Review: The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance, edited by Trisha Telep
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Reading
The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance by Trisha Telep
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’m extremely surprised by how much I enjoyed this anthology! I picked it up intending to just read the stories by authors I know I like—Kelley Armstrong, Ilona Andrews, Carrie Vaughn, Holly Lisle, Jeaniene Frost, Maria V. Snyder. I had never heard of some of the other authors. A few names I remembered seeing in other anthologies and not enjoying their work.
I did, however, deliberately put myself in a tolerant mindset: this is a book of romance stories. It wouldn’t be fair to judge them as anything else.
That worked rather better than it has in the past. I still got a little annoyed at having so much of each story dedicated to couples (and all het/mono couples, at that!) rather than some intriguing world ideas, but managed to stay on track.
In the end, I only skipped one story—I just don’t like the Weather Wardens stuff at all. I found a couple of others substandard, but all in all, Telep chose very well. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys paranormal romance (maybe even those who usually stick to just romance), and most urban fantasy fans.
Tags: Carrie Vaughn, Holly Lisle, Ilona Andrews, Jeaniene Frost, Kelley Armstrong, Maria V. Snyder, Reading, The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance, Trisha Telep
Review: Hotter Than Hell
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Reading
Hotter Than Hell, the latest “Hell” anthology is edited and has an introduction by Kim Harrison. I don’t know if the sexier trend is her choice, a response to market demands, or something else again.
The anthology is thicker than most, with longer pieces–short novellas?–by each of the 13 authors. I read a copy from the library, but it’s one of the few anthologies that I’d consider worth the $7.99 cover price.
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Tags: anthology, Carrie Vaughn, Cheyenne McCray, dark fantasy, Denise Little, Fantasy, Heidi Betts, horror, Keri Arthur, Kim Harrison, L.A. Banks, Lilith Saintcrow, Linda Winstead Jones, Marjorie M. Liu, reviews, Susan Krinard, Susan Sizemore, Tanya Huff
Happy Wednesday!
Posted by Cyn | Filed under College, Education, Family, Homeschooling, Reading
Sam and I had a very nice date night while Katie was out with her beau. He had started making chili last night, finished it tonight, and added corn muffins. I’m not a big fan of chili (I won’t eat it if Sam didn’t make it), but it was a very satisfying meal.
The girl is doing very well in the online course she’s taking, and I’m happy to say that my semester is going well, too. It’s hard to believe that my baby will likely start college courses this summer or fall!
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Tags: Carrie Vaughn, Firefly, Garden of Good, John Ringo, Joss Whedon, Julie Cochrane, Julie Kenner, Kelley Armstrong, Kim Harrison, Lori Handeland, Lynsay Sands, Marjorie M. Liu, Monica Ferris, online course, Serenity, Tom Kratman, Vicki Pettersson
More Fun Reading from Carrie Vaughn
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Reading
I really needed another fiction author to follow, right? But I’ve seen this series of books about a werewolf named Kitty, and I finally got a chance to read them. I finished the first, Kitty and the Midnight Hour, today and jumped right into Kitty Goes to Washington. I have Kitty Takes a Holiday all lined up and ready to go, but I’m already wishing that I had the next volume, Kitty and the Silver Bullet. And that, my dears, is a sign of a fine author spinning a very good yarn, considering all the other books waiting and ready on my shelf.
The library has the books labeled as horror, but I’d put them in the paranormal romance/dark fantasy category. Happily, the “romance” part isn’t the most significant one, and doesn’t get in the way of good plot. There was a moment today when I wondered if “>Vaughn and Kim Harrison had shared a brain to a small extent, but they’ve dealt with a superficially similar issue in very different ways.
If it weren’t for the fact that I just finally got done with my school assignments for the week, and must get up when Sam does in the morning, I’d probably be sitting up reading!
Now I really need to find a source for these short stories, though. Any of you have the relevant magazine issues?
- “Kitty Loses Her Faith” Weird Tales, #333, Fall 2003
- “Kitty and the Mosh Pit of the Damned” Weird Tales #338, Jan-Feb 2006
- “Looking After Family” Realms of Fantasy, February 2007
- “Kitty’s Zombie New Year” Weird Tales #345
Tags: Books, Carrie Vaughn, dark fantasy, Kim Harrison, Kitty Loses Her, Kitty Norville, New Year's Day, romance, Washington, werewolves