Strange Brew edited by PN Elrod

Paperback, 372 pages
Published July 7th 2009 by St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 0312383363 (ISBN13: 9780312383367)
Primary Language: English
Source: Purchased






The Blurb (www.goodreads.com)

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—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—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!

This anthology contains nine stories as follows:
Seeing Eye by Patricia Briggs
Last Cal by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files #10.4)
Death Warmed Over by Rachel Caine
Vegas Odds by Karen Chance
Hecate’s Golden Eye by P.N. Elrod
Bacon by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse #9.1)
Signatures of the Dead by Faith Hunter
Ginger: A Nocturne City Story by Caitlin Kittredge
Dark Sins by Jenna Maclaine (Cin Craven #1.5)

To be completely honest, I picked up this anthology just for the Dresden Files story. It was a lot of fun, too. But then I read the other stories, and found a couple of new authors that I enjoy. The Jenna Maclaine story was great, and makes me want to go out and try the other Cin Craven novels. The Charlaine Harris novel claims to be a Sookie Stackhouse story, but isn't. It takes place in that world, but there are no cross-over characters. It was really nice to see what's going on outside of Louisiana in that world. Actually, I liked all of these stories. I don't want to go in to each one, because that will be more than anyone wants to read in a blog. Just take it from me, this is a great anthology.

And this marks my first book for the "Off the Shelf" Challenge. I started reading it last year, but I finished it this year, so it counts. 1 down, 14 to go!