(or Dorothy, as friend Rehan calls her)

the splendid Paul Magrs has written very kindly of Theodora here

which also leaves me with a question :
I haven’t read any of Angela Carter’s fiction (yes, I know, dreadful admission for grown up feminist writer – or reader! – to make), I had read her essays, but when Singling out the Couples came out and people started to say it was a little like her, I decided NOT to read her fiction precisely because, if I was to be compared to her (and I know it’s a compliment), I wanted to be able to say, quite honestly, that nothing I was writing was plagiarism disguised as ‘homage’! But now I think perhaps this self-imposed ban is just silly, and I’ve been denying myself something lovely – I know she also re-wrote fairy tales, and LOADS of writers have done that too, and I’ve made my own variations in the short stories where I’ve made up myths/fairy tales rather than re-writing … what do we think? Read Carter and risk finding my own work less utterly original than I might like? Or read Carter and be delighted by the comparison?

meanwhile, edited to add, a bit more here : Scotland on Sunday
I do like an interview that mentions Tokoroa!