Phantom Limbs: Stories by Margo Lanagan (2018, Australian)

Margo Lanagan writes imaginative stories, most often dark, sometimes edging on horror, often weird. Remember reading Grimm’s tales for the first time? yes, reading her stuff can be that kind of experience. I enjoyed her previous four short story collections. These were marketed in the states as YA. Her excellent 2008 novel, [Tender Morsels], a retelling on Snow White and Rose Red, was marketed appropriately as an adult novel. I was somewhat less wowed by her second novel, [The Brides of Rollrock Island] but it was entertaining. This new book, [Phantom Limbs}, is a collection of 14 stories written over the last decade, and it also seems to be aimed at the adult market.

When reading Margo Lanagan, one cannot help but think of her dark fantasy predecessor, Angela Carter. Both seem to like turning fairy tales on their proverbial heads. This collection’s first story brings us back to the Hansel and Gretel tale and revisits an older Hansel during the Black Plague, who is now enslaved by a wicked tramp (as they visit the old woman in the woods who once imprisoned Hansel and his sister!). In another, a man smuggles whiskey into the village, fooling the authorities by using his “wife” (a wife made of tin, hollow to carry the whiskey) . She rides on the horse behind him. But then he gets stopped….

There an “outtake” from her novel about the Rollrock island selkies mentioned above and a story about Red Riding Hood embracing her animal nature. That’s just a few of what the collection holds. This collection was a wonderfully diverting read, but as with most readers, I enjoyed some stories more than others. If you were to ask me where to start with Lanagan, I would suggest her collection [Black Juice] or the aforementioned novel [Tender Morsels]. ( )