Kirsty Logan's Favourite Modern Mythmakers

The beauty of a myth is that it never really dies: it just changes some details, some places and characters, and slips easily into any modern time. Here are my five favourite writers who also explore the meaning of myth, writing stories that are relevant to our modern world but also feel timeless.

Margo Lanagan
It's hard to choose a favourite from the rich, vivid worlds of Lanagan's fiction, but I want to highlight her short story collection Black Juice. Each story is its own universe, from the sinister and mesmerising "Singing My Sister Down" to the bizarre clown-horror "Red Nose Day". Lanagan perfectly balances outlandishness with a sense of realism, and every story is a treat. And you're in luck when you fall in love with Black Juice, as Lanagan has a great backlist of novels and collections, meaning plenty more worlds to explore.

Elizabeth Reeder
I love Reeder's debut book, Ramshackle, but it's in Fremont (which was actually written first, though published second) that her mythical sensibilities shine through. The novel follows the Fremont family, with each child named after a US state and embodying the geographical and cultural characteristics of that place. Reeder has named Angela Carter and Judy Budnitz as inspirations, and their influence is clear in her rich language and metaphorical characters.

Matt Bell
Bell's books are yet to be published in the UK, but it's worth ordering them in from the US to get absorb in his dense, mythic worlds. Start with In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods, which is a heartbreaking, metaphor-rich exploration of the limits of parenthood. In it, a newlywed couple escape to remote cabin with dreams of a simple life. But as pregnancy after pregnancy fails, the husband becomes enraged by the fact that his wife can create objects from her songs, but not a child.

Judy Budnitz
In the dark and delicious If I Told You Once, Budnitz shows us the many uses of enchantment. The novel spans four female generations: Nomie, Mara, Sashie and Ilana, the latter of whom starts the story with her life in a grey and fable-dense Easten European village. It's a land of wolves, handsome captains and forest spirits, and Ilana can't wait to abandon it for the shiny dreams of America. But fairytales aren't so easy to shake off, as Ilana and her descendents soon learn.

Andrew Kaufman
All My Friends Are Superheroes gets all the attention, but Kaufman's novella The Tiny Wife is a true delight. The finest sort of modern fable, it's uplifting and romantic with a massive dollop of weird. After a sentimental bank robbery, things start to go wrong: a tattoo comes to life, a man becomes a snowman, a woman made of sweets slowly diminishes herself to keep her children under control – and through it all, the narrator's wife is shrinking. With shades of Roald Dahl and of Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man, this book is tiny but perfect.


The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales by Kirsty Logan is out now from Salt.