Jon Taylor’s Reviews > The Lottery and Other Stories > Status Update

The Renegade: Woman as outsider - alone, surrounded by bizarre cruelty and the only one to see it. Even the dog is part of the brutality she doesn’t understand. First, I thought the dog was the titular renegade. Then I thought it was the woman…

The Witch: Shit! That gave me some cause for alarm… I think the old man was the witch - and I think he was telling the truth… interesting, toying with gender there. Nicely creepy.

My Life at RH Macy’s: wasn’t sure what to make of this one at first. But it seems to be about fighting conformity (got that from a study analysis online - but I agree with it…). Felt alienating and cold at first but then the humour came through. Very 1950s in its I’m an individual fighting against the machine tropes - I sometimes think things started to go wrong when we got that idea in our heads…

The Villager: these really do accumulate. That is, they have a cumulative effect with similar themes. This one: pretence, adoption of identity, or shifting identity. Maybe adapting to fit into environments. Control over what others know. Control. Yes, I think that’s it - this is about control…

Trial by Combat: more loss of privacy (identity?) in apartment living. More lonely women. Strange behaviour - sharing of personal belongings. Being too polite to confront. Social niceties and embarrassment overcoming the need to speak up. Weird similarities between people. Similar to some of Aickman’s work.

Strange, sad women. The girl in The Intoxicated so matter of fact about Armageddon - written at the height of the Atomic Age. And the printed floral dress in Daemon Lover. So sad.