Medusa’s Daughters – Magic and Monstrosity from Women Writers of the Fin-de-Siecle
Medusa’s Daughters edited by Theodora Goss / ISBN 9781941360361 / 300-page paperback with flaps / Lanternfish Press / Clockwork Editions
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“Dr. Theodora Goss has gathered a collection of strengths: gothic tales of women, by women, some of which had been lost to time and forgetting…creating a gothic landscape that is at once timeless and timely, filled with brilliant, angry, determined women who leap right off the page.”—Fran Wilde
“Medusa’s Daughters is a sinister Gothic delight, full of unrepentant witches, ghosts, dryads, and changelings. Goss is an expert guide to the strange codes of fin-de-siècle patriarchy and the bold, monstrous women who defied them.”—Barbara Barrow
After a period of decline, Gothic literature underwent a revival at the end of the 1800s. As the century turned, women writers such as Vernon Lee, Mary Coleridge, and Rosamund Mariott Watson left an indelible mark on fantasy and horror literature. Like Medusa herself, their poetry and short stories embody the very essence of magic and monstrosity.
Curated and annotated by award-winning fantasy author and Victorianist Theodora Goss, this collection of rare and strange gems serves as a tantalizing sampler of work by fin-de-siècle women writers, whose legacy still echoes in the speculative fiction we know and love today.
