Weird Women, Vol. 2

Editors Morton and Klinger deliver another strong installment to their Weird Women anthology series featuring “classic supernatural fiction by groundbreaking female authors,” this time showcasing 16 works written between 1840 and 1925. The stories are as creepy as they are varied, with pieces from classic horror authors like Georgia Wood Pangborn (“Broken Glass”), as well as those not generally associated with the genre, including George Eliot (“The Lifted Veil”) and Harriet Beecher Stowe (“The Ghost in the Mill”). Edith Wharton’s heroine has a richer life after death than any she led when she was alive in “The Fullness of Life.” A cabal of churchyard dead are resurrected in Gertrude Atherton’s captivating “The Dead and the Countess.” In Zora Neale Hurston’s classic revenge tale, “Spunk,” a woman and her lover are stalked by an otherworldly presence. The editors ground each of the works with brief author biographies and explanatory footnotes. Weird fiction fans won’t want to miss this excellent survey of the genre’s female pioneers. (Sept.)