The Bloody Chamber [suggested by Steve Tabner]
A collection of darkly sensual reinterpretations of familiar fairy tales, many with a twist. The most famous short story in this collection is probably A Company of Wolves, which was adapted from Angela Carter’s own radio script and was later made into a cult movie (a movie which incidentally remains on my list of favourites). The themes of sexuality and loss of innocence are explored throughout the collection. The stories are collected together because of their umbrella theme, but were not necessarily written at the same time; this is notable because there are actually two versions of Beauty and the Beast in the book, the first of which (“The Courtship of Mister Lyon”) is greatly over-shadowed by the superiority of the other (“The Tiger’s Bride”).
Overall a rewarding collection of magical tales that invokes all those dark archetypes that dwell in your subconcious to leave you feeling uneasy and yet enchanted.[M J Wright writing on Amazon]
Wikipedia page.
About the Author
Wikipedia page.
Writing website (includes extensive biographical notes).
Shortlisted for this month
Book selectors can bring one, two or three books for selection, although it’s usual to bring three. This month Steve’s other selections were:
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen
Tadeusz Borowski’s concentration camp stories were based on his own experiences surviving Auschwitz and Dachau. In spare, brutal prose he describes a world where where the will to survive overrides compassion and prisoners eat, work and sleep a few yards from where others are murdered; where the difference between human beings is reduced to a second bowl of soup, an extra blanket or the luxury of a pair of shoes with thick soles; and where the line between normality and abnormality vanishes. Published in Poland after the Second World War, these stories constitute a masterwork of world literature. [product description on Amazon]
The novel has a Wikipedia page.
About the Author
Wikipedia page.
Biography notes.
Ficciones (Fictions)
FICTIONS is perhaps the single most mysterious and extraordinary collection of short stories written this century. Influenced by writers as disparate as Lewis Carroll, Stevenson and Cervantes, Borges is nethertheless a complete original who can turn dry logical puzzles in to enchanting fables. The Pieces in this volume represent his most accomplished work.
Wikipedia page.
About the Author
Wikipedia page.
Writing website containing a massive online resource dedicated to Borges and his works.