| Title | : | Fae Fatales: A Fantasy Noir Anthology |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0473243172 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780473243173 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 246 |
| Publication | : | First published May 1, 2013 |
When gritty detectives meet shapeshifters and dragons, when the gorgeous dame is an elf and the grifter is a selkie, that's when you know you're in deeper than you thought possible. In the shadowy streets of these stories, the dangers are more than just shooters and muggers. Here the bouncer might be an orc, the mark might be a centaur. Venture in at your own risk. Walk soft, carry a big gun, and keep a stone with a hole in it in your pocket.
Cover design by Lisa Emmanuel
Fae Fatales: A Fantasy Noir Anthology Reviews
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Being in the book gave me the fortunate advantage of having the ability to be one of the beta readers (ie, after editor Jax Goss had already selected the pieces to be published). I'm not going to rate the book lest you think I'm showing bias, but I thought I'd offer some description about what you'll find, that differs from the summary on the back of the book. :)
A good portion of the stories within are detective stories with fantasy elements of varying degrees, though not all of them are. The ones by Tom Trumpinski, Daniel Heichel, M. Kate Allen, and myself do not have any detective-type characters. My absolute favourite story of the mix was Sally Bell's, though I could probably be accused of bias there since she's one of my favourite writers and influences as it is. ;)
What else to say... I don't want to give away too many spoilers with them, because there are a lot of stories with mystery elements to them that I found particularly engaging, and I liked the reveals as they happened. I also appreciated the diversity of characters, both in fantasy creatures, and sexualities. ;)
Let me see if I can make a short-non-spoilery comment about each of the stories. It's really hard to make decent comments without giving away spoilers, though! Some of the shorter comments are due to my tiredness at the time of reading, making it harder for me to remember the details.
"The Brooch" by J.L. Pauler had some giggle-worthy moments.
"Beautiful Music" by Jeremiah Murphy wove a great adventure, and Detective Beran is a fascinating character.
"The Closing-Time Girl" by Tom Trumpinski was engaging to the point of really wowing me at the end, which is pretty cool for a writer I've not previously encountered before.
"More Tales of the Unseelie Casino: Five Number Bets and Five Knuckle Payouts" by Daniel Heichel had a cool premise, with the casino setting.
"The Devil was an Elven Dame" by M. Kate Allen had great imagery, and the opening paragraph just really captured me.
"Bleeding Ink" by Jasmine Templet really engrossed me. I liked the characters a lot, and the descriptions.
"Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" by Jax Goss had a great voice for the character/genre.
"What You See and What You Get" by Sally Bell had a lead character that I just really fell for.
"Siren" by me - well, should I be writing about mine? There's a mermaid in it, and it's set in Hawai'i in 1946.
"The Hollow Man" by Everett Warren, um... I feel like anything I might want to say about this one would be giving up a possible spoiler.
