Women's Weird: Strange Stories by Women, 1890-1940 (2019)

Early Weird fiction embraces the supernatural, horror, science fiction, fantasy and the Gothic, and was explored with enthusiasm by many women writers in the United Kingdom and in the USA. Melissa Edmundson has brought together a compelling collection of the best Weird short stories by women from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, to thrill new readers and delight these authors’ fans. The thirteen authors include: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, author of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, with her story of a haunted New England house, ‘The Giant Wistaria’ (1891); Edith Nesbit, best known for her children’s fiction by E Nesbit, her horror story ‘The Shadow’ (1910) is about the dangers of telling a ghost story after the excitement of a ball; Edith Wharton, the chronicler of New World societal fracture and change by new money tells an alarming story of Breton dogs and a jealous husband, ‘Kerfol’ (1916); May Sinclair, the Edwardian feminist novelist tells the story of ‘Where Their Fire Is Not Quenched’ (1927), about a love that will never, ever die; Mary Butts, modernist poet and novelist, wrote ‘With and Without Buttons’ (1938), a story of some very haunted gloves; and D K Broster, best known for her historical novels, tells an unholy story of a mistress’s feathery revenge, ‘Crouching At The Door’ (1942). For fans of H.P. Lovecraft and Mary Shelley, female writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century embrace the supernatural, horror, science fiction, fantasy, and the Gothic in Women's Weird. Edited by literary historian Melissa Edmundson, Women's Weird features the best classic Weird short stories that showcase how these authors moved beyond the traditional ghost story and into areas of Weird fiction and dark fantasy. A haunted house, some very haunted gloves, a love that will never die—these are examples of the classic gothic settings reimagined by these turn of the century authors. Authors include Charlotte Perkins Gilman ( The Giant Wistaria ), Edith Nesbit ( The Shadow ), Edith Wharton ( Kerfol ), May Sinclair ( Where Their Fire Is Not Quenched ), Mary Butts ( With and Without Buttons ), and D K Broster ( Crouching At The Door ). Featuring stories that explore beyond the primarily domestic concerns of earlier supernatural fiction, Women's Weird is sure to thrill new readers and delight these authors' fans. Gothic scholar Melissa Edmundson has brought together a compelling collection of the best Weird short stories by women from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A ground-breaking collection of the best Weird short stories by women from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries