Short Story Collections – Earth and Skye

The Mammoth Book of Steampunk edited by Sean Wallace

I’ve only recently gotten involved in steampunk. It’s a genre that I only started reading late last year and one that I kind of love. Although, as I discovered with this collection of short stories, it is also a genre that I have to concentrate a little more to read (unlike genre such as romance).

Troll’s-Eye View edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling

This is an incredibly easy, fun and engaging short story collection. It takes some brilliant authors who take you on journeys through well known fairy tales. The fact that these retellings all focus on the villains of the stories just made me love it even more. I always love the highlighting of grey areas and alternate tellings.

Blood Lite edited by Kevin J. Anderson

I’m kind of on the fence about this collection. Some of the stories in this were brilliant. Some downright weird. But all were enjoyable. Just not memorable. This is the kind of collection you read for a good, light laugh and something that isn’t going to make you think and linger in your mind’s eye after you’ve finished the story.

A Fantastic Holiday Season edited by Kevin J. Anderson and Keith J. Olexa

I bought this collection because the very last story is a short story in the Mercedes Thompson series that I don’t yet have. And I started reading this last year to try and get me into the Christmas spirit. And it worked. Beautifully. Fantastically. I’m actually sad that it’s over, even if I finished it after the Holiday Season…

The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance edited by Trisha Telep

I kind of loved this collection. It definitely isn’t one that you can read cover to cover in one sitting – there’s only so many vampire romances that I can happily read before they start to blend into one. But as a slow read that I just picked up every now and again… it was really, really good.

Hexed by Ilona Andrews, Yasmine Galenorn, Allyson James & Jeanne C. Stein

I absolutely adored this collection of novellas. And was wondering why I didn’t pick this up much, much sooner. After all, it’s been sitting on my bookshelf for a few years. Although, since I now have another two series that I need to buy (I already had two), I’m beginning to think that that may have been my reason for not sinking my teeth into this series too early on.

Shifter by Angela Knight, Lora Leigh, Alyssa Day & Virginia Kantra

I didn’t really realise how much I’m obsessed with paranormal romance and shapeshifters… until I read this collection. And loved every single story, and now have a one-track obsession with each of the three series and four authors. Which is a monetary issues, because I don’t really want to be buying all of these series… and new authors… but I kind of have…

The Magical Christmas Cat by Lora Leigh, Erin McCarthy, Nalini Singh & Linda Winstead Jones

I bought this book because I wanted something that was Christmassy to get me in the Christmas mood. I saw that I recognised one of the four authors, and figured I really couldn’t go wrong the a name like “The Magical Christmas Cat”. And boy was I not disappointed.

A Christmas Carol and Other Holiday Treasures by Charles Dickens

I can’t believe that it has taken me until I was almost twenty-six to read this collection! Actually, I can’t believe that it has taken me almost twenty-six years to read anything written by Charles Dickens. Normally I find anything written in the 1800s pleasurable, but a little difficult to get through. Not so with Dickens’ writing. It is so much more accessible and, although it still has the same mouthy, lyrical feel as much of the writing from that time, it is just somehow less formal, and more… real.

An Enchanted Season by Nalini Singh, Maggie Shayne, Erin McCarthy & Jean Johnson

Naw. This collection left me with such happy, Christmassy, gooey feelings. All four of these novellas are simple, cute and incredibly sweet. They encompass the feelings of love and giving that to me is the true spirit of Christmas. After finishing every single one of these novellas, I not only bought something by each of the authors, but I just sat there with a feeling of bliss and happiness that there is still goodness in the world.