{"id":4699,"date":"2014-07-12T18:42:57","date_gmt":"2014-07-12T23:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=4699"},"modified":"2026-03-22T10:37:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T14:37:20","slug":"strange-brew-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4699","title":{"rendered":"Strange Brew"},"content":{"rendered":"

Strange Brew<\/a><\/em> (2009) edited by P.N. Elrod<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Strange-Brew\"<\/a>This is a re-read, and as such, I skipped the stories I didn’t like or wasn’t in the mood for.<\/p>\n

Seeing Eye by Patricia Briggs<\/a>
\nLast Call by Jim Butcher<\/a>
\nDeath Warmed Over by Rachel Caine<\/a>
\nVegas Odds by Karen Chance<\/a>
\nHecate’s Golden Eye by P.N. Elrod<\/a>
\nBacon by Charlaine Harris<\/a>
\nSignatures of the Dead by Faith Hunter<\/a>
\nGinger: A Nocturne City Story by Caitlin Kittredge<\/a>
\nDark Sins by Jenna Maclaine<\/p>\n

Seeing Eye by Patricia Briggs<\/a> was the reason I picked up the anthology to re-read. I love Patricia Briggs’ short stories. This story does not have any of her usual characters, but is set in her existing world where werewolves and witches are real. Moira is a witch who is looking for revenge. Tom has been sent to her because his brother has been taken by the person upon whom Moira has sworn vengeance. I liked both Moira and Tom, and quite enjoyed this story, but then I can’t think of one of Patricia Briggs’ short stories that hasn’t been excellent.<\/p>\n

Last Call by Jim Butcher<\/a> was skipped, because after the series went in a direction I didn’t enjoy, I stopped taking as much enjoyment in the Harry Dresden short stories.<\/p>\n

Death Warmed Over by Rachel Caine<\/a> involves two characters I’ve come across in other stories, and this is how they came to work together. It was… fine.<\/p>\n

Vegas Odds by Karen Chance<\/a> was a story I skimmed through, because I generally don’t care for her short stories, feeling like I’m missing something because I haven’t read the series. This felt the same way.<\/p>\n

Hecate’s Golden Eye by P.N. Elrod is a Jack Fleming story, and I enjoyed the re-read. I love the character and the time period. Charles is hired to help a woman retrieve her inheritance–which has been stolen by her cousin–the jewel Hectate’s Golden Eye.<\/p>\n

Bacon by Charlaine Harris<\/a> is another story I skimmed, although Charlaine generally writes short stories I like, I got so sick of the Sookie Stackhouse series that I have a hard time reading anything set in her world. This story involves Dahlia, whose stories I generally liked, but this one felt cliched.<\/p>\n

Signatures of the Dead by Faith Hunter<\/a> is the story that got me interested in reading Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock series. Faith Hunter also is good at writing short stories, and this was a perfect introduction to Jane–especially since the story is written from the point of view of her best friend, the witch Molly.<\/p>\n

Ginger: A Nocturne City Story by Caitlin Kittredge<\/a> I completely skipped this. I just cannot get into Caitlin Kittredge’s short stories. They all feel like I’m mising huge chunks.<\/p>\n

Dark Sins by Jenna Maclaine was interesting, and although it did feel like I was missing quite a bit, she did a decent job filling in the cracks to keep me from feeling completely lost.<\/p>\n

I love anthologies, but I wish that more collections were edited for quality short stories, rather than to get as many names on the cover–regardless of whether those authors are good at writing short stories and novellas.
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Strange Brew (2009) edited by P.N. Elrod This is a re-read, and as such, I skipped the stories I didn’t like or wasn’t in the mood for. Seeing Eye by Patricia Briggs Last Call by Jim Butcher Death Warmed Over by Rachel Caine Vegas Odds by Karen Chance Hecate’s Golden Eye by P.N. Elrod Bacon […]<\/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":false,"_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":[18,2,8,291,16],"tags":[297,81,93,246,312,68,528,313,655,525,217],"class_list":["post-4699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anthology","category-fantasy","category-mystery","category-paper","category-supernatural","tag-charlaine-harris","tag-faith-hunter","tag-jane-yellowrock","tag-jim-butcher","tag-p-n-elrod","tag-patricia-briggs","tag-shifter","tag-vampires","tag-violence","tag-werewolves","tag-witches"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1dN","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1243,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1243","url_meta":{"origin":4699,"position":0},"title":"Strange Brew","author":"Michelle","date":"July 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Strange Brew (2009) edited by P.N. Elrod I love short story collections. They're a way to discover new authors, visit with favorite characters, and to be honest I just enjoy short stories. Now if you like short stories, you eventually learn that a lot of collections are not worth buying,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Strange-Brew.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3105,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3105","url_meta":{"origin":4699,"position":1},"title":"Hex Appeal","author":"Michelle","date":"August 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Hex Appeal (2012) edited by P.N. Elrod; Stories by P.N. Elrod, Carrie Vaughn, Ilona Andrews, Jim Butcher, Simon R Green, Rachel Caine (and others) As I was expecting, this collection was a mixed bag. Luckily, the good stories were very good, and worth the price of the anthology. I bought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/hex-appeal-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3521,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3521","url_meta":{"origin":4699,"position":2},"title":"My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon","author":"Michelle","date":"January 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon (2007) P.N. Elrod The follow up to My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding, at least in theme. This was a very mixed bag. Some of the stories were good, some I could barely stand to finish, and in fact, put this anthology down several times, for\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\/2013\/01\/Big-Fat-Supernatural-Honeymoon.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":446,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/446","url_meta":{"origin":4699,"position":3},"title":"Many Bloody Returns","author":"Michelle","date":"September 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Many Bloody Returns (2007) edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner I pre-ordered this, not realizing it was in hardback. As much as I love anthologies, I'm not that excited about hardback books--especially anthologies where I don't know all the authors or the quality of the stories. Many Bloody\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\/09\/many-bloody-returns.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1949,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1949","url_meta":{"origin":4699,"position":4},"title":"Dark and Stormy Knights","author":"Michelle","date":"September 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Dark and Stormy Knights (2010) edited by P.N. Elrod I can't help myself--I love anthologies. And fantasy anthologies with writers who write their fantasy with a healthy does of mystery? Sign me up! All anthologies have high and low points, but overall this was a fairly strong group of stories.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Dark-and-Stormy-Knights.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2702,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2702","url_meta":{"origin":4699,"position":5},"title":"Dracula in London","author":"Michelle","date":"December 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Dracula in London (2004) edited by P.N. Elrod I give up. After six months I'm about three-quarters of the way through, and haven't enjoyed one single story I've read. I generally like P.N. Elrod's stories, and I've read several other anthologies she has edited, all of which I've enjoyed, but\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\/2011\/12\/Dracula-in-London.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\/4699","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=4699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}