Queens of the Abyss

An anthology pulling together the stories of the forgotten women writers who pioneered and developed the ‘weird tale’ in the early 20th Century. The majority of the volume is never before republished material, exclusive to the BL collections. This title is a spiritual successor to Glimpses of the Unknown, an early Tales of the Weird title which has seen a positive response from fans, scholars and booksellers.

It is too often accepted that during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it was the male writers who developed and pushed the boundaries of the weird tale, with women writers following in their wake – but this is far from the truth.

This new anthology presents the thrilling work of just a handful of writers crucial to the evolution of the genre, and revives lost authors of the early pulp magazines with material from the abyssal depths of the British Library vaults returning to the light for the first time since original publication.

Delve in to see the darker side of The Secret Garden author Frances Hodgson Burnett and the sensitively-drawn nightmares of Marie Corelli and May Sinclair. Hear the captivating voices of Weird Tales magazine contributors Sophie Wenzel Ellis and Greye La Spina, and bow down to the sensational and surreal imaginings of Alicia Ramsey and Leonora Carrin

Contents

Introduction essay by Mike Ashley
1. A Revelation short story by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
2. The Sculptor's Angel (1913) short story by Marie Corelli
3. From the Dead (1893) short story by E. Nesbit
4. The Christmas in the Fog (1914) short story by Frances Hodgson Burnett
5. The Haunted Flat (1920) short story by Marie Belloc Lowndes
6. A Modern Circe (1919) short story by Alicia Ramsey
7. The Nature of the Evidence (1923) short story by May Sinclair
8. The Bishop of Hell (1925) short story by Marjorie Bowen
9. The Antimacassar (1949) short story by Greye La Spina
10. White Lady (1933) short story by Sophie Wenzel Ellis
11. The Laughing Thing (1929) short story by G. G. Pendarves
12. Candlelight (1932) short story by Lady Eleanor Smith
13. The Wonderful Tune (1931) short story by Jessie Douglas Kerruish
14. Island of the Hands short story by Margaret St. Clair
15. The Unwanted (1951) short story by Mary Elizabeth Counselman
16. The Seventh Horse (1943) short story by Leonora Carrington