If witches are your favourite part of Halloween from tall tales to spells, to amazing outfits then grab your inspiration from the newest hag this season.
Baba Yaga is the wild witch of Russian folklore and the focus of a new all-female horror anthology published through Black Spot Books entitled Into the Forest.
Deep in the dark forest, in a cottage that spins on birds’ legs behind a fence topped with human skulls, lives the Baba Yaga. A guardian of the water of life, she lives with her sisters and takes to the skies in a giant mortar and pestle, creating tempests as she goes. Those who come across the Baba Yaga may find help or hinderance, or horror.
Editor Lindy Ryan who brought the collection together explained: “Baba Yaga commands fear and respect and simultaneously awe and desire. She is both good and bad and this striking ambiguity is what makes her stand out from the more well-known fairy tale witches.”
Lindy first heard of the Baba Yaga through her stepmother who immigrated to the United States shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union. “Along with my stepsister and step-babushka, she brought borscht, matryoshka dolls, and Baba Yaga. I was seven years old, and my mother—an Alfred Hitchcock and Stephen King enthusiast—had already conditioned me with a love for darker stories. Sparkly, sanitized Disney-version fairy tales didn’t appeal to me as much as the original Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, and Hans Christian Andersen tales, where even the happiest of “happy endings” often involved bloodshed, mutilation, and—as in the case of “The Little Mermaid”—death by suicide.
I became enchanted by Baba, seeking out stories about her chicken-legged hut, her control of tempests, her hunger for children, her curious approach to home decor.”
According to Lindy she wanted the anthology to feature the voices of women from around the world who were unafraid to tell their stories, to tap into their own wildness and wickedness.
The collection is made up of 23 stories written by some of today’s leading women-in-horror from around the globe including New York Times bestselling authors such as Gwendolyn Kiste and Stephanie Wytovich. Alongside them are UK based writers Catherine McCarthy and Lindz McLeod who were selected from thousands of entries.
Lindz stated: “When I first started thinking about the story, I researched all her powers—one of the most interesting ones was her ability to use water as a mirror. I began to wonder if Baba Yaga could use a single drop as a mirror and, if so, did this ability only apply to water? Or would any liquid substance count, including sweat or blood? The idea took shape and eventually became my story, 'Wormwood', where Baba Yaga spies on a murderous husband and exacts revenge for the crime he recently committed.”
Catherine formed her story around the Baba Yaga as a peddler who makes and sells magical puzzle boxes that grant the heart’s desire. However, they can only be opened by boys who end up tricked and fodder for the witch.
Commenting on the anthology, Catherine said: “Within the collection there are the more traditional tales of the Baba Yaga, but there are also stories with a modern slant, complete with cell phones, as well as a story set during the Second World War, and even a story where Baba Yaga falls in love.”
Into The Forest edited by Lindy Ryan is out 08 November, published by Black Spots, priced £14.99 in paperback original.
