Down These Strange Streets
by George R. R. Martin (Editor), Gardner Dozois (Editor)
Kitty Norville (Collections and Selections — It's Still the Same Old Story, 6.75), World of the Marrok [in publication order] (Collections and Selections — 15, "In Red, With Pearls")
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Description
A collection of seventeen short urban fantasy stories by various authors featuring vampires, werewolves, witches, zombies, and other creatures of the night.Tags
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Member Reviews
This is, as the name implies, a strange collection. Its a mish-mash of an urban fantasy collection with the detective/mystery collection I think Martin might have really been shooting for. He even tries to address this to some degree in his introduction, which also includes a much appreciated reference to the fact that the often more-romantasy-than-fantasy current urban fantasy is basically a distinct genre from what we called urban fantasy in the 80s and 90s (I think there's some veiled references to Bull and Windling). I think he may have wanted a more detective noir collection that dabbled in some true or not supernatural events, and I don't think it succeeds at that. There's too much wild variation from noir, to current urban show more fantasy, to romantasy. Just all over the place. Which is not to say there are some good stories here, just that I don't think its successful as a themed anthology (that cover is also not great). A *lot* of these authors also seemed to have worked with or received accolades from Martin in the past, and I wonder how much of the contributors list ended up being chosen not because the stories fit the theme well but because he just likes these *people* and their work more broadly (like, there's I think three WildCards contributors here??).
I haven't read, nor intended to ever read, any Charlaine Harris and the true blood world story 'Death by Dahlia' definitely didn't change those plans.
Joe Lansdale's 'The Bleeding Shadow' was phenomenal, and quite frankly worth a library check out or a super cheat used copy price all on its own as a weird fiction noir.
As seems usual at this point, Simon R. Green's 'The Hungry Heart' was far more enjoyable than any of his novel length Nightside books. I've yet to try reading anything non-nightside from him, so I'm not sure if its just his writing, or the nature of his nightside setting that seems to make them successful as short stories but fall really flat as novels for me. Probably a combination.
'Styx and Stones' by Steven Saylor was a lot more interesting and fun than I expected, kind of a scooby doo mystery but less silly. Also one of at least three stories set in the ancient world, with a few more historical mysteries chucked in, further kind of muddying up what the overriding theme is supposed to be. Regardless, I'll probably look at some other Saylor stories.
S.M. Stirling's 'Pain and Suffering' was certainly better than probably the last 6 or so ploddingly long Emberverse books I read. Though its set in one of his other series, I recognize some strong similarities in how he writes about his antagonists. If they aren't 900 pages long and I find them cheap it might be enough to make me try one of his books from this world.
'Its Still the same Old Story' is a Carrie Vaughn, Kitty Norville, short story and plugs comfortably into the urban fantasy maybe theme. Better than I would have expected.
I'd never heard of Conn Iggulden before 'The Lady Is a Screamer'...its not much of a detective story/mystery, nor historical, nor really any version of urban fantasy so I'm not 100% sure what its doing here, but it was an interesting change of pace as a ghost hunter story with somewhat of a moral.
'Hellbender' wants to be noir, but overdoes it in parts and fails to achieve it in others. Also sexy salamanders.
I know Glen Cook is supposed to have some great series, and apparently Garrett P.I. is a long running one. But man was 'Shadow Thieves' a rough read. Maybe its because the series is so long and there's too much back story for these seemingly main characters for someone to jump in with a short story this late in the game. But I didn't care about the people, there were lots of references to characters or things that seemed to assume prior knowledge. The dialogue, what wasn't just omitted or hand waived because some characters could read minds, was almost as disjointed as the action scenes.
Snodgrass' 'No Mystery, No Miracle' holds up well enough without knowing anything about her edge of reason series, though again, doesn't feel detective/mystery (though I think the series does focus on a detective). Like others have in the past, I think its trying to shoehorn some of Lovecraft's 'Old Ones' material into a good vs. evil/cosmic battle sort of framework.
Daniel Abraham, writing under his romantasy non de plume M.L.N. Hanover, contributes a piece so interesting I was shocked that was supposed to be part of his romantasy series. One of the better characterization of cops as well.
The last big chunk of the book is equally hit and miss, but Lord John was an interesting historical piece set in Jamaica, an In Red, With Pearls was a Patricia Briggs/Mercy Thompson urban fantasy that was readable.
All in all, I think this is a good example of what angers Martin fans when he does yet another project of dubious quality instead of finishing his own work. Maybe pick it up at the library if there are some stories by folks you already like, or just read a couple of the ones that catch your eye and skip the others. show less
I haven't read, nor intended to ever read, any Charlaine Harris and the true blood world story 'Death by Dahlia' definitely didn't change those plans.
Joe Lansdale's 'The Bleeding Shadow' was phenomenal, and quite frankly worth a library check out or a super cheat used copy price all on its own as a weird fiction noir.
As seems usual at this point, Simon R. Green's 'The Hungry Heart' was far more enjoyable than any of his novel length Nightside books. I've yet to try reading anything non-nightside from him, so I'm not sure if its just his writing, or the nature of his nightside setting that seems to make them successful as short stories but fall really flat as novels for me. Probably a combination.
'Styx and Stones' by Steven Saylor was a lot more interesting and fun than I expected, kind of a scooby doo mystery but less silly. Also one of at least three stories set in the ancient world, with a few more historical mysteries chucked in, further kind of muddying up what the overriding theme is supposed to be. Regardless, I'll probably look at some other Saylor stories.
S.M. Stirling's 'Pain and Suffering' was certainly better than probably the last 6 or so ploddingly long Emberverse books I read. Though its set in one of his other series, I recognize some strong similarities in how he writes about his antagonists. If they aren't 900 pages long and I find them cheap it might be enough to make me try one of his books from this world.
'Its Still the same Old Story' is a Carrie Vaughn, Kitty Norville, short story and plugs comfortably into the urban fantasy maybe theme. Better than I would have expected.
I'd never heard of Conn Iggulden before 'The Lady Is a Screamer'...its not much of a detective story/mystery, nor historical, nor really any version of urban fantasy so I'm not 100% sure what its doing here, but it was an interesting change of pace as a ghost hunter story with somewhat of a moral.
'Hellbender' wants to be noir, but overdoes it in parts and fails to achieve it in others. Also sexy salamanders.
I know Glen Cook is supposed to have some great series, and apparently Garrett P.I. is a long running one. But man was 'Shadow Thieves' a rough read. Maybe its because the series is so long and there's too much back story for these seemingly main characters for someone to jump in with a short story this late in the game. But I didn't care about the people, there were lots of references to characters or things that seemed to assume prior knowledge. The dialogue, what wasn't just omitted or hand waived because some characters could read minds, was almost as disjointed as the action scenes.
Snodgrass' 'No Mystery, No Miracle' holds up well enough without knowing anything about her edge of reason series, though again, doesn't feel detective/mystery (though I think the series does focus on a detective). Like others have in the past, I think its trying to shoehorn some of Lovecraft's 'Old Ones' material into a good vs. evil/cosmic battle sort of framework.
Daniel Abraham, writing under his romantasy non de plume M.L.N. Hanover, contributes a piece so interesting I was shocked that was supposed to be part of his romantasy series. One of the better characterization of cops as well.
The last big chunk of the book is equally hit and miss, but Lord John was an interesting historical piece set in Jamaica, an In Red, With Pearls was a Patricia Briggs/Mercy Thompson urban fantasy that was readable.
All in all, I think this is a good example of what angers Martin fans when he does yet another project of dubious quality instead of finishing his own work. Maybe pick it up at the library if there are some stories by folks you already like, or just read a couple of the ones that catch your eye and skip the others. show less
This turned out to be a really well done, well chosen collection of short stories. I found some new authors I want to try. I also decided to read some authors I was hemming and hawing about getting around to reading.
The stories were well crafted and interesting. Most of the short story collections I have been reading lately have left me with the feeling the phone call consisted of the author saying "Short story collection? Sure." then reaching in the pile of "This is not going to fly as part of the plot" pile and yanking out something they tried to do and failed at doing well enough to be in the book. Then mailing it off with a grin and a "I'm going to get paid for this turkey". And some fool did indeed pay them.
This book didn't have show more that feel at all. Instead the stories were full, well crafted and interesting. They were solid. It's a keeper. And very surprising in this age where short story collections seem to be thrown together with names of best selling writers so their fan will buy the book, devil take the content. show less
The stories were well crafted and interesting. Most of the short story collections I have been reading lately have left me with the feeling the phone call consisted of the author saying "Short story collection? Sure." then reaching in the pile of "This is not going to fly as part of the plot" pile and yanking out something they tried to do and failed at doing well enough to be in the book. Then mailing it off with a grin and a "I'm going to get paid for this turkey". And some fool did indeed pay them.
This book didn't have show more that feel at all. Instead the stories were full, well crafted and interesting. They were solid. It's a keeper. And very surprising in this age where short story collections seem to be thrown together with names of best selling writers so their fan will buy the book, devil take the content. show less
I got this for the Lord John story, but a lot of the stories in this collection were really good. I either listened to or read all of them, so here’s the rundown:
“The Bastard Stepchild”
Interesting introductory essay by George RR Martin-worth the read.
“Death by Dahlia”
Not Charlaine Harris’s best, though I’ve never been particularly impressed with her short stories. I like the novels more. The reader for this story was annoying too.
“The Bleeding Shadow”
Joe R Lansdale’s version of a crossroads deal was pretty good. I liked this one-it was deliciously creepy.
“Hungry Heart”
My first experience with Simon R Green. Nothing super special but enough to interest me in his Nightside series.
“Styx and Stones”
Steven show more Saylor’s mystery set in ancient Rome was all set-up with a Scooby Doo ending. I was bored and annoyed by this one.
“Pain and Suffering”
S.M. Stirling’s writing was good, but his detective story felt more like a segment of a book, rather than a short story.
“It’s Still the Same old Story”
It was fun for a while to read about Rick the vampire, from Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series, but the ending was a disappointment.
“The Lady is a Screamer”
Loved Conn Iggulden’s story of a con man spiritualist turned believer. This was one of my favorites.
“Hellbender”
Laurie R King’s super weird offering was like nothing I’ve ever read by her and quite good.
“Shadow Thieves”
It could have been the reader, but Glen Cook’s story from his Garret P.I. world wasn’t my favorite, although I was interested in the characters enough to pick up one of the novels sometime.
“No Mystery, No Miracle”
One of the better stories in the collection, a detective story with a scifi twist on religion, was by former Next Generation writer, Melinda Snodgrass.
“The Difference Between a Puzzle and a Mystery”
Nice and twisty, I loved MLN Hanover’s (aka, Daniel Abraham, one of my favorites) devilish detective story.
“The Curious Affair of the Deodand”
Lisa Tuttle’s old-fashioned detective story that borrowed from the Sherlock Holmes tradition had just the right tone. I snuggled right in.
“Lord John and the Plague of Zombies”
Hey, I said this is why I got the collection in the first place. Love Gabaldon. Love Lord John.
“Beware the Snake”
Hated it. Hated. Another mystery set in ancient Rome, I was bored and I despised John Maddox Roberts’s characters.
“In Red, with Pearls”
Patricia Briggs is another beloved author, and this story featuring Warren as a P.I was a keeper.
“The Adakian Eagle”
Bradley Denton’s novella, with an author you might recognize as one of the characters, was probably the best of the bunch. I’ve already ordered another collection of his stories. show less
“The Bastard Stepchild”
Interesting introductory essay by George RR Martin-worth the read.
“Death by Dahlia”
Not Charlaine Harris’s best, though I’ve never been particularly impressed with her short stories. I like the novels more. The reader for this story was annoying too.
“The Bleeding Shadow”
Joe R Lansdale’s version of a crossroads deal was pretty good. I liked this one-it was deliciously creepy.
“Hungry Heart”
My first experience with Simon R Green. Nothing super special but enough to interest me in his Nightside series.
“Styx and Stones”
Steven show more Saylor’s mystery set in ancient Rome was all set-up with a Scooby Doo ending. I was bored and annoyed by this one.
“Pain and Suffering”
S.M. Stirling’s writing was good, but his detective story felt more like a segment of a book, rather than a short story.
“It’s Still the Same old Story”
It was fun for a while to read about Rick the vampire, from Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series, but the ending was a disappointment.
“The Lady is a Screamer”
Loved Conn Iggulden’s story of a con man spiritualist turned believer. This was one of my favorites.
“Hellbender”
Laurie R King’s super weird offering was like nothing I’ve ever read by her and quite good.
“Shadow Thieves”
It could have been the reader, but Glen Cook’s story from his Garret P.I. world wasn’t my favorite, although I was interested in the characters enough to pick up one of the novels sometime.
“No Mystery, No Miracle”
One of the better stories in the collection, a detective story with a scifi twist on religion, was by former Next Generation writer, Melinda Snodgrass.
“The Difference Between a Puzzle and a Mystery”
Nice and twisty, I loved MLN Hanover’s (aka, Daniel Abraham, one of my favorites) devilish detective story.
“The Curious Affair of the Deodand”
Lisa Tuttle’s old-fashioned detective story that borrowed from the Sherlock Holmes tradition had just the right tone. I snuggled right in.
“Lord John and the Plague of Zombies”
Hey, I said this is why I got the collection in the first place. Love Gabaldon. Love Lord John.
“Beware the Snake”
Hated it. Hated. Another mystery set in ancient Rome, I was bored and I despised John Maddox Roberts’s characters.
“In Red, with Pearls”
Patricia Briggs is another beloved author, and this story featuring Warren as a P.I was a keeper.
“The Adakian Eagle”
Bradley Denton’s novella, with an author you might recognize as one of the characters, was probably the best of the bunch. I’ve already ordered another collection of his stories. show less
A collection of stories by mostly well-known authors, purportedly all detectives in urban fantasy stories. In actual fact, many of these stories are not set anywhere near cities, several have no magical or supernatural elements, and at least two are neither urban nor fantasy. So I'm not actually sure what selection criteria GRR Martin was using. I don't feel like I wasted my time reading this, but I also don't feel particularly satisfied. I really liked seeing more of Kyle and Warren in Briggs's "In Red, with Pearls", although too many of the clues were unstated so that the mystery's end could be surprising. My favorite of this collection was Hanover's "The difference between a puzzle and a mystery," which was creepy but somehow also show more comforting. show less
Two of the most wonderful things about this short story collection:
#1: The authors that I'm familiar with had excellent contributions
#2: I found previously unknown authors (to me) that I'd like to read more from
There were a few stories that I didn't like so much (too slow, too gruesome) but it was a great balance of genres. Not all paranormal romance, not all sci-fi, not all urban fantasy. A great collection.
#1: The authors that I'm familiar with had excellent contributions
#2: I found previously unknown authors (to me) that I'd like to read more from
There were a few stories that I didn't like so much (too slow, too gruesome) but it was a great balance of genres. Not all paranormal romance, not all sci-fi, not all urban fantasy. A great collection.
George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, neither of which are names I instantly associate with urban fantasy, edit this collection of short stories. Martin makes the claim in the introduction that Urban Fantasy is the bastard child of two genres: Noir and Horror. I can see his point, to a degree, and with that in mind this is an anthology of urban fantasy mystery stories, ranging from a Holmes-esque victorian mystery, through some a lovecraftian horror that read like it was by Walter Mosley.
Overall a successful mix (and just what I needed to reboot me out of my reading slump - the tip to try some shorts was a good idea, and I think I'll be hitting the library for a few more of these anthologies before I try any novels again for a show more bit.)
Mathematically, it averages out to a solid 3, but I think the really good stories lift the entire collection more than the ones I didn't like dragged it down. So it gets an extra half star for just flat out making me happy (and more in the mood to read again).
Full review @ Booklikes show less
The short stories in this one have teeth - and they're not using them for smiling. Grabbed it for the short story "In Red, with Pearls" by Patricia Briggs featuring P.I. Warren Smith and lawyer boyfriend Kyle (which I enjoyed), and was short time to give the rest a thorough read. Skimming didn't do them justice though, so I'll be back for a closer look, but if you like your urban fantasy dark, I can pretty safely say this collection may be just your cup of tea.
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Author Information
George R. R. Martin was born on September 20, 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey. He began writing at an early age, selling monster stories for pennies to neighborhood children. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Journalism from Northwestern University. In 1986, he worked as a story editor for the CBS series The Twilight Zone. He was also an executive show more story consultant, producer and co-supervising producer for CBS's Beauty and the Beast. In 1970, he sold the story The Hero to Galaxy magazine. Since becoming a full-time writer in 1979, he has written many novels, stories, and series including A Song for Lya, Portraits of His Children, The Pear-Shaped Man, and the Song of Ice and Fire series. He has won numerous awards including five Locus Awards, three Hugo Awards and two Nebula awards. In 2013 he made The New York Times Best Seller List with his titles A Dance with Dragons and A Game of Thrones: a Clash of Kings, a Storm of Swords, a Feast for Crows. His title's Rogues and The Ice Dragon made the New York Times List in 2014. Martin's title, A Knight of Seven Kingdoms, A Song of Fire and Ice novel, made the New York Times bestseller list in 2015. He is number 4 on the Hollywood Reporter's '25 Most Powerful Authors' 2016 list. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Gardner Dozois was born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 23, 1947. After working as an Army journalist, he became a science fiction and fantasy editor and author. He was the founding editor of The Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies and editor of Asimov's from 1984 until 2004. His work as an editor received more than 40 Hugo Awards, 40 Nebula show more Awards, and 30 Locus Awards. He received the Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor 15 times between 1988 and his retirement from Asimov's in 2004. He wrote books including Strangers and short stories including The Peacemaker and Morning Child, which won the Nebula Award for Short Story in 1983 and 1984, respectively. He also collaborated with George R. R. Martin on a series of themed anthologies including Songs of the Dying Earth, Old Mars, Dangerous Women, and Rogues. In 2011, Dozois was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. He died on May 27, 2018 at the age of 70. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
All Editions
Some Editions
Series
Kitty Norville (Collections and Selections — It's Still the Same Old Story, 6.75)
World of the Marrok [in publication order] (Collections and Selections — 15, "In Red, With Pearls")
Work Relationships
Contains
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Down These Strange Streets
- Original title
- Down These Strange Streets
- Alternate titles
- The Bastard Stepchild / George R. R. Martin; Death by Dahlia / Charlaine Harris; The Bleeding Shadow / Joe R. Lansdale; Hungry Heart / Simon R. Green; Styx and Stones / Steven Saylor; Pain and Suffering / S. M. Stirling (show all 17); It's Still the Same Old Story / Carrie Vaughn; The Lady is a Screamer/ Conn Iggulden; Hellbender / Laurie R. King; Shadow Thieves / Glen Cook; No Mystery, No Miracle / Melinda M. Snodgrass; The Difference Between a Puzzle and a Mystery / M. L. N. Hanover; The Curious Affair of the Deodand / Lisa Tuttle; Lord John and the Plague of Zombies / Diana Gabaldon; Beware the Snake / John Maddox Roberts; In Red, with Pearls / Patricia Briggs; The Adakian Eagle / Bradley Denton
- Original publication date
- 2011-10-04
- People/Characters
- Lord John Grey
- Dedication
- To our friend Jack Dann
who has walked down some pretty strange
streets himself - First words
- There's a new kid on the shelves in bookstores these days. (Introduction)
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)So come walk these strange streets with us, and let's see where we'll end up. (Introduction)
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Fantasy, Mystery, Horror
- DDC/MDS
- 813.0876608 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English By type Genre fiction Adventure fiction Speculative fiction Fantasy Collections
- LCC
- PS648 .F3 .D59 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Collections of American literature Prose (General)
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 547
- Popularity
- 53,958
- Reviews
- 22
- Rating
- (3.61)
- Languages
- English, Polish, Romanian
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 15
- ASINs
- 7
