THE HEART IS A MIRROR FOR SINNERS AND OTHER STORIES By Angela Slatter

You’ll find some very strange short stories in Angela Slatter’s The Heart is a Mirror for Sinners and Other Stories. Being a fan of Lovecraft’s work, I enjoyed “Reading Off the Curriculum” which features a conniving student who decides he can use The Necronomicon without his professor’s approval. “Lavinia’s Wood” takes Lavina Whatley from Lovecraft’s famous story, “The Dunwich Horror,” and gives her a new eerie story.

Jack the Ripper stories have mined most of the possibilities of that tale, but Angela Slatter decided to see what would happen if a woman explored the Ripper case. “Ripper” presents a different kind of of investigator with surprising results. “Ripper” is the longest story in the book and takes its time to unfold with unpredictable results.

I also enjoyed Slatter’s “Author’s Notes” where she writes about how each story in The Heart is a Mirror for Sinners and Other Stories came about and what effects she was trying to achieve. Angela Slatter is certainly a new author to keep an eye on. I’ll be buying her next book. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Previous Publication Credits xi

Introduction 1

The Soldier 5

Egyptian Revival 21

Neither Time nor Tears 49

No Good Deed 65

The Little Mermaid, in Passing 87

But for an I. 97

Ripper 119

Better Angels 211

The Heart is a Mirror for Sinners 225

Our Lady of Wicker Bridge 239

Reading Off the Curriculum 255

Change Management 267

Lavinia’s Wood 281

Finnegan’s Field 295

Author’s Notes 327

15 thoughts on “THE HEART IS A MIRROR FOR SINNERS AND OTHER STORIES By Angela Slatter

  1. Steve Oerkfitz

    I have read some of her short stories and have liked them. I have a couple of her earlier books on my kindle but haven’t read them yet.

    Reply
  2. Michael Padgett

    Slatter looks like someone I’d like, but never heard of. From the picture above, this appears to be a very thick collection. My library has none of her books, just two anthologies in which she has a story.

    Reply
    1. Steve Oerkfitz

      Michael-she is a Australian writer and none of her collections have U.S. publishers. All are from Australian or British publishers. A couple of her early collections from Tartarus press can be found on Amazon for a fairly low price on e book.

      Reply
      1. george Post author

        Steve, my copy of THE HEART IS A MIRROR FOR SINNERS AND OTHER STORIES is published by PS Australia, an imprint of PS Publishing of England.

  3. Jeff Meyerson

    I’m with Michael. I read a ton of short stories, as you know, but I never heard of her. Might be interesting.

    I’m currently reading two very different writers – Laurie Colwin and Joe Hill. Also have collections by Rex Stout, Ed Hoch, and Erle Stanley Gardner waiting next.

    Reply
      1. Jeff Meyerson

        I figure Art has it already. It came out four or five years ago but I just discovered it.

        I bought Slatter’s first novel (which has been compared to The Dresden Files) for Jackie for 99 cents on Amazon. Sounds like the kind of stuff she reads – half human, half non-human, works in both worlds, etc. Set in Brisbane.

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