{"id":436,"date":"2007-09-15T19:29:43","date_gmt":"2007-09-16T02:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/436"},"modified":"2021-06-02T19:20:46","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T23:20:46","slug":"places-to-be-people-to-kill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/436","title":{"rendered":"Places to Be, People to Kill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Places to Be, People to Kill<\/a><\/em> (2007) Edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Brittany A. Koren<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I really like short stories, so I’m a sucker for anthologies. I’ve been burned a couple of times, but for the most part, anything that Martin H Greenberg has a hand in will most likely contain a majority of stories I’ll enjoy. The fact that the stories were about assassins was an added bonus. (For some reason I love to read about characters I would want absolutely nothing to do with if I read them in life: assassins, thieves, and scoundrels. Places to Be, People to Kill <\/em>contains all three.<\/p>\n

As with most anthologies, there were some stories I especially liked, and some I cared for less.<\/p>\n

Bloodlines<\/em> by Jim C. Hines was one of the story I particularly liked. It somewhat uncommon to find a man who does a decent job of writing a female protagonist, but Jim Hines did a pretty good job with Valerica, especially since she turns out of be a complex and somewhat flawed character. I especially liked the part that the role of destiny plays in this story. As a firm believer in free will, stories that question the idea of destiny I always find particularly interesting.<\/p>\n

Sarah A. Hoyt’s story While Horse and Hero Fell<\/em> was one I particularly enjoyed–it’s a mix of science fiction and fantasy, and I especially loved the idea of a computer wizard. Sometimes geeks have what it takes to be people of action. It just takes the right motivation.<\/p>\n

Substitutions<\/em> by Kristine Kathryn Rusch<\/a> was another story I liked. It’s somewhat of a supernatural fantasy, only it focuses upon the more spiritual aspects of the supernatural rather than the creepy crawlies. I also like the idea of death outsourcing to multiple individuals to help cover the work load.<\/p>\n

Fealty<\/em> by S. Andrew Swann was a rather strange story in some ways–a cross between horror and medieval history almost, it also touched on the nature of good and evil, as well as forgiveness.<\/p>\n

Although it meandered a bit, John Marco’s story The Hundreth Kill<\/em> was both interesting and well done, even though for awhile I feared it was going to go to a place I really didn’t like.<\/p>\n

And finally, I very much enjoyed Tim Waggoneer’s story All in the Execution<\/em>, which started out making me think it was one thing, and ended on a completely different level. Although it had a slight Asian feel to it, it was not a particularly Asian story. But it was a particularly good one.<\/p>\n

Although the cover isn’t bad, I just am not convinced that the boy on the cover is an assassin. He’s slouching in such a way that makes me think of moody teenager rather than stealthy cold-blooded killer. But really, that’s picking nits, since the overall feel for the anthology was correct.<\/p>\n

If you enjoy short stories–especially short stories about scoundrels and assassins, then I recommend that you check out Places to Be, People to Kill<\/em>.
\nRating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Places to Be, People to Kill (2007) Edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Brittany A. Koren I really like short stories, so I’m a sucker for anthologies. I’ve been burned a couple of times, but for the most part, anything that Martin H Greenberg has a hand in will most likely contain a majority of […]<\/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":[18,2,291],"tags":[357],"class_list":["post-436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anthology","category-fantasy","category-paper","tag-martin-h-greenberg"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-72","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":122,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/122","url_meta":{"origin":436,"position":0},"title":"Assassin Fantastic","author":"Michelle","date":"September 12, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Assassin Fantastic (2001) edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Alexander Potter I know that Martin Greenberg puts together good anthologies, however there's something about the \"Fantastic\" that gets tacked onto the end of each anthology theme title that puts me off for some reason. However, I've always been fond of\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\/2005\/09\/Assassin-Fantastic.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1380,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1380","url_meta":{"origin":436,"position":1},"title":"Better Off Undead","author":"Michelle","date":"September 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Better Off Undead (2008) edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Daniel M. Hoyt Anthologies edited by Martin H. Greenberg are usually ones I can pick up knowing that I'll like the majority of stories within. This volume? Not so much. There were a handful of stories I thought were good,\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\/2009\/09\/Better-Off-Undead.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":424,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/424","url_meta":{"origin":436,"position":2},"title":"Children of Magic","author":"Michelle","date":"August 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Children of Magic (2006) edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes As I have mentioned on many previous occasions, I am a huge fan of short stories. Occasionally I have been disappointed, but for the most part the anthologies I have read have good, especially the one edited by\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\/2007\/08\/Children-of-Magic.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3247,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3247","url_meta":{"origin":436,"position":3},"title":"Between the Dark and the Daylight","author":"Michelle","date":"November 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Between the Dark and the Daylight: And 27 More of the Best Crime and Mystery Stories of the Year (2009) edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg I generally love mystery anthologies, but I had a hard time with this one. First and foremost, the collection is full of\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\/2012\/11\/Between-the-Dark-and-the-Daylight.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":377,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/377","url_meta":{"origin":436,"position":4},"title":"The Repentant","author":"Michelle","date":"May 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Repentant (2003) edited by Brian M. Thomsen and Martin H. Greenberg I love short stories, so I tend to pick up anthologies when I come across them--assuming they look even remotely interesting. The Repentant looked particularly interesting, since it had several authors I particularly like: Tanya Huff, P.N. Elrod,\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\/2007\/05\/Repentant.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":131,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/131","url_meta":{"origin":436,"position":5},"title":"Maiden, Matron, Crone","author":"Michelle","date":"September 21, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Maiden, Matron, Crone (2005) Kerrie Hughes and Martin H. Greenberg I try to pick up fantasy anthologies when I see them, since chances are they won't be there the next time I look. I picked up Maiden, Matron, Crone while ago, but saved it to read during the school year,\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\/2005\/09\/Maiden-Matron-Crone.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}