The Bloody Chamber

A 1979 Short Story anthology by Angela Carter based around the gothic retelling of old fairy tales.


 * The eponymous story is a retelling of "Bluebeard".
 * "The Courtship of Mr. Lyon" and "The Tiger's Bride" are based on "Beauty and The Beast".
 * "Puss-In-Boots" is a bawdy commedia piece, inspired by "Puss in Boots".
 * "The Erl-King" is based on the legend of "The Erl King".
 * "The Lady in the House of Love" is "Sleeping Beauty" ...with vampires!
 * "The Snow-Child" is "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs", minus the dwarfs.
 * "The Werewolf" and "The Company of Wolves" are takes on "Little Red Riding Hood" ...with werewolves!
 * "Wolf-Alice" has elements of "Beauty and The Beast", "Little Red Riding Hood" and Alice in Wonderland.


 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: Genre Savvy Puss-in-Boots is well-aware of this trope and suggests that the best way to woo an unattainable woman is to "convince her her orifice will be your salvation, and she's yours!"
 * All Men Are Perverts: A common theme in Carter's stories, but taken to an extreme in "The Snow Child". There is a very unpleasant scene in which a, just because he can. It is awful.
 * A Man Is Not a Virgin: Averted in "The Lady In The House Of Love" - the hero's virginity is mentioned several times, and hinted to give him Virgin Power.
 * Big Damn Heroes: The heroine's mother in "The Bloody Chamber". Also serves as a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
 * Disappeared Dad: In "The Bloody Chamber".
 * Grimmification
 * Humanoid Abomination: The Erl-King could be argued to be this. Appearing as a peculiar green tree-like man that represents the feral side of humanity, he has a tendency to, as well as being able to control the forest and its inhabitants. He is also not a nice guy.
 * Lighter and Softer: If this trope can apply within a work, then "Puss-in-Boots" fits, being a Restoration sex comedy amidst mostly Gothic horror. "The Courtship of Mr. Lyon" is also not a horror story.
 * Mama Bear: The heroine's mother in "The Bloody Chamber".
 * Missing Mom: "The Courtship of Mr Lyon" and "The Tiger's Bride".
 * Our Vampires Are Different: In "The Lady in the House of Love".
 * Our Werewolves Are Different: Werewolves figure in several stories.
 * Parental Abandonment: Crops up a lot in the form of Missing Mom and Disappeared Dad.
 * Retired Badass: The heroine's mother in "The Bloody Chamber". She had already dealt with pirates, nursed back to health a plague ravaged village, and singelhandedly shot and killed a maneating tiger, all before she was even 18. She comes out of retirement at the very end of the story.