Kitty’s Greatest Hits

Kitty’s Greatest Hits (2011) Carrie Vaughn

Il Est Ne – Wolfsbane and Mistletoe (2008)
A Princess of Spain – The Secret History of Vampires (2007)
Conquistador de la Noche – Subterranean Online (2009)
The Book of Daniel – Talebones #39 (2009)
The Temptation of Robin Green – The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance (2009)
Looking After Family – Realms of Fantasy (2007)
God’s Creatures – Dark and Stormy Knights (2010)
Wild Ride – Running with the Pack (2010)
Winnowing the Herd – Strange Horizons (2006)
Kitty and the Mosh Pit of the Damned – Weird Tales #338 (2006)
Kitty’s Zombie New Year – Weird Tales #345 (2007)
Life Is the Teacher – Hotter Than Hell (2008)
You’re on the Air
Long Time Waiting

As previously mentioned, I’m rereading some of the Kitty books so I can (finally) read the final book in the series.

Il Est Ne

“It’s a Wonderful Life,” Jane said. “I play it every year.”

Oh, this was going to make Kitty cry.

The fact that Jane had spent enough years here to make it a tradition, not to mention she had the movie on videotape rather than DVD, somehow added to the depressing state of the situation.

Kitty spends Christmas at Waffle House. It turns out better than one might expect.

A Princess of Spain is a story of Catharine of Aragon and Arthurm son of Henry the VII. It’s a vampire story, but what really gets to me are the historical bits.

Catherine of Aragon, sixteen years old, danced a pavane in the Spanish style before the royal court of England… she had been sent by Spain to marry the eldest son: Arthur, Prince of Wales, heir to the throne, was thin and pale at fifteen years old.

Think about that for just a bit. She is 16, he is 15, and neither have any say about their political marriage.

Consider also that after Arthur’s death, Catharine will eventually marry his younger brother Henry, who would go on to become in somewhat infamous Henry VIII.

Conquistador de la Noche is far and away my favorite of her stories. It’s an incredibly well-done short story, about a man turned against his will, and how his faith allows him to survive.

God, give me strength, Ricardo prayed, not knowing if God would listen to one such as him. Not caring. The prayer focused him.

Free will was part of God’s plan. What better way to damn the sinful than to let them choose sin over righteousness? But he had not chosen this. Had he? Had something in his past directed him to this moment? To this curse?

Then couldn’t he choose to walk away from this path?

Rick appears in the Kitty books and in another short story in this collection, and all those appearances are tinged with the character you see here.

The Book of Daniel is Daniel in the lion’s den. Not one of the best stories in the collection, but a fascinating idea.

The Temptation of Robin Green is a look at something hinted at in the first Kitty book–if supernatural creatures existed, then governments would take those beings for research and study.

That whole concept both fascinates and horrifies me.

Looking After Family is Cormac’s back story.

The rich playboys wanted their kills now. They’d paid their money and couldn’t understand why the animals didn’t just walk up to them and bare their necks.

The attitude showed a severe lack of respect for the animals.

As someone who grew up and came of age in a land where hunting was something done to feed your family, I agree with Cormac’s sentiment.

God’s Creatures this is a sad story, which finds Cormac hunting a were wolf who may be hiding in a Catholic reform school.

Wild Ride is TJ’s back story. He kinda got short shrift in the first book, so this story fleshes him out and shows how he came to become a werewolf.

It also has an interesting bit about Carrie Vaughn’s particular werewolf mythology.

“We’re all invulnerable. We don’t get sick. We don’t get hurt. Oh, we still age, we’ll all still die someday.

Winnowing the Herd is Kitty at a work party. This is one of my least favorite Carrie stories; possible this was Kitty’s first appearance?

Kitty and the Mosh Pit of the Damned is an interesting story that is less about Kitty and more about what other supernatural beings might exist along with weres, and how they might continue in the modern age.

Kitty’s Zombie New Year is one of the saddest stories. Kitty is talked into spending New Year’s Eve with Matt, and everyone is surprised when a zombie shows up at the party.

Life Is the Teacher is a non-Kitty story, and is a look at a newly turned vampire and her first feeding.

You’re on the Air has a theme that has been touched on by other authors–what good is becoming a supernatural if you’re abandoned by the one who made you, and try to eek out a living with the kinds of jobs someone who can’t come out during the day can work.

Long Time Waiting is Cormac’s story of his time in prison and how he came to work with / be paired with Amelia.

Published by Tor

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