Book Description:The editors of Many Bloody Returns deliver the perfect howl-iday gift, with new tales from Patricia Briggs, Carrie Vaughn, and many more. New York Times bestselling authors Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Keri Arthur, and Carrie Vaughn—along with eleven other masters of the genre—offer all-new stories on werewolves and the holidays, a fresh variation on the concept that worked so well with birthdays and vampires in Many Bloody Returns. The holidays can bring out the beast in anyone. They are particularly hard for lycanthropes. Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner have harvested the scariest, funniest and saddest werewolf tales by an outstanding pack of authors, best read by the light of a full moon with a silver bullet close at hand. Whether wolfing down a holiday feast (use your imagination) or craving some hair of the dog on New Year’s morning, the werewolves in these frighteningly original stories will surprise, delight, amuse, and scare the pants off readers who love a little wolfsbane with their mistletoe.
There are 15 stories in this collection. Some good, some not so good, and some that barely register for one reason or another. Usually I like to break up anthology reviews by each story, but in this case I going to just review it in three posts covering five stories each. Here are the second five:
Review: "Fresh Meat" by Alan Gordon is a quiet unassuming tale about a dog trainer who has an uncanny gift for communication with the animals (one guess why). But being a werewolf causes more problems then it solves when his furry secret costs him the only woman he's ever loved and, on Christmas Eve, threatens to take his life as well. The author claims to be working on a book based on this character. I liked this story, but it probably isn't the kind I'd read more of.
Sexual Content: None
Review: "II Est Né" by Carrie Vaughn has us spending a lonely Christmas Eve with werewolf DJ Kitty at a local Waffle House when in walks a new werewolf who may inadvertently be responsible for a series of murders. You don't really have to worry about spoilers if you're new to this series or haven't read up through Kitty Takes a Holiday (this story occurs chronically just prior to the events in that book). Warm, fuzzy feelings abound by the end.
Sexual Content: None
Review: "The Perfect Gift" by Dana Stabenow presents a confusing story that starts out with a group discussing the idea of 'thinning the herd' of predators, then jumps to a police investigation of a family of murderers. A couple people turn out to be/become werewolves. The correlation between the two scenes was not clear. Suffice it to say this one made very little sense and was my least favorite story in this anthology.
Sexual Content: None
The only thing Hannah wants for Christmas is a good time with her family–what she gets instead is a vampire intent on bloody rampage, and a werewolf determined to make up for mistakes made Christmas past.-Keri Arthur.
Review: "Christmas Past" by Keri Arthur (best known for her Riley Jenson Guardian series(. Good characterizations here as Keri introduces us to a paranormal police partnership between a psychic and her ex boyfriend werewolf as they hunt down a vampire serial killer. This story definitely fits into the paranormal romance category as there is a scene of sensuality.
Sexual Content: A scene of sensuality
Review: "SA" by Joe Konrath (best known for his Jack Daniels mystery series) starts out with a troubled man carrying a box of poop to his doctor. Seems he's been very troubled by the things in his toilet lately: zippers, rocks, clothes...he ends up in a church basement sharing his fears about what he's become with the local SA - Shapeshifters Anonymous. What they reveal to him about his own origins will never let you look at Santa and the Salvation Army the same way again. By far the most irreverent story here and the funniest.
Sexual Content: None
Product Details
Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Ace Hardcover (October 7, 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0441016332
- ISBN-13: 978-0441016334
What a great collaboration of Authors
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