from her sex to take up a magical sword and fight
against her people’s enemies. The second title is
actually a prequel, establishing the background for
the action of the earlier book and describing a con-
flict that takes place on a political as well as a mag-
ical level. Some of the stories in A Knot in the
Grain and Other Stories(1994) take place in the
same setting. Her next novel, The Outlaws of Sher-
wood(1988), is a reinterpretation of the legend of
Robin Hood and is closer to her early work than
the previous two.
Deerskin(1993) appeared after a gap of several
years and is darker in tone than anything she had
written before. The young protagonist flees the
wrath of her father, the king, by passing into a
magical alternate world. Mixed with the usual de-
vices of fantasy is an insightful look into the less
pleasant recesses of the human mind, where sexu-
ality, greed, and the desire to impose one’s will on
another are all revealed in their least appealing
form. Rose Daughter(1997) is another transformed
fairy tale and is, in fact, a continuation of the story
begun in Beauty,exploring the ramifications of the
new relationship between the lovers. The Stone Fey
(1998) and Spindle’s End(2000) are for young
adults and are both based on classic fairy tales, Lit-
tle Bo Peep and Sleeping Beauty, respectively. Her
most recent novel, Sunshine(2003), is a consider-
able departure. The female protagonist is spared by
a vampire and then feels compelled to help him
survive. Although the subject is generally associ-
ated with the horror genre, McKinley’s treatment
is more like a contemporary fantasy.
McKinley’s short fiction has appeared primarily
in collections of previously unpublished work. Her
most recent, Water(2002), is an unusual collabora-
tion with her husband, the writer Peter Dickinson,
in that half of the stories are written by one and
half by the other, with no true collaborations. Al-
though most of her fiction is based on earlier sto-
ries, usually classic fairy tales, she almost always
brings a fresh viewpoint and turns the characters
into real people about whom the reader cares.
McNally, Clare(unknown)
Traditionally ghosts and haunted houses are not
particularly popular themes in American horror
fiction, although they do enjoy considerably more
respect in Europe. Occasionally there will be a
flurry of interest because of a particularly strong
novel, such as THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE
(1959) by Shirley JACKSON and GHOST STORY
(1979) by Peter STRAUB, but for the most part
American readers prefer more tangible horrors.
Clare McNally, who also writes conventional
thrillers, probably drew inspiration for her first hor-
ror novel, Ghost House(1979), from the Amityville
books, supposedly nonfiction when first published,
which describe a serious of bizarre manifestations
in an otherwise ordinary suburb. Although offering
no real surprises, McNally’s debut novel is a com-
petently done and occasionally scary story, popular
enough to lead to a similar though less interesting
sequel, Ghost House Revenge(1981).
The large audience for the nonsupernatural
thrillers by V. C. Andrews, in each of which the
characters in jeopardy are usually children, and the
similar though supernatural novels of John SAUL
may have caused McNally to sharpen her focus,
because ghostly children and children in danger
figure prominently in her subsequent work. A
vengeful child ghost seeks vengeance from beyond
the grave in Ghost Light(1982). In What About the
Baby?(1983) a 19th-century woman uses magical
powers to contact the present and influence the
thoughts of a pregnant teenager. There is another
angry ghost child in Somebody Come and Play
(1987), this one more overt in its actions, luring
other children to remote areas where they can be
killed. On this occasion McNally makes the
ghostly presence more sympathetic and complex
despite its horrible acts, and it is the first of her
novels to suggest that she had the capacity to write
more than routine thrillers.
Addison House(1988) returns to the haunted
house format, but this time with more subtlety.
The living and unliving are so intermixed that they
are sometimes indistinguishable, and the result is
an almost surreal series of encounters and interac-
tions. Although children are still the primary
focus, the adult characters are portrayed in much
more detail. Hear the Children Calling.. .(1990)
and Cries of the Children(1992) both deal with psy-
chic powers, but both are more adventurous than
chilling, consisting of chases and revealed secrets.McNally, Clare 237