American Ghosts and Old World Wonders is a posthumously published anthology of short fiction by Angela Carter. It was first published in the United Kingdom in 1993 by Chatto & Windus Ltd. and contains a collection of nine stories, one half of which deal with American folklore and the other with older myths and fairytales. It is introduced by Susannah Clapp.
Angela Olive Carter-Pearce, who published under the pen name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picaresque works. She is best known for her book The Bloody Chamber, which was published in 1979. In 2008, The Times ranked Carter tenth in their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". In 2012, Nights at the Circus was selected as the best ever winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
Susannah Clapp is a British writer, who has been the theatre critic of The Observer since 1997 and is a contributor to the BBC's Nightwaves.
The book is divided into two parts, the first (concerned with America) consists of "Lizzie's Tiger", "John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore", "Gun for the Devil" and "The Merchant of Shadows".
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Part two (concerned with Europe: the "Old World") contains "The Ghost Ships", "In Pantoland", "Ashputtle or The Mother's Ghost", "Alice in Prague or The Curious Room" and "Impressions: The Wrightsman Magdalene".
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia.
The term "Old World" is used commonly in the West to refer to Africa, Asia and Europe, regarded collectively as the part of the world known to its population before contact with the Americas and Oceania. It is used in the context of, and contrasts with, the New World.
The anthology's contents are also reprinted in the volume Burning Your Boats, which features all of Carter's short fiction.
Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories (1995) is a posthumously-published collection of Angela Carter's short stories. It includes stories previously collected in her other short story collections: Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces (1974), The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories (1979), Black Venus (1985) and American Ghosts and Old World Wonders (1993) as well as six previously un-collected stories. The book also includes an introduction by author Salman Rushdie.
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Linwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin. He is best known for his work in the 1970s as editor of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, which introduced readers to many overlooked classics of the fantasy genre.
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Joseph Hillstrom King, better known by the pen name Joe Hill, is an American author and comic book writer. His work includes the novels Heart-Shaped Box (2007), Horns (2010), NOS4A2 (2013), and The Fireman (2016); the short story collections 20th Century Ghosts (2005) and Strange Weather (2017); and the comic book series Locke & Key (2008–2013). Locke & Key won British Fantasy Awards in 2009 and 2012, and an Eisner Award in 2012.
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Everett Franklin Bleiler was an American editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" series of science fiction anthologies, and his Checklist of Fantastic Literature has been called "the foundation of modern SF bibliography". Among his other scholarly works are two Hugo Award–nominated volumes concerning early science fiction—Science-Fiction: The Early Years and Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years—and the massive Guide to Supernatural Fiction.
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New Worlds for Old is an anthology of fantasy short stories, edited by American writer Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in September 1971 as the thirty-fifth volume of its Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. It was the fourth such anthology assembled by Carter for the series.
Golden Cities, Far is an anthology of fantasy short stories, edited by American writer Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in October 1970 as the twenty-second volume of its Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. It was the third such anthology assembled by Carter for the series.
Double Phoenix is an anthology of two short fantasy novels by Edmund Cooper and Roger Lancelyn Green, edited by American writer Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in November 1971 as the thirty-seventh volume of its Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. It was the sixth anthology assembled by Carter for the series.
Black Venus is a collection of short fiction by Angela Carter. It was first published in the United Kingdom in 1985 by Chatto & Windus Ltd. and contains eight stories, the majority of which are concerned with re-imagining the lives of certain figures in history, with a particular emphasis on some well known through literature.
Flashing Swords! #3: Warriors and Wizards is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by American writer Lin Carter. It was first published in hardcover by Nelson Doubleday in 1976 as a selection in its Science Fiction Book Club, and in paperback by Dell Books in August 1976. The first German edition was issued by Pabel in November 1978.
Olivia Howard Dunbar (1873–1953) was an American short story writer, journalist and biographer, best known today for her ghost fiction.
