Title: Those Who Fight Monsters Editor: Justin Gustainis Series: N/A Cover Art: N/A Genre: Urban Fantasy Excerpt: Yes Source: Author Reviewed by: Abigail Paperback: 240 pages Publisher: EDGE Science Fiction & Fantasy; 1st edition (March 1, 2011) ISBN-10: 1894063481 ISBN-13: 978-1894063487 Sexual Content: See each story My Rating: Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying.

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Description

Got Vampires? Ghosts? Monsters? We Can help!

Those Who Fight Monsters: Tales of Occult Detectives, is your one-stop-shop for Urban Fantasy’s finest anthology of the supernatural. 14 sleuths are gathered together for the first time in all-original tales of unusual cases which require services that go far beyond mere deduction!

Those Who Fight Monsters: Tales of Occult Detectives brings together popular characters from many Urban Fantasy paranormal investigative series, for your enjoyment.

Meet the Detectives:
Danny Hendrickson - from Laura Anne Gilman’s Cosa Nostradamus series.
Kate Connor - from Julie Kenner’s Demon Hunting Soccer Mom series.
John Taylor - from Simon R. Green’s Nightside series.
Jill Kismet - from Lilith Saintcrow’s Jill Kismet series.
Jessi Hardin - from Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series.
Quincey Morris - from Justin Gustainis’ Morris/Chastain Investigations series.
Marla Mason - from T. A. Pratt’s Marla Mason series.
Tony Foster - from Tanya Huff’s Smoke and Shadows series.
Dawn Madison - from Chris Marie Green’s Vampire Babylon series.
Pete Caldecott - from Caitlin Kittredge’s Black London series.
Tony Giodone - from C. T. Adams and Cathy Clamp’s Tales of the Sazi series.
Jezebel - from Jackie Kessler’s Hell on Earth series.
Piers Knight - from C. J. Henderson’s Brooklyn Knight series.
Cassiel - from Rachel Caine’s Outcast Season series.

Demons may lurk, werewolves may prowl, vampires may ride the wind. These are things that go bump in the night, but we are the ones who bump back!

Review

Little Better than a Beast (a Marla Mason story)
by T.A. Pratt

Have you met Marla Mason, chief sorcerer of the city of Felport?  She’s ‘an ass-kicking sorcerer who doesn’t wear a leather catsuit, doesn’t suffer from low self-esteem, doesn’t wallow in angst, and is almost always absolutely certain she’s right… even when she’s dead wrong. ‘  In our brief acquaintance, that description fits her to a tee. She’s a lot to take at times, but endlessly entertaining.  In Little Better than a Beast, Marla has to face a time traveling Beast and the chauvinistic sorcerer who hitched a ride with it into modern day. 
Sexual Content: None. Rating 3/5

Dusted (a Cosa Nostradamus story)
by Laura Anne Gilman

The Cosa Nostradamus is “the name given to the entire magical community – Human Talent and non-human ‘fatae.’ Also the all-encompassing name for the books set in the world of the Cosa Nostradamus, including the Retrievers and P.S.I series.” In Dust, we are introduced to Danny Hendrickson a half-faun PI working in New York City.  If you like Harry Dresden, you’re going to love Danny.  They could be brothers except for the whole horns thing. Very similar dry wit and pragmatism.  Brute strength isn’t his strength, but he’s determined and willing to bend the rules to solve a case, in this story, it’s tracking down a teenager who was lured away by fairies. 

Sexual Content: Some discussion of sexual awakening in regards to a minor. Rating 4/5

The Demon You Know (a Demon-Hunter Soccer Mom story)
by Julie Kenner

Chronologically, this story falls between DEJA DEMON and DEMON EX MACHINA and features grown up Buffy-like Kate Conner and, a first for this series, her teenage daughter Allie fending off a demon drop out at a college party. This was my first foray into this series and I found the mother daughter relationship to be a refreshing changeup from the normal UF relationships.  A fun, smart story that manages to convey a lot of series/world building info while still delivering a satisfying story. 
Sexual Content: None. Rating 4/5

The Spirit of the Thing (a Nightside story)
by Simon R. Green

John Taylor is a P.I. in the Nightshade, a “otherworldly realm in the center of London where fantasy and reality share renting space and the sun never shines.”  He’s hired to investigate liquor tampering in a seedy bar and ends up helping a beautiful ghost solve her own murder.  Nightshade stories are always a bittersweet treat and seem particularly suited to the short story format.  A highlight for the anthology. Sexual Content: None. Rating 4/5

Holding the Line (a Jill Kismet story)
by Lilith Saintcrow

Jill Kismet is a Hunter in Santa Luz.  She wages war with demons and other hellspawn on a daily basis.  Holding the Line has her attempting a rescue mission when her teacher/mentor Mikhail goes missing.   I can tell my enjoyment of this story suffered by my ignorance of the series overall. I found Jill too cold and hard to be sympathetic and the story itself overly detailed for this length.

Sexual Content: None. Rating 2/5

Defining Shadows (a Detective Jessi Hardin story)
by Carrie Vaughn

Set in the Kitty Norville universe (and even featuring a cameo from Cormac and a Kitty name drop) Defining Shadows was one of the most surprising stories in this collection and plays off a little know myth about a Philippino Vampire.  It was creepy and reminded me of Diana Rowland’s Kara Gillian UF/Police procedure series.  One of my favorites ever from Carrie Vaughn.

Sexual Content: None. Rating 4/5

Deal Breaker (a Quincey Morris story)
by Justin Gustainis

Quincy Morris--descendant of the Morris who hunted Dracula--is an Occult Investigator.  Deal Breaker is a quiet, unassuming story about a desperate man who finds Quincy only hours before a demon is due to collect his soul.  There’s no action, no crazy fight scenes, no magical duels, and yet this was my favorite story in the whole anthology. It’s cool and clever without having to lift a finger. 

Sexual Content: None. Rating 4/5

See Me (a Smoke and Shadows story)
by Tanya Huff

I used to love Tanya Huff’s Vicki Nelson series about a visually impaired detective who ends up working with a 450 year old vampire.  But I had a bad falling out with the series after book 3 specifically because of how the character Tony, who is the protagonist in this spinoff series, was treated.  I wasn’t going back there and did not make it through this one.

Sexual Content: Prostitution. Homosexuality. References to sex etc... Rating N/A

Soul Stains (a Vampire Babylon story)
by Chris Marie Green

Dawn Madison, ex vampire turned hunter, and her crew are following up on reports that a dead Hollywood starlet has been haunting a club in Vegas.  Dawn and her crew suspect the ghost maybe a surviving vampire from a nest they recently destroyed.  I definitely felt lost in this story having not read the series.  I didn’t fully understand Dawn’s state as a former vamp with a Dragon stain on her soul, nor did I have the necessary back story from the vamp nest extermination to really become invested in this story.
Sexual Content: None. Rating 2/5 Excerpt

Under the Hill and Far Away (a Black London story)
by Caitlin Kittredge

Petunia “Pete” Caldecott is a former Detective Inspector in London.  In Under the Hill and Far Away, she agrees to travel into Faerie and investigate a murder in the Seelie Court.  Her jaded and tough demeanor soon get her into trouble, but her keen observations and Sherlock Holmes like investigative skills solve the case in record time.  Black London series fans will appreciate the cameo Jack makes at the end, and newbies like myself will find a compelling new UF series to start similar to the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire.

Sexual Content: None. Rating 4/5

An Ace in the Hole (a Sazi story)
by C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp

Tony Giodone is a psychic-powered werewolf assassin.  He gets attacked and abducted while on a fact finding mission for Wolven, the law enforcement branch of the shapeshifting known as the Sazi.  The abductors want Tony to led them to a mystery box.  Along with the psychic help of his wife Sue, Tony has to retrieve the box himself and elude Snake shifters in the process.  I can see promise in the idea of this series, but this was not the best way to get introduced to the Sazi.  I had to reread a few scenes before I even understood what was going on in the beginning.  If you want to try the Sazi, I’d recommend starting with the first book HUNTER’S MOON.

Sexual Content: None. Rating 2/5

Hell Bound (a Hell on Earth story)
by Jackie Kessler

This is a prequel story to the Hell on Earth series following succubus Jezebel on a job to score and steal the soul of a purported magical serial killer.  Easily the most sexual of the stories in this anthology with plenty of sexual dialog and steamy scenes with a demonic twist.  Easy world building to slip into and a nice set up for the main series especially for fans who want to see what Jesse/Jezebel was like before she reformed.

Sexual Content: A scene of semi graphic sensuality. A brief non graphic sex scene. Rating 3/5

Impossible Love (a Piers Knight story)
by C.J. Henderson

Professor Piers Knight is a curator at the Brooklyn Museum and secretly specializes in magical history and the occult.  In Impossible Love he visits an old friend with a special needs daughter and offers a supernatural explanation—and possible cure—for her condition.  This is one of the more heartbreaking stories in this anthology as it explores not just the paranormal, but the harsh realities of love and betrayal. Piers was mainly the catalyst for this story about his friend, so it’s difficult to comment on his character or series as a whole. 
Sexual Content: None. Rating 3/5

Running Wild (an Outcast Season story)
by Rachel Caine

Former Djinn trapped in human form Cassel and her Earth Warden partner Luis Rocha investigate a string of disappearances and savage murders in Albuquerque's Sandia Peak mountains.  They run into an ancient evil that nearly takes Cassel over in the battle and forces her to examine her feelings for Luis.  I haven’t read the Outcast series yet, but I did read the Weather Warden series that it is a spinoff from.  Total newbies to this world probably won’t fully get the Djinn world from this story, but fans of either series will enjoy this short.

Sexual Content: References to rape. Rating 3/5

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