The book is about people who are forced to walk on the dark side more than they might like or to live with growing ambiguity as their series goes on and they try balance whether it’s OK to do something, many somethings, wrong for the right reasons. Heroes that start out bright and shiny sometimes start to seem battered, and even a bit tarnished, five or six books into a series. Nothing in a good writer's world is ever quite so simple as it seemed in the beginning.



I do wish they'd tell us what s

The book is about people who are forced to walk on the dark side more than they might like or to live with growing ambiguity as their series goes on and they try balance whether it’s OK to do something, many somethings, wrong for the right reasons. Heroes that start out bright and shiny sometimes start to seem battered, and even a bit tarnished, five or six books into a series. Nothing in a good writer's world is ever quite so simple as it seemed in the beginning.



I do wish they'd tell us what series these stories were from when they are connected to a series, only one or maybe two did that, and also when they sit in the series (4.5 or whatever). Maybe publishers think it would turn people off to know that stories are from a series, they might assume they won't know what's going on if they aren’t familiar with the books. But it's an anthology that's advertised in a huge way to have stories from major authors' series, so readers shouldn’t be surprised. I hate having to look up the authors/stories I’m unfamilar with. And it does them a disservice if people don't bother to do so and then don't follow-up and buy their books because they were too lazy or didn't realize the link.



Jim Butcher - Cold Case - This story is about Molly, Harry Dresden’s former apprentice, in her role as the Winter Lady, less than a week into the “job”. There were some unhappy surprises in store for our pal about what the job entailed. Butcher’s short stories are always great (not just because I like this world), he’s a very talented short story writer, and this was no exception. Though I can never tell how non-fans would react to a cold entry into a series, I think this one would hold up pretty well. I think they might be intrigued enough to want to know more about this world, but there weren’t a lot of annoying references that would frustrate them, and it's tight in-and-of itself. Featured fae and wizards



Seanan McGuire - Sleepover - The story starred Elsie Harrington, first cousin to the Price kids who are usually featured in the InCryptid books. It was interesting to read about someone in this family who wasn't so militant, but was still very competent in her own way. I'm guessing she's a bit of a fan favorite as well, with her string of bad breakups with unworthy girlfriends and having introduced Annie to roller derby, so some readers are sure to be happy to see this story. It was kind of short but showed off some nice aspects of this world. Featured sort-of fae/cryptids



Tanya Huff - If Wishes Were - I’m not familiar with any of her books yet. This story was about Vicki, a tough-gal vampire PI with a middle-aged cop boyfriend and a lot of anxiety about him aging while she still seems 34. It was a good story. Maybe a bit of a weird distance in the "voice"? But good. Featured Vampire and jinn (and mention of a troll under a bridge)



Anton Strout - Solus - It was been so long since I read the last book on the Simon Canderous series, I couldn’t remember anything about it at all except that I liked it. Oh well, that's my leaky brain, no reflection on this author, or any other. The story must have taken place early on in the series since Simon said he just got partnered up with Connor and was still a new recruit at the Department of Extraordinary Affairs. Which is a smart way to new readers interested in the books, start them off near the beginning so they don't feel like they already missed a whole bunch of stuff. It was a well-crafted intro to the characters and the world. And a somewhat less gloomy or edgy take on the theme of this book than the last few stories. Simon has his issues as an ex-thief who's ability kept him on the edge of society, but he was trying to go straight. Featured psychometry, ghosts, mentions that most other things in stories are true too



Kat Richardson - Peacock in Hell - It was about a tough woman thief named Peacock stealing a guy out of hell for some other guy named Peter Fiore, who was the head of the Directorate of Incursion Control. I'm not a big enough fan of Richardson's to figure out if this is part of a series or not. But if the book told me what series the stories were connected to and this one was part of a different series than the one I didn't really like, then I might check it out. Just saying again that the editors/publishers marketing choices confuse me. Featured demons, magic, (sorry, I can't remember the details)



Kevin J. Anderson - Eye of Newt - I'm usually a fan of Anderson’s, but I found the first two books in this “Dan Shamble, Zombie PI” series just OK, kind of cute but pretty derivative. The books feel like a quick was to make money capitalizing on the urban fantasy trend more than something the author is inspired to write. The only thing that feels genuine is the sense of humor. I could totally be wrong, maybe he wanted to write noir mysteries for years and decided to combine it with zombie PI urban fantasy just for fun, it could totally tickle his funny bone. So I never bothered continuing reading the series. But I was glad to see that the editor listed what series this story was from! The story was silly but fine. Featured zombies, ghosts, goblins, more



Lucy A. Snyder - What Dwells Within - I really like her books and have liked the short stories I've read so far too. She likes to write short stories with more of a horror bent, so I have to be careful because I'm a wimp. But yay! This was from her “Jessie Shimmer” series, which I always think of as Shotgun Sorceress, which I think is the name of the second book (and a great cover). Again, my memory is terrible, even for a series that I really like, but it came back to me enough as I read it. And the story seemed to give us the resolution to the series we needed to not feel completely gypped that the stupid publishers wouldn't give us another book,. At least now we know what happened with Jessie being under sentence with the Virtus. But I’m still hoping for more Jessie and Pal (the ferret familiar) stories! Featured magic, zombies-ish, angels-ish



Jim C. Hines - Hunter, Healer - This story doesn’t seem to be part of one of his series, as far as I can tell. The only one I’ve read so far is "Libriomancer". I'm pretty sure it's actually one of the few original stories in the book. It was about Julia, a double-souled hunter become doctor for the supernatural underground in her area, her assistant Hob, her monstrous father and his twisted new protege, and the community of creatures she helped heal and was healed by. Featured all sorts of supernatural beings and the original idea of the double-souled people



Erik Scott de Bie - Baggage - The only author I wasn't familiar with, de Bie writes games, tie-ins and lots of what sound like interesting multi-media projects, as well as short stories. Don't forget to read the author bios in the back, guys! The story was about Vivian, V, the former Lady Vengence, sometimes a villain, sometimes a superhero, now pretty much a boozer (to suppress her empathetic fear power) hiding out from the world and occasional demon fighter because she can't help herself. I have no idea if this is a continuing character. It certainly felt well developed and mid-stream, but that could have just been good writing. It was a fun story, I hope it was an outtake from a series, I'd definitely read more about V. Featured superpowers



Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Sales Force - I didn't like this story about a woman who works for some sort of agency that investigates and kills dark supernatural people or forces. Some of the stuff about how the woman dealt with grief rang true but others were weird, dramatized for the sake of the story but not realistic. (She regretted it? Who is this woman?) it was a weird story that didn't quite work.



Rob Thurman - Impossible Monsters - One of two stories in the book that indicates that it's from a series, this one from the (excellent) "Cal Leandros" novels. Which couldn't be more appropriate for the theme of this book, Cal and Niko live in the shadows and always are forced to walk the line between dark and light and often cross back and forth over it depending on some crazy and difficult circumstances. I love this series, if you haven't read these book yet, you really should try them. Featured Cal, whatever category he is, dark dark supernatural, and mentioned a few others when setting the scene