vietnamese venue which has been open since 1991, and since that cuisine is one of her favorites, I thought we should give that venue a try.

Rachel Pollack is someone I’ve been connected to for a third of a century, even since I ran her story “Lands of Stone” in a 1984 issue of Last Wave, a small press magazine I edited and published. But she’s gone on to do so much more since then!

Her novel Unquenchable Fire won the 1989 Arthur C. Clarke Award, and her novel Godmother Night won the 1997 World Fantasy Award. Her other novels include Temporary Agency, which was a 1994 Nebula Award nominee. Her comic book writing includes an acclaimed run on Doom Patrol, as well as New Gods and Brother Power the Geek. She is also an expert on the Tarot and has published many books on the subject, including a guide to Salvador Dali’s Tarot deck. Her comics and Tarot loves blended when she created the Vertigo Tarot Deck with writer Neil Gaiman and artist Dave McKean.

We discussed why Ursula K. Le Guin was such an inspiration, the reason celebrating young writers over older ones can skew sexist, what Tarot cards and comic books have in common, how 2001: A Space Odyssey isn’t a science fiction movie but an occult movie, why Captain Marvel was her favorite comic as a kid (Shazam!), the serendipitous encounter which led to her writing Doom Patrol, how she used DC’s Tomahawk to comment on old Western racial stereotypes, the problems that killed her Buffy the Vampire Slayer Tarot deck, how she intends to bring back her shaman-for-hire character Jack Shade, and much more.

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Here’s what we devoured over lunch that Sunday—

Vietnamese Ham Spring Rolls

Chicken Wings

Seafood Noodle Soup with Glass Noodles

Pork Sautéed with Vegetable Medley

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I hope you’ll join me next episode, when you’ll dine with Don McGregor, with whom I worked in the Marvel Bullpen in mid-‘70s and who wrote legendary runs on Black Panther, Killraven, and Luke Cage. You don’t want to miss it!