books

Nancy Holder

Books: Fantasy | Short Stories

Anthologies

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventh Annual Collection (1994), Excalibur (1995), Hellboy: Odd Jobs (1999), Outsiders: 22 All-New Stories From the Edge (2005), Children of Magic (2006), Blood Lite (2008), By Blood We Live (2009), An Apple for the Creature (2012), Beyond the Pale: A Fantasy Anthology (2014)

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventh Annual Collection (1994) edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling

Crash Cart by Nancy Holder

Published by St Martins Press

Excalibur (1995) edited Richard Gilliam, Edward E Kramer & Martin H. Greenberg

Excalibur

Publisher‎: Aspect

Hellboy: Odd Jobs (1999) edited by Christopher Golden & Mike Mignola

Hellboy: Odd Jobs

 Publisher: Dark Horse Books

Outsiders: 22 All-New Stories From the Edge (2005) edited by Nancy Holder & Nancy Kilpatrick

Publisher: ROC

Children of Magic (2006) edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Kerrie Hughes

As I have mentioned on many previous occasions, I am a huge fan of short stories. Occasionally I have been disappointed, but for the most part the anthologies I have read have good, especially the one edited by Martin H. Greenberg.

The theme of Children of Magic is (as you would guess from the title) children with magic and the ability to change the world around them. The major problem with this review, however, is that I only read a one or two stories at a time, and then left the book on the headboard for a few weeks while I was reading something else (anthologies are good for that). So it actually took me several months to read Children of Magic as it dropped to the bottom of the pile in favor of whatever I was currently reading during the day (or sometimes something more boring, to put me to sleep.)

Publisher: DAW

Blood Lite (2008) edited by Kevin J. Anderson

This anthology came out in hardback last year, but considering the theme, I was more than content to wait until it came out in paperback. Which it recently did.

As with most anthologies, there are good stories and bad stories, but there weren't too many stories that I hated, though there also weren't too many stories that I adored. So I'd say it all came out in the wash.

Publisher: Gallery Books

Rating: 6/10

By Blood We Live (2009) edited by John Joseph Adams

Publisher: Night Shade Books

An Apple for the Creature (2012) edited by Charlaine Harris & Toni L. P. Kelner

First, I hate this title. It grates on my nerves like nails down a chalkboard.

Luckily, the title is not reflective of most of the stories inside.

Published by Ace

Rating: 7/10

Beyond the PaleBeyond the Pale: A Fantasy Anthology (2014) edited by Henry Herz

I probably started reading this right after it came out, and got hung up on a single story. Two years later I decided to skip through the stories that didn't interest me and finish the anthology.

The noun "pale" refers to a stake (as in impaling vampires) or pointed piece of wood (as in a paling fence). "Pale" came to refer to an area enclosed by a paling fence. Later, it acquired the figurative meaning of an enclosed and therefore safe domain. Conversely, "beyond the pale" means foreign, strange, or threatening.

"Pale Rider" by Nancy Holder I ended up skimming, since it was mostly a dystopia, and I don't enjoy dystopias.

"The Adventures of Lightning Merriemouse-Jones" by Nancy & Belle Holder is a silly and fun story, a good way to end the anthology.

Dracula, but with mice.

Published by Birch Tree Publishing

Rating: 7/10