| Summary |
Early Weird fiction embraces the supernatural, horror, science fiction, fantasy and the Gothic, and was explored with enthusiasm by many women writers in the United Kingdom and in the USA. Melissa Edmundson has brought together a compelling collection of the best Weird short stories by women from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, to thrill new readers and delight these authors' fans.The thirteen authors include: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, author of 'The Yellow Wallpaper', with her story of a haunted New England house, 'The Giant Wistaria' (1891). Edith Nesbit, best known for her children's fiction by E Nesbit, her horror story 'The Shadow' (1910) is about the dangers of telling a ghost story after the excitement of a ball. Edith Wharton, the chronicler of New World societal fracture and change by new money tells an alarming story of Breton dogs and a jealous husband, 'Kerfol' (1916). May Sinclair, the Edwardian feminist novelist tells the story of 'Where Their Fire Is Not Quenched' (1927), about a love that will never, ever die. Mary Butts, modernist poet and novelist, wrote 'With and Without Buttons' (1938), a story of some very haunted gloves. D K Broster, best known for her historical novels, tells an unholy story of a mistress's feathery revenge, 'Crouching At The Door' (1942). |
