Dreams Underfoot (1993) Charles de Lint “Uncle Dobbin’s Parrot Fair,” Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Nov ‘87 “Stone Drum,” Triskell Press chapbook, 1989 “Timeskip,” Post Mortem: New Tales of Ghastly Horror, ed. Paul F. Olson & David B. Silva, St. Martin’s, 1989 “Freewheeling,” Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine Issue 6, ed. Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Pulphouse, 1990 […]

Blood Bound, Audio Edition (2007/2009) Patricia Briggs narrated by Lorelei King I don’t dislike Lorelei King as a narrator, she’s just not as good as other narrators. That’s not stopping me from wanting to work my way through this series however. The Marrok, the leader of the North American werewolves, insists that all of the […]

Rag and Bone (2016) KJ Charles (Rag and Bone) This is set after Flight of Magpies and continues the story started in A Queer Trade. Crispin Tredarloe is trying to learn the right way to be a practitioner, instead of a warlock, like he was trained. But it’s difficult unlearning everything he has been doing […]

Mort (1987) Terry Pratchett After the Librarian, and the Watch, DEATH is my favorite Discworld character. “What did you do for a living?” said the thin young man behind the desk. The figure opposite him shifted uneasily. I USHERED SOULS INTO THE NEXT WORLD. I WAS THE GRAVE OF ALL HOPE. I WAS THE ULTIMATE […]

Guards! Guards! (1989) Terry Pratchett I love Terry Pratchett, and I think I may love the Watch story arc best of all the Discworld stories. It was a five hundred mile journey and, surprisingly, quite uneventful. People who are rather more than six feet tall and nearly as broad across the shoulders often have uneventful […]

The Beat Goes On: The Complete Rebus Stories (2015) Ian Rankin This is a collection of all the Inspector Rebus short stories. ‘Dead and Buried’ (2013) ‘Playback,’ ‘The Dean Curse,’ ‘Being Frank,’ ‘Concrete Evidence,’ ‘Seeing Things,’ ‘A Good Hanging,’ ‘Tit for Tat,’ ‘Not Provan,’ ‘Sunday,’ ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ ‘The Gentleman’s Club,’ ‘Monstrous Trumpet’ from A […]

Moon Called, Audible Version (2006) Patricia Briggs narrated by Lorelei King I’m now listening my way through the Mercy Thompson (and most likely Alpha & Omega) books. As I’ve noted before, I don’t dislike Lorelei King’s narration. I think she does a very good job with Mercy. I just think she’s weaker than other narrators […]

Shifting Shadows: Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson, Audio Version (2014) Patricia Briggs narrated by Alexander Cendese and Lorelei King Flailing around for something to listen to, I decided that I’d listen to the Patricia Briggs short story collection and then go from there. This collection has very few Mercy stories in, and several […]

Hamilton’s Battalion: A Trio of Romances (2017) Rose Lerner, Courtney Milan, Alyssa Cole Set in the Americas in 1781 and 1820 This is three stories with some overlapping characters, including Alexander Hamilton, who appears at least in the background of each story. PROMISED LAND by Rose Lerner Rachel ran away to join the army as […]

It Takes Two to Tumble (2017) Cat Sebastian (Seducing the Sedgwicks) Set in England in 1817 Ben Sedgwick is happy being the vicar of Kirkby Barton. He is engaged to the girl who has been his best friend since childhood, and he feels comfortable about his calling. He might not want to, but when he […]

Lost to a Spy (2018) Sharon Cullen Set in Scotland in 1567 I picked this up when I saw it on sale because I thought the premise was interesting. Ladies in waiting can’t help noticing more than they let on. After so many years at the court of Mary, Queen of Scots, Emma Howard sees […]

Flight of Magpies (2014) K.J. Charles (A Charm of Magpies) The third book of the Charm of Magpies series finds Stephen and Lord Crane struggling to come to terms with Vaudrey’s desire to leave England and Stephen’s dedication to his job–a job that offers little remuneration but a lot of danger. Crane had promised he […]

Dark Queen (2018) Faith Hunter Wow. This is the culmination of several story arcs that have been going on for awhile, but especially the visit of the European Vampires to the US and their attempt to take over the US. A LOT happens here. And fair warning, multiple people die. But so many things are […]

Stiletto, Audible Edition (2016) Daniel O’Malley narrated by Moira Quirk Felicity Clements is a Pawn of the Checquy–a pawn who wants to become a Barghest. Odette Leliefeld is the great(s)-granddaughter of Ernst, lord and master of the Wetenschappelijk Broederschap van Natuurkundigen. She and her little brother have come to England with the Broederschap delegation to […]

Voice of the Violin, Audible Version (1997/2003/2008) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli narrated by Grover Gardner This book begins the slow and slight redemption of Catarella. “Oh, Chief, I got another streamly impoitant ting to tell ya. Somebody from Montelusa Central called to talk to me in poisson, Inspector Whatsizname, Tontona.” “Tortona.” “Whatever’s ’is […]

Freaks & Other Family (2016) Lish McBride You Make Me Feel So Young Halfway Through the Wood This collection is two stories about the characters from Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, Sam and Ramon. Sam is now a necromancer. Ramon is now a were-bear. Luckily, Sam’s inheritance also included a house and money, so he’s able […]

After the Wedding (2018) Courtney Milan Set in England in 1867. This is the second book in the Worth Saga, and is the story of the second Worth sister, Camilla. Camilla went to live with her uncle because she feared poverty, and the rift this caused with her older sister meant that when her uncle […]

A Case of Possession (2014) K.J. Charles (A Charm of Magpies) The second Charm of Magpies books finds Stephen and Crane the subject of blackmail. Crane, being an Earl, would be fine ignoring the blackmailer, but Stephen, being poor, could easily be arrested for their relationship. But then they suddenly have a much larger problem–giant […]

The Magpie Lord (2013) K.J. Charles (Charm of Magpies) One for sorrow Two for joy Three for a girl Four for a boy Five for silver Six for gold Seven for a secret never to be told Eight for a letter over the sea Nine for a lover as true as can be Lucien Vaudrey […]

A Queer Trade (2015) K.J. Charles (Rag & Bone) This is a short story I picked up because I liked another series of hers I read, and the idea of an historical fantasy was worth checking out. Crispin Tredarloe is a practitioner. He is also going to be in a great deal of trouble. His […]

The Rook, Audible Version (2012) Daniel O’Malley narrated by Susan Duerden Myfanwy Thomas awakens in a park, surrounded by bodies, with no idea who she is. I really do like this story a lot. It’s so dryly funny. The meeting with the people from accounting proved spectacularly uninteresting as Myfanwy learned how cheaply one could […]

The Red Heart of Jade (2006) Marjorie Liu Mirabelle Lee lost the love of her life as a teenager. Since then, she’s become the archeologist she had dreamed of becoming as a child, and is now in China helping uncover ancient mummies and artifacts. Dean Campbell lost the love of his life as a teenager–the […]

Shadow Touch (2006) Marjorie Liu Artur Loginov is an ex-Russian mobster with the gift (or curse) of psychometry–he gets impressions and information from touching objects. He works for Dirk & Steele, which fronts as a private investigation agency, but is far more than that. Elena Baxter works as a volunteer in hospitals, which gives her […]

Tiger Eye (2005) Marjorie Liu Dela Reese creates weapons–beautiful knives and swords–as well as other art, with her gift of metal working. While browsing a market in Beijing, a woman sells her a puzzle box–and almost immediately someone threatens her. Two thousand years ago Hari was made into a slave by the Magi–mostly used over […]

Swordspoint (1987) Ellen Kushner I have no idea what brings it on, but I’ve been in one of those moods where I read a few paragraphs of a book, decide I’m not in the mood for it, and try something else. As is typically, I have to resort to something I know I love, so […]