Good bones and simple murders

Murder in the dark -- Bad news -- Unpopular gals -- The Little Red Hen tells all -- Gertrude talks back -- There was once -- Women's novels -- The boys' own annual, 1911 -- Stump hunting -- Making a man -- Men at sea -- Simmering -- Happy endings -- Let us now praise stupid women -- The victory burlesk -- She -- The female body -- Cold-blooded -- Liking men -- In love with Raymond Chandler -- Simple murders -- Iconography -- Alien territory -- My life as a bat -- Hardball -- Bread -- Poppies: three variations -- Homelanding -- The page -- An angel -- Third handed -- Death scenes -- We want it all -- Dance of the lepers -- Good bones

If Atwood keeps a journal, perhaps some of the brief selections in this slender volume--postmodern fairy tales, caustic fables, inspired parodies, witty monologues--come from that source. The 35 entries offer a sometimes whimsical, sometimes sardonic, view of the injustices of life and the battles of the sexes. Such updated fairy tales as ``The Little Red Hen Tells All'' (she's a victim of male chauvinism) and ``Making a Man'' (the Gingerbread man is the prototype) are seen with a cynical eye and told in pungent vernacular. ``Gertrude Talks Back'' is a monologue by Hamlet's mother, a randy woman ready for a roll in the hay, who is exasperated with her whiny, censorious teenage son. Several pieces feature women with diabolical intentions-witches, malevolent goddesses, etc. There are science fiction scenarios, anthropomorphic confessionals (``My Life as a Bat'') and an indictment of overly aggressive women that out-Weldons Fay Weldon. While each of these entries is clever and sharply honed, readers will enjoy dipping into them selectively; a sustained reading may call up an excess of bile. Atwood has provided striking black-and-white illustrations.