The Wrong Girl & Other Warnings

by Angela Slatter

From the award-winning Angela Slatter, author of The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, All The Murmuring Bones, and The Path of Thorns, comes a collection of twelve short stories showcasing the scope of her extraordinary talent.

Throughout The Wrong Girl and Other Warnings, Slatter shows us that ‘innocent’ should never be mistaken for ‘safe’, while spinning tales of witches, Victorian-era detectives, bad parents, unrepentant killers, and ancient wisdom.

In "A Matter Of Light", detective Kit Casswell is called upon to lend her experience with the supernatural to a very unwilling consulting detective. In "Widows’ Walk", a quartet of witches band together in a single house, secretly working to protect young women. In the titular tale, "The Wrong Girl", a frustrated artist turns the romance of her fickle friend and tiresome sister into a deadly masterpiece.

Wry, savage, and written with the precision of a writer at the top of her game, The Wrong Girl and Other Warnings is a gift to those who already love Slatter’s fiction and those discovering her exquisite stories for the first time.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Horror, Ebooks, Fairy Tales, Female Authors, Anthologies

186 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2023

About the author

Angela Slatter is the author of the urban fantasy novels Vigil (2016) and Corpselight (2017), as well as eight short story collections, including The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales, Sourdough and Other Stories, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, and A Feast of Sorrows: Stories. She has won a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, a Ditmar, and six Aurealis Awards.

Angela’s short stories have appeared in Australian, UK and US Best Of anthologies such The Mammoth Book of New Horror, The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, The Best Horror of the Year, The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror, and The Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction. Her work has been translated into Bulgarian, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, Polish, and Romanian. Victoria Madden of Sweet Potato Films (The Kettering Incident) has optioned the film rights to one of her short stories.

She has an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing, is a graduate of Clarion South 2009 and the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop 2006, and in 2013 she was awarded one of the inaugural Queensland Writers Fellowships. In 2016 Angela was the Established Writer-in-Residence at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre in Perth.

Her novellas, Of Sorrow and Such (from Tor.com), and Ripper (in the Stephen Jones anthology Horrorology, from Jo Fletcher Books) were released in October 2015.

The third novel in the Verity Fassbinder series, Restoration, will be released in 2018 by Jo Fletcher Books (Hachette International). She is represented by Ian Drury of the literary agency Sheil Land for her long fiction, by Lucy Fawcett of Sheil Land for film rights, and by Alex Adsett of Alex Adsett Publishing Services for illustrated storybooks.

Reviews

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of fantasy short stories about wronged women who exact their revenge against the men who hurt them. The collection is short enough that it nearly qualifies as a novella (it's under 200 pages). I didn't love Slatter's novel All the Murmuring Bones (too slow and ponderous for me), but I wanted to try her shorter works because there was a lot to like in her novel. I'm glad I did. Her short stories are punchier than her novel and I enjoyed them a lot more.

My absolute favorite story was "Widows' Walk" about a group of old women who are rumored to be witches (they are witches) who live together and secretly commit vigilante justice on behalf of neglected young girls. This is a story I could easily see becoming a full-length novel and I hope one day Slatter gives these ladies their own book!

My other favorites were: "The Wrong Girl" (revenge on a serial playboy who finally broke the heart of the wrong girl); "When We Fall, We Forget" (supernatural revenge on a man who hurt the wrong girl); and "New Wine" (revenge on a man who killed a lot of girls).

There were also an assortment of stories about public domain characters: Sherlock Holmes ("A Matter of Light"), Alice in Wonderland/the White Rabbit ("Run, Rabbit"), Persephone ("Pomegranates"), Eurydice ("Lyre, Lyre"), and Penelope ("Loom").

I didn't dislike any story in this collection, but I did get a little tired of the same story, different version by the end. I love a good righteous vengeance tale, but it becomes repetitive to have a dozen stories in a row about a woman (/women) getting payback on the man (/men) who wronged them (or wronged women in general).

Still, I am planning to pick up more Slatter short stories/novellas (and maybe even another novel). It is a crime that this collection only has 46 ratings on GR. It definitely deserves more love!

[kvazimodla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horror ❤️


Same time next year - a twist on the famous borrowed jacket situation

Widow's walk - omg I love those ladies... bullies, victim, witches, justice. Pure happiness ❤️

The wrong girl - never where you expect

A matter of light - a nod to Conan Doyle. Would love to see more about Kit Caswell!

When we fall, we forget - about angels, fallen or not

New wine - lost for words on this one 🤯. This is a dark, dark mind

Wilderling - ok, this is a new level of being lost for words. This ending, the dread of what is to come for the MC, the anxiety I am in now... Also, justice for cats!!

Run, rabbit - a pretty psychodelic Alice in Wonderland story

The three burdens of Nest Wynne - huh?

Then the three Greek mythology stories:

Pomegranates - Persephone, reimagined, and not sweet

Lyre, lyre - oooh, this one is FUNNY! Orpheus and Eurydice, all upside down :). Love it! "Anyway, I descended as is the wont of the dead, came here, settled in, got to know people. Joined a book club. Avoided the musicians. Got comfy."

Loom - and in the same vein, Penelope NOT pining after Odysseus :)

[M.H. Thaung]

This short story collection takes us to a variety of places, from contemporary times to Victorian detective era, to classical mythology. I enjoyed seeing how the author took a familiar jumping-off point (say, Alice in Wonderland) and made something unexpected out of it.

The stories tend to be creepy or weird, although I wouldn’t view them as horror. Maybe dark fantasy with a mystery twist? Probably best not to categorise too firmly.

My favourites were “Widows’ Walk” (probably because of the more mature characters) and “Loom” (of course, as it’s based on Homer’s The Odyssey). And I look forward to reading more.

[Steff Mother of Sphynx · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out so strongly, I was thinking around a high 4 or 5 stars; very creepy with lots of angry females, and then we had the Wildling story.
I ended up skipping it, wish I had done so sooner; lots of cat cruelty, so if you like cats or animals in general don’t read a single word go straight to the next story!
That was the only one I didn’t like but I couldn’t get over the hurdle that my own anger caused to fully enjoy the others.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all of Angela Slatter’s writings. I haven’t found anything that disappoints me. I feel like every story she tells is so well articulated. I am not really a fan of short stories but anything I read of hers grabs you and doesn’t let you go. It’s crazy how much detail she can put in a story without being boring. Highly recommend anything by Angela Slatter.

[Leslie]

One for the feminine rage girlies.

Although I think the prose is excellent and descriptive, I wasn't feeling it myself--maybe I'm too tired to rage. That shouldn't count against the book though, so I won't rate it.

[Matt Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant collection of short stories, shifting effortlessly between tales of horror, folklore and fantasy. Slatter has quickly become one of my favourite writers and the final three stories, new to this collection, have me hoping we’ll see more of her take on Greek mythologies some time soon.

[Patricia notonlyreading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maravilloso compendio de relatos oscuros, con la marca del lirismo de la autora.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable set of short stories, I liked all of them except one. Each story has a satisfying end (except the one I didn’t like), and had some interesting takes on familiar stories.

[Nighteye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good, short stories, most with a bite and darker twist.

[Brontesrule · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good collection. My favorite stories were "New Wine," those based on Greek myths, and "Widows' Walk," which I loved (and would love to see turned into a novel).

[Laia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gran descubrimiento

[Meishuu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Greek myths retelling were my least favorite of the lot. RTC

[Nerys Mellor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great short story collection. Angela Slatter is the absolute master and one of absolute favourite authors, an auto-buy author for sure.

[Sarah Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of spooky, sometimes vengeful stories.

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice collection of fantasy stories that are largely centered on women. The fantasy elements tend to be about retribution for injuries or injustices done to them, mainly (but not exclusively) by men. Hence, the last part of the title “and other warnings”.

Slatter seems to enjoy playing with old tropes as well. There are pastiches of Sherlock Holmes and Alice in Wonderland, and a series of short (flash-type) stories at the end that work variations of Greek myth: Persephone, Eurydice, and Penelope. Again, watch out for resourceful women who never forget an injustice.

[Chuck McKenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps known primarily for writing lyrical dark fantasy tales, this collection showcases Slatter's mastery over horror. The tales herein are not for the faint-hearted, ranging from the deeply unsettling right through to horrors that will want to make you scrub yourself clean after reading. I can't recommend this collection, or author, highly enough.