02 October, 2007

Another star for Red Spikes

In Publishers' Weekly:
Lanagan, whose Black Juice won critical acclaim both in her native Australia and in the U.S., will further enhance her reputation with this fine second collection of 10 stories. Driven by beautiful, often quirky language and deep psychological insight, these works demonstrate a powerful sense of the marvelous. In “Baby Jane,” a boy on holiday hears a magical servant shout, “My queen is in difficulties. Is there a midwife here?... Any kind of leech, any wise woman,” and finds himself in charge of delivering a royal child; a different sort of child, an emotionally needy girl who fears she will “die of her distress” after being separated from her mother for a night, must show some gumption and outwit the terrifying, baby-eating ogre Wee Willie Winkie in “Winkie.” Other memorable characters include the dead souls in Limbo, who in “Under Hell, Over Heaven” earn brownie points by transporting the recently deceased to their final reward or punishment; and the eponymous “Daughter of the Clay,” an unhappy changeling who travels to fairyland and decides in the end that it's best for her “to stay silent, on my bottom among the Clay, and fill my mouth with fish.” Gritty, dark and sometimes very nasty, these stories are, at their best, worthy of comparison to the fairy tales of Angela Carter.
Ha! They think that's nasty...

In other news, revisions are going well but not fast enough—that is, they should be finished, and they're not. All attendant stress disorders present and correct. Also, bushfire season has started in fine style. Our baby Harry is disporting himself in the cobbled streets of Luang Prabang (Laos). Today I start three weeks' work at a bank in the city. Good day to you.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Margo,
I emailed you in response to your questions about KGB but they all bounced. Did you receive any of them (I think I mailed three messages).
Ellen

03 October, 2007 08:04  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Margo,
wot are you doing at a bank i the city. BAD GIRL!
MDP

03 October, 2007 09:48  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Margo, did you get my most recent response to yours? If not, do you have a different email address? (If so, please give it to me when you email me again)
Ellen

05 October, 2007 01:16  
Blogger E said...

People who work in banks have a reputation for being boring. Now I'll never be able to look at them in the same way. I tried to order Red Spikes from Collins, and it's taking a long time to arrive, because apparently they've run out of copies. See, you have THAT kind of popularity. You have Collins booksellers fame. "Margo Lanagan, of Collins Booksellers fame." How does that sound? Probably pretty stupid, but that's ok. I'm sure independents stock your books too. I really liked "Touching Earth Lightly."

07 October, 2007 01:05  

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