Sunday 4 December 2022

Alrightreads: Slatter Platter

Angela Slatter, The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales

2006-10 (collected 2010) / Ebook / 209 pages / Australia

***

Covering the same timespan as Sourdough, this has the feel of a rough demo ahead of the more inspired and refined themed collection. She wastes no time raising and slaying the Angela Carter anxiety beast, so that comparison will never be made again.

Faves: 'Red Skein,' 'The Juniper Tree,' 'The Girl with No Hands'


Angela Slatter, Home and Hearth

2014 / Ebook / 31 pages / Australia

***

A jolting return to the modern world after immersion in the mythos, this put me in mind of a creepy Inside No. 9. Not exactly substantial enough for the solo release, but she was probably a long way from another miscellaneous collection.


Angela Slatter, Of Sorrow and Such

2015 / Ebook / 149 pages / Australia

****

The Sourdough movie wasn't a stretch after the long story cycle in the last collection, but I was more engaged.


Angela Slatter, Finnegan's Field

2016 / Ebook / 36 pages / Australia

****

The clash of suburban realism and monstrous fantasy is conventionally a bit awkward, but this has the makings of a modern folk horror classic.


Angela Slatter, Red New Day & Other Microfictions

2008-09 (collected 2020) / Ebook / 48 pages / Australia

**

An inadequate smattering of insubstantial stories, mainly playing with mythological figures. They were originally written for a daily web project rather than intended for publication, but might as well.

Faves: 'Binoorie,' 'Foundation,' 'The Impatient Dead'