Skin of the soul: New horror stories by women

by Lisa Tuttle

A collection of horror stories by women writers features tales by Joan Aiken, Karen Joy Fowler, Anne Goring, Joyce Carol Oates, and Sherry Coldsmith

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Fiction, Short Stories, Speculative Fiction, Literature, Weird Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1990

About the author

(Wife of Colin Murray) aka Maria Palmer (house pseudonym).

Lisa Tuttle taught a science fiction course at the City Lit College, part of London University, and has tutored on the Arvon courses. She was residential tutor at the Clarion West SF writing workshop in Seattle, USA. She has published six novels and two short story collections. Many of her books have been translated into French and German editions.

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skin of the Soul is a collection of short horror stories penned by women and edited by horror paragon Lisa Tuttle. As the intent of this collection is to showcase the depth and range that women bring to the genre, it covers a wide variety of styles and themes. Not every story is going to appeal to every reader, but each story in the collection is someone’s favorite. Here are mine:

LIGHTNING ROD is interesting commentary on how people take on the suffering of others in order to spare them the pain. The supernatural element to show this is quite effective, and the fallout of learning this behavior is chilling.

THE COMPANION is a quietly chilling take on hauntings, both supernatural and our regrets. The slow build of tension and the unresolved lingering malice is great.

MR. ELPHINSTONE’S HANDS is a fascinating concept. It explores the psychic medium phenomenon in a Victorian setting, but shifts the viewpoint from what we’re used to. It explores the Victorian science of ectoplasm as a frame to look at how women and mental illnesses were treated. It effectively explores the crazy aunt in the attic while avoiding being derivative.

HANTU-HANTU is a great cosmic horror story that doubles down on creepy bugs.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skin of the Soul is a book of horror stories, or 'tales of terror' as it says on the cover, by women. Lisa Tuttle's Introduction focuses on the male domination of the horror genre editorially, critically, and in the prominence of male writers and goes on to address the question of whether women, in general, write horror differently than do men.[return][return]Some stories in this book draw on uniquely female experience, such as Suzy McKee Charnas' "Boobs", and many stories make concrete the fears of sexual abuse or rape, but there is no one theme. On the contrary, the stories have been well selected to show a variety of lengths, styles, and subject matters. The authors, too, come from all over, and it's the story by former New Zealander Cherry Wilder, that had the greatest effect on me.[return][return]Any story entitled "Anzac Day" automatically carries with it considerable emotional freight for anyone brought up in Australasia. Cherry Wilder's story begins with an impoverished Depression family arriving at a relative's home in hopes of charity, and ends in carnage. The author of the carnage is old Len Fell, who hasn't been right since he came back from Gallipoli, Len Fell in his army uniform with his cut-throat razor and his bayonet. It's a very New Zealand story of rural poverty and violence, a story where that old clich

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection of short stories. Most were above average. This collection was women horror writers. There were demonic cats, pychopathic relatives, sentient cockroach people, women whose scars take pain away from others (a symbolic story of the relationships between men and women,I think) a man who appears from a woman's dream, and more.

[George Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have never before read a book that reached such heights of mediocrity.

[Sina]

Delightful!!

[Jeanette Greaves · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've lost count of how many times I've read this anthology, but I know it's been a while since the last re-read.

This was one of the collections that changed horror. I've re-read a lot of older anthologies recently, and been struck by how few of the stories were by women. These days it's unusual to read a decent collection that doesn't have a lot of women contributors, but if you go back to the nineties, you'd be lucky to find two or three stories from female authors. Then the Women's Press came out, with their brilliant SF imprint, making space for women in genre fiction.

Lisa Tuttle's collection still feels fresh, and includes many authors who are still big names in horror and genre fiction.

I recommend it to all horror fans.