For some, fantasy is a descent into the unconscious, an expression of repressed fears or desires; for others it is an exploration of weird and wonderful landscapes inhabited by playful and provocative beings drawn into a deceptive web of morality and myth. This anthology, companion to "The Penguin Book of Classic Fantasy by Women", aims to show that fantasy has been an important vehicle for women to express the diversity of their writings. It contains 38 stories written from 1941 to the present, featuring authors such as Daphne du Maurier, Muriel Spark, Margaret Attwood, P.D. James, Fay Weldon, Ursula le Guin and Angela Carter.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Fantasy, as novelist Russ contends in her introduction to this impressive collection, gives women "the method to handle the specifically female elements of their experience in a way that our literary tradition of realism was not designed to do." Editors Williams and Jones take a very broad view of what constitutes fantasy: the collection, comprised of 38 stories written between 1941 and 1994, opens conventionally enough, with Elizabeth Bowen's classic horror story "The Demon Lover" but also includes more masculine-seeming SF by the pseudonymous James Tiptree Jr. (Alice Sheldon), whose disturbing "The Milk of Paradise" reminds us that love, especially of the alien other, can be the strongest force of all. There are several specifically feminist entries, such as Lisa Tuttle's moving "Wives," about creatures on a strange planet who are forced to bind and emotionally starve themselves to conform to a male ideal of femininity, and the cheerfully amoral, appallingly satisfying "Boobs," by Suzy McKee Charnas. There is room here for the darkly fantastic (Tanith Lee's "Red As Blood"); for the delicately sentimental (Zenna Henderson's "The Anything Box"); and even for one of the most deliciously droll of flying saucer stories (Muriel Spark's "Miss Pinkerton's Apocalypse"). If, as Russ says, "fantasy is reality," then this is the reality of some higher, more eloquently truthful, plane.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
A new Penguin anthology offers 38 works of short fantasy fiction written since 1941 by as many hands. The contributors include such stellar science fiction names as Ursula K. LeGuin, Leigh Brackett, Kate Wilhelm, Shirley Jackson, James Tiptree, and Joanna Russ (who also wrote the foreword to the collection), all of them represented by superior pieces; some comparatively new or less well known authors (e.g., Lynda Raian, Lucy Sussex); and several writers not readily associated with the fantasy genre (e.g., Janet Frame, P. D. James, Muriel Spark). Although the volume does not really support the notion of a distinctively feminine vision in the brand of literary fantasy it showcases (action-adventure fantasy would be another kettle of broadswords entirely), it adds greatly to any collection's resources of highly readable fantasy stories. Roland Green
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An impressively scoped, consistently good read.,
This review is from: The Penguin Book of Modern Fantasy by Women (Paperback)
The readership of fantasy has been said to be predominantly feminine (as opposed to the predominantly masculine readership of science fiction), so it is perhaps not much of a surprise that one of the best collections of fantasy writing would be one dedicated solely to the work of women authors. If one were looking for non-patriachal, original, stimulating fantasy generally uncluttered by the cliches of the genre one could do worse than one of the most important collections to come out of the field in the last few decades. The range of the book, which also traverses science-fictionesque territory, is impressive, from straightforward space opera (The Ship Who Sang, by Anne McCaffrey; the short story that birthed the famous novel of the same name), to revisionist visions of classic fairy tales (Red as Blood; a revisionist Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story with a distinctly Stokerian--re: Vampiric--twist). Classy packaging and a beautiful cover illustation (Baby Giant) complete a pleasant reading experience. The Penguin Book of Modern Fantasy by Women is a welcome mainstay on the bookshelf of essential science-fiction and fantasy writing.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not Free SF Reader,
By Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" (Legion clubhouse) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Penguin Book of Modern Fantasy by Women (Paperback)
Like other books of its type by general publishers like Oxford and Penguin, this book is a bit of a chronological overview.
The first story is from the arly 1940s, and Lucy Sussex's Kay and Phil ends the book in the 1990s, which is when it came out. As far as I can see, it is not an attempt to pick the best stories, just a good collection from different times, as the average rating here is only 3.16. It does include some excellent examples though. They define fantasy pretty broadly it seems, given that Oxford did Fantasy and Science Fiction collections, as there is a whole lot of science fiction in here, and horror stories, too. Modern Fantasy by Women : The Demon Lover - Elizabeth Bowen Modern Fantasy by Women : The Tooth - Shirley Jackson Modern Fantasy by Women : The Lake of the Gone Forever - Leigh Brackett Modern Fantasy by Women : The Old Man - Daphne du Maurier Modern Fantasy by Women : My Flannel Knickers - Leonora Carrington Modern Fantasy by Women : The Anything Box - Zenna Henderson Modern Fantasy by Women : Miss Pinkerton's Apocalypse - Muriel Spark Modern Fantasy by Women : A Bright Green Field - Anna Kavan Modern Fantasy by Women : The Ship Who Sang [SS]] - Anne McCaffrey Modern Fantasy by Women : Marmalade Wine - Joan Aiken Modern Fantasy by Women : The Fall of Frenchy Steiner - Hilary Bailey Modern Fantasy by Women : Cynosure - Kit Reed Modern Fantasy by Women : The Wall - Josephine Saxton Modern Fantasy by Women : The Foot - Christine Brooke-Rose Modern Fantasy by Women : Baby You Were Great - Kate Wilhelm Modern Fantasy by Women : The Second Inquisition [Alyx] - Joanna Russ Modern Fantasy by Women : Murder 1986 - P. D. James Modern Fantasy by Women : The Milk of Paradise - James TiptreeJr. Modern Fantasy by Women : When it Happens - Margaret Atwood Modern Fantasy by Women : Angel All Innocence - Fay Weldon Modern Fantasy by Women : Night-Side - Joyce Carol Oates Modern Fantasy by Women : Fireflood - Vonda N. McIntyre Modern Fantasy by Women : Wives - Lisa Tuttle Modern Fantasy by Women : Red as Blood - Tanith Lee Modern Fantasy by Women : Sur - Ursula Le Guin Modern Fantasy by Women : Peter and the Wolf - Angela Carter Modern Fantasy by Women : The Pits Beneath the World - Mary Gentle Modern Fantasy by Women : Two Sheep - Janet Frame Modern Fantasy by Women : Relics - Zoë Fairbairns Modern Fantasy by Women : The Evening and the Morning and the Night - Octavia E. Butler Modern Fantasy by Women : [Learning About] Machine Sex - Candas Jane Dorsey Modern Fantasy by Women : Prodigal Pudding - Suniti Namjoshi Modern Fantasy by Women : Breasoobs - Suzy McKee Charnas Modern Fantasy by Women : If the Word was to the Wise - Carol Emshwiller Modern Fantasy by Women : Trial by Teaspoon - Lynda Rajan Modern Fantasy by Women : In the Green Shade of a Bee-Loud Glade - L. A. Hall Modern Fantasy by Women : Death in the Egg - Ann Oakley Modern Fantasy by Women : Kay and Phil - Lucy Sussex Taxi horror. 3 out of 5 Dental decay. 2.5 out of 5 Transuranic memories. 3.5 out of 5 Swanflict. 3.5 out of 5 Prison island procurement. 3 out of 5 Handy to have invisible tv stuff for boring school. 3 out of 5 Flying saucers, right brand. 3.5 out of 5 Paddock power mowers. 4 out of 5 Rogue rejection replacement return. 3.5 out of 5 Future stuff means houseguest ok. 3.5 out of 5 Oracle deflowering devastating for prolonged ratzi power. 4.5 out of 5 A bit of mess and dirt can do you good. 3 out of 5 Driven home love. 3 out of 5 Ghost pain fight. 4 out of 5 Reality show acting job way too long. 4 out of 5 Trans-Temporal Time Authority temptation. 3.5 out of 5 Disease daughter letdown other's putdown showdown. 3.5 out of 5 Big grotty Crotties. 3 out of 5 Pickling is old fashioned. Shoot to kill, point blank. 2.5 out of 5 Ghost state. 2.5 out of 5 Going under medium. 3 out of 5 Hybrid distaste. 3.5 out of 5 Domestic role, mammaries aplenty, no arguments woman. 3.5 out of 5 Witch Queen reflection. 3 out of 5 Antarctic women trip, even a really small one. 3.5 out of 5 Crying it, literally. 3 out of 5 Grow up or be eaten. 3.5 out of 5 Smart sheep look dumb. 3.5 out of 5 Female research. 3.5 out of 5 Concentration of disease. 4 out of 5 Chipboard, brainboard, shagboard. 4.5 out of 5 Like less cat is a bad thing. 1.5 out of 5 A well-built werewolf still has to eat Billy. 4.5 out of 5 Library pre-eminence rulebreaking. 3 out of 5 Ghost spoon surprise. 3.5 out of 5 Garden exile, temporary? 3 out of 5 Teenage girl just inhuman to deal with. 3.5 out of 5 Author's spectral ratzi confab. 2.5 out of 5
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