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Post by dem bones on Sept 11, 2013 8:07:29 GMT
Susan Price - Head And Tales (Faber & Faber, 1995) Chris Coady Blurb:
Linnet is a storyteller, and when he is struck by a fever from which he knows he must die, he has a macabre last request - that his head be cut off, wrapped in a cloth and given to his children to carry with them to their grandmother's home far away. Along the way,
Bravely, the children start the long walk, carrying the grisly bundle. But they have no money and the folks they meet on their way are not always inclined to be helpful - until the Head opens its eyes and begins to tell its stories.Fifty pages in and still uncertain whether Head And Tales really belongs in this section as it is something of an anomaly. The severed head specialises in bleak fairy tales and morbid fables, several of which feature talking animals. If that sounds suspiciously 'for very little kids', rest assured Head & Tales most certainly isn't. The cast includes starving, 'ragged arsed navvies', a ghost kid with stigmata suggesting crucifixion, and a were-bear who nightly reverts to a handsome prince, while the decapitated Linnet grows increasingly garrulous when his children, First Born and her brother Young Un, look set to collapse through exposure, starvation and exhaustion. A run-in with thieves is especially effective. Quite a departure from other titles mentioned here, you'd certainly not mistake it for an early Armada Ghost story. Here's the author's site. Susan Price
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Sept 11, 2013 23:13:25 GMT
This looks interesting. I love the cover, and your commentary makes it sound like something I would like. I'll be curious to hear any updates. To date, the only time I've come across Price is in reading Horror Stories, an anthology that she edited.
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