books

Fiona Patton

Books: Fantasy

Anthologies

Assassin Fantastic (2001), The Repentant (2003), Little Red Riding Hood in the Big Bad City (2004), Maiden, Matron, Crone (2005), In the Shadow of Evil (2005), Children of Magic (2006)

Assassin Fantastic (2001) edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Alexander Potter

I know that Martin Greenberg puts together good anthologies, however there's something about the "Fantastic" that gets tacked onto the end of each anthology theme title that puts me off for some reason. However, I've always been fond of Assassin characters, so I picked up the book.

All in all it was a good anthology, and I quite enjoyed it. There were lots of original stories, and for the most part even the ones I didn't care for were well-written, making it more a matter of taste than of quality. And I found a couple of new authors to look for as well, which is always a good thing.

Published by DAW

Rating: 7/10

The Repentant (2003) edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Brian Thomsen

I love short stories, so I tend to pick up anthologies when I come across them–assuming they look even remotely interesting. The Repentant looked particularly interesting, since it had several authors I particularly like: Tanya Huff, P.N. Elrod, and especially Nina Kiriki Hoffman. And the theme was also one that interested me: supernatural creatures.

Little Red Riding Hood in the Big Bad City (2004) edited by Martin H. Greenberg & John Helfers

Published by DAW

Maiden, Matron, Crone (2005) edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Kerrie Hughes

I try to pick up fantasy anthologies when I see them, since chances are they won't be there the next time I look. I picked up Maiden, Matron, Crone while ago, but saved it to read during the school year, because short story collections are much easier to put down than books.

Some of the stories in this collection were good, some were so-so, and a couple were quite excellent. And there weren't any stories that I absolutely hated, which is always a good thing. The best part of this collection, however, is that if focused on female characters, and for the most part strong female characters.

Also good were Fiona Patton's story "The Three Gems of the Fianna," which read a bit like the Celtic tales I like so much, and Alexander Potter's "Opening Her Door," which was a twist on the tales I typically find in female centered anthologies.

The concluding tale, "The Unicorn Hunt" by Michelle West was very good. I'm pretty sure that I have one or two Michelle West books around here, and I think I'm going to have to find and read them.

Rating: 6/10

In the Shadow of Evil (2005) edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Rosalind M. Greenberg

Published by Daw

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.)

Published by Daw