Night Shade: Gothic Tales by Women

Library Journal

This follow-up to the anthology Night Bites: Vampire Stories by Women (LJ 2/1/96) features 17 stories of the supernatural, all but one of which (Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman's "Luella Miller," 1903) are by contemporary authors. As the subtitle suggests, many of these stories have a feminist slant. One, Jean Stewart's "Feeding the Dark," has a strong anti-male, pro-lesbian theme, but this extremist view is not prevalent in most of the collection. Several selections, such as Diane DeKelb-Rittenhouse's "Femme Coverte" and Lisa D. Williamson's "Existential Housewife," show the difficulties faced by women as the result of society's restrictions and expectations. Others, like Joanne Dahme's "Creepers" and Victoria A. Brownworth's "Day of the Dead," are wonderfully scary stories. Toni Brown's "The Acolyte" gives a neat twist to the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. For the most part, this is an excellent anthology of well-written stories, many of which would appeal to readers of either sex.--Patricia Altner, Information Seekers, Bowie, MD Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The co-editors of Out for More Blood: Tales of Malice and Retaliation by Women (not reviewed) present 17 gothic tales by women following in the footsteps of Mary Shelley, Daphne du Maurier, and other mistresses of the macabre. Most of the selections have modern settings and center on such familiar subjects as shapeshifting, immortality, "otherness," keeping the soul intact, and the general human desire to experience the supernatural. Strong entries include Lisa D. Williamson's "The Existential Housewife," about a depressed, 40ish, weight-gaining mother who finds her hands morphing into the oddest things: hair gel, a blue-black swastika tattoo, martini olives on a toothpick, phlegm, a pincushion, etc. Susan Raffo's "Apéritif" chronicles a truly weird sexual encounter: a woman in a bar removes her blue eye and hands it to her pick-up, who strokes and rubs it while she orgasms and the lidless eye winks at him. The sole reprint is "Luella Miller," a women's magazine story written by Mary Wilkins-Freeman nearly 150 years ago that scrutinizes the role of gossip in a village where death and fear intertwine. In Redding's brilliant "Mud," the house of a man choked to death with the eponymous substance gives birth to a squishy golem made of same. None of the stories quite matches the glorious stylishness of Angela Carter, still our supreme modern gothicist, but they provide plenty of good reading.