Strange Brew [Paperback]

This anthology contains nine paranormal short stories. The following is a brief description of each story.

1. Seeing Eye by Patricia Briggs - A blind witch decides to help a man, a werewolf, find his brother who is an undercover cop and has disappeared while on a case.

2. Last Call by Jim Butcher - Harry Dresden walks into his favorite bar for a beer and a sandwich and finds chaos instead. What is wrong with the beer being brewed by the bar owner?

3. Death Warmed Over by Rachel Caine - Holly is a resurrectionist witch. The last time she brought Andrew Toland back from the dead she fell in love with him. Now the police need his special help to solve another case but how can Holly stand the pain when Andrew has to die this time?

4. Vegas Odds by Karen Chance - Accalia (Lia) trains recruits at the War Mage Corps. Imagine her surprise when she realizes it is her own students who are trying to kill her.

5. Hecate's Golden Eye by P. N. Elrod - Chicago 1937 - Charles Escott and his undead colleague Jack Fleming are hired to help the rightful owner steal back her pendant. The history of the jewel says that any man who touches the Golden Eye dies. Luckily for Jack, he's already dead.

6. Bacon by Charlaine Harris - Dahlia Lynley-Chivers is a vampire who is now a widow because her werewolf husband was defeated in a challenge fight for pack position. She hires a witch to help her find out what was done to her husband to make him vulnerable and weak during the fight.

7. Signatures of the Dead by Faith Hunter - Spruce Pine, North Carolina, is being targeted by a band of rogue vampires. Earth witch Molly Trueblood and her friend shapeshifter Jane Yellowrock must find the vampire lair or the killings will continue.

8. Ginger by Caitlin Kittredge - Sunny Swann and her cousin Luna grew up in Nocturne City. Sunny is a witch without much confidence in her powers totally unlike her werewolf cousin. Then why would someone want to kidnap Sunny?

9. Dark Sins by Jenna Maclaine - Venice 1818 - Cin, Michael, Devlin and Justine (The Righteous-judge, jury, and executioners in the world of vampires) are in the city for pleasure, not business. When they are all four kidnapped by a wizard and his coven Cin is forced to chose between the lives of her lover and friends or dark, evil magic.

I definitely enjoyed reading this marvelous anthology. It gave me exactly what I want from a collection of short stories such as these. There are many stories which feature characters already made well known by these authors. Particular favorites of mine are the stories by Patricia Briggs, Jim Butcher, Rachel Caine, P. N. Elrod and Faith Hunter. I have not read novels by many of these authors and this anthology has given me a chance to sample their works and make the decision of whether or not to go seek out and read their full length books.

*****NOTICE***** Two of my favorite characters in this anthology are Moira (the blind witch) and Tom (the werewolf) in the Patricia Briggs story "Seeing Eye". Those two characters play a substantial role in the new Briggs book Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega, Book 2). It was wonderful to meet up with them again.

A new anthology set with some of my favorite fantasy authors!
Patricia Briggs had Seeing Eye was a decent story- set in the same world as the Mercy Thompson ones, but not with any of the same characters. I liked it though. She should revisit Moira and Tom.
Jim Butcher...always there with a good Harry Dresden tale. Two thumbs up.
Rachel Caine brought us Death Warmed Over. It was oddly moving.
Karen Chance proves that she can always write a good time with Vegas Odds. More fun in her world!
Skipped P.N. Elrod....
Charlaine Harris was disappointing. Didn't really like it at all and had trouble remembering it was set in the Sookie world as the feel of it was so different.
The stories by Faith Hunter and Caitlin Kittredge were good, but I'm not sure I'd buy one of their books on their own.
Jenna Maclaine wrote a really nice story that fits into her series which I have not read, but am going to soon. I'm intrigued

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!