Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Foxfire, Wolfskin and Other Stories of Shapeshifting Women
Foxfire, Wolfskin and Other Stories of Shapeshifting Women | Sharon Blackie
3 posts | 1 read | 1 to read
Beautiful, rich short stories, drawing on myth and folklore to bring to life women's remarkable ability to transform themselves in the face of seemingly impossible circumstances. 'A book for all the wild women ... Foxfire, Wolfskin is simply the most perfect thing. I love each and every placement of each word. Love the wildness, the shapeshifting, the fearsomeness of it.' Jackie Morris, co-author of The Lost Words 'She lived fully, my fox, and I envied her with all my heart. I wanted to dance with her, sister or lover, across the snow-clad vastness of this land. Together, we'd create the Northern Lights. For that is what foxes do - racing over the fells, whipping up the snow with their tails, the friction of it sending up sparks into the midnight sky. This is what makes the aurora's glow. Revontulet, we call it: foxfire.' Charged with drama and beauty, this memorable collection by a master storyteller weaves a magical world of possibility and power from female myths of physical renewal, creation and change. It is an extraordinary immersion into the bodies and voices, mindscapes and landscapes, of the shapeshifting women of our native folklore. Drawing on myth and fairy tales found across Europe from Croatia to Sweden, Ireland to Russia, these stories are about coming to terms with our animal natures, exploring the ways in which we might renegotiate our fractured relationship with the natural world, and uncovering the wildness and wilderness within. Beautifully illustrated by Helen Nicholson, Foxfire, Wolfskin and Other Stories of Shapeshifting Women is Blackie's first collection of short stories. 'Sharon Blackie has wrought a new-old magic for our times: glorious, beautiful, passionate myths. They show who we could have been, and they give us a glimpse of a world-that-could-be.' Manda Scott, author of A Treachery of Spies and Boudica 'A deeply evocative and haunting collection... Part rally cry, part warning, part manifesto and all parts enchanting, Sharon Blackie's Foxfire, Wolfskin is a deeply evocative and haunting collection. I want to press this powerful book into the hands of everyone I know and say listen.' Holly Ringland, author of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
review
Bookwomble
post image
Bailedbailed

Well, I previously mentioned I was struggling with the author's overblown language, which was a distraction from the genuinely interesting stories, and I thought I'd look at reviews to see what others had made of the book to see if it's worth me continuing. The reviews for *this* book are ok, but I saw reviews for another commenting on the author's transphobic, terfy views, and that was the clincher for me to bail.
⬇️

Bookwomble My main reason for bailing is stylistic, a matter of literary taste, and others may find Blackie hitting a right note for them, and I must emphasise that (up to page 92) she has not promoted transphobic views in this book, so it's probably 'safe' to read in that regard, but personally, and with some disappointment, I'm out. 1d
Cuilin Ugh!! So disappointing!! I read a book by her that I really enjoyed. I guess no further reads by her for me. 1d
Bookwomble @Cuilin Yeah, disappointment was my main feeling , too 🫤 The reviews for the other terfy book mainly said how much they were enjoying it, then unexpectedly a chapter of transphobic ranting, with a lot of consequent DNFing. 1d
Bookwomble @dabbe Right 🫵😉 1d
28 likes5 comments
quote
Bookwomble
post image

"Once I was young and pretty like her. My heart burning so brightly in my chest I could have scorched cities with it; my yearning so vast and deep it could have bottomed out the world."

I'm liking the stories in terms of subject and meaning, but, oh! The language is overblown, filling the Mariana Trench of my soul to bursting, drenching the hinterlands of my psyche with emotional waves of liquid fire!! ?
I might have to bail if this goes on! ?

AlaMich 😂 1d
TieDyeDude 😂 7h
25 likes2 comments
blurb
Bookwomble
post image

Next up, feminist short stories retelling European mythical and fairy tales, focusing on shapeshifting women, written by psychologist/mythographer Sharon Blackie.
I have high hopes for this 🤞🏻🔥🦊🐺🔥

AnnCrystal 🆒👏🏼😎📚💫. 6d
32 likes1 stack add1 comment