false <![CDATA[Strange Brew]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1233272312m/6122181.jpg 6122181 3 Today's hottest urban fantasy authors come together in this delicious brew that crackles and boils over with tales of powerful witches and dark magic! In Charlaine Harris' "Bacon," a beautiful vampire joins forces with a witch from an ancient line to find out who killed her beloved husband. In "Seeing Eye" by Patricia Briggs, a blind witch helps sexy werewolf Tom Franklin find his missing brother&mdash;and helps him in more ways than either of them ever suspected. And in Jim Butcher's "Last Call," wizard Harry Dresden takes on the darkest of dark powers&mdash;the ones who dare to mess with this favorite beer. For anyone who's ever wondered what lies beyond the limits of reality, who's imagined the secret spaces where witches wield fearsome magic, come and drink deep. Let yourself fall under the spell of this bewitching collection! Contents Patricia Briggs -- Seeing Eye Jim Butcher -- Last Call Rachel Caine -- Death Warmed Over Karen Chance -- Vegas Odds P.N. Elrod -- Hecate's Golden Eye Charlaine Harris -- Bacon Faith Hunter -- Signatures of the Dead Caitlin Kittredge -- Ginger Jenna Maclaine -- Dark Sins 6300509 7 7 2009 Strange Brew total:361|5:58|4:139|3:131|2:28|1:5| 361 1300 946 87 3 1 false false Fri Jul 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 23:33:19 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 17 10:28:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 2 false false Mon Jul 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 16 07:11:28 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 07:19:34 -0700 2009 Hunting Ground, the second book in her Alpha & Omega series.)

Butcher's Harry Dresden story was pretty goo...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jul 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 10 20:33:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 10 20:33:00 -0700 2009 A tasty sampler of UF shorts to quench your thirst for a quick summer read
Strange Brew was a pretty good sampler of urban fantasy shorts and even though most of the stories are connected to these favorite authors' popular series, most worked pretty well as standalones. My favorites were the o...more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 18:01:51 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 18:24:31 -0700 2009
Jim Butcher, as always presents an excellent Dresden story, "Last Call" - all Dresden wants in some of Mac's beer, and of c...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 11:45:51 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 11:47:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Sep 22 11:20:59 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 16:06:42 -0700 2009 Strange Brew is a nice mix of stories. Most, if not all, of the authors in the collection have novels that make use of the characters in the short fiction. I've read some of the books.

In this collection, I truly enjoyed "Bacon" by Charline Harris. It is set in her Sookie wor...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jul 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 15:31:18 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 09:20:29 -0700 2009
Patricia Briggs had Seeing Eye was a decent story- set in the same world as the Mercy Thompson ones, but not with any of the same characters. I liked it though. She should revis...more...]]> 4 2 false false Thu Jul 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 30 10:46:12 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 02 15:41:08 -0700 2009
Patricia Briggs' "Seeing Eye" takes place in t...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Aug 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 19:26:26 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 19:02:25 -0700 2009
Seeing Eye by Patricia Briggs - Great new twist on the witch and familiar story. I'm a big fan of Briggs to begin with and this story really impressed me.

Last Call by Jim Butcher - I love Harry Dresden stories.

Death Warmed Over by...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Sep 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 17:26:51 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 18:25:58 -0700 2009 1
I was amused by Jim Butcher interpreting "brew" to mean McAnally's prized beer. It was a nice story, no guest appearances aside from Murphy, and no m...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Sep 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 21:33:18 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 22:35:59 -0700 2009 Seeing Eye. I thought that was lovely; just short and to the point, but beautifully executed. It makes me immediately want to read more Briggs.

I also skim read through the Faith Hunter story, Signatures of the Dead. I really liked...more...]]> 3 2 false false Sat Jul 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 10:52:43 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 12:15:19 -0700 2009 Strange Brew is witchcraft. This anthology features nine well-known urban fantasy authors, each with their own spin on the theme. Some of these stories feature well-known characters. Others focus on characters who are secondary in the author's series, or characters who are entirely new....more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Sep 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 18:57:25 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 16:44:08 -0700 2009 1
Briggs' Seeing Eye was written well, and the characters were likable. Except that it was slightly boring, and obviously, too short, I still liked it.
...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 04 18:22:25 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 22 13:12:46 -0700 2009 Strange Brew is one of those haphazardly themed urban fantasy anthologies. Elrod has edited several of these: My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding, My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon... Strange Brew theoretically has a theme of drink throughout its 9 stories. Some stories really make good on the idea (...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jul 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 16:43:26 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 21:12:38 -0700 2009 goodreads.com for the book. I have loved the giveaways! Now to the review. I decided to review each story separately because they were all so different. Also, I don't read a lot of short stories because I love to really get to know the characters I so often fall in love wi...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jul 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 14:23:48 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 17:10:12 -0700 2009
Bacon:

Nice story, but not the masterful storytelling i've come to expect from CH. I felt plopped into the middle of a story having missed the obviously important prequel. But no m...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Aug 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 07:07:09 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 08:44:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Aug 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 12 00:44:25 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 06 19:00:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Sep 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 01 14:54:54 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 01 14:54:54 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 10:36:26 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 10:39:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6122181