Review Fairest and the Frog

C. Rae D’Arc’s first entry in her Dreaming Princesses, Dreaming Beauty, focused entirely on Emer, a combination Sleeping Beauty and one of the Twelve Dancing Princesses characters. With her newfound ability to control plants, Emer has recently awakened in her kingdom Somnus and found it in ruins. The awakened princess […]

Review of Animal Kingdom

For this anthology, Havok asked writers to create stories about animals. Whether they galloped, slithered, or swam, the stories had to have some animal kingdom element in its plot. The variety of what the authors produced is amazing. I read the stories and rated them based on the entertainment value, […]

Review of Elatsoe

The winner of a Time Magazine award, Elatsoe (Ellie) Bride is a descendent of the Lipan tribe of the United States. But this isn’t the United States you know and love. This is a United States with magic, with ghosts, and with vampires all living together. When Ellie’s cousin Trevor […]

Review of Lovers and Other Monsters

Lovers and Other Monsters, an anthology edited by Marvin Kaye presents suspense and horror stories centered on the theme of love, in particular, eros love. Kaye is well known for putting together unique and interesting anthologies, and he’s collected some of Weird Tale’s best stories in his other anthologies. This […]

Review of Who’s the Monster

Ye Olde Dragon Books’ second anthology of classic monsters targets Frankenstein and asks the question “Who’s the Monster?” Is it the ambitious scientist who goes too far? Is it his creation who, after being rejected, runs amok? Is it both? Or is it a society that can’t see beneath the […]

Review Dreaming Beauty

C. Rae D’Arc’s Dreaming Beauty has all the elements of a fairy tale retelling as well as several surprises. The first in a series, Dreaming Beauty combines the fantasy and romance of a fairy tale with the snark and modern sensibility of a contemporary. This combination worked with great success […]

Review of The Door

On a recommendation from a family member, I read the mystery novel The Door by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Many people have forgotten this woman, but in her time, her novels rivaled Christie’s in popularity. At one point, she was called the American Agatha Christie. The Door was published in 1930 […]

Review Havok Casting Call

Havok’s latest anthology, entitled Casting Call, examines many common archetypes of fiction in several genres (fantasy, mystery, comedy, etc.). The magician, the wizened elder, and the sneaky rebel are but a few character types offered in a flash fiction—one thousand words or less—story. As usual, Havok’s high quality is on […]