Supernatural Fantasy
“Beast raised her head and growled. I opened my eyes. I was sitting in an oversized soft chair, trying to cure my headache with a cup of coffee. Dealing with intruders was the next to last thing on my want-to-do list this morning, the last thing being anything that involved werewolves.” 3.5 out of 5 [...]
Dead Neal track. 3 out of 5
A collection of okish bloody Norse fantasy. Wine of Ravens : Diminisher of Peace – Chris Howard Wine of Ravens : The Witch of Khoreios – Chris Howard Wine of Ravens : The Breaker of Gods – Chris Howard Wine of Ravens : The Feeder of Ravens – Chris Howard Wine of Ravens : Wonderdeed [...]
Head parasite plan. 3 out of 5
Arrow problem. 3 out of 5
Squinty hang. 3 out of 5
Priest bloodletting. 3 out of 5
“The subtle influence of the Mummy grew and grew. With time, as it dreamed of its ancient beloved land, and the house came to be filled with the very items that surrounded him three thousand years ago, it began to call upon others of its kind, and hence, more crates, more deliveries, more other mummies. [...]
Continue reading about Mansfield Park and Mummies 1-3 – Vera Nazarian
“As Marla approached, she let her goddess-vision rise, dispelling all illusions… but the woman by the water’s edge didn’t change at all. “You’re not a ghost,” Marla said, stepping beside Susan. “You’re not wearing a glamour of bent light and twisted perception, either. So what the fuck are you? Evil twin? Or, ha, good twin? [...]
Continue reading about Grim Tides 11 The Dead Walking on the Beach – Tim Pratt
A New England USA island setting with five supernatural families and one defunct. Which means they still might be supernatural. Emphasis on playing the conflict as per tv soap opera drama, with explicit rules for Face Offs that could be conflict from basketball to teary accusations to drowning. Required some clever media analysis to come [...]
Continue reading about White Picket Witches – Filamena Young
The White Rabbit has the Irishman, without Neil Gaiman honey. 3.5 out of 5 http://thrillbent.com/comics/arcanum/#18
In which a cool 20 grand is cleared. Each. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Shadowrun 4th ed RPG Twists and Turns Part 3 – Dice Storm
Necks, guns and megacorps. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Shadowrun 4th ed RPG Twists and Turns Part 2 – Dice Storm
In which there are enough PIs but not enough guns for sale. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Shadowrun 4th ed RPG Twists and Turns Part 1 – Dice Storm
“The lawn under the body opened and the corpse fell through. The dirt and grass closed behind it and smoothed themselves out.” 4 out of 5 http://demo.ilona-andrews.com/2012/10/chapter-2-part-2/
“I needed a weapon. Something with a reach. I concentrated. The broom flowed in my hand, its plastic turning into dark metal shot through with hairline fractures of glowing brilliant blue. A razor-sharp blade formed on one end, while the shaft of the broom elongated to seven feet. An old line from an Italian martial [...]
Continue reading about Clean Sweep: Chapter 02 Part 1 – Ilona Andrews
Dinosaurs. Crazy Russians ordered to genetically sample dinosaurs. Daikaiju. Lizards and moths. Parachute malfunctions. Whose pilots are afraid of geese when there are pterodactyls? Scary alien megaliths. Priestesses. Basically, Monster Island is a flexible module of guidelines of PC bad news and fun times for the Day After Ragnarok for Savage Worlds. 4 out of [...]
Continue reading about Serpent Scales 3: Return to Monster Island – Kenneth Hite
“The inn and I were bound so tightly, it was almost an extension of me. I could target any intrusion with pinpoint-accuracy. This particular intruder wasn’t moving. He was mulling about in one spot. The house was dark and quiet around me. I crossed the hallway, turned, and stopped at a door to the western [...]
“It wasn’t a mountain lion. A puma would’ve pinned the dog and bitten through the nape of his neck. Then she would’ve dragged him off or at least eaten the stomach and the insides. The thing that killed Brutus smashed his skull with a devastating blow. Then it scoured the dog’s sides and sliced its [...]
Werecoyote, nun? 3 out of 5 http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/family-teeth-part-6-st-polycarps-home-for-happy-wanderers/
Continue reading about Family Teeth 6 St. Polycarp’s Home For Happy Wanderers – Sarah Langan
You fix dogs. 2.5 out of 5 http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/family-teeth-part-5-american-jackal/
Continue reading about Family Teeth 5 American Jackal – J. T. Petty
Disastrous midwestern Jesus. 2.5 out of 5 http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/an-accounting/
” “Strictly speaking, it is by Cardinal Mazarin’s authority that I propose to you an offer of employment.” My laugh turned into a retching cough. “And what service could a broken-down Cavalier on death’s door do for the Cardinal?” De Bellièvre waved his hat expansively. “Your knowledge of soldiering is considerable, sir. The war here. [...]
Mage The Ascension was a fairly groundbreaking game, to me. Just like the GURPS version of Vampire the Masquerade, Steve Jackson’s shot at transporting a White Wolf game to their system just did not seem to measure up, which was a shame, as integrating that into other areas of GURPS would have been pretty cool. [...]
Continue reading about GURPS Mage: The Ascension – Robert M. Schroek
A genre blending game system. Shadowun takes cyberpunk and your standard sort of fantasy elves and blends the two to make a game system, which is maybe a bit odd, but not too badly done. So, spellcasting and hacking to be done all in the time of one game night A fairly straightforward set of [...]
Ichor, with feeling up. 4 out of 5 http://www.lauraannegilman.net/killer-lasagna/
A game in that whole White Wolf family. This one is a little lighter in tone, being set in and amonster the world and peoples of faerie and the fey. A lot of sneaking around and fooling the mortals, and hopefully not being disappeared by mages, eaten by werewolves or tormented by vampires. 3 out [...]
Continue reading about Changeling: The Dreaming – Mark Rein-Hagen
Magic statue, grandma. 3.5 out of 5 http://www.edgeofpropinquity.net/library.asp?id=316
Ghost guardian. 3 out of 5
Boredom removal age. 3 out of 5
Raven frighteners. 3 out of 5
Dead brother defense wins the gallows lord’s approval. 3.5 out of 5
Of recruiting collaborator girls and wolfskin magic. 3.5 out of 5
A hare recounts a hard life, shot, case etc. 3 out of 5 http://archive.org/details/mahatmandharedre00haggrich
Continue reading about The Mahatma and the Hare – H. Rider Haggard
A short, fun xmas collection. Pugilist’s Holiday : The Killer Fruitcake That Ate Petaluma – Ross E. Lockhart Pugilist’s Holiday : The Pugilist’s Holiday – Ross E. Lockhart Pugilist’s Holiday : Xmas Eve of the Living Dead – Ross E. Lockhart Pugilist’s Holiday : Catbox Christmas – Ross E. Lockhart Blown up, but still alive? [...]
Big corp focus. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Santa’s Christmas Eve Blues – Douglas Lindsay
Prignose cream. 2.5 out of 5 http://budgiehypoth.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/12daysffebook/
Continue reading about The Wrong Christmas Cookies – Matt Fraction
Virgin employee requirement, plastic antlers. 3.5 out of 5 http://budgiehypoth.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/12daysffebook/
Cry later. 2.5 out of 5 http://budgiehypoth.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/12daysffebook/
Double Nick. 2.5 out of 5 http://budgiehypoth.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/12daysffebook/
Continue reading about Hell Comes To Greenland – Jason Arnopp
Purple elf blood. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Why Can’t Reindeer Fly? – Neil Gaiman
“And after all, Jahallon didn’t know this land. He’d never visited the Citadel of the Snow Chanter, even though the bitter history that had kept him away was long since crumbled to dust. On this, his first journey into the heart of Samokea, he relied on a senior captain to guide the column, but Lanyon [...]
An inexperienced director looks to do a documentary about a famous eighties band. A group with a nasty past involved as one of the singers was murdered on the cusp of them signing a record deal. All centred in low-rent St Kilda with the drug dealers and prostitution and rather fine hamburgers that entailed. That [...]
Continue reading about The Price of Fame – Rowena Cory Daniells
Marla Mason hunts monsters with a severed head as a partner and tracker. 4 out of 5
Neolithic boy gone. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about Dawn By The Light Of A Barrow Fire – Patrick Samphire
Witchy tradition. 3.5 out of 5
Labour point. 2.5 out of 5 http://www.tor.com/stories/2012/12/the-ghosts-of-christmas
Continue reading about The Ghosts of Christmas – Paul Cornell
Paint kill. 3 out of 5 http://www.tor.com/stories/2012/08/portrait-of-lisane-de-patagnia
Continue reading about Portrait Of Lisane De Patagnia – Rachel Swirsky
Tombstone usually interesting. Fantasy Tombstone, maybe as well? Nope. This meanders slowly like a dodgy fat fantasy novel with a bad case of trilogitis around a journo and a horsebreaker amidst the Earps and Clantons and accuations of who is and is not a thief or a rustler to be quite dull, Ringo and Doc [...]
Haunt buried. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Ladies In Waiting – Albert E. Cowdrey
Test those gnomes. They might be leprechauns. 3.5 out of 5
Not a gorilla formula. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about The Problem of the Elusive Cracksman – Ron Goulart
Few coyote tricks. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Father Juniper’s Journey To The North – Grania davis
Gelfunsaga scorch. 3 out of 5
Ganesh waving art. 3 out of 5
Dead rules, no betting. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Wizard Of West 34th Street – Mike Resnick
Upyr eating. 3.5 out of 5
Closure fading. 3.5 out of 5
Pretty again. 3 out of 5 http://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/spring_2012/here_and_there_by_neal_barrett_jr
Wings whiskey house. 2.5 out of 5 http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/wonders_11_12/
Empress toughening takeover, with Jack Kirby. 3 out of 5 http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/goss_10_12/
Continue reading about England Under The White Witch – Theodora Goss
Dead baby fish and Nessie. 3 out of 5 http://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/other-worlds-sf/lavie-tidhar/seashells
Tale apprentice. 2.5 out of 5 http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/seven-smiles-and-seven-frowns/
Continue reading about Seven Smiles And Seven Frowns – Richard Bowes
Soul finances. 3.5 out of 5 http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/la-alma-perdida-de-marguerite-espinoza/
Continue reading about La Alma Perdida De Marguerite Espinoza – Jeremiah Tolbert
Life remember again. 3.5 out of 5 http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/as-the-wheel-turns/
Continue reading about As the Wheel Turns – Aliette de Bodard
Monster shoot overwrite. 3.5 out of 5 http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/a-well-adjusted-man/
“Rector “Wreck’em” Sherman was delivered to the Sisters of Loving Grace Home for Orphans the week it opened, on February 9, 1864. His precise age was undetermined, but estimated at approximately two years. He was filthy, hungry, and shoeless, wearing nothing on his feet except a pair of wool socks someone, somewhere, had lovingly knitted [...]
Falling bit. 3 out of 5 http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-suicides-guide-to-the-absinthe-of-perdition/
Continue reading about The Suicide’s Guide To The Absinthe Of Perdition – Megan Arkenberg
“I was giving the keynote address for the First International Conference on Paranatural Studies. I figured if I didn’t think about it too much I wouldn’t get nervous. “That would be no,” I said, with more of a wince than a smile. Shaun just laughed. Ben and I were the last to leave. We made [...]
Continue reading about Kitty Steals the Show 1 – Carrie Vaughn
A bit much mouth rabbit. 3 out of 5 http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/give-her-honey-when-you-hear-her-scream/
Continue reading about Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream – Maria Dhavana Headley
Swordwrite ghost colour. 3.5 out of 5 http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/ghost-river-red/
““No more than an hour. Less, I think. Your boy was very brave,” she added. “He led me through a number of back streets. I do not think Koury could follow.” “Let us hope.” Dabir looked as if he might say more, then asked, “How many pursue you?” “In the square there was only Koury [...]
Continue reading about Bones of the Old Ones 1 – Howard Andrew Jones
“A lock blocked the iron latch. He knew instinctively he couldn’t just climb over—if he did, he would find nothing but darkness on the other side. He fumbled frantically for the key in his pocket, the only key he had been given. The figure in the flounced dress had closed the distance between them to [...]
A fair percentage of kids. 3 out of 5 http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/lost/
Gaw Gaw ring. 3.5 out of 5 http://worldsf.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/tuesday-fiction-valletta-city-of-guilt-by-michael-vella/
Continue reading about Valetta City of Guilt – Michael Vella
Wizard world witch. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Love Is The Spell That Casts Out Fear – Desirina Boskovich
Storm sick and anthrax skin. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Feeding the Feral Children – Dave Wolverton
Cabal avoiding a zombie apocalypse. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Ereshkigal Working – Jonathan L. Howard
Spontaneous combustion assassination. 3 out of 5 http://www.tor.com/stories/2012/08/the-fire-gown
User agreements, even Elder Gods hates them. 5 out of 5
Continue reading about One-click Banishment – Jeremiah Tolbert
Spell guises competition. 3.5 out of 5
Party return. 3.5 out of 5
Jam Gan wizard problem. 3 out of 5
War is hell, pig was good. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about Too Fatal A Poison – Krista Hoeppner Leahy
Animal craze, with bird-woman. 3.5 out of 5
Magical Congress. 3 out of 5 http://www.johnjosephadams.com/way-of-the-wizard/free-fiction/so-deep-that-the-bottom-could-not-be-seen-—-genevieve-valentine/
Continue reading about So Deep That The Bottom Could Not Be Seen – Genevieve Valentine
Ace up the sleeve but can also use a Joker. 3.5 out of 5 http://www.johnjosephadams.com/way-of-the-wizard/free-fiction/card-sharp-rajan-khanna/
Bit of a pirate world. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Life So Dear Or Peace So Sweet – Charles Coleman Finlay
Saints and pigs. 2.5 out of 5
Continue reading about John Uskglass And The Cumbrian Charcoal Burner – Susanna Clarke
Lost and hungry. 3 out of 5
Gang and gate. 3 out of 5
Eating ways. 2.5 out of 5 http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/johnson_08_12/
Please shoot the royals. 2.5 out of 5
Continue reading about Catastrophic Disruption Of The Head – Margo Lanagan
Boring holy toe sucking sermon. 1.5 out of 5
Bone fix. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Corpse Painter’s Masterpiece – M. Rickert
Long choice. 3 out of 5
Coward ghost story. 2.5 out of 5
Continue reading about A Natural History Of Autumn – Jeffrey Ford
Sam Rant Count. 3 out of 5
Door trouble. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Jack Shade In the Forest of Souls – Rachel Pollack