Best New Paranormal Romance

Saga of the Skolian Empire

by Paula Guran (Editor), Elizabeth Hand, Sandra McDonald

Enchanting and enchanted lovers, magical romance, dark desires, otherworldly sensations, ethereal encounters, paranormal thrills, sensual spells, supernatural suspense, sizzling speculations... Highly imaginative short fiction and novellas from the best fantasy romance writers - both bestselling authors and new talent - of 2005. Edited by award-winning editor Paula Guran. Juno is a new imprint from Wildside Press.

Contents
7 • Introduction: What Is "Paranormal Romance"? (Best New Paranormal Romance) • (2006) • essay by Paula Guran
19 • Follow Me Light • (2005) • shortstory by Elizabeth Bear
34 • Maze of Trees • (2005) • novelette by Claudia O'Keefe
68 • The Shadowed Heart • [Saga of the Skolian Empire] • (2005) • novelette by Catherine Asaro
105 • Walpurgis Afternoon • (2005) • novelette by Delia Sherman
130 • A Knot of Toads • (2005) • novelette by Jane Yolen
157 • Calypso in Berlin • (2005) • shortstory by Elizabeth Hand
176 • Hero's Welcome • (2005) • novelette by Rebecca York
207 • Single White Farmhouse • (2005) • shortstory by Heather Shaw
219 • Magic in a Certain Slant of Light • (2005) • shortstory by Deborah Coates
231 • Fir Na Tine • (2005) • novelette by Sandra McDonald
252 • A Treatise on Fewmets • (2005) • shortstory by Sarah Prineas
268 • The Hard Stuff • (2005) • shortstory by John Grant

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Anthologies, Paranormal Romance, Short Stories, Paranormal, Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2006

About the author

Paula Guran is senior editor for Prime Books. She edited the Juno fantasy imprint from its small press inception through its incarnation as an imprint of Pocket Books. She is also senior editor of Prime's soon-to-launch digital imprint Masque Books. Guran edits the annual Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror series as well as a growing number of other anthologies. In an earlier life she produced weekly email newsletter DarkEcho (winning two Stokers, an IHG award, and a World Fantasy Award nomination), edited Horror Garage (earning another IHG and a second World Fantasy nomination), and has contributed reviews, interviews, and articles to numerous professional publications.

Reviews

[Misti · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an anthology of short stories. The quality of these stories is incredibly inconsistent. Ratings as follows:

Follow Me Light, by Elizabeth Bear 2/5 - Bear has the ability to write truly amazing stories, and her descriptors are dead on. Too bad this tory made very little sense and none of the characters were remotely likable. The plot was too hard to follow.

A Maze of Trees, by Claudia O'Keefe 3/5 - This started off well, but the end was a bit abrupt. I loved the writing style, but didn't much care for the actual plot.

The Shadowed Heart, by Catherine Asaro 3/5 - Well, this was a lot more like your traditional romance story, with 2 people who fall dramatically in love in a dramatically short period of time (more like, wait, WTF?! amount of time). I found the suddenness jarring. Particularly since the female lead was a total Mary Sue.

Walpurgis Afternoon, by Delia Sherman 4/5 - I'm not really sure where the romance is here, but this was a fun romp. Very enjoyable. Again, a sudden ending. I would be interested in learning more about this world.

A Knot of Toads, by Jane Yolen 1/5 - This was exhausting to read and the story just seemed to drag on forever. I guess I just didn't get it. I WANT to like Jane Yolen's work, but I can never seem to manage it.

Calypso in Berlin, by Elizabeth Hand 3/5 - An intriguing story, but really not much about it. This is much more like a portrait of the main chracter. A lot of what she does seems really senseless to me. Again, I don't really understand the ending.

Hero's Welcome, by Rebecca York - Unread. Seemed too cheesy.

Single White Farmhouse, by Heather Shaw 5/5 - Easily the best story so far in this anthology. Great world-building, fantastic story, relatable, funny, and charming. You don't have to read anything else in the anthology. Just this one.

Magic in a Certain Slant of Light, by Deborah Coates 4/5 - Kind of a cute story, though sad, in its way. I enjoyed the way the main character thinks through situations.

Fir Na Tine, by Sandra McDonald 4/5 - Um. Wow. This was awkward, amazing, depressing....

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this anthology, but be warned: the title is a bit misleading (hopefully the cover design is a tip-off). Most of the stories are SFnal, with romantic elements (often twisted about in quite interesting ways). There are only a couple that would really fall into the Paranormal Romance marketing category in terms of going into your local Big Box store.

So. Still very much worth reading. Each and every story is quite good--but "romance" is a relative term.

[Perryville Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vampires, werewolves, magic, and fairies even—all become common fare under the genre heading “paranormal romance.” A fairly new genre that is still taking shape, paranormal romances move beyond the scope of both science fiction/fantasy and romance to create an truly unique kind of reading experience where the supernatural abides and romance (though not always recognizable) lives on.

You may not be surprised to find some of your favorite authors grouped under this heading—Laurell K. Hamilton, Sherilynn Kenyon, Kim Harrison, and Christine Feehan to name a few. But while demons, vampires, and werewolves are the major paranormal forces at work in their romances, the genre isn’t limited to bloodsucking creatures of the night and howling monsters. Paranormal romance is, in fact, a rather loosely defined genre that also includes romances that are futuristic or fantasy-based. Ultimately, paranormal romance spans many genres, making it accessible to many different types of readers, the major criteria being that the reader likes to indulge in the supernatural, perhaps even moreso than romance.

Which, according to Paula Guran, the editor of the 2007 anthology Best New Paranormal Romance, makes J.D. Robb’s future-based Memory In Death, Heather Graham’s
The Vision, and Diane Gabaldon’s time-hopping Outlander series all prime (though not obvious) candidates for inclusion in the paranormal romance genre. Some others to expand your current reading or simply get you started:
Stand Alones:
Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur
When her twin brother, Rhoan, an assassin who protects the innocent from evil supernatural beings, vanishes, Riley Jenson--a young woman who is half werewolf, half vampire--joins forces with a sexy but disoriented vampire to find him.
Staying Dead by Laura Anne Gillman
Wren Valere, a Retriever, specializes in finding missing things. Her job can be dangerous, and in this story she is looking for a cornerstone containing a spell. She has to ask the help of some friends: a demon, a mage, and a few others.
Waiting for the Moon by Kristin Hannah
Selena, an amnesiac woman living alone on the Maine coast, meets Ian Carrick, a brilliant, reclusive doctor who is haunted by his telepathic powers.
Series:
Lynsay Sands Argeneau series
Mary Jo Putney’s Guardian series
Maria V. Snyder’s Study series
Karen Marie Moning’s Highlander series
On the lighter side:
Stephanie Rowe’s Immortally Sexy series
Erin McCarthy’s Vegas Vampires series
Mary Janice Davidson’s Betsy Taylor Undead series
Katie MacAlister’s Dark Ones and Aisling Grey series

[Shara · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good anthology, with 10/12 stories engaging me, and even the ones that didn't were good in their own right. My absolute favorite piece was McDonald's; Bear's story was enchanting; Hand's story was just beautiful. The anthology had a good diversity, considering its theme was paranormal romance. Not all stories had happy endings, and not all stories had a traditional romance. Definitely worth checking out if you write any kind of speculative fiction with romantic elements, and romance readers, I think you ought to check this out solely for the intro, which I found fascinating.[return][return]I do have one nitpick about the anthology: typos. I kept wanting to check my copy to make sure it wasn't an ARC, there were so many typos: missing quotation marks, missing punctuation: stuff like that can really trip the reader up, and there were plenty of times I wondered who was speaking, or if I was reading dialogue or exposition. And I don't want to blame either the authors of these stories or the publishing house, cause I'm sure the mistakes were a mix of both, but there were plenty of them, and spread out through the entire anthology.[return][return]No matter: I'll be happy to buy the next volume when it comes out.[return][return]For a full review, which contains a story-by-story reaction which may or may not include spoilers, please click here: http://calico-reaction.livejournal.co...

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection of stories. I haven't read a lot of paranormal romance, so I thought a collection might be a good place to start. As with most anthologies, some stories were better than others - in this, I particularly liked "A Maze of Trees" by Claudia O'Keefe; "Fir Na Tine" by Sandra McDonald; and the absolutely charming "Single White Farmhouse" by Heather Shaw - but overall it was an enjoyable read and I'll be looking for more in the genre, I think.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most anthologies, this one was uneven. I thought some of the stories were more sci fi than paranormal (though I liked a couple of those ones quite a lot), and some were not at all romantic, and the one involving an Iraq war veteran started out entirely too realistic for my taste. But there were a few that have stuck with me, so I'd say it was worth it to read this.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book just for the Catherine Asaro story. I loved it. Its part of the Skolian Empire Saga. A stand alone, but helpful if you know the back ground of the Radiance War.

I also read Single White Farmhouse by Heather Shaw. Weird.

[Caro · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had started reading this but only got thru two or three stories. I might come back to it, but not right now. I wasn't really page turning and the wording was a little hard to follow on some parts of the stories, I kept having to go back and reread in a few places. Good Luck

[Ricki · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Paranormal" seems to cover a wide-range of speculative fiction in this collection, so which stories you enjoy will depend on which genres you like. My two favorites were "Walpurgis Afternoon" by Delia Sherman and "A Knot of Toads" by Jane Yolen, both of which has a modern fantasy feel.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wouldn't classify any of these stories as paranormal romance... I was disappointed!

[Christine Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories seemed more fantasy than paranormal

[Brian tapiaz]

Extremely amanzin'

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A number of good ones.