Strange Brew

Seeing Eye is a very short story. It clocks in at only 38 pages, and in the hands of a lesser author, it could have been a disaster trying to build a world, create compelling characters, and tell a satisfying story in so few pages. Fortunately for us, Patricia Briggs was more than equal to the task.The story is simple enough, Wendy Moira Keller (yep, named after the Peter Pan character), a blind witch, agrees to help a desperate werewolf, Tom Franklin, search for his abducted brother. If you've read Brigg's Hunting Ground already, then these characters will be familiar to you. If you haven't read it yet, start with Seeing Eye first as it explains how Moira and Tom met. Even though we spend such a brief time with Moira and Tom, Brigg's writes them as fully fleshed out characters. Moira specifically is appealing as she provides us with a firsthand look at what Witches are like in the world of Mercy Thompson. Mercy deals with all kinds of paranormal creatures: vamps, fey, weres, but she only rarely interacts with witches. In Seeing Eye, Brigg's gets to explore that world a little more. The result is that I, for one, have two more reason's to look forward to Hunting Ground. Sexual Content: NoneJim Butcher's story continues his popular Dresden Files Series. In Last Call, which occurs chronologically between Small Favor, book 10 and Turn Coat, book 11, wizard Harry Dresden is on the hunt for the mastermind behind some bewitched beer. I've only read the first book in Butcher's Dresden Files, and despite the gap in my Harry knowledge, this was an easy story to slip into and I never felt disoriented like I had missed a lot in the interim. Harry and Murphy play off each other in just the way I remembered. Harry was, if anything, more enjoyable for me. He is a perfect anti-hero with his sarcasm and humorous non-alpha acts of self-preservation. I'm seriously going to have to pick up Full Moon after thoroughly enjoying this funny paranormal romp. Sexual Content: NoneI've read several books in Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series (I'm looking forward to starting her Morganville Vampire series soon too), so I expected something good from this talented writer and that's exactly what I got with Death Warmed Over. Witch Holly Caldwell is not that dissimilar to early Anita Blake: both occasionally work with the police to raise the dead. This time, the case intimately affects Holly in more ways than one because the dead man they want her to raise has been raised before, and when Holly lost Andrew last time, she lost her heart as well. My only disappointment with Death Warmed Over is that it appears to be the only Holly and Andrew story that Rachel has written (please let me know if I'm wrong). I thought for sure reading it that it was the second story featuring these characters. I hope Rachel does write more about Holly because she does have that early Anita vibe that I love so much. There is more of a romantic focus in this story but it doesn't overshadow the paranormal elements. Death is easily one of the best in this anthology. Sexual Content: NoneThe longest story in Strange Brew is Karen Chance's Vegas Odds coming in at 56 pages. The tale opens with a scene straight out of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Half-Were Lia and her boyfriend Were Cyrus destroy her house while under attack from a group of War Mages. From there, author Karen Chance does a wonderful job of creating a world full of magic and a strong instantly likeable heroine while never letting up on the non-stop action. This is probably my favorite story that Ms. Chance has written and I would love to spend more time in this world. Sexual Content: A woman performs oral sex on a man in a brief scene that in not overly graphic.P. N. Elrod is a new author for me. This story continues her Vampire Files series with vampire P.I. Jack Fleming and his partner Escott in 1930's Chicago. I would categorize this story as a noir mystery that just happens to have an undead lead. Not a lot of paranormal. Jack is described as a vampire much in the same way another character is described as being tall. Not a bad story, just not what I look for in urban fantasy. But if you like Raymond Charles with a dash of Tanya Huff...Sexual Content: NoneBacon takes place in the same Sookie Stackhouse world from the Southern Vampire series but minus Sookie. If you read Harris' story Tacky in the anthology My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding then these characters will already be familiar to you. If your planning on reading both, start with Tacky and STOP READING THIS REVIEW because it will spoil aspects of that story. In Bacon, newly widowed vampire Dahlia seeks out the aid of a witch descendent of Circe to get revenge on the werewolf pack that killed her were husband. So far, this is my least favorite story in this anthology: It's predictable, feels small because it fails to take advantage of the Sookieverse, and lacks even one likable character. At only 32 pages, it went on way too long. Sexual Content: NoneFaith Hunter kicked off her Jane Yellowrock series in July `09 with Skinwalker (book two, Blood Cross is due out in Jan `10) , but we get an earlier peak at this shapeshifting vampire hunter in Signature of the Dead. Earth witch Molly is the main character who Jane helps track down a feral pack of new vampires. I didn't even realize that Jane was the main character in Skinwalker (which I'm now adding to the top of my wishlist), but I'm thrilled we'll get to read more about her. She reminded me of a cross between Mercy Thompson and Kate Daniels which means I may have just found a favorite new series. Sexual Content: The rape of a woman and her two little girls is referenced but not described.Like Faith Hunter's story, Caitlin Kittredge's Ginger (41 pages) takes the main character from her Nocturne City series, werewolf detective Luna Wilder, and relegates her to the sidelines. Instead, Ginger focuses on Luna's self-proclaimed wus witch cousin Sunny who agrees to go undercover investigating a blood magic coven. The world building was good here, but Sunny was a bit too prone to crying for my taste. The `villain' in the story is pretty comic book evil too which added a level of corniness that I hope doesn't extend to the whole Nocturne City series because for the world building alone I plan on picking up Night Life to see what Luna does in her own story. Sexual Content: NoneDark Sins picks up after Wages of Sins but before Grave Sins in Jenna Maclaine's Cin Craven series. In 1818 Italy, witch turned vampire Cin and her lover Michael along with another vamp couple travel throughout Europe doling out justice on the criminal vampire population. When the four are abducted by an evil wizard and his followers in an attempt to add Cin to his coven, she must finally learn to use her magic before her friends are killed. If you are a fan of Colleen Gleason's Gardella Vampire Chronicles, you'll probably love this. Me not so much. There are no major faults in these 33 pages, but I like my fantasy urban, without gowns and carriages etc. The idea of a vampire who uniquely retained her human magical abilities make for an interesting character in Cin, and if she survives into the 21st century I'll be sure to look her up. Sexual Content: sex scene

You never quite know what you are going to get with an anthology. Strange Brew has nine stories involving witchcraft, potions, and the like that definitely doesn't disappoint. I was excited by the fact that I had heard of 7 out of the 9 authors and have read works by 5 of them. I had high hopes that, for once, weren't dashed. I liked EVERY single story in this anthology --- high marks for all the authors involved (mostly A's and perhaps one or two B/B+'s).Briggs gives us a story of a witch, a werewolf, and the ties that bind: family & love. It may be set in the Mercy Thompson/Alpha & Omega universe, but this is the first time we've seen these characters up close. (I hope to see more of them.)Harris also sets her story in her well-established Universe (Southern Vampire Chronicles) but using less established characters. Her story of revenge, Bacon, is made all the more delicious and satisfying if you're already familiar with the unlikely interspecies love story, Tacky, found in My Big Supernatural Wedding that precedes this one.As far as I know, Caine's tale of love resurrected and Chance's action-packed account of espionage among the War Mage Corps are wholly original pieces. I could, of course, be wrong. Regardless, both stories were unique and hard to put down.The rest of the authors give us stories within there respective series:Butcher gives us a story involving Harry Dresden, tainted beer, and the Chicago Bulls. Elrod gives us a classic tale of double cross from her Jack Fleming/Vampire Files series.Hunter's story introduces us to her new butt-kicking, vampire-slaying, heroine - Jane Yellowrock - whose very own book Skinwalker is available this month (7/09).Kittredge gives us a story of a "glamour-ous" power play from her Nocturne City series that delivers my favorite line in the whole anthology. (I'll let you guess what it is!) And Maclaine's story left me wanting to read more of her Cin Craven series.Whether new and original or borrowing from established settings or series, all the stories are easy to follow --- even if you are completely unfamiliar with the authors' works. Overall, this may be the best money I ever spent on an anthology. It delivers a fine sampling for anyone who is interested in reading some anecdotes in the realm of urban fantasy. Who knows, you may find some authors from whom you'd like to read more. I know I did.---DEW---

Well crafted stories, some you want more of and some are just right. Quick reads and entertaining. Enjoyed them all.

Worth the read. The short stories in this collection were excellent. Some of the series that I was not familiar with I am going to to check out now. A brilliant selection of authors.

Strange Brew is a collection of urban fantasy short stories written by New York Times bestselling authors such as Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs and more.My reason for picking up this book is that I'm a big fan of the author Jim Butcher, especially of his Dresden Files series (the books & the short-lived TV series). Strange Brew contains one of his short stories, "Last Call", featuring Chicago's first (and only) Wizard P.I. Harry Dresden. I thought that buying this book would not only enable me to read this short story, but also discover authors whose stories I'd never read before.There are 9 stories in this book and these are:"Seeing Eye" by Patricia Briggs is about a witch called Moira who is visited by a werewolf called Tom who needs her help finding his brother who he believes has been kidnapped. With Moira being a witch and blind, it's not going to be your average investigation!"Last Call" by Jim Butcher finds investigating wizard Harry Dresden walking into his favourite bar in Chicago only to find Chaos... He only wanted a beer but ends up with a lot more than that!"Death Warmed Over" by Rachel Caine is about a resurrectionist called Holly who is asked to take on a case that will stretch her to her limits and one she'd rather not take, but when she finds out who she has to resurrect, she has no choice but to take it... She fell in love with him the last time, can she take it this time?"Vegas Odds" by Karen Chance finds Lia opening the door to a delivery guy, only to find he's actually an assassin and not the only one trying to kill her! All hell breaks loose in her home and Lia has to use her skills to keep herself alive."Hegate's Golden Eye" by P.N. Elrod is about Charles Escott and his undead associate Jack Fleming. They are asked to help Mabel get back a pendant that rightfully belonged to her - not just any pendant but one that's been in the family for generations and it is cursed... any man who touches the Eye dies!"Bacon" by Charlaine Harris finds vampire Dahlia Lynley-Chivers hiring a witch to seek revenge for the death of her werewolf husband."Signatures of the Dead" by Faith Hunter sees Molly (an Earth witch) and her shapeshifter friend help a detective track down the vampires who have killed a whole family."Ginger" by Caitlin Kitterridge - Luna is confident & brave but her cousin Sunny (a witch) is quite the opposite, however Sunny is drawn into an investigation that isn't all as it seems."Dark Sins" by Jenna Maclaine - Cin Craven, her partner Michael and their friends find themselves ambushed and kidnapped. Can Cin save them without succumbing to evil dark magic?Having only previously read work by Jim Butcher, I immediately flicked through to "Last Call" and read that first. It was typical `Dresden" and I loved it - You always get a bit of humour with the Dresden Files stories, whether they're long or short.I then went back to the beginning of the book, reading each story in turn. Having never read stories by the other authors before, I found the stories refreshing and interesting. Some would be all action while others reelled you in. With most of the stories I found myself thinking that I should look up the author's books as I would enjoy them too. I've definitely found some new authors to follow!My favourites of the stories (apart from the obvious "Last Call") are probably "Seeing Eye", "Death Warmed Over" and "Hegate's Golden Eye", but they're all good.Some of the authors are more famous than the others... I'm sure most readers will have heard of the HBO series "True Blood", you have Charlaine Harris to thank for that!I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and it was nice to be able to pick it up and delve into one short story at a time.If you're a fan of any of the authors mentioned or simply like books about witches, wizards, werewolves and the like, then I would highly recommend this book to you.

For me, this really was a rare thing, an anthology where every single story was excellent: fun and well written, romance and suspense, the book has them all. I loved that most of the stories are written in the first person, and I discovered new authors whom I'm going to follow up. Worth paying double for!

Another great compilation of Stories from a variety of brilliant Horror writers.

All brlliantly written

Good collection of different stories by some very talented writers.