Reviews for The Penguin Book of Modern Fantasy by Women

The average rating for The Penguin Book of Modern Fantasy by Women based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-04-24 00:00:00 Ellen Redmon Outstanding collection. Not only were almost all the stories good, there were only a couple I had read before. Here are some of the ones I liked most: Anna Kavan, "A Bright Green Field" (Kavan has been on my to-read list for years but I've never gotten around to her. I will change that.) Hilary Bailey, "The Fall of Frenchy Steiner" (Oddly, everything else Bailey wrote appears to be rip-off crap sequels to famous novels. You know, like after Darcy and Elizabeth or Jane and Rochester are married and that sort of thing.) Joanna Russ, "The Second Inquisition" (I've only read a few things by Russ but they've all been awesome; I need to read more of her soon.) Joyce Carol Oates, "Night-Side" (A story about Victorian spiritualism. Was there really a argument made then that it was not actual spirits but telepathic suppressed alternate personalities?) Tanith Lee, "Red as Blood" (This 1979 story does something very similar to Gaiman's recent Snow, Glass, Apples -- and is better plotted.) Mary Gentle, "The Pits Beneath the World" (Like a few other stories included, this is actually straight sci-fi, not fantasy. Miscommunications with aliens.) Suzy McKee Charnas, "Boobs" (Bullied pubescent girl revenge wish-fulfillment. I was once a middle-schooler and I approve this cannibalism message.) Available free here: Lisa Tuttle, "Wives" (Spoiler: they're not actually wives)

Review # 2 was written on 2021-08-27 00:00:00 Nathan Kroll Good range and quality of stories, ranging from straightforward fantasy and science fiction to variations on the fairy tale, magical realism, horror, ghost stories, and general weirdnesses of all sorts; not every story was to my taste (inevitable in an anthology like this), but every story deserved its place in this collection. Standouts for me were Elizabeth Bowen's "The Demon Lover," a story I have long loved and repeatedly taught; Shirley Jackson's "The Tooth," about the delirium and strange out-of-bodyness of physical pain; Muriel Spark's quite hilarious "Miss Pinkerton's Apocolypse" (alien visitations among the teacups!); Christine Brooke-Rose's very creepy "The Foot"; Margaret Atwood's also very creepy "When It Happens"; Fay Weldon's "Angel, All Innocence," which combines a drama about marriage with a ghost story to unnerving effect; Tanith Lee's "Red as Blood," an occasionally overwritten but ultimately effective rewriting of the Snow White story; Suzy McKee Charnas's completely hilarious "Boobs," which uses horror tropes to explore the difficulty of growing into a female body; and Lynda Rajan's "Trial by Teaspoon," which combines social satire with a ghost story.