{"id":2709,"date":"2011-12-30T23:39:39","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T04:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=2709"},"modified":"2021-12-16T09:11:56","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T14:11:56","slug":"naked-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2709","title":{"rendered":"Naked City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Naked City<\/a><\/em> (2011) edited by Ellen Datlow<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This collection of urban fantasy stories has several of my favorite authors, so it was a no-brainer to get. The bad thing is that I’ve been reading this collection for several months, so I now have no idea what the stories at the start of the anthology were about, which is dangerous, because it means I may end up accidentally rereading several of them.<\/p>\n

First up was Jim Butcher<\/a>‘s HarryDresden story “Cursed.” I’ve become frustrated by the Dresden Files series the past couple books, so a nice short story about baseball was a pleasant change. Harry is asked to find out about a possible curse on the Chicago Cubs.<\/p>\n

Delia Sherman<\/a>‘s story was next, “How the Pooka Came to New York City.” It’s 1855 and tells how a pooka came to NY with a human, Liam O’Casey.<\/p>\n

Worth the cost of the anthology alone was Ellen Kushner<\/a>‘s “The Duke of Riverside.” I love Swordspoint<\/em>, and the chance to read more about St. Vier and Alec met? Bliss.<\/p>\n

I love Christopher Fowler<\/a>‘s Bryant & May mystery series. This is an unrelated stand-alone story about, well… in theory it’s about a hold up, but it isn’t. Not really.<\/p>\n

Patricia Briggs<\/a> story “Fairy Gifts” is a vampire story, but it’s not one of those vampire stories. It’s of a boy who was forced to become a vampire, and more.<\/p>\n

Pat Cadigan’s story “Picking Up the Pieces” was another story about fairy, but it’s also about family, and a woman looking after her sister.<\/p>\n

Peter S. Beagle<\/a>‘s story, “Underbridge” was unexpectedly dark, almost more horror than fantasy. It’s about a troll. And it isn’t a nice troll.<\/p>\n

Naomi Novik<\/a>, who wrote the Temeraire series, has a non-dragon entry–another vampire story, only this one about the problems of the housing market in New York city.<\/p>\n

I’m not certain I’d classify Matthew Kressel’s story, “The Bricks of Gelecek” as urban fantasy. It’s not a modern setting, and it’s not especially urban. It is interesting and depressing.<\/p>\n

Lavie Tidhar’s story, “The Projected Girl” was meloncholy. A boy discovers a magician’s diary, and wants to learn more about the magician and the trick he reads about in the book.<\/p>\n

Holly Black<\/a>‘s story “Noble Rot” is a ghoul love story. Really.<\/p>\n

The last story in the anthology is Elizabeth Bear<\/a>‘s “King Pole, Gallows Pole, Bottle Tree.” It’s a story of Las Vegas and memory and magic. It’s also extremely good.<\/p>\n

Although there were several stories I didn’t care for, I believe that was more a matter of personal taste than quality. And the stories I did like, I liked very much.
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by St. Martin’s Griffin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Naked City (2011) edited by Ellen Datlow This collection of urban fantasy stories has several of my favorite authors, so it was a no-brainer to get. The bad thing is that I’ve been reading this collection for several months, so I now have no idea what the stories at the start of the anthology were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,18,30,2,8,291,42,16,34],"tags":[256,255,320,248,82,246,257,317,313],"class_list":["post-2709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-anthology","category-british","category-fantasy","category-mystery","category-paper","category-police","category-supernatural","category-urban-fantasy","tag-bryant-may","tag-christopher-fowler","tag-elizabeth-bear","tag-ellen-datlow","tag-ellen-kushner","tag-jim-butcher","tag-peculiar-crimes-unit","tag-peter-s-beagle","tag-vampires"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-HH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":229,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/229","url_meta":{"origin":2709,"position":0},"title":"Snow White Blood Red","author":"Michelle","date":"April 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Snow White Blood Red (1993) Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling I often have a hard time putting down interesting books. Which means that if I'm reading a book I real like before bed, I end up staying up past my bed time instead of falling asleep. One solution is to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthology","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/anthology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/04\/Snow-White-Blood-Red.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":68,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/68","url_meta":{"origin":2709,"position":1},"title":"A Wolf at the Door","author":"Michelle","date":"April 14, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"A Wolf at the Door (2000) edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling I love folk tales and fairy tales, and I love the idea of stories that have been told and retold, and then finally captured on paper. 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Their books are like comfort food, and I save them up for when I'm sick or feeling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/Coyote-Road.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":41,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/41","url_meta":{"origin":2709,"position":3},"title":"The Faery Reel","author":"Michelle","date":"November 7, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"The Faery Reel edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling Any time I see a fantasy anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, I'll often as not pick it up, because I know that it's going to be good. Usually very good. 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