Shelfies #16: Angela Slatter

FADE IN -

1. INT. SUBURBAN BRISBANE - NIGHT – SUMMER

Bookshelves as far as the eye can see, almost a complete absence of organising principle except maybe “My friend wrote this” or “I like this cover” or “Oh, there’s some space!”

ANGELA

Only five? What kinda Sophie’s Choice crap is this? 

I’ve spent the better part of this year reading and judging for the World Fantasy Awards, which is – and I say this with love – more of a forced march than a walk in the park. It might have had something to do with me selecting the two largest categories for my “first reader” duties; that’s short stories and novels. So, I read a lot. Like, a LOT. A bit like getting punched in the head by something you love – like having a two-year-old or so I’m told – but also a privilege and a treat: All the books! All the words! All the time! 

There were, therefore, a lot of books in my head, dancing sugar-plum fairy styles. So, trying to pick ones to talk about from the shelves was actually a nightmare – why did I offer to do this? Who can say? Insanity, drunkenness, sheer contrariness – a little from Column Everything probably. In the end I went with four recent reads and one old favourite (the Carter). At the end of each one, I felt like I’d learned something, that my brain had shifted in some way, and that’s generally what I look for in my reading: a shift, however slight, in my point of view and my thought processes. And here, for better or worse, they are.

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2. INT. WRITER’S OFFICE – DESK - SUMMER

Writer at desk, back to camera, discontented grumbling.

ANGELA

FIVE?

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold. Starting with one of my favourite non-fiction books. I’ve read about the Ripper since I was a kid, and there have been millions of varied words written about a murderer whose identity remains hidden; and generally the same few words written about his victims. Five women about whom the most salient points are apparently that they were prostitutes and drunks and dead. Rubenhold actually makes the effort to investigate the canonical five and give them something more than their names: their stories. She gives them the chance to live again, and we see something more than poor sad corpses littering London’s streets. She brings the sort of feeling I wanted to give my characters in the novella Ripper.

Wise Women: Myths and stories for midlife and beyond by Sharon Blackie. Psychologist and storyteller Dr Sharon Blackie has sought out little-known stories about older women in myths and folktales and reworked them. She offers a multitude of alternative tales to all those that relegate older women to the role of wicked witch or evil stepmother. Tales to give us value and hope and strength. In these stories we win against the monsters (be they human or otherworldly) and teach younger women that there’re more than just the three stages to life. That our existence isn’t confined to maiden, mother and crone; that there’s another season before cronehood, when we don’t exist for anyone else, when our blood is our own, when we’re sick of serving others, and rage fuels us. Highly recommended whether you’re a woman of a certain age, or simply wanting to read excellent stories.  

Starling House by Alix Harrow. A glorious example of American Gothic with Harrow’s trademark adorably scratchy main characters, a fantastic sense of place and a thorough-going general vibe of eeriness. Something is very much Not Right in the town of Eden. There are secrets being kept, memories that can’t be trusted, and Starling House itself which waits and calls. And why yes, I have two copies of Starling House because I can (paperback as a loaner, hardcover for the keeping pristine). Harrow reminds us that all is not as it seems, and sometimes what looks foul might be fair, that what looks fair might be very foul indeed. Opal is a wonderful main character, Arthur a perfect foil and Starling House the home you never knew you needed.

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias. Not only is this book the possessor of one of the best titles of any novel, ever, it’s also a stark excavation of very real evil erupting into the everyday. Iglesias tracks how a stumble becomes a trip becomes a stagger becomes a head-long fall into darkness. How easily our principles and boundaries can be stripped away by the impact of grief and desperation, because one step into the underworld is never just one. Beautiful and horrific and achingly sad.

Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories by Angela Carter. This is one of my favourite collections because it gathers together the breadth of Carter’s brilliance. She wrote a lot of short stories, different subjects and lengths and moods, but there’s always the elegant Carteresque tone to them, whether the fairytales peopled by bold girls in The Bloody Chamber, or the experimental notes of Black Venus or American Ghosts, all echo with that mythic peal. A great read and also a fantastic thing to analyse how and why a short story works.

Angela “A.G.” Slatter is the author of six novels, including All the Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns and The Briar Book of the Dead, as well as twelve short story collections, and three novellas. She's won a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, a Shirley Jackson Award, an Ignotus Award, three Australian Shadows Awards, and eight Aurealis Awards. She has an MA and a PhD in creative writing, and is trying not to teach as she’s very, very tired. In 2023 she collaborated with Mike Mignola on a new series from Dark Horse Comics, Castle Full of Blackbirds, set in the Hellboy Universe. Her seventh novel, The Crimson Road, will be published in 2025 by Titan Books.

Shelfies is edited by Lavie Tidhar and Jared Shurin. If you are interested in sharing a shelfie, please let us know.