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Accursed Wives
28 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1993
About the author
Bruce Boston
356 books118 followersI've published more than sixty books and chapbooks, including the novels Stained Glass Rain and the best-of fiction collection Masque of Dreams. My work ranges from broad humor to literary surrealism, with many stops along the way for science fiction, fantasy, and horror. My novel The Guardener's Tale (Sam's Dot, 2007) was a Bram Stoker Award Finailist and a Prometheus Award Nominee. My stories and poems have appeared in hundreds of publications, including Asimov's SF Magazine, Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, Strange Horizons, Realms of Fantasy, Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, and The Nebula Awards Showcase, and received a number of awards, most notably, a Pushcart Prize, the Bram Stoker Award, the Asimov's Readers' Award, the Rhysling Award, and the Grand Master Award of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. For more information, please visit my website at http://www.bruceboston.com/
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 28, 2026
The first compilation of Boston's works concerning relationships between ladies and legendary males, and the problems these relationships pose.
On the surface it's such a simple concept, imagining what it would be like to be someone else's spouse, even if that someone is a creature of myth or legend. Yet, here as with relations in general, there is much that can complicate matters. This series is as characterised by a sense of seriousness as it is by whimsy, as is reflected in the poet's own thoughts on them:
Although some of the entries along the way were merely for the sake of humor, the “Accursed Wives” poems can be characterized as an attempt to use archetypal figures from science fiction, fantasy, and horror to portray the realities of contemporary relations and some of the ways women continue to be abused and exploited despite our “enlightened” present. (Boston, B. (2001) Quanta, p. 34)
With regard to the latter, some of the proceeds from the sale of this chapbook went to the Montgomery County Women's Crisis Council, and, fantastical as they may be, the poems herein always let their concern be felt when there is one.
Of the collection's twelve poems, and this also rings true for the extended collection, which was fittingly named The Complete Accursed Wives (2000), the most gruesome and heartbreaking one is 'The Curse of the Werewolf's Wife'. It begs two questions for which there is no easy answer – how can a person so full of violence be so full of regret? And how can one escape what holds you back with its pitifulness?
On the other end of the scale there is 'The Curse of the Angel's Wife', and while there is no danger and no more ill will than what is inherent in Heaven (though it seems hardly to be devoid of it), sheer nuisance can be a curse of its own:
The milk silken embrace
of his six-foot wingspan
drapes her in a coverlet
of staid domestic desire.
The loose feathers she must
vacuum on a daily basis.
Drive her up the wall. (p. 18; unpaginated, counted)
A man can be as good natured as he can, but if he fails to tidy up after himself then he is still not really a “keeper.”
From here, if one draws a connection to 'The Curse of the Devil's Wife' then it seems apparent that the two aren't that different, with a life of barbecues, untidiness, outdated gender roles, and an eternity of bad sex. The most notable difference is that the furniture is worse off under the latter curse.
'The Curse of the Shapeshifter's Wife' won the Asimov Readers' Award of 1994 – his “chameleon incarnations, his instant appendages” (p. 3; unpaginated, counted) must have charmed the public. 'The Curse of the Telepath's Wife' finished in second place the same year and 'The Curse of the Angel's Wife' came in sixth. In previous years other accursed wives have landed third place ('The Curse of the Sasquatch's Wife', 1990), two fifth places ('The Curse of the Demon's Wife', 1988; 'The Curse of the Alien's Wife', 1991), and a sixth place ('The Curse of the Ghost's Wife', 1990). That is an almost impossible seven out of twelve poems nominated by the readers themselves. Accursed this collection may be, but it is equally acclaimed.
To return to the Shapeshifter and his antics. He is a very controlling male, chasing away his mother in law and clearly keeping tabs on everything his wife does, but even then his childish behaviour and sweet demeanour – the former likely real, the latter probably fake – makes it hard to deny him entirely.
Just for the fun of it he becomes a chandelier,
a checkerboard Dalmatian, a bearded potentate
with a bejeweled satin turban and escargot eyes.
Each time she grows angry with his endless antics
she is suddenly confronting a giant teddy bear,
so darling her arms ache to cuddle him forever. (p. 3; unpaginated, counted)
Also there is something about 'polymorphous' and 'pleasure' which is best left to the reader to decide whether or not they would like the details on.
The Telepath is no better than the Shapeshifter when it comes to being controlling, in fact his ability to read minds makes him far worse, but then at least his wife finds an acceptable solution to the problem. And in 'The Curse of the Brujo's Wife' she ends up as controlling as he is, as equals in jealousy and bonds.
There are many ways these cursed relationships can end up, but at least all of them¹ ended up in the expanded The Complete Accursed Wives. It's neither easy or cheap to get hold of a copy of Accursed Wives, but since all its poems have been included in the vastly expanded collection there is no need to spend that kind of money on this one. This was, without doubt, one of Boston's most celebrated collections, and for good reason considering its bafflingly high quality. It was a milestone: It's mere twenty-eight pages turned into a hundred during the seven years that separates this from the extended collection, and during that span the quality was kept just as high as what was found here.
1. Added the 29th of April 2026: I was wrong. Boston made both a poem and a short story (based on the poem) named 'Curse of the Alien's Wife.' The poem is found only in this collection and in the August 1990 issue of Azimov's SF Magazine, while the expanded one contains the short story.
On the surface it's such a simple concept, imagining what it would be like to be someone else's spouse, even if that someone is a creature of myth or legend. Yet, here as with relations in general, there is much that can complicate matters. This series is as characterised by a sense of seriousness as it is by whimsy, as is reflected in the poet's own thoughts on them:
Although some of the entries along the way were merely for the sake of humor, the “Accursed Wives” poems can be characterized as an attempt to use archetypal figures from science fiction, fantasy, and horror to portray the realities of contemporary relations and some of the ways women continue to be abused and exploited despite our “enlightened” present. (Boston, B. (2001) Quanta, p. 34)
With regard to the latter, some of the proceeds from the sale of this chapbook went to the Montgomery County Women's Crisis Council, and, fantastical as they may be, the poems herein always let their concern be felt when there is one.
Of the collection's twelve poems, and this also rings true for the extended collection, which was fittingly named The Complete Accursed Wives (2000), the most gruesome and heartbreaking one is 'The Curse of the Werewolf's Wife'. It begs two questions for which there is no easy answer – how can a person so full of violence be so full of regret? And how can one escape what holds you back with its pitifulness?
On the other end of the scale there is 'The Curse of the Angel's Wife', and while there is no danger and no more ill will than what is inherent in Heaven (though it seems hardly to be devoid of it), sheer nuisance can be a curse of its own:
The milk silken embrace
of his six-foot wingspan
drapes her in a coverlet
of staid domestic desire.
The loose feathers she must
vacuum on a daily basis.
Drive her up the wall. (p. 18; unpaginated, counted)
A man can be as good natured as he can, but if he fails to tidy up after himself then he is still not really a “keeper.”
From here, if one draws a connection to 'The Curse of the Devil's Wife' then it seems apparent that the two aren't that different, with a life of barbecues, untidiness, outdated gender roles, and an eternity of bad sex. The most notable difference is that the furniture is worse off under the latter curse.
'The Curse of the Shapeshifter's Wife' won the Asimov Readers' Award of 1994 – his “chameleon incarnations, his instant appendages” (p. 3; unpaginated, counted) must have charmed the public. 'The Curse of the Telepath's Wife' finished in second place the same year and 'The Curse of the Angel's Wife' came in sixth. In previous years other accursed wives have landed third place ('The Curse of the Sasquatch's Wife', 1990), two fifth places ('The Curse of the Demon's Wife', 1988; 'The Curse of the Alien's Wife', 1991), and a sixth place ('The Curse of the Ghost's Wife', 1990). That is an almost impossible seven out of twelve poems nominated by the readers themselves. Accursed this collection may be, but it is equally acclaimed.
To return to the Shapeshifter and his antics. He is a very controlling male, chasing away his mother in law and clearly keeping tabs on everything his wife does, but even then his childish behaviour and sweet demeanour – the former likely real, the latter probably fake – makes it hard to deny him entirely.
Just for the fun of it he becomes a chandelier,
a checkerboard Dalmatian, a bearded potentate
with a bejeweled satin turban and escargot eyes.
Each time she grows angry with his endless antics
she is suddenly confronting a giant teddy bear,
so darling her arms ache to cuddle him forever. (p. 3; unpaginated, counted)
Also there is something about 'polymorphous' and 'pleasure' which is best left to the reader to decide whether or not they would like the details on.
The Telepath is no better than the Shapeshifter when it comes to being controlling, in fact his ability to read minds makes him far worse, but then at least his wife finds an acceptable solution to the problem. And in 'The Curse of the Brujo's Wife' she ends up as controlling as he is, as equals in jealousy and bonds.
There are many ways these cursed relationships can end up, but at least all of them¹ ended up in the expanded The Complete Accursed Wives. It's neither easy or cheap to get hold of a copy of Accursed Wives, but since all its poems have been included in the vastly expanded collection there is no need to spend that kind of money on this one. This was, without doubt, one of Boston's most celebrated collections, and for good reason considering its bafflingly high quality. It was a milestone: It's mere twenty-eight pages turned into a hundred during the seven years that separates this from the extended collection, and during that span the quality was kept just as high as what was found here.
1. Added the 29th of April 2026: I was wrong. Boston made both a poem and a short story (based on the poem) named 'Curse of the Alien's Wife.' The poem is found only in this collection and in the August 1990 issue of Azimov's SF Magazine, while the expanded one contains the short story.
Displaying 1 of 1 review