The Girl With No Hands And Other Tales
The Girl With No Hands And Other Tales
Written by: Angela Slatter
Published by: Ticonderoga Publications (September 1, 2010)
Page Count: 212
ISBN-10: 0980628881
ISBN-13: 978-0980628883
Where to buy:
Indie Books Online, Amazon, and other fine book retailersAbout the Book (from author’s website):
The Girl with No Hands & Other Tales is from Ticonderoga Publications in Australia. It has gorgeous cover by LL Hannett, an introduction by Jack Dann and contains reprints of stories such as The Little Match Girl, Bluebeard, Frozen, Dress, three and new stories including The Bone Mother, The Living Book and The Dead Ones Don’t Hurt You.Jack Dann says in his introduction: “Her writing, which seems transparent as glass, as if so easily and simply wrought, belies the complete control of craft and the complexity of the material floating and glinting and shifting just under the surface. Her concerns are the primordial fears of childhood…and adulthood: the dark, slimy, senescent fairy-tale monsters that threaten to chop off our fingers when we suck our thumbs, burn us to death if we play with matches, or turn us into pale, thin, little corpses if we won’t eat our soup…the same monsters—albeit transmogrified into suits and skirts—that stalk us even now and threaten to maim us yet again as we flee that dangerous, ill-remembered country called childhood.”
About the Author:
Angela Slatter is a Brisbane-based writer of speculative fiction (that’s in Australia, by the way). Over the years she’s done many things in order to avoid being a writer, including administering an MBA program and studying law – it’s hard to say which was worse. But now she’s given all that up and embraced the writerly and all it entails (poverty, depression, rejection, talking to herself, living on two-minute noodles and generally being an inveterate liar).For some reason, she has a Masters (Research) in Creative Writing, which produced Black-Winged Angels, a short story collection of reloaded fairytales. In order to further avoid reality, she is now studying (very slowly) for a PhD in Creative Writing. During her daylight hours, she works at a writers’ centre. She has been known to occasionally teach creative writing at Queensland University of Technology. At night, she stalks the darker recesses of her (and other people’s) minds, flensing knives in hand. Except, you know, when she’s not.
Hello Ghouls and Boils,
Tonight we are going to talk about another book from SNS Nightmare Award winner, Angela Slatter. Stay tuned the rest of the week for more news on Heroes Con, a new interview with author Joe Pulver, a new music column and more! As always – Enjoy, my fiends!
Abstrusely,
Sarah L. Covert
I was born in 1975. My foray into horror began at a very young age. I guess you could say I grew up on it. But the variety of horror I was initially exposed to was in no way subtle – slashers, ghost stories, and the like. Fairy tales in America had become — well… disney-fied.
It wasn’t until I was exposed to the likes of Poe and Lovecraft that I understood the things creeping around the corner were much scarier than someone standing in front of you with a chainsaw.
As I noted in my last review, Angela takes her dark fairy tales back to the days of the Brothers Grimm — when tales were told in order to scare children into behaving — and then she leads us further, teetering on the edge.
The Girl With No Hands is filled with clever retellings of old stories and some uniquely creepy new tales. I am going to discuss a couple of my favorite pieces in this collection briefly, not to fear – I won’t be talking about anything that will spoil these deliciously dark stories.
The first story that struck a chord with me is titled, “The Living Book“. This unique strange tale is about a girl named Sophia. Sophia was born – rather made – in Byzantium by her “Father” (a bookbinder) as a gift for Emperor Constantine. Words scroll upon her skin, telling tales that are ever changing. As she learns more and continues to evolve her knowledge becomes expansive, but will it be the end of her?
Another tale that gave me shivers was “Red Skein“. This sublime retelling of Red Riding Hood is deviously twisted. Follow the young lady as she travels to see her Grandmother. When she comes upon the wolf and the huntsman a fatal decision is made.
As with her other collection, strong women and magick are central themes in this book. As well as the idea that things aren’t always what they seem to be. I loved every story in this book. Just as with “Sourdough” her stories make you question the difference between good and bad — usually you end up somewhere in between.
Final Thoughts:
Angela is a brilliant and skillful storyteller. She is sure to make her mark on the literary world. Her stories will be read as long as there are readers. If you have never read anything by Ms. Slatter, now is the time! Run, don’t walk, (so to speak) to the Amazon page and press that add to cart button NOW! I recommend this book to those who like strange tales, dark fiction, and timeless stories. I give this book a 5 out of 5 with no hesitation — heck this is my site so Miss Angela will receive a 6 out 5 for this effort! Keep those stories coming, you have made a big fan of me!
