An Apple for the Creature

An Apple for the Creature (2012) edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner; stories by Jonathan Maberry, Donald Harstad, Marjorie M. Liu, Rhys Bowen, Amber Benson, Mike Carey, Faith Hunter, Ilona Andrews, Steve Hockensmith, Nancy Holder

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.

The anthology opens with a Sookie Stackhouse story, which… I’m sorry, but I got annoyed with Sookie several books back, so I have a hard time reading Sookie stories with an open mind. So, I found this story okay. Sookie is taking cupcakes to her nephew Hunter’s kindergarten class, when bad things happen.

The story “Spellcaster 2.0” by Jonathan Maberry was an unusual story that I quite enjoyed. Several times I thought I knew what was happening and where things were going, and although I saw the Big Event (kinda obvious, given the series) I kept being surprised by the turns of events. A project entering every magical spell that can be found into a database appears to be having glitches.

Donald Harstead’s story “Academy Field Trip” was an interesting one. Law enforcement professionals are at a special training course; the three instructors pull one student aside to get her input on a “special case.” I can’t say I loved the story, but it was interesting.

“Sympathy for the Bones” by Marjorie M. Liu was very good. A young girl was taken in and raised by the local wise woman who uses her powers for her own gain and as she sees fit. Nice, complex tale.

“Low School,” by Rhys Bowen was okay, but I saw where it was going right away. I did appreciate how your opinion of the main character changed as the story went in. People are complex and do things for complex reasons, and I think this was a fabulous example of creating a very complex character. But for the most part the story left me cold.

Amber Benson’s “Callie Meet Happy” was set in her Calliope Reaper-Jones series, and just as I’ve had a hard time getting into the series (I’m only a couple chapters into the first book) so I had a hard time getting into this story. Callie, who inherited her father’s position of grim reaper, needs to learn the necessary skills for the position, and so is sent to a remediation course. I think the problem is that I don’t find Callie at all sympathetic.

“Iphigenia in Aulis” by Mike Carey is an amazing story. We learn bits and pieces as the story progresses, and the more we learn, the more horrified we are. This is a stand alone story not set in any of his existing worlds (that I know of).

Faith Hunter’s “Golden Delicious” is set after the last Jane Yellowrock story. Rick is trying to rebuild his life after being infected with the were-virus, and so attempting to recover whatever law enforcement career he can. I like Rick, so I enjoyed this peek into seeing him recover his life.

Ilona Andrews’ story “Golden Delicious” is set in the world of Kate Daniels, but Kate barely makes an appearance. Kate’s ward, Julie (at Kate’s insistence) needs to remain in school. As part of her introduction to the latest school, she is asked to see if she can discover why a student disappeared. As usual, Ilona Andrews’ stories do not disappoint me.

“An Introduction to Jewish Myth and Mysticism” by Steve Hockensmith was a very interesting story that I very much liked. A professor is traumatized when her abusive ex returns to town, so a friend decides to see what he can do to convince her ex to leave. I quite enjoyed this story.

Nancy Holder’s story “VSI” focused on a special training class where agents are shown evidence of the existence of vampires and trained to analyze crime scenes in which vampires may have been involved. I liked this one as well.

The last two stories weren’t my cup of tea. I’ve read several books in the Remy Chandler series, and found them… okay. I don’t dislike them, and I didn’t dislike this story. I just didn’t do anything for me.

All in all, it was a decent selection of short stories that made up for terrible title.
Rating: 7/10

Published by Ace

• Browse the archives:
  
• Crimes by Moonlight » »
• « « Down These Strange Streets