{"id":8944,"date":"2017-03-19T16:51:04","date_gmt":"2017-03-19T20:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=8944"},"modified":"2018-03-02T18:42:09","modified_gmt":"2018-03-02T23:42:09","slug":"kate-daniels-short-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8944","title":{"rendered":"Kate Daniels Short Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

Magic Mourns<\/a> (2009) originally published in Must Love Hellhounds<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This is Andrea and Raphael’s story–well, the first part of it anyway. (The second part is the book Gunmetal Magic<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Andrea is attempting to cover for Kate while she is recovering from events in Magic Strikes<\/em>. Unfortunately, the people who call Kate don’t trust anyone else, and Ted won’t give Andrea any other cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould you say the shapeshifter was in distress?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHell yeah, he was in distress. His tail was on fire.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHe ran like his tail was on fire?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNo, his tail was on fire. Like a big, furry candle on his ass.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I like Andrea–I like how she survived a horrible past and I like her loyalty–even if the later is greatly misplaced at times.<\/p>\n

Nobody, not human, not shapeshifter, not even my mother had ever told me that the beast form was beautiful. Inside me, the human me put her hands on her face and cried.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But it’s also amusing (of course).<\/p>\n

I walked into the Order\u2019s office. A group of knights standing in the hallway turned at my approach: Mauro, the huge Samoan knight; Tobias, as usual dapper; and Gene, the seasoned former Georgia Bureau of Investigations detective. They looked at me. The conversation died. <\/p>\n

My clothes were torn and bloody. Soot stained my skin. My hair stuck out in clumps caked with dirt and blood. The reek of a dead cat emanated from me in a foul cloud. <\/p>\n

I walked past them into the armory, opened the glass case, took Boom Baby out, grabbed a box of Silver Hawk cartridges, and walked out. <\/p>\n

Nobody said a thing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Published by Berkley<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Magic Dreams<\/a><\/em> (2011) first published in Hexed<\/a><\/em> <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dali Harimau shifts into a white tiger, and thus is part of Clan Cat, under alpha Jim Shrapshire.<\/p>\n

For most people, turning into a 700 pound white tiger would put them at the top of the heap, but Dali–Dali is different. She is tiny, she is a vegetarian (her tiger self eats grass), her shifting comes as much from her faith as from the Lyc-V virus, so she is almost blind in human form and her tiger takes several minutes to come to her senses when she shifts, and on top of all of that she is a magic user–part of her heritage but not something often found in shape-shifters.<\/p>\n

So to feel powerful Dali races cars. Because she’s almost blind, she wrecks–a lot–which drives both Curran and Jim crazy.<\/p>\n

When Jim shows up at her house, she assumes its because she’s been racing and wrecked again, but instead it’s because something magically bad has happened, and she’s a magic user who might be able to help.<\/p>\n

I really like Dali–and the trouble she gets herself into.<\/p>\n

My mother\u2019s eyes sparked. Oh no.<\/p>\n

She leaned over and patted Jim\u2019s hand. \u201cThat is so nice. My daughter is so smart. Always respectful and well-behaved. Never and trouble and she does as she is told.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t say,\u201d Jim murmured.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoesn\u2019t spend a lot of money. Two doctor degrees. Little problem with her eyes, but that\u2019s her father\u2019s side of the family.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And I love Dali’s machinations to keep Jim awake after he becomes cursed by the magic.<\/p>\n

If you deny a cat information, it will nag at him. If the cat happens to be a spymaster, it will drive him completely crazy<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s awesome and evil.<\/p>\n

This may be one of my favorite off-short short stories.<\/p>\n

Published by Berkley<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Magic Steals<\/a><\/em> (2014) first published in Night Shifts<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This is the second Jim and Dali story.<\/p>\n

Although they have been dating for awhile, Dali is terrified that Jim is going to suddenly realize just how weak she is and break-up with her. That sounds weak and whiney when you put it right that, but considering Dali’s weaknesses, it’s not unreasonable.<\/p>\n

Doesn’t mean she won’t keep trying, but she’s worried.<\/p>\n

I pulled up to the stop sign. The passenger door opened and Jim slid into the seat next to me. I clicked the locks closed. Ha-ha! He was trapped.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When Jim shows up for a date completely exhausted, Dali lets him fall asleep. Unfortunately, when her mother shows up, Dali panics.<\/p>\n

Neutering was the last thing he had to worry about. If she found him, she\u2019d be overjoyed and run out of the house so we could get busy making grandchildren.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh gods what should I call him . . . If I introduced him as my boyfriend, it would get back to my mother. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe work together,\u201d Jim said. <\/p>\n

Nice save. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we\u2019re dating.\u201d <\/p>\n

Damn it! <\/p>\n

Komang raised her eyebrows. \u201cCongratulations!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dali’s mom has show up because her friend’s grandmother has disappeared, and they believe evil magic was involved. Because Dali’s magic is partially divine, she must help.<\/p>\n

I particularly love the little details, like this description of the missing grandmother.<\/p>\n

Komang sighed. \u201cShe collects My Little Pony toys.\u201d <\/p>\n

Iluh nodded. \u201cYou should\u2019ve gone to the bedroom. She has shelves of those. She thinks they are pretty. She sculpts them out of modeling clay and paints them.\u201d <\/p>\n

That\u2019s something I would\u2019ve never guessed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s both adorable and sweet.<\/p>\n

One of the other valid concerns Dali has that if she and Jim remain together, she’ll end up the alpha of Clan Cat. Since she is a mostly blind vegetarian, she is terrified she would be a weakness.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you done?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cDali, you are a tiger. You\u2019re the largest cat on the planet and you weigh over seven hundred pounds in your beast form.\u201d <\/p>\n

I took a deep breath. If he were about to chew me out because I was a tiger and I couldn\u2019t fight . . . <\/p>\n

\u201cWait,\u201d Jim said. \u201cLet me finish.\u201d <\/p>\n

I cleared my throat. \u201cOkay. Continue.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have accelerated healing even by our standards.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s true.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a good fighter for us to make a good team. If you just sit on our attacker for a second, that\u2019s enough for me to kill them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I adore that Jim sees her her strengths where she sees weaknesses. And I also like that in resolving the mystery, we also see that Dali isn’t weak–she’s competent and even if she’s scared she still acts.<\/p>\n

I don’t like this quite as well as their first short story, but it is still good, and I quite like Jim and Dali.<\/p>\n

Published by Berkley<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Magic Mourns (2009) originally published in Must Love Hellhounds This is Andrea and Raphael’s story–well, the first part of it anyway. (The second part is the book Gunmetal Magic) Andrea is attempting to cover for Kate while she is recovering from events in Magic Strikes. Unfortunately, the people who call Kate don’t trust anyone else, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,48,41,26,35,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasy","category-female","category-reread","category-romance","category-short-story","category-supernatural"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2kg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3064,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3064","url_meta":{"origin":8944,"position":0},"title":"Gunmetal Magic","author":"Michelle","date":"August 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Gunmetal Magic (2012) Ilona Andrews This book is set in Kate's world, and Kate (of course) make appearances, but this is the story of Andrea and Raphael. Andrea has been outed as a shapeshifter and forced out the Order, which has been her entire life. As a shapeshifter she is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/gunmetal-magic.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1060,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1060","url_meta":{"origin":8944,"position":1},"title":"Magic Strikes","author":"Michelle","date":"March 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Magic Strikes (2009) Ilona Andrews Now that Kate is working for the Order (and getting a steady paycheck) she's working her butt off. A magic flare has caused trouble (as usual) and Kate gets to help deal with the upheaval. But when she goes to investigate the scene of the\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\/02\/magic-strikes.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8950,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8950","url_meta":{"origin":8944,"position":2},"title":"Gunmetal Magic","author":"Michelle","date":"March 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Gunmetal Magic (2012) Ilona Andrews This is Andrea's story--a continuation of \"Magic Mourns\" and Magic Slays and occurs parallel to events in \"Magic Gifts\". It's really book 5 1\/2 of the Kate Daniels' series. Andrea is working with Kate at Cutting Edge Investigations, and trying to avoid Raphael--the bouda who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/gunmetal-magic.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4455,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4455","url_meta":{"origin":8944,"position":3},"title":"Gunmetal Magic","author":"Michelle","date":"February 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Gunmetal Magic (2012) Ilona Andrews And now I reach the conclusion of my binge reading of Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniels (& World) series. We end with Andrea's book: how Andrea puts herself back together after being thrown out of the Order. Except there's lots of monster fighting and shooting (this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/gunmetal-magic.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4432,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4432","url_meta":{"origin":8944,"position":4},"title":"Kate Daniels World Short Stories","author":"Michelle","date":"February 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Kate Daniels short stories and novellas, by Ilona Andrews I decided I need to read all the Kate Daniels short stories and novellas (even the ones that don't directly have Kate in them). \u00a0 \"A Questionable Client\" originally published in Dark and Stormy Knights (2010) This is story of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"a-questionable-client","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/a-questionable-client-184x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8939,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8939","url_meta":{"origin":8944,"position":5},"title":"Magic Bleeds","author":"Michelle","date":"March 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Magic Bleeds (2010) Ilona Andrews Book four finds Kate waiting for Curran, having made him dinner as he specified--except he doesn't show up. While she's tending to her broken heart, she gets called to deal with what sounds like a bar fight that got out of hand. Who the hell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Magic-Bleeds.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\/8944","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=8944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8944\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}