A FEMINIST HORROR AUTHOR YOU NEED TO READ.

I came across the author Angela Carter in an article written by Brian Greevy (click the link to read his article.)

I ordered the book The Bloody Chamber, a small paperback, through interlibrary loan at the local library. 

Angela Carter died in 1992.   She was a prolific British author and recipient of numerous awards.  Her stories are a cross between The Brothers Grim and The Twilight Zone.   Her spin offs of fairy tales are spiced with sexuality, bestiality and sadomasochism. 

They are not only a provocative read, but well written.

The first paragraph from The Courtship of Mr Lyon:

Outside her kitchen window, the hedgerow glistened as if the snow possessed a light of its own; when the sky darkened toward evening, an unearthly, reflected pallor remained behind upon the landscaper while still the soft flakes floated down.   This lovely girl, whose skin possesses the same, inner light so you would have thought she, too, was made all of snow, pauses in her chores in the mean kitchen to look out at the country road.   Nothing has passed that way all day; the road is white and unmarked as a spilled bolt of bridal satin.  

Father said he would be home before nightfall…

 And then The Tiger’s Bride begins:

My father lost me to The Beast at cards.

It is a matter of taste; but I like her style of writing, and her short stories end with more mystery than they answer: a jumping off point for imagination.  

The Bloody Chamber has ten short stories (a quick read before bedtime – but may keep you awake.)

I recommend this carrion for a midnight mind feast:

the Ol’BUzzard