As every Halloween approaches, literary thoughts turn to Edgar Allen Poe. Yes, the guy could write a thrilling and creepy tale —no surprise, as he himself was pretty creepy. Lists of spooky books put out each late October are pretty male-dominated, like this one that lists only two books by women out of ten. There are lots of others like it.
What’s annoying is that the standard lists of thrillers often overlook stories by women writers. The sampling of haunting classics by women authors following will send shivers up the spine and at the same time, give your taste for great language a thrill.
From the original review in the Indiana Gazette, April 1974. The seventeen short stories in Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, a collection by Grace Paleyare not conventional ones, but for those interested in an impressionistic form of writing filled with lucid images and true dialogue, they are well worth the reading.
Miss Paley has chosen New York City to celebrate in her work, and it is her impressions of the many kinds of people who make up the city, as well as the city itself and the interplay between the two, which are distilled to make stories vivid. Read More→
