Weird Tales by Women Writers

[claytwisted]

OMG! I left out "Northwest Passage" by my dear friend Barbara Roden! That has to be in there!

[mrhappy]

I was always a big fan of Nancy Holder's early fiction so I would throw one of her stories in there. Possibly "I Can Hear the Mermaids Singing". Surprisingly, there still isn't a collection of her short fiction.

Mr. Happy

[dem]

Oct 2, 2014 16:22:49 GMT cauldronbrewer said:

Oct 1, 2014 8:20:12 GMT dem said:

It's probably the subject for a separate thread but Mr. Brewer willing, i'm thinking maybe we should try for a Weird Tales By Women Writers of the present day (Grand-daughters of the Women of Weird Tales?) as there's some seriously brilliant stuff being published in the here and now which, to my mind at least, belongs to the tradition. Maybe if we took a starting date of 1999?

I heartily approve of this idea.

Oct 2, 2014 19:44:30 GMT randy said:

Seconded. Or, I guess, thirded.


Randy M.

So I attempted a preliminary listing but it will need work otherwise we might just as well call it 'The Women of the Black Books of Horror'! Then I remembered ------- and ------- and, of course, ------- by ------- ! I reckon we should aim for another 'Mammoth'-size affair, thirty stories from the past fifteen years? Should have something ready to post early next week but am certainly not well read enough in field so, as ever, all suggestions gratefully and very desperately received, and should you fancy going first, the floor is yours.

Incidentally, Constable-Robinson were bought out by LittleBrown earlier this year so let's hope the new regime are as kind and supportive toward this board as the old!

Oct 4, 2014 1:44:38 GMT claytwisted said:

I don't know why I'm posting this here when I could probably pitch this anthology and actually sell it, but what the heck... Let me dial back to 1990 if I may...

Strays - Mehitobel Wilson

Stephen - Elizabeth Massie

Precious - Roberta Lannes

Calcutta, Lord of Nerves - Poppy Z. Brite

The Family Underwater - Lucy Taylor

Sticks - Christa Faust

Rats Live on No Evil Star - Caitlin Kiernan

"Whatever Happened To?" - D.G.K. Goldberg

Two Demons--Or Three? - Mary Elizabeth Counselman

A Bottle of Egyptian Night - Jessica Amanda Salmonson

Wasting - Lauren Fitzgerald

Dread in the Beast - Charlee Jacob

And of course I know that there has to be an unpublished story or two by Mary Dale Buckner (Donald Dale) that we could include, but I've yet to see her files... I should probably include something by K.K. Ormond as well... I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton of great material and I apologize to anyone I've inadvertently snubbed.

Oct 4, 2014 14:34:36 GMT cauldronbrewer said:

I would buy that book.

Seconded. You should definitely pitch that one, Mr. P!

Stay tuned for femme fear.

[randy]

I'd buy that anthology, too.

Here are a few stories I particularly like,
"Angels in Love" - Kathe Koja
"Bloodchild" - Ocatavia Butler
"Was She Wicked? Was She Good?" & "Evidence of Love in a Case of Abandonment: One Daughter's Personal Account - M. Rickert
"La Peau Verte" & "Valentia" - Caitlin Kiernan
"Bringing Helena Back" & "The Wall of Clouds" - Sarah Monette


Maybe I'm stretching a bit too far back with the Butler?


Randy M.

[dem]

Twenty to begin with. I admit to a certain amount of cheating in regard to inclusion of the 'Mary Ann Allen' and Evangeline Walton stories, but are you seriously telling me we can't bend the rules a little for an imaginary anthology?
---------------------------------------

Mary Ann Allen - Ne Resurgat (The Angry Dead, Richard Fawcett, 2000). A thoroughly unpleasant marshland haunting. First published in the Haunted Library booklet A Graven Image and Other Essex Ghost Stories (1985) but of relatively limited availability.

Lisa Morton - The Death Of Splatter (Dark Terrors 6, 2002).

Sarah Douglass - The Mistress Of Marwood Hogg (Gathering The Bones, 2003)

Carol Emshwiller - I Live With You and You Don’t Know It (Best New Horror #17, 2006)

Sarah Pinborough - The Bohemian Of Arbat (Summer Chills, 2007)

Rosalie Parker - In The Garden (Fifth Black Book Of Horror, 2009)

Yvonne Navarro - For The Good Of All (The Dead That Walk, 2010)

Tanith Lee - Letters From A Tower (Zombie Apocalypse, 2010)

Rebecca Levene - 23:46 Morden (via Bank) (The End Of The Line, 2010)

Anna Taborska - Bagpuss (Sixth Black Book Of Horror, 2010: For Those Who Dream Monsters, 2013). Fish, The Coffin, even the supernatural sex comedy, Dirty Dybbuk are probably more in the Weird Tales tradition, but I couldn't resist.

Angela Slatter - The Coffin Maker's Daughter (A Book Of Horrors, 2011)

Lisa Tuttle - The Man In The Ditch (A Book Of Horrors, 2011)

Thana Niveau - White Roses, Bloody Silk (Delicate Toxins, 2011: From Hell To Eternity). Difficult choice between this, Antlers, The Coal Man or just about anything Lady P. has written.

Evangeline Walton - They That Have Wings (MFSF, November-December 2011: Best New Horror 23, 2012). Written during WWII but rejected by Dorothy McIlwraith as "too gory" for Weird Tales.

Susan Hill - Dolly: A Ghost Story (Profile, 2012)

Gemma Files - Some Kind Of Light Shines From Your Face (Best New Horror 23, 2012)

Angela Blake - Stiff (Tenth Black Book Of Horror, 2013)

Marie O’Regan - Someone To Watch Over You (Terror Tales Of London, 2013)

Kate Farrell - The Sands Are Magic (Terror Tales Of The Seaside, 2013)

Priya Sharma – The Rising Tide (Terror Tales Of Wales, 2014).

[doug]

I found out that Ms. Tanith Lee is ill and could use some cheering up!
I was told.....
"Any cards or letters for Tanith can be sent to the Immanion Press address and we'll forward them. Our office address is 8 Rowley Grove, Stafford, ST17 9BJ. I think she'd prefer this to email messages as her computer isn't terribly reliable and she doesn't use it much.
Because she doesn't use social media or anything like that, she isn't as in touch with her fans as many writers are nowadays. I'm sure gentle good wishes would brighten her day."


So do the right thing and send her some well wishes!

Doug

[cauldronbrewer]

Mar 19, 2015 19:05:32 GMT doug said:

I found out that Ms. Tanith Lee is ill and could use some cheering up!

Thank you for sharing this news, Doug. I'm sorry to hear that she is ill. She's a one-of-a-kind writer, and I've greatly enjoyed her work. I particularly like her collections Red as Blood and Cyrion, along with too many short stories to name.

I recently read her Dark Castle, White Horse and thought it was excellent, especially the first story. Companions on the Road is sitting on my shelf, soon to be read.

I've also purchased several anthologies that feature some of her more recent work: "Empire of Glass" (The Immersion Book of Steampunk), "Felidis" (Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron), and "The Persecution Machine" (Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded). I look forward to reading them.

Best wishes to Ms. Lee. I don't think I've ever written a fan letter, but why not start now? Her writing has entertained me, transported me, challenged me, and inspired me.

[Dr Terror]

Mar 19, 2015 19:05:32 GMT doug said:

I found out that Ms. Tanith Lee is ill and could use some cheering up!

Do you know what is wrong, Doug?

[doug]

Sadly no. I didn't want to pry.

Doug

[dem]

Frances Garfield - "Not Both!": (Weird Tales, May 1939).

Harold DeLay

Miss Terrill,
I have given you a week. Three days of it are gone. I hate you.

Margaret Terrill, the office bit of glamour, has been enjoying a secret fling with her boss, Gene Hilton. At least, she thought it was secret. Until the hate mail arrived. Somebody despises Margaret so much that they are torturing her in wax effigy, the doll to be tossed on a fire at close of the week. The finger of suspicion points to Gene's wife, Aline, especially when Margaret's confidant and fellow secretary, Truda Fitzner, directs it that way ....

[bobby]

    The early EC horror story "Voodoo Vengeance!" (the cover/lead story in the third issue of The Vault of Horror) ends with a wax voodoo doll of a woman being thrown into a fireplace. I wonder if "Not Both!" was the "springboard" for this EC story?

[Swampirella]

Nov 3, 2012 5:54:29 GMT dem said:

Here's an earlier attempt at a (mostly) 'Rivals of the Women Of Weird Tales collection'. Not so sure i'd bracket the first three as "science fiction" exactly, but the rest likely are.

Vic Ghidalia and Roger Elwood (eds.) - The Venus Factor (Nel, 1976. Originally McFadden, 1972: Manor, 1973, 1977: )

Cynthia Asquith - "God Grante That She Lye Stille” (When Churchyards Yawn, 1931)
Gertrude Atherton - The Foghorn (Good Housekeeping, Nov 1933)
Agatha Christie - The Last Séance (Ghost Stories, (Nov. 1926)
Miriam Allen deFord - Against Authority (MFSF, Feb. 1966)
Zenna Henderson - J-Line to Nowhere (MFSF, Sept. 1969)
Anne McCaffrey - The Ship Who Disappeared (If, March 1969)
Judith Merril - The Lady Was a Tramp (Venture SF, Juky 1957)
C. L. Moore - The Dark Land (Weird Tales, January 1936)

Blurb

A medium evokes a vision so real it threatens her very existence …

A dying woman is snatched into another time dimension ….

A long dead spirit fights to inhabit a living body ….

These are but a few of the chilling and gripping ideas contained in The Venus Factor, an anthology of science fiction stories written about women by some of the top women SF writers.

About to read "God Grant That She Lye Still" (C. Asquith) online, since I can't bring myself to buy her rare and therefore expensive Mortal Coil". That's a book that seems to cry out for re-issue in some format. Here's the link in case anybody else wants to read it.....

talesofmytery.blogspot.ca/2013/10/cynthia-asquith-god-grant-that-she-lye.html

[dem]

Nov 26, 2016 21:01:34 GMT Swampirella said:

About to read "God Grant That She Lye Still" (C. Asquith) online, since I can't bring myself to buy her rare and therefore expensive Mortal Coil". That's a book that seems to cry out for re-issue in some format. Here's the link in case anybody else wants to read it.....

talesofmytery.blogspot.ca/2013/10/cynthia-asquith-god-grant-that-she-lye.html

Cynthia Asquith - What Dreams May Come (NEL Four Square 1965)

The Lovely Voice
The White Moth
The Follower
The Playfellow
The Corner Shop
The First Night
From What Beginnings?
In A Nutshell
God Grant That She Lye Stille

This might be a cheaper alternative. Far as I'm aware, the one difference between this and the Arkham House edition is that From What Beginnings? replaces The Nurse Never Told (for all I know, they may be the same story under different title?)

[Swampirella]

It's very kind of you to suggest it, but I researched that book too and the cheapest copy I found , incl. postage, is close to CAD$40. More than I care to pay for one book, with the rare exception "God Grant..." was very good, but not great....

[jamesdoig]

Nov 26, 2016 21:51:48 GMT Swampirella said:

"God Grant..." was very good, but not great....

As a kid my favourite book was this one, maybe because of the colourful cover.



It cracks open at this illustration by Gordon Laite for "God Grante That She Lye Stille". Not my favourite story in the book, but my favourite illustration in it.