Courtney’s Reviews > Werehunter > Status Update

Stolen Silver
4 “Here is the only Valdemar short story i have ever done, largely because I hate to waste a good story idea on something as small as a short story.”
Which she proved, _ years later, by transforming the story into a whole trilogy centred around Albreicht.
This was a solid idea, and it’s interesting to see how it began in comparison into the novels it later became.

“She had known her own work was doomed when a book that had been lauded for its portrayal of a young gay hero was banned because the young gay hero was unhappy and suicidal.”

Vanyel series, in case anyones’ interested - I remember the titles Magics’ Pawn, and Magics’ Price.

Wet Wings
3 stars

Dystopian short - a world where the concept of equality is taken too far, a retired author looks back and mourns what was lost.

VERY self-inserty feeling, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was written in response to some type of criticism of her writing. Can kind of sympathize as well, though, as you definitely see some people who ARE this extremist in online spaces.

This one was VERY dated. The villain is Japanese, but as his background is unknown for most of the story, they keep using the term ‘oriental’. Would definitely need updating if ever republished. Otherwise not bad, though - in 1990 it was pretty unusual to see stories with non-European monsters or folklore tied in. A decent plot, works as a short.

Night side
3 stars

Another Tregarde mystery, this one feeling like an earlier story that should have come first in the collection.
Diana and Andre team up to track down the person - or creature - who has been committing a series of murders in New York- and destroying the victims souls in the process.

Satanic, versus…
3.5 stars

A short story, that later evolved into her Diana Tregarde paranormal mystery novels. Diana & her lover, Andre, attend a gathering of the Romance Writers if the World. Their night takes an unexpected turn when one of the writers attempts a summoning ritual, bringing forth her tall, dark, & handsome soulmate… too bad she forgot to specify human.

...Luckily the child is protected by mysterious forces, so it has a happy ending for the victim - and a deadly one for the killer.

2.5 - it’s not badly written but nobody sane wants this kind of insight into the killers’ head, so it’s massively unpleasant. I can’t remember if I was surprised by the ending my first read, but it’s fairly obvious that something weird is going on.

P. 2/2

The Last of the Season. Ugh, this one is creepy - and not in the fun, horror movie/ghost story way.
Fair warning, you WILL need some kind of mental cleanser after this one, as it covers the topic of a kidnapped child through the eyes of the serial-killer pedophile/kidnapper. (Luckily the book was planned so the next story is a lot more light-hearted.)

You can probably guess any trigger-warnings from that.

P. 1/2

The 4 Skitty stories : Skitty, A Tail of Two Skittys, Scat, & A Better Mousetrap. Originally published in Nortons’ Cat Fantastic anthologies.

These follow the lives of Dick White, & his gengineered cat Skitty as members of the Cats Eye interstellar crew. From their first encounters with the alien race the Lacu’teveras and the threats they encounter as a result of the crews successful negotiations.

5/5 stars.

The foreword is really interesting. It covers “questions Lackey and Her husband Larry (Dixon, IIRC - kept thinking it was Eric Flint for some reason) often get at sci-fi conventions” - mainly those pertaining to their lives, especially as raptor rehabbers.
Really interesting if you like animals and find it interesting to hear about bird-of-prey rehabilitation works.