{"id":10181,"date":"2024-04-23T14:58:32","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T18:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=10181"},"modified":"2024-04-23T14:58:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T18:58:32","slug":"book-review-a-darker-shade-of-noir-new-stories-of-body-horror-by-women-writers-edited-by-joyce-carol-oates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-a-darker-shade-of-noir-new-stories-of-body-horror-by-women-writers-edited-by-joyce-carol-oates\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: A Darker Shade of Noir: New Stories of Body Horror by Women Writers edited by Joyce Carol Oates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cover<\/em><\/p>\n

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A Darker Shade of Noir: New Stories of Body Horror<\/em> by Women Writers<\/em><\/p>\n

Edited by Joyce Carol Oates<\/p>\n

Akashic\u00a0 Books, 2023<\/p>\n

ISBN: 978-1636141343<\/p>\n

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition<\/p>\n

Buy: \u00a0Bookshop.org<\/a> |\u00a0Amazon.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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A Darker Shade of Noir: New Stories of Body Horror<\/em> by Women Writers <\/em>\u00a0disturbs the imagination and makes horror reality. Writers Megan Abbott, Margaret Atwood, Aimee Bender, Tananarive Due, Elizabeth Hand, Cassandra Khaw, Sheila Kohler, Aimee LaBrie, Raven Leilani, Lisa Lim, Joanna Margaret, Valerie Martin, Joyce Carol Oates, Lisa Tuttle, and Yumi Dineen Shiroma offer many strange, twisted stories that attest to the diversity of approaches to the genre.<\/p>\n

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Editor Joyce Carol Oates divides these little masterpieces into three sections: \u201cYou\u2019ve Created a Monster,\u201d \u201cMorbid Anatomy,\u201d and \u201cOut of Body, Out of Time.\u201d Aimee Bender\u2019s story \u201cFrank Jones\u201d opens the book with the weird creation of a skin tag doll that should not have been taken to the office. Margaret Atwood delves into female anatomy through a snail who suddenly becomes a woman customer service rep in \u201cMetempsychosis, or The Journey of the Soul.\u201d And then we find a new wife, in \u201c\u201cSydney\u201d by Sheila Kohler, who finds herself in a shocking sexual situation with a gender-bending robot when she ventures into a part of her home that is designated as off limits by her husband.<\/p>\n

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There are often very surprising developments in these stories. In \u201cConcealed Carry\u201d by Lisa Tuttle, Kelly, fresh from London, finds out that there is a strict moral code in Texas that is enforced in a way she could never imagine.\u00a0 In “Malena” by Joanna Margaret, Laura, who makes sculptures of women with missing body parts, discovers that the artistic \u201cgift inside her\u201d is also literally inside her. In “Dancing with Mirrors” by Lisa Lim,\u00a0 \u00a0a beautiful woman addicted to mirrors hides spectacularly murderous veins..<\/p>\n

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In addition to being entertaining, these writers are not afraid to tackle serious issues. \u201cDancing\u201d by Tananarive Due and \u201cBreathing Exercise\u201d by Raven Leilani grapple with the impact of racism on the mind, body and soul.. Aimee Labrie in \u201cGross Anatomy\u201d, and Cassandra Khaw in \u201cMuzzle\u201d, deal with physical violence against women. These are stories that head straight to the heart of the matter without becoming entangled in politics and platitudes.<\/p>\n

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Readers truly benefit from iconic writer Joyce Carol Oates\u2019s expert shaping of this excellent collection of stories. There is not one dull moment in this book, and beginning the next story is like the start of a new and darker adventure.<\/p>\n

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Reviewed by Nova Hadley<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  A Darker Shade of Noir: New Stories of Body Horror by Women Writers Edited by Joyce Carol Oates Akashic\u00a0 Books, 2023 ISBN: 978-1636141343 Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition Buy: \u00a0Bookshop.org |\u00a0Amazon.com     A Darker Shade of Noir: New Stories of Body Horror by Women Writers \u00a0disturbs the imagination and makes horror reality. Writers<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5643,5642,5646,5648,2594,5030,5202,750,645,749,3163,2688,2922,1685,5645,5647,1526,5644,828],"class_list":["post-10181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-a-darker-shade-of-noir","tag-a-darker-shade-of-noir-new-stories-of-body-horror-by-women-writers","tag-aimee-bender","tag-aimee-labrie","tag-body-horror","tag-cassandra-khaw","tag-elizabeth-hand","tag-horror-anthologies","tag-horror-book-reviews","tag-horror-books","tag-horror-short-stories","tag-joyce-carol-oates","tag-lisa-tuttle","tag-margaret-atwood","tag-megan-abbott","tag-raven-leilani","tag-short-stories","tag-tananarive-due","tag-women-writers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10181"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10235,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10181\/revisions\/10235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}