Burning Your Boats

One of our most imaginative and accomplished writers, Angela Carter left behind a dazzling array of work: essays, citicism, and fiction. But it is in her short stories that her extraordinary talents—as a fabulist, feminist, social critic, and weaver of tales—are most penetratingly evident. This volume presents Carter's considerable legacy of short fiction gathered from published books, and includes early and previously unpublished stories. From reflections on jazz and Japan, through vigorous refashionings of classic folklore and fairy tales, to stunning snapshots of modern life in all its tawdry glory, we are able to chart the evolution of Carter's marvelous, magical vision.Burning Your BoatsIntroduction by Salman Rushdie

Early Work, 1962-6
The Man Who Loved a Double Bass
A Very, Very Great Lady and Her Son at Home
A Victorian Fable (with Glossary)

Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces, 1974
A Souvenir of Japan
The Executioner's Beautiful Daughter
The Loves of Lady Purple
The Smile of Winter
Penetrating to the Heart of the Forest
Flesh and the Mirror
Master
Reflections
Elegy for a Freelance

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories, 1979
The Bloody Chamber
The Courtship of Mr Lyon
The Tiger's Bride
Puss-in-Boots
The Erl-King
The Snow Child
The Lady of the House of Love
The Werewolf
The Company of Wolves
Wolf-Alice

Black Venus, 1985
Black Venus
The Kiss
Our Lady of the Massacre
The Cabinet of Edgar Allan Poe
Overture and Incidental Music for A Midsummer Night's Dream
Peter and the Wolf
The Kitchen Child
The Fall River Axe Murders

American Ghosts and Old World Wonders, 1993
Lizzie's Tiger
John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore
Gun for the Devil
The Merchant of Shadows
The Ghost Ships
In Pantoland
Ashputtle or The Mother"s Ghost
Alice in Prague or The Curious Room
Impressions: The Wrightsman Magdalene

Uncollected Stories, 1970-81
The Scarlet House
The Snow Pavilion
The Quilt Maker

Appendix: Afterword to Fireworks

First Publications

"Carter's world is strange, dangerous, and beautiful."
—Alison Lurie, The New York Times Book Review

"A treasure chest of literary and aesthetic experience … mysterious, glamorous, beautiful."
—Carolyn See, The Washington Post

"Carter's ability to probe the secret places in the human psyche, where mysterious erotic longings and unacknowledged links with the unearthly lie buried, verges on the supernatural."
—The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Her imagination was one of the most dazzling of this century."
—Marina Warner

"An amazing plum pudding … you should not miss this book."
—Margaret Atwood, Toronto Globe & Mail

Angela Carter (1940 -1992) wrote nine novels and numerous short stories, as well as nonfiction, radio plays, and the screenplay for Neil Jordan's 1984 movie The Company of Wolves, based on her story. She won numerous literary awards, traveled and taught widely in the United States, and lived in London.
Born in Bombay in 1947, Salman Rushdie is the author of six novels, including Grimus, Shame, The Satanic Verses, The Moor's Last Sigh, and The Ground Beneath Her Feet, and a volume of essays, Imaginary Homelands. His numerous literary prizes include the Booker Prize for Midnight's Children and the Whitbread Prize for The Satanic Verses.