Angela Slatter is a writer based inBrisbane,Australia. Primarily working in the field ofspeculative fiction, she has focused on short stories since deciding to pursue writing in 2005, when she undertook a Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing. Since then she has written a number of short stories, many of which were included in her two compilations,Sourdough and Other Stories (2010) andThe Girl with No Hands and Other Tales (2010).
Slatter is a graduate ofClarion South 2009 and theTin House Summer Writers Workshop 2006. She has an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing. In 2013 she was awarded one of the inaugural Queensland Writers Fellowships.[1][2][3]
Angela Slatter's short stories have appeared in anthologies and journals in Australia and internationally. Her work has been listed for Honourable Mention byEllen Datlow,Gavin Grant andKelly Link; and she has been nominated three times for theAurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story.[5][6][7] Along with the Aurealis Awards, Slatter has been nominated for theDitmar Award on two occasions: as Best New Talent in 2008, and for Best Short Story in 2010.[8][9]
In 2010, Slatter published two short story collections:Sourdough and Other Stories withTartarus Press (UK) which received a starred review atPublishers Weekly,[10] andThe Girl with No Hands and Other Tales (Ticonderoga Publications).[11] She was working on a "duopoly" consisting of the novelsWell of Souls andGate of the Dead.[12][13]
In 2016, her first solo full-length novelVigil was released.
Slatter's works have been well received. She has received praise fromPublishers Weekly for her "evocative and poetic prose" inSourdough and Other Stories,[10] and her writing garnered similar comments fromJeff VanderMeer, who described it as "brilliant, muscular, and original".[14] In particular, Slatter has received critical acclaim for her style of retelling or "reloading" fairytales.[15][16][17][18][19][20]
Individual short stories have, at times, been highlighted by reviewers: in particular, her story "The Jacaranda Wife" was perceived as one of the best stories inJack Dann'sDreaming Again anthology byThe Australian, as well as being praised byThe Cairns Post andThe Sydney Morning Herald, who wrote: "The collection's trump card is the quality of its new writers, many of whom produce stronger stories than some of the veterans ... Particular standouts are ... Angela Slatter's haunting The Jacaranda Wife, set in colonial Australia, seems to build towards a climax truly sinister, yet instead leaves you with beautiful imagery that is as otherworldly as it is strangely touching."[21][22][23] Similarly,Scoop Magazine described her collaborative story, "The February Dragon" (with Lisa L Hannett) as being a "highlight" ofScary Kisses.[24]
Kim Wilkins has cited Slatter as a SF author of note in a forthcoming chapter in theCambridge Companion to Creative Writing.[citation needed]
Slatter was the subject of an extensive feature in Issue 21 ofBlack Static, which had her photograph on the cover.[25] Its review ofSourdough and Other Stories states, "The effect is almost as if Quentin Tarantino had decided to write fairy stories instead of scripting Pulp Fiction." (page 44)
Her collection,The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales was a finalist for the 2010Australian Shadows Award for Long Fiction, and her story "Brisneyland By Night" was a finalist for Short Fiction.[26]
"The Chrysanthemum Bride", Fantasy Magazine, December 2009
"Words", The Lifted Brow # 5, June 2009 issue, shortlisted for Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story 2009
"Frozen", Mort Castle's Doorways Magazine, Issue 8, April 2009
"The Girl with No Hands", Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet No. 23, 2008
"Dresses, three",Shimmer 2008. Short-listed for Best Fantasy Short Story Aurealis Award 2008. Honourable Mention, 2008 Year's Best Horror (ed. Ellen Datlow, 2009)
"The Hummingbird Heart",Shimmer 2008. Honourable Mention, 2008 Year's Best Horror (ed. Ellen Datlow, 2009)
"Skin",The Lifted Brow #3
"Little Radish",Crimson Highway, 2008 Honourable Mention, 2008 Year's Best Horror (ed. Ellen Datlow, 2009)
"Pressina's Daughters", Winter 2007/2008, issue No. 71 ofONSPEC: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic.
"The Danger of Warmth",Crimson Highway 2007.
"Cedar Splinters",Artworker Magazine, October 2007.
"The Little Match Girl",Shimmer #3, 2006. Honourable Mention, 2007 Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (ed. Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin Grant).
"Bluebeard",Shimmer #4, 2006. Honourable Mention, 2007 Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (ed. Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin Grant).
"The Angel Wood",Shimmer #5, 2006. Short-listed for Best Fantasy Short Story Aurealis Award 2007. Honourable Mention, 2007 Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (ed. Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin Grant).
"The Juniper Tree",Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet #18, 2006.
