Three from Tanith Lee: Red as Blood, Wolfland, and The Waters of Sorrow

Tanith Lee (1947 -2015) is one of my favorite authors. Her prose is lyrical and poetic and as I’m interested in folk and fairy tales, I find her feminist take on them creative and fascinating. Since she was born in September, I decided to re-read my favorite stories from her collection Red as Blood (1983).  

Red as Blood 

(The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 1979)

This opens with a beautiful woman named the Witch Queen opening the case of her magic mirror and asking, “Whom do you see?” The mirror replies that it sees all in the land but one and we soon learn that the one person is the Witch Queen’s stepdaughter, Bianca. This is Tanith Lee’s version of "Snow White" with some interesting role reversal. It’s a fairy tale mixed with vampire lore, Christian symbolism, and a creepy version of the seven dwarves. The ending is a little rushed but overall, this is a beautifully written story that drew me in and wouldn't let go. 

Wolfland 

(The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1980)

During winter a young girl named Lisel is given a red cloak and summoned by her grandmother, the patriarch of the family, to her isolated mansion deep within a forest. Dark family secrets will be revealed. A gothic version of "Little Red Riding Hood" with suspense, atmosphere, and lush prose. From the descriptions to the revelations, so many of the sentences were a joy to read. 

The digital version of Red as Blood has a terrible cover but it also has an extra story, "The Waters of Sorrow."

The Waters of Sorrow 

(Weird Tales, October 2011)

This one is adapted from a ballet with supernatural elements titled Giselle, about a young peasant girl. Lee's story opens with a description of spirits called vilya, later also called rusalki, ghosts of murdered women who inhabit trees and waters who exact revenge on men when they can. We then move to the story of Ghisla, a poor young woman who sneaks away to attend a play on a visiting riverboat. After she meets the handsome main actor, she goes missing. What happened to her and will the vilya exact revenge? A dark ghost story that mixes suspense and romance in a slightly steampunk world. Some may find this story overly sentimental in the end, but I loved it.  

Five stars for all three stories. Re-reading them reminded me that I need to read more Tanith Lee.