The Gorgon and Other Beastly Tales

Tanith Lee has been one of my favorite writers since my teens. She's equally adept at high fantasy or science fiction, has a prodigious imagination, and a lush, sensuous style. Here she proves she can impress as easily at short as in novel-length, and the 11 stories here show off a wide range. The title story "The Gorgon" won the World Fantasy Award for best short story, and most of the other stories are just as impressive. About half of the stories could be called Urban Fantasy, a couple science fiction, and all have an element of horror, even the humorous tales--and some of the most horrific maintain an element of humor. Here, for instance, are a few lines from "Anna Medea"--a couple talking about their children (who are a handful).

"I show more told you, I can't explain. Perhaps it's instinct. She might--harm the children."

"Do you really think so?" Claude Irving asked with some eagerness.

The tales deal with such fantastic beasts as gorgons, succubi, unicorns, dragons, weres, kelpies, selkies. Several of the stories are absolutely creepy, among them "Magritte's Secret Agent" and "Sirriamnis." Besides those already mentioned, I especially liked the humorous "Draco, Draco," (which like several of the tales had a clever twist and subversion of genre) and the last story, "La Reine Blanche," which had a fairy tale feel (and obviously inspired the cover.) I'd also note I last read these stories decades ago when I first bought the book, and yet I remembered most of these stories, or at least elements of them, if not right from the title, yet paragraphs in--that's not usual with short stories but these are standouts. show less

A wonderful collection of twisted fairy tales. Lee's mastery of language is in plain evidence as she builds multiple worlds. She lets us glimpse bits of magic beside the every day, or plunges us into dark forests with strange beasts lurking within.