Title: Stingers and Strangers
Author: Seanan McGuire
Series: InCryptid #0.04
In: Dead Man’s Hand (John Joseph Adams)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Paranormal fantasy, Strong women, Urban fantasy
Dates read: 23rd July 2020
Pace: Fast
Format: Short story
Publisher: Titan Books
Year: 2014
5th sentence, 74th page: Eleanor had just admitted she wasn’t human; he wasn’t going to make her cope with the idea of unmarried couples sharing a bed beneath her roof.

Fran and Johnny are out hunting monsters. But, it’s the wild wild west and just certain things are expected… will they be able to win the day and finally recognize their feelings for one another?

This is yet another great InCryptid short story. It has the action, the humour and the wit that I have come to expect from this series. It deals with Verity’s grandparents (or is it great-grandparents?) and their own hunting journey into the West.

I love that Fran and Johnny are arguing and bickering throughout most of this story. From the very outset you recognise that they have feelings for each other. And although it takes a while for either one of them to actually admit it… that bickering and wit in their interactions helps to keep that feeling alive and well.

This had a beautiful gunslinging, wild west, cowboy feeling to this story. The fact that it also works to introduce Cuckoos to the Cryptid hunters just works even better. Now I need to read the rest of the short stories which make up this mini series within a series…

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Married in Green ->

Image source: Amazon