be stupider than.” Castleman's individualism led her to an itinerant lifestyle before she settled down in Portland about five years ago. "Those were the hippy years. I was being a hippy for a while; a spiritual tram p traveling with spiritual groups. Then I dreamed I was in Portland and it's been five years since I re­ turned," Castleman said. "I like Portland. If I'm going to be walking and riding Tri-Met, why not do it where it’s pleasant And there's a literate group of les­ bians in Portland." Join in g B J . Castleman as the Angry Housewives are Alma La Wrentz, Robin R osem ond and Trish Trout. A n g ry H ouseiviues plays Thursday throug h Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m. at Sum us Theatre, 13 NW 13th Ave., throug h December 22. Comedy Isn't Pretty A new troupe of entertainers, calling th e m ­ selves the “ (Jn-pretty Comedians," are pre­ m iering their variety show C om edy Isn t Pretty, on November 4 at 8 p.m. at JR s showbar, 300 N.W. 10th Avenue. C om edy Isn t Pretty is a non-profit organi­ zation which will give its proceeds to various social service agencies in the com m unity. The recipient during the m onth o f Novem ber will be the Men s Resource Center. C om edy Isn t Pretty will run every Tuesday night, opening night will feature cham pagne and hors d oeuvres. Tickets for the opening are $7.50; thereafter tickets are $3. Written and directed by David Lee, C o m ­ edy Isn t Pretty will feature a guest host, Ke­ vin Koesel. popular Portland actor, will appear during the inaugural month. Koesel has ac­ ted in many local productions including Doric Wilson's Street Theatre: Babes on B urnside and Quarters at Storefront Actors Theatre; and S tray D og S tory and West Side Gang at the Open Door Theatre. Kindred spirits Kindred Spirits. Jeffrey Elliot, ed.; Alyson Publications, Inc., 1984 by J im H unger Among literary genre, science fiction ranks highly in potential to develop new ideas and to educate its readers, not only in the flaws of the old ways, but also in the exciting pos­ sibilities of new directions. One area of sci­ ence fiction is known as utopian fiction, in fact and encompasses stories which describe alien or futuristic societies that have devel­ oped novel methods for members to interact socially and to deal with social problems. Often these “ utopias" turn out to be less than perfect, as in the cases of Brave H ew World and 1984. But even so, the framework is there upon which to present novel ideas and solu­ tions that might influence and inspire readers. Kindred Spirits is an anthology of science fiction short stories which will be of para­ m ount interest to gay sci-fi aficionados, since all of the stories deal in some way with same- sex love. Lesbian readers will be especially pleased to discover that this collection doesn’t merely pay lip service to gay women, as a third of the stories are authored by women, and in over a third of them lesbian relation­ ships are an integral factor. Gay readers in general, however, may be disappointed to discover that this is not a collection of stories which take advantage of the opportunity that the sci-fi genre avails the writer, to portray positive new ways of looking at and dealing with certain aspects of society, such as homosexuality. Some of the tales do, in fact, present gayness in a com plim entary light, and some describe cultures in which sexual taboos have been overcome; others, however, include homosexuality only in a peripheral way, or even as a negative factor. In one story, the paternal love felt but never physically expressed by an aging space c o m ­ mander for a young cadet is the only detail which m ight be interpreted as a suggestion of homosexuality. In another, the male p ro ­ tagonist is trying to develop a hetero love relationship despite considerable odds, but is thwarted by a sinister force that possesses him and throws him into the arm s o f — shudder! — another man. In one story in particular, "Nuclear Fission," author Paul Novitski does m ake a conscious attempt to portray a society in w hich sexual double standards and stereotyping have been surmounted in a positive way. Novitski, a Seattle writer, uses the W illamette River Valley as the setting for his story, which de­ scribes a com m unal society in which repro­ duction and romance are recognized as not necessarily integrally connected, and same- sex love is com m onplace and uninhibited by social mores. Curiously, all of the stories authored by women conjain some form o f physical vio­ lence, either chivalric battling or gun play and mentions o f duels; the twist is that wom en are the executors o f the violent acts, rather than men, as is typical in mainstream fiction. One can’t help wondering whether this is a posi­ tive development, or in fact an unfortunate case of women identifying in a backlash way with less savory aspects of what is generally perceived to be masculine behavior. No discussion has been included thus far of writing style because, while all of the stories are more than adequate in this area, the ideas presented are more im portant than the liter­ ary style o f the authors, which is a basic truth for most science fiction. Also, one assumes that a m ulti-authored anthology of stories will have a higher literary standard, since the selections were chosen for their quality and relevance rather than because they were w rit­ ten by a particular author. K indred S pirits is 262 pages of entertaining and undem anding science fiction which have as a unifying factor some m ention of hom osexuality in each story. Most of the tales do not portray societies which have com e to term s with same-sex love, and so one of the m ost posi­ tive aspects of the genre of science fiction is not apparent in this collection; however, a number of the stories do contain heroic gay characters, which is a refreshing change from the standard treatment of gay cha r­ acters in mainstream fiction. Northern Italian Cuisine Mon.-Sat., 5:30-10:30 p.m. 2832 SE Belmont Portland, Oregon 238-1464 Call forVeservations. O pening November 23: S O P H — A V ISIT WITH TH E LA S T O F TH E RED H OT MAMAS, an original one-wom an musical tribute to the late great Miss Sophie Tucker. SOPH stars Wendy Westerwelle, directed by Ric Young with musical direction by Ron Snyder. Just Out, October 26 November 23 H