Title: Any Way the Wind Blows Author: Seanan McGuire Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Science fiction Pace: Fast Format: eBook, Novella Year: 2019
This is a fun short story – it’s a bit of a departure from the ordinary world into something that’s a little extraordinary. And, as with all McGuire books on my shelves, I enjoyed this thoroughly. Particularly as it packs a whole lot of information into very few pages – I mean, there’s literally a whole world created in about 50 pages. That takes a lot of talent, and makes it very interesting.
I love the idea of an airbus transporting between layers of reality. Layers which are overlapping, mostly I just loved the idea of reality as a baklava. And now, everytime I think of this story, I think of food. And reality. And time travel…
Holy crap. This was amazing. Like, phenomenal and wonderful and amazing. Although, I’m already completely in love with Seanan McGuire’s writing. So, it’s not really surprising that I loved this novel. Yet another fantastic series that I get to sink my teeth I to… now I need to FINISH some and stop finding new ones…
My brain most certainly got stuck on the whole saying goodbye to your family for 14 years. Particularly your little girl. I spent a lot of time while I was reading this novel glancing over at my beautiful daughter and just eye-beaming her with all of my love. I really and truly hope that later on in the series, Toby is able to reconnect with her child. Surely there will be a moment at some point throughout the series (I say with eternal hope).
The betrayal that occurs in this story is pretty ridiculously epic. And incredibly heartbreaking. There’s a whole lot of history that goes into Toby’s story, and when you realise who is responsible for all of the death and mayhem. And also, that final death that truly made a tear come to my eye… I definitely didn’t see any of it coming. Which, of course means that I loved it.
Rosemary and Rue does great justice to the fae and folklore. It doesn’t paint them to be kind and generous. Or welcoming to humans of any kind. Rather, they are predatory and incredibly wrapped up in their own drama. Also, beings of a totally different reality. The shifts and cracks in the many alliances and future challenges Toby is likely to face are already apparent in Rosemary and Rue. Again, making me want to dive right into A Local Habitation.
I’m being very hopeful that in future books, not only will Toby reconnect with her daughter, but also that she will be able to smooth things over with Julie. I hated that there was a rift there. I’m pretty sure Tybalt will eventually be the love interest, so I’m also looking forward to that…
This story was absolutely nothing like what I was expecting. It was kind of dark and twisty, without all of the feel good that I’ve been reading a bit much of in some of my young adult books. Plus, this was actually and truly about misfits. There are way too many YA stories which feature a “misfit” who is actually seriously cool. These kids aren’t. For that, I love them.
I’m always diving into tales of the fae. Tales that are a little bit uncomfortable and sweep you away to some incredibly unexpected places. What I loved about this is that a whole variety of alternate lands are featured. There’s not one doorway to go through, but a whole range. A different land for a different kind of person to fit in. It was nice that each of the characters in this story found their own lands to fit into. Their own places to experience a happily ever after.
This is a great reminder that we all fear death. And fear makes people do stupid things. Nancy may have come from a land of the Dead. But that doesn’t mean she causes death, or even desires it. I love how she is immediately looked upon with suspicion amongst people who know, themselves, what it is like to be a misfit. It’s a reminder that human nature tends to ostracise others, regardless of how we may have been ostracised ourselves. Particularly in instances when there is a whole heap of fear running rampant.
I was completely not expecting the ending of this story. It had such a wonderful Frankenstein, Dracula, Wuthering Heights feel. I might kind of hate Wuthering Heights, but I loved the other two, so it was a good feeling. A good feeling in a bad way…
From a kill-or-be-killed gunfight with a vampire to an encounter in a steampunk bordello, the weird western is a dark, gritty tale where the protagonist might be playing poker with a sorcerous deck of cards, or facing an alien on the streets of a dusty frontier town.
Here are twenty-three original tales – stories of the Old West infused with elements of the fantastic – produced specifically for this volume by many of today’s finest writers. Included are Orson Scott Card’s first “Alvin Maker” story in a decade, and an original adventure by Fred Van Lente, writer of Cowboys & Aliens.
What a fantastic collection. And a great new genre to add to my ever-expanding knowledge of / collection of books. Before reading Dead Man’s Hand and Westward Weird, I had never heard of Weird westerns. And now it’s a genre that I’m seriously keen to find more of. There is just something amazingly fun and awesome about this collection. Very, very enjoyable.
The gunslingers and card players throughout this anthology took me on an absolutely joyous ride. One that I was kind of disappointed finished so quickly. The idea of the wild west has always intrigued me, making this the first time that I was completely able to thrown myself into this fascination.
This anthology didn’t quite get five stars because I didn’t fall head over heels for each and every story. Having said that, I would most definitely read this again. Even those stories which weren’t quite as holy crap amazing as the others.
When you were a kid did you long to put on your cowboy boots, belt on your guns, saddle up, and ride off to find adventures? Did you sit glued to the TV watching The Lone Ranger, Marverick, bonanza, The Wild Wild West, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. and Firefly, to name just a few of the many series that have been popular over the last sixty years? And were you caught up in movies like Outlands, Time Bandits, Serenity, or Back to the Future Part III? If so, Westward Weird is the book for you.
The thirteen original stories included here ride a very broad range between science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal – and all of htem are told from a Wild West perspective. So get ready for some good old-fashioned adventure as:
The Old Gods cross paths in the Old West
Two thieves are given a job they can’t refuse, but no one told them they’d encounter aliens along the way
A mining family never expected their claim to be jumped from parallel universes
A Mars colony may be about to find out exactly how the West was won
Cowboys will be hard-pressed to ride herd on the living dead
This was a fantastic collection that introduced me to a genre that I never really knew existed – Weird westerns. I absolutely loved it. Whilst I haven’t really been getting into Westerns all that much, I most definitely love the science fiction and fantasy spin to the topic. Now I have a whole new genre to read and things to fill my shelves with… that wish list just keeps on growing.
Now that I’ve read this collection, I need to find a few weird western full-length novels. After all, it’s a genre that I’ve most definitely fallen in love with and want even more of. I can’t wait to read more and more weird westerns and fill my brain with all sorts of cyborg wild west stories. Tales of werewolves and vampires. And just…. Fun.
This is a fantastic collection that not only fits great into my shelf of books that I already own, but it also introduced me to a great new sub-genre, authors and just… fun. Now I need to save up some money to get some of the books that this has left on my wishlist…
There’s nothing like home renovation for finding skeletons in the closet or otherworldly portals in the parlour… And when you add in a hefty dose of the supernatural, the normal, everyday challenges of home D-I-Y become even more hazardous!
International number 1 bestseller Charlaine Harris has joined forces once again with award-winning mystery writer Toni L.P. Kelner to construct a brilliant anthology of fourteen forays into the frightening world of home improvement.
This is a great and fun collection. It’s amusing and light. Filled with lots of gorgeous paranormal stories and just seriously fun. What I love most about it though is that each and everyone of these stories features the process of home renovations in some way, shape or form. And, as a home owner myself… I can attest to the fact that sometimes home improvements are literally hell…
I love that this collection brings the supernatural and paranormal into our everyday experiences. Everyone has a home and, in the case of these somewhat more magical lives… after all, even vampires and witches and the fae still need a home… but their complications are a lot worse than the ones that I have had to face…
This collection had some authors and series that I’m familiar with. And some that are new to me. As with many of the good anthologies that I read, my wish list has grown yet again. Which is really what I want when I read a good anthology.
Title: The Lay of the Land Author: Seanan McGuire Series: InCryptid #0.21 Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Paranormal fantasy, Strong women, Urban fantasy Dates read: 4th October 2020 Pace: Medium Format: Free online short story Publisher: Seanan McGuire Year: 2017 5th sentence, 74th page: “But you don’t think Mr. Price is a part of that.”
Thomas Price has seen the world, has studied and fought unbelievable creatures on every continent, and knows more about cryptids than almost anyone else alive. But he’s never seen anyplace like Buckley Township, Michigan, and he’s certainly never met anyone like Alice Healy, who is far too young for him, far too much a Healy for him, and far too wild to disregard. This is going to be an interesting assignment.
Unable to understand why her ever-tolerant father wants her to write off a newcomer as dangerous solely because of his origins, Alice Healy has set herself on a collision course with Thomas Price–a man who needs companionship, answers, and someone to guide him through the tangled ecosystems of the local wood, where the unwary go in, but don’t come out.
It’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship, and a new chapter in the story of the Healy family. Assuming that Alice can get Thomas through the woods alive, and Mary can convince Alice not to get Thomas murdered by her father.
Alice is growing into absolutely everything I expected… and more. I almost don’t want to leave the world of the InCryptid short stories. She’s got so much gumption. And is incredibly accident prone. Two things which I absolutely adore in a strong female character. It doesn’t fail to brig a smile to my face, opening my Kobo and reading one of the stories which feature her and her amazingness.
I love that in this story, she’s showing Thomas around. The independent, matter of fact way in which she does so helps to draw you ever further into the InCryptid world and Alice’s great personality. She’s most definitely Fran’s daughter. And although I still miss Fran, I love that there is someone there to fill that void with their humorous take on life.
This story was a great way to see all of the things in the InCryptidworld that go bump in the night. Even the more innocent of the creatures that go “bump” were included. I wish there was an illustrated encyclopaedia of all of these amazing creatures… I could almost die a happy woman then.
Title: Target Practice Author: Seanan McGuire Series: InCryptid #0.22 Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Paranormal fantasy, Strong women, Urban fantasy Dates read: 5th October 2020 Pace: Medium Format: Free online short story Publisher: Seanan McGuire Year: 2017 5th sentence, 74th page: It was a rare moment of absolute calm – at least until the blonde blur broke through the blueberry bushes, running hell-bent for the border.
Buckley Township is starting to grow on Thomas Price, rather like a particularly aggressive strain of moss. He still has a lot to learn about his new environs, and about the people they bring him into contact with. People like Alice Healy, whose talent for getting herself into trouble is only exceeded by her inexplicable ability to get out of it again. Luck is not a dependable survival mechanism. And hers is running out.
When Alice stumbles over something that even the ecologically unusual Buckley woods shouldn’t be able to sustain, it’s anyone’s guess whether she’ll be able to handle it on her own–and if she can’t, whether she’ll be able to find the help she needs to stop an invasive species from damaging the town and people she cares about. Thomas, meanwhile, just wants to avoid being shot by her father.
Tensions are high and stakes are higher as Alice and Thomas both begin taking aim on what they want, and where they want to be when they get it.
The first dot point that I wrote in my notes on this short story sums it up perfectly:
Naw. Alice finally broke Jonathan!
That’s pretty much it. There was something that became steadily more irritating about Jonathan as these short stories unfolded. Don’t get me wrong, it’s understandable. But it was still dang annoying. So when Alice finally manages to “break” him… it left me feeling happy. Nothing like a rebellious teen having a point to make me love a story.
As with the other short stories so far in this collection, now all I want is to get the next books in this series and stick my nose into them! But I’m trying so hard not to buy anymore until I finish some from my teetering TBR… I may actually get buried under an avalanche soon.
But I digress… this was a fun story and showed how well Alice’s grandmother knows her, and how the scars of the past and worries for the future can have the exact opposite effect to what you desire. Luckily, things will steadily get more interesting (I’m sure) as the rest of the series about Alice’s children unfolds…
Title: The Way Home Author: Seanan McGuire Series: InCryptid #0.20 Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Paranormal fantasy, Strong women, Urban fantasy Dates read: 30th September 2020 Pace: Fast Format: Free online short story Publisher: Seanan McGuire Year: 2015 5th sentence, 74th page: And about that time, pigs would fly.
Alice Healy is sixteen years old and chafing at the yoke of her father’s regard. His overprotective streak has blossomed in the absence of his wife, leaving his teenage daughter sneaking out at every opportunity, trying to find herself and her place in the world without any parental support. But she knows the woods, and she knows what she wants to do with her life; it’s just a question of whether she can keep herself alive long enough to actually accomplish her planned future.
Thomas Price is a man still paying for his past. He’s smart enough to understand that his assignment is essentially an exile, and has enough of a sense of self-preservation not to argue. Those who vex the Covenant of St. George rarely live long enough to explain themselves. At least in Buckley Township, he’ll be far away from danger…unless you’re counting Alice Healy.
Worlds will collide and a new story will begin as Thomas Price arrives in his new home, and Alice Healy does her best to stay alive long enough to say hello for the first time.
Oh, HELL YES!!! A story of Alice as a teenager, man I’ve been hanging for this ever since Snakes and Ladders. And it was everything that I expected – Alice is sassy, accident prone and wonderfully independent, just like her mother. The fact that she also seems to like knives a little… wow.
This story is not only Alice’s first appearance as a teenager, but it also has Thomas and Alice’s first meeting. Which, again, I fell completely in love with. I can now completely understand how they had Verity as a daughter, and I can’t wait to meet the rest of their children and get to know the family even more (when I have the money to buy the books anyway…).
I was intrigued to see how Thomas truly left the Convent. You get to understand the rationale for the Healys throughout the rest of the short stories, but I wanted something at least slightly different for the next deserter. And I got it. It was great, fun and I can’t wait to keep sticking my nose into this fantastic series!
Title: The Star of New Mexico Author: Seanan McGuire Series: InCryptid #0.14 Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Paranormal fantasy, Strong women, Urban fantasy Dates read: 25th September 2020 Pace: Fast Format: Free online short story Publisher: Seanan Mcguire Year: 2015 5th sentence, 74th page: “We’re not set up for long term storage,” the funeral home director had said.
Almost twenty years ago, Jonathan Healy rode a train across the country to investigate reports that something was killing people in the wake of a small family circus. Almost twenty years ago, he brought home the woman who would be his wife, the mother of his children, and his partner in the endless quest to protect the cryptids of the world. The time has come for Fabulous Fran, the Flower of Arizona, the Star of New Mexico, to take the stage for the final time, and take her final bow.
Fran touched a lot of lives in her time in Buckley, and the people who loved her are coming to say goodbye. It’s not going to be easy. The things that are most important so very rarely are.
They say she never missed a shot; she was the darling of the west. But now she’s gone, and the ones she’s left behind must figure out what this means for them.
After reading Broken Paper Hearts, I thought McGuire was done with breaking my heart. Boy was I wrong. Oh, so damn wrong. Evil woman managed to do it again. I finished this short story with that same horrid feeling of sadness and confusion that the previous short story left. But, it was somehow even worse because this was actually saying goodbye and dashing all hopes that Fran would be coming back…
This short story most definitely asks the question – how do you say goodbye to the ones that you love? And, more importantly… what would you do if you had to say goodbye? Would you come back from the dead? Or would you stay gone and let your family move on? How do you move on? So many questions and thoughts running through my head right now!
One of the things I love about this is that Alice is obviously a little butt-kicker and I can’t wait to see how she’s going to kick butt into the future. I think the next few InCryptidshort stories are all about her… so I look forward to finding out just how tough a woman she is going to become!
Earth and Skye 