Weird Women: Volume 2: 1840-1925: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers

by Lisa Morton, Leslie S. Klinger (Editor)

Overview

Following the success of Weird Women: Volume 1, acclaimed anthologists Lisa Morton and Leslie S. Klinger return with another offering of overlooked masterworks from early female horror writers, including George Eliot, Zora Neale Hurston, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Edith Wharton.

Following the success of their acclaimed Weird Women, star anthologists Lisa Morton and Leslie S. Klinger return with another offering of overlooked masterworks from early female horror writers.

This volume once again gathers some of the most famous voices of literature—George Eliot, Zora Neale Hurston, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Edith Wharton—along with chilling tales by writers who were among the bestselling and most critically-praised authors of the early supernatural story, including Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Vernon Lee, Florence Marryat, and Margaret Oliphant.

There are, of course, ghost stories here, but also tales of vampirism, mesmerism, witches, haunted India, demonic entities, and journeys into the afterlife. Introduced and annotated for modern readers, Morton and Klinger have curated more stories sure to provide another "feast of entertaining (and scary) reads" (Library Journal).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643137834
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	09/07/2021
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, anthologist, and the author of Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances and Ghosts: A Haunted History. She is a six-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, a recipient of the Black Quill Award, and winner of the Grand Prize from the Halloween Book Festival. A lifelong Californian, she lives in North Hills, California, and can be found online at www.lisamorton.com.

Leslie S. Klinger is the editor of the highly-acclaimed The New Annotated Dracula; The New Annotated Frankenstein; and the two-volume The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft, as well as the anthologies In the Shadow of Dracula and In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe. Together with Lisa Morton, he’s also edited the anthologies Ghost Stories and Weird Women, both with extensive selections of Victorian horror. He lives in Malibu.

Table of Contents

Introduction Lisa Morton Leslie S. Klinger ix

The Drowned Fisherman (1840) Mrs. S. C. Hall 1

The Lifted Veil (1859) George Eliot 11

The Ghost in the Mill (1870) Harriet Beecher Stowe 55

The Man with the Nose (1872) Rhoda Broughton 67

Little White Souls (1883) Florence Marryat 87

Let Loose (1890) Mary Cholmondeley 113

The Fulness of Life (1893) Edith Wharton 131

The Library Window (1896) Mrs. Oliphant 145

Good Lady Ducayne (1896) Mary Elizabeth Braddon 187

Marsyas in Flanders (1900) Vernon Lee 217

The Dead and the Countess (1902) Gertrude Atherton 233

The Children (1909) Josephine Daskam Bacon 247

The Tryst (1911) Alice Brown 269

Broken Glass (1911) Georgia Wood Pangborn 285

Where Their Fire Is Not Quenched (1922) May Sinclair 293

Spunk (1925) Zora Neale Hurston 315

Acknowledgments 323

Editorial Reviews

08/09/2021

Editors Morton and Klinger deliver another strong installment to their Weird Women anthology series featuring “classic supernatural fiction by groundbreaking female authors,” this time showcasing 16 works written between 1840 and 1925. The stories are as creepy as they are varied, with pieces from classic horror authors like Georgia Wood Pangborn (“Broken Glass”), as well as those not generally associated with the genre, including George Eliot (“The Lifted Veil”) and Harriet Beecher Stowe (“The Ghost in the Mill”). Edith Wharton’s heroine has a richer life after death than any she led when she was alive in “The Fullness of Life.” A cabal of churchyard dead are resurrected in Gertrude Atherton’s captivating “The Dead and the Countess.” In Zora Neale Hurston’s classic revenge tale, “Spunk,” a woman and her lover are stalked by an otherworldly presence. The editors ground each of the works with brief author biographies and explanatory footnotes. Weird fiction fans won’t want to miss this excellent survey of the genre’s female pioneers. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Morton and Klinger have gathered yet more eerie stories, including short tales by such big names as Edith Wharton (The Fullness of Life), George Eliot (The Lifted Veil), and Zora Neale Hurston (Spunk). The stories feature lonely wives seeking companionship or fulfillment, mothers struggling to protect their children, and women whose instincts warn them of horrors or grief to come. Fans of the previous collection honoring women’s contributions to early horror will enjoy this additional anthology."

Booklist

Advance Praise for Weird Women (Vol 2):

From the Publisher

"Lisa Morton and Leslie S. Klinger offer another thought-provoking collection of 16 short horror and science fiction stories by both iconic and overlooked women writers. Covering not only 75-plus years but a broad expanse of regional writers, Weird Women: Volume 2 offers a tasting flight of sorts for English-language horror and science fiction enthusiasts. A testament to the value of those short pieces that don't conform to the literary norm, Weird Women: Volume 2 is an eclectic collection of haunting stories."

Shelf Awareness

"Morton and Klinger refute the popular misconception that the early horror genre had few female writers—in reality, as they show, women writers were forerunners of the genre, often supporting their families through their work and gaining fame. The two editors bring these authors back into the spotlight here. These tales were written by women with streaks of independence and their rebellion shines through the subtext. Feminist and horror-genre readers will jump on this compelling and spooky collection."

Booklist (starred)

"It is an absolute must-own for those interested in the women who helped shape the horror genre. Weird Women ultimately works because of the stories and authors Klinger and Morton chose. The focusing is on tales that are not only well-written but are also genuinely creepy."

iHorror.com

"Horrors and mysteries abound here, with well-known writers like Charlotte Perkins Gilman. If the difficulties of enforced domestic life take their toll, it might be worth reading the supernatural dread and unexplained occurrences women imagined from an earlier time of homebound life."

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine

Presents a brilliant and wide-ranging selection of stories. All of them challenge literary scholars and popular readers alike in new and exciting ways to see connections across the genre of the supernatural story."

Supernatural Studies