Red Spikes
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Ten electrifying new stories from Margo Lanagan, internationally acclaimed author of Black Juice and White Time.'Lanagan is in a class of her own.' Weekend Australian'The genius (not too strong a word) of Margo Lanagan is her ability to reach into darkness and return with something both different and powerfully convincing. It's astonishing enough to be introduced so abruptly to a writer this good, but even more extraordinary is her seemingly effortless mastery of the short story form, and what she proceeds to do with it.' LOCUS, USA'Lanagan asks us to look at the world differently to see its fullness.' Sydney Morning Herald'With enormous skill, Lanagan disturbs as she entertains, stimulating our minds and playing havoc with our hearts. ' Good Reading
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lanahan, whose Black Juice won critical acclaim both in her native Australia and in the U.S., will further enhance her reputation with this fine second collection of 10 stories. Driven by beautiful, often quirky language and deep psychological insight, these works demonstrate a powerful sense of the marvelous. In "Baby Jane," a boy on holiday hears a magical servant shout, "My queen is in difficulties. Is there a midwife here?... Any kind of leech, any wise woman," and finds himself in charge of delivering a royal child; a different sort of child, an emotionally needy girl who fears she will "die of her distress" after being separated from her mother for a night, must show some gumption and outwit the terrifying, baby-eating ogre Wee Willie Winkie in "Winkie." Other memorable characters include the dead souls in Limbo, who in "Under Hell, Over Heaven" earn brownie points by transporting the recently deceased to their final reward or punishment; and the eponymous "Daughter of the Clay," an unhappy changeling who travels to fairyland and decides in the end that it's best for her "to stay silent, on my bottom among the Clay, and fill my mouth with fish." Gritty, dark and sometimes very nasty, these stories are, at their best, worthy of comparison to the fairy tales of Angela Carter. Ages 14-up.
