Death’s Excellent Vacation

Death’s Excellent Vacation (2010) Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner

Yeah, I’m a sucker for anthologies. Especially ones where I know the majority of the stories will be good.

Mind you, I wasn’t impressed enough with the list of authors to pay full price (this still isn’t out in paperback yet?!) but there were plenty of used copies floating around, which is how I got my fix.

Blondes by Charlaine Harris
The Boys Go Fishing by Sarah Smith
One for the Money by Jeaniene Frost
Meanwhile, Far across the Caspian Sea… by Daniel Stashower
The Innsmouth Nook by A. Lee Martinez
Safe and Sound by Jeff Abbott
Seeing Is Believing by L.A. Banks
The Perils of Effrijim by Katie MacAlister
Thin Walls by Christopher Golden
The Heart Is Always Right by Lilith Saintcrow
The Demon in the Dunes by Chris Grabenstein
Home from America by Sharan Newman
Pirate Dave’s Haunted Amusement Park by Toni L. P. Kelner

The opening story is Blondes by Charlaine Harris. Yeah, sorry True Blood fans, but I am over Sookie. And Sookie and Pam playing at being strippers? I believe my eyes rolled so hard the clinked.

The Boys Go Fishing by Sarah Smith is the story of an immortal superhero whose life lies heavy upon him. A red-headed girl (to his eyes she’s a girl, anyway) asks him to take a group ice-fishing (the job he’s hidden behind for the last several years). I really liked this story–I was never quite sure where it was taking me, but I quite liked where it ended up.

One for the Money by Jeaniene Frost is a Kat and Bones story. This actually fills in a couple blanks I’d missed (nothing major). Kat and Bones were on vacation until her Uncle Don calls in a favor–go protect the young college aged (orphaned) daughter of a man he’d worked with before. Sadly, nothing is easy. I quite liked this little peek into their lives, and a tiny bit of resolution between Bones and Justine. I’m not sure if this story would work as well if you weren’t already familiar with the characters and story-line though.

Meanwhile, Far across the Caspian Sea… by Daniel Stashower was a rather unusual story, of a man starting his job at LifeSpan books and his somewhat strange and problematic co-worker. I really liked that I had no idea where this story was going, and strange as the ending was, I liked it just as well.

The Innsmouth Nook was, as I expected from A. Lee Martinez, quite funny.

“So two single guys from the big city move to our little town and open a bed-and-breakfast. But you’re not gay.”
“We’re just friends,” he said.
“Right. Because straight men open bed-and-breakfasts all the time.”

That–and several other bits–cracked me up. It’s also, now I look at it, as good a summation of the story as any.

Safe and Sound by Jeff Abbott was a good story, but not one that I particularly enjoyed. Nora Dare works for a 24-hour news station, and she’s spent the past several months keeping up the search for a missing college student. It’s definitely a stand-alone story, but I couldn’t stand the main character.

I’ve books by L. A. Banks sitting waiting to be read, but for some reason never got around to raeding them. Seeing Is Believing makes me wonder why the hell I haven’t read them. Jessica is trying to hold things together after the death of her mother, and her brother moving away, but between the lack of jobs in town, and her inheritance of her mother’s gifts, things are very hard for her. The fact that something is preying on the people in her town only makes things worse.

I really really liked this story and should probably go find those L.A. Banks books I never got around to reading.

I generally don’t like Katie MacAlister’s stories, and The Perils of Effrijim was no exception. Just not my thing.

Thin Walls by Christopher Golden was another disturbing story. Well done, but…disturbing.

I’m sometimes hit or miss with Lilith Saintcrow, but I very much enjoyed The Heart Is Always Right. A gargoyle is getting ready to go on vacation when events intercede and he has to do the one thing he has been raised to do.

The Demon in the Dunes by Chris Grabenstein was interesting, but…

Home from America by Sharan Newman is the story of a young Irish-American who longs to go back to the old country. When he finally gets his wish, things are not as all as he expected. I liked this story as well, despite where it went.

Pirate Dave’s Haunted Amusement Park by Toni L. P. Kelner was amusing. A young woman who was turned by a rogue werewolf heads to the place where she spent her childhood vacations to and sort things out before she is to make the decision about which pack to join. Kinda goofy, and also fun. And I very much liked her werewolf traits.

So, a pretty good collection. As always there were stories I didn’t like, but most of them were simple a conflict of taste rather than bad stories. But really, it’s been two and a half years. How is this not out in paperback already?
Rating: 7/10

Published by Ace

 
 

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