Supernatural Fantasy
Psychic chef finds kid killer. 3.5 out of 5
Agent Killarney is involved in a complex post WWII scenario as someone killing off the occupying Archangels for their own purposes. Not to mention trying to do the same bumping off to her. There is a larger war at hand and planned thanks to a certain Butcher of Auschwitz. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about An Occupation of Angels – Lavie Tidhar
Your mama is not ok. 3 out of 5
Short fantasy collection with a good longer first story, the other two slight. Never Ever After : A Serca Tale – Ruth Nestvold Never Ever After : King Orfeigh – Ruth Nestvold Never Ever After : Happily Ever Awhile – Ruth Nestvold Some Irish marriage problems. 3.5 out of 5 Sidhe music. 3 out of [...]
Sidhe music. 3 out of 5
Some Irish marriage problems. 3.5 out of 5
A third solid entry in this series as now High Priest Acatl has to deal with murder and worse in a magical epidemic. As he has grown to realise more and more, these things are usually the results of a power struggle from those passed over or yet to come into more power – even [...]
Continue reading about Master of the House of Darts – Aliette de Bodard
The son of Philip of Macedon? Alexander of Macedon. Yeah, that Great guy with the big black horse that took a fancy to taking over the world. First he has to survive being a kid and kidnapped into another universe that still has centaurs and minotaurs. Then getting Greece together with Parmenion’s help so they [...]
Buy a book or us dead guys will get you. 3.5 out of 5
Bullets work on magical people, too. 3.5 out of 5 http://kriswrites.com/2012/01/16/free-fiction-monday-the-thrill-of-the-hunt/
Continue reading about The Thrill of the Hunt – Kristine Kathryn Rusch
A bit of Hel game. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about Tecate For Hecate – Kevin Andrew Murphy
Bargain killing. 2.5 out of 5
Continue reading about Soccer Mom Smackdown – Julia S. Mandala
Spiked end of kid game. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about The Vampire Shortstop – Scott Nicholson
Birkin House and suicide and ghosts. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about Of Time and Dust – Steven Savile and Steve Lockley
Thing for furry. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Thing About Werewolves – Lisa Tuttle
When the vampire puts the whammy on you. 3.5 out of 5
Daughter makes me batty. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about If Music Be The Food Of Love – Dave Freer
Vamp powers. 3 out of 5
A very bad anthology that manages a woeful 2.87 full. Full of dull mediocre adn poor stories, Sherman, Butcher and Shepard aside. And a little imagination from Kressel, at least. Speaking of imagination, lot of writers can’t imagine outside the USA when all of fantasy is there to play with. Avoid. Naked City : Curses [...]
Shafted apart. 2.5 out of 5
Continue reading about The Colliers’ Venus – Caitlin R. Kiernan
Dead photography. 3.5 out of 5
No point industry. 2 out of 5
Continue reading about Daddy Long Legs of the Evening – Jeffrey Ford
Cannibal live. 3 out of 5
Filling up twist. 2.5 out of 5
Semiautomatic no-no. 3 out of 5
Beltrane lost her. 3 out of 5
Magician book. 3 out of 5
Oh, Wings. 2.5 out of 5
For spooky types. 2.5 out of 5
Troll grab. 3 out of 5
Quinn Wall. 3 out of 5
A Hand For Each : A Hand For Each – J. Kathleen Cheney A Hand For Each : Masks Of War – J. Kathleen Cheney A Hand For Each : Fleurs Du Mal – J. Kathleen Cheney Heart squeeze for bodies. 3.5 out of 5 Entrenched guilt. 3 out of 5 Fruity body supply. 3.5 [...]
Continue reading about A Hand For Each Three Short Stories – J. Kathleen Cheney
Fruity body supply. 3.5 out of 5 http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/story.php?s=90
Heart squeeze for bodies. 3.5 out of 5 http://jkathleencheney.wordpress.com/free-fiction/a-hand-for-each/
Two ghosts. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Early Winter Near Jen-Li Village – J. Kathleen Cheney
Horse war. 3 out of 5
The odd puca. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Snow Comes To Hawk’s Folly – J. Kathleen Cheney
Healing and demon. 3 out of 5
Not really as advertised, and the description data seems completely unrelated to the title. A hell of a lot of mundane and dull for something that is supposed to be ‘Extreme’. Far less successful than the science fiction version. Mammoth Book of Extreme Fantasy : Senator Bilbo – Andy Duncan Mammoth Book of Extreme Fantasy [...]
Continue reading about The Mammoth Book of Extreme Fantasy – Mike Ashley
Bad meal. 2 out of 5
Is Mama. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Fence At The End Of The World – Melissa Mia Hall
The Baumoff Explosive – William Hope Hodgsonhttp://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0605781.txt Light interruption = Boom. 3.5 out of 5 http://freesf.strandedinoz.com/wordpress/2007/06/the-baumoff-explosive-william-hope-hodgson/
Continue reading about Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani – William Hope Hodgson
Dying long. 2.5 out of 5
I’d shrug, too. 2 out of 5
Continue reading about Using It and Losing It – Jonatham Lethem
Orange Blossom monster Queen. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about Master Lao And The Flying Horror – Lawrence Person
And a bit more. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Old House Under the Snow – Rhys Hughes
Flamer. 2.5 out of 5
Devilishly slow. 2.5 out of 5
Continue reading about Dream A Little Dream For Me – Peter Crowther
Problems with dead granddad, etc. 3 out of 5 http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/fall-2011/fiction-balfour-and-meriwether-in-the-vampire-of-kabul-by-daniel-abraham/
Continue reading about Balfour And Meriwether In The Vampire Of Kabul – Daniel Abraham
Maybe partners in this stuff. 3 out of 5 http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/fall-2011/fiction-antiquities-and-tangibles-by-tim-pratt/
Continue reading about Antiquities And Tangibles – Tim Pratt
Coyote game. 3 out of 5 http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/fall-2011/fiction-white-lines-on-a-green-field-by-catherynne-m-valente/
Continue reading about White Lines On A Green Field – Catherynne M. Valente
With music. 3.5 out of 5 http://www.flurb.net/11/11anders.htm
Continue reading about Fairy Werewolf vs Vampire Zombie – Charlie Jane Anders
Which Judgement Day? 3 out of 5
Set in a time around 100 years after 300 Spartans delayed a Persian army, Parmenion is a half-Macedonian Spartan training to be a warrior. And getting lots of racist abuse while doing so. Luckily for him the famous Xenophon (yes, that one) lends a hand and keeps him from getting himself killed after killing in [...]
Some living Vikings, a big dead Viking, a dwarf and a woman bad with jewellery. 4 out of 5
A very mediocre collection of stories, made worse by the sameness. Apparently there are no strange streets in Europe, Asia, Africa or Oceania going by this selection. The fantasy writers write about the USA, the historical writers, Rome. So bonus points to Gabaldon and Denton at least for being a bit more interesting. Mediawise, of [...]
Continue reading about Down These Strange Streets – Gardner Dozois and George R. R. Martin
Aleutian military magic. 3 out of 5
Werewolf detective. 3 out of 5
Gargoyles and bits. 2.5 out of 5
Continue reading about The Curious Affair Of The Deodand – Lisa Tuttle
Bit of a monster. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Difference Between A Puzzle And A Mystery – Daniel Abraham
Old one deal. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about No Mystery No Miracle – Melinda M. Snodgrass
Spirit feel. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Lady Is A Screamer – Conn Iggulden
Vampire problem. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about It’s Still the Same Old Story – Carrie Vaughn
Shadowspawn kill. 3 out of 5
Find Tootie. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about The Bleeding Shadow – Joe R. Lansdale
Head off. 2.5 out of 5
And Santa’s coming to get them. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Shapeshifters Anonymous – J. A. Konrath
Spirit brothers. 3 out of 5
Truth Fairy web. 3 out of 5 http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/new/new-fiction/crystal-halloway-and-the-forgotten-passage/
Continue reading about Crystal Halloway and the Forgotten Passage – Seanan McGuire
Javelina creep dead sorry. 3 out of 5
I read the excerpt and thought this is just another novel – although a Northern Ireland seventies setting appealed as a refreshing change of pace, so I didn’t get back to it for a while. Luckily, it improves enough to go over the 3.5 range enough to round up to 4, with the story of [...]
Mallet saw. 3 out of 5
If a woman wants you to pay her to have sex with her after she is dead – might just not be human. 3.5 out of 5
Sleigh fixing. 3 out of 5 http://kriswrites.com/2011/12/19/free-fiction-monday-christophers-crummy-christmas/
Continue reading about Christopher’s Crummy Christmas – Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Enough Elf stuff. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Into the Gathering Dark – Darrell Schweitzer
Dead time soldier. 2.5 out of 5 http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/new/new-fiction/torn-away/
Dead Towns take bits. 3 out of 5 http://www.edgeofpropinquity.net/library.asp?id=387
Stay not from me that veil of dreams that gives Strange seas and and skies and lands and curious fire, Black dragons, crimson moons and white desire, That through the silvery fabric sifts and sieves Strange shadows, shades and all unmeasured things, And in the sifting lends them shapes and wings And makes them known [...]
I am the symbol of Creation and Destruction I am the beginning and the end. With my tail in my mouth I am the Circle of Eternity. Wisdom is in my eyes And the dusk of wisdom lurks amid my coils. My track circles the world And I loop my coils around the Universe. My [...]
The sea, the sea, the rolling sea! High flung, wide swinging, so wild and free, The leaping waves with their white-capped crest The plunge and lunge on the ocean’s breats Like wild, white horses racing free, With the swing of the rolling, surging sea! The white sea cloud that drifts like a dream; The sea-gulls [...]
Divine Nu Wa. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about The Gifts Of Li Tzu-ch’eng – Derek Kunsken
Slow sift the sands of Time; the yellowed leaves Go drifting down an old and bitter wind; Across the frozen moors the hedges stand In tattered garments that the frost have thinned. A thousand phantoms pluck my ragged sleeve, Wan ghosts of souls long into darkness thrust. Their pale lips tell lost dreams I thought [...]
I saw a mermaid sporting in the bay, Far down, far down where blew no roaring gale; About her snowy shoulders flashed the spray, The waves played emerald at her sinewy tail; She swam a jade and golden, star-set way, Where all the rainbow colors seemed to play— She vanished at the Swedish captain’s hail [...]
“He caught up with the boy as the boy was turning away from the canal, down a narrow soi. People passed them both but the observer ignored them, his attention trained on the boy. He caught up with him in the shadow of a doorway and put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. The boy [...]
Elf death, North. 3.5 out of 5 http://angryrobotbooks.com/2011/12/12-days-of-christmas-–-day-3-chris-f-holm/
“A roach sits paralyzed in the middle of the floor. “Shoo,” she says. “Fuck off. You’re free to go.” The roach does as it’s told. Itboogies under the pull-down bed, relieved. Back to the mirror, then. “They always said you were an old soul,” she mutters. Tonight she’s really feeling it.” 3.5 out of 5 [...]
Continue reading about Blackbirds 1 The Death of Del Amico – Chuck Wendig
Dead dad conversation. 3.5 out of 5 http://kriswrites.com/2011/12/12/free-fiction-monday-the-last-christmas-letter/
Continue reading about The Last Christmas Letter – Kristine Kathryn Rusch
I am a golden lure. I am the laughter of false goddesses. I go disguised as Love. Men are my slaves. Women are my slaves. I am a goddess and the world is my shrine. I am the night wind Blowing through the leaves. I am the moonlight of a hidden glade. I am starlight [...]
Laughter’s the lure of the gods; therefore must ye laugh Mocking Destiny’s nods, a strong wind driving the chaff 3 out of 5 http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Laughter
Maidens of star and of moon, born from the mists of the age, I thrill to the touch of your hands, in the night when the shadows are o’er me. Your eyes are like the gulfs of the night, your limbs are like ivory gleaming— But your lips are more red than is mortal, and [...]
Continue reading about Ivory In the Night – Robert E. Howard
A couple of blokes are actually able to do some real magic tricks after some training with a professor. So of course you use them to try and win money at Blackjack in Las Vegas. Which brings them to the attention of the local organised crime magic Cabal, who has to decide whether to bump [...]
Little dolphin time. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about Fruit Of The Pipal Tree – Thoraiya Dyer
I stood upon surf-booming cliffs And heard the tide-race roaring, roaring strong and deep and free; On tall wind wings the white clouds sudded by. Far to the eat the ocean met the sky And the booming cliffs re-echoed to the thunder of the sea. Green are the waves and fringed with white the crest: [...]
Various types of women. 3 out of 5
The stars beat up from the shadowy sea, The caves of the coral and pearl, And the night is afire with a red desire For the loins of a golden girl. You have left your girdle upon the beach, And you wade from the pulsing land, And the hot tide darts your secret parts That [...]
Continue reading about The Heart of the Sea’s Desire – Robert E. Howard
They set me up on high, a marble saint, As if to guard the virtue of the park. My flanks are gaunt, my gaze is cold and stark, For I must look the part the liars paint, They’ve cleansed my history of fleshy taint. The elders bid the younger people mark How virtuous I gleam [...]
Continue reading about A Great Man Speaks – Robert E. Howard
I carved a woman out of marble when The walls of Athens echoed to my fame, And in the myrtle crown was shrined my name. I wrought with skill beyond all mortal ken. And into cold inhuman beauty then I breathed a touch of white and living flame – And from her pedestal she rose [...]
Mananan Mac Lir The son of the sea Is sib unto me At the break of the year. In the white autumn tides The ghost drums call When the midnights fall, And the ghost ship rides Where the green waves crawl. I break the loam By a Kerry hill— They beckon me still Through the [...]
Continue reading about Feach Air Muir Lionadhi Gealach Buidhe Mar Or – Robert E. Howard
I am older than the world: Older than life. The race of man is a babe in the cradle of Time. I am Alpha and Omega. The first and the last; The circle without end. I am a serpent with its tail in its mouth; I am a triangle whose tips overlap a circle. I [...]
I live in a world apart A world that has no link with this drab earth. A vague, melodious world, where breezes start Soft joys and gay-hued mirth. 3 out of 5 http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dreamer_(Howard)
