Strange Brew (2009)

About this item

About the Author P.N. Elrod is the editor of Dark and Stormy Knights , Strange Brew , My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon and My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding, which won the 2006 Pearl Award for best anthology. She is the author of many novels, including the Vampire Files Series, as well as numerous short stories. In 2010, she was nominated for a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for urban fantasy, and she is the winner of the Pioneer Achievement Award. Elrod loves meeting readers at science-fiction conventions all over the country. Product Description Today's hottest urban fantasy authors come together in this delicious brew that crackles and boils over with tales of powerful witches and dark magic! In Charlaine Harris' "Bacon," set in the same world as Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series, a beautiful vampire joins forces with a witch from an ancient line to find out who killed her beloved husband. In the Alpha & Omega series short story "Seeing Eye" by Patricia Briggs, a blind witch helps sexy werewolf Tom Franklin find his missing brother—and helps him in more ways than either of them ever suspected. And in Jim Butcher's "Last Call," wizard Harry Dresden takes on the darkest of dark powers—the ones who dare to mess with this favorite beer. For anyone who's ever wondered what lies beyond the limits of reality, who's imagined the secret spaces where witches wield fearsome magic, come and drink deep. Let yourself fall under the spell of this be witch ing collection of short stories! Review “These tales will easily keep paranormal mystery fans entertained.” ― Publishers Weekly “This uniformly excellent anthology starts off strong and proceeds to weave in plenty of action and dark magic.... There's something here for every supernatural taste.” ― Romantic Times “Readers will pick this one up for the popular authors and be pleasantly surprised by the tyros. Highly recommended.” ― Library Journal From AudioFile This mixed brew of stories demonstrates the popular genre of "urban fantasy"--usually paranormal mystery, often veering into paranormal romance, with strong elements of horror. The stories and narrations vary in quality but are never less than competent, though some of the stories have too much exposition and cover similar ground. The narrators are generally skilled and always well paced, with the most common failing being difficulty portraying the opposite sex. A subtle but definite plus: The voices match the stories in significant ways, a sign of care in casting. Jim Butcher's "Last Call," read by Christian Rummel, makes for the most engaging, but all the stories should please fans. W.M. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine From Publishers Weekly Anthologist Elrod ( My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding ) taps into the urban fantasy craze with a mixed bag of wizardry, mystery and glamour. The best include Patricia Briggs's wistful Seeing Eye, wherein blind witch Wendy Moira Keller helps werewolf Tom Franklin search for his missing brother, and Jim Butcher's funny Last Call, which finds wizard Harry Dresden hot on the tail of Meditrina Bassarid, a wicked wine-loving maenad who wreaks havoc in a Chicago bar. In Rachel Caine's romantic Death Warmed Over, Holly Anne Caldwell, a resurrection witch, falls in love with Andrew Toland, a corpse from 1875, while Elrod's Hecate's Golden Eye tells of a 1937 hunt for a curious family gem. Though not particularly groundbreaking, these tales will easily keep paranormal mystery fans entertained. (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. "Bacon" Charlaine Harris Dahlia Lynley-Chivers looked good in black; in fact, she looked great – and normally that was extremely important to her. But tonight she wasn’t thinking about herself or about the picture she made sitting alone at the elaborately laid table in the upscale restaurant. Seeleys’ tablecloths might have been designed to set her lo