3.5 stars - some good stories, and some that are less good
( )

Mr. Positive, the Eternal Optimist - kinda hilarious!

Asil and the Not-date - I need the must love cats story!! I love Asil! ( )

I read the Laurell K. Hamilton and the Patricia Briggs stories. I might come back and read the rest later. ( )

This themed anthology of has some stories set in well-established story universe and some nice stand-alone ones as well. The nice thing is all the stories have at least a semi positive ending which is nice at this time. It was good to read new material in worlds I was familiar with and the look at new writers that I wasn’t familiar with made me want to go and find more by them. If you are looking for a nice read that will leave your heart a bit lighter then this is the read for you. ( )

I grabbed this thinking I would only read the Briggs story, but Hamilton’s intro made me want to read the whole thing. I’m glad I did, because I found some new authors I liked. Here’s the rundown:

Twilight Falls, by Jonathan Mayberry
2 stars.
Concept was interesting but the narration was too macho tough-guy for me.

Not in this Lifetime, by Sharon Shinn
5 stars.
I liked the narrator and was invested right away. I’m always a sucker for time travel plots. This is my first Sharon Shinn, and I’ll have to check out more of her work.

Mr. Positive, Eternal Optimist, by Larry Correia
3.5 stars
Quite entertaining at the beginning, and the concept was fun. The dialogue later in the story got a little too self-helpy, and the story started feeling like a delivery system for the author’s philosophy of life.

No Greater Love, by Kacey Ezell
3 stars
Kind of a neat take on the werewolf story, but not developed enough to really grab me. The epilogue was a nice touch.

Broken Son, by Griffin Barber
3 stars
Interesting concept, but I felt like I had started in the middle of a larger story. I was inclined to dislike the cocky mob boss narrator, but I felt some sympathy for him at the end and wished there had been a little more explanation about his mother.

Heart of Clay, by Kevin J. Anderson
3 stars
Amusing concept, and I loved the idea of the Big Uneasy and the Real Renaissance Faire, but the jokes were a little too corny for me, and I didn’t really warm up to any of the characters.

Reprise, by John G. Hartness
4.5 stars
I’d never heard of this author, and it looks like his Quincy Harker character is from a series, so I’ll have to check it out. I really enjoyed this one. It was Harry Dresden-esque without being a rip-off. A demon hunting magician who calls Dracula “Uncle Luke” and lives in post WW2 New Jersey? Tell me more!

Asil and the Not-date, by Patricia Briggs
4.5 stars
This story is the reason I checked out the collection. Asil is one of those supporting characters you always want to know more about, and fans just really want him to be made whole by finding true love. There have been two short stories about Asil’s blind dates, and so far, his anonymous friends who set up profiles for him on dating sites are not making great choices. It’s still great to see Asil in action and get another entry from the Mercyverse.

In the Dust, by Robert E. Hampson
3 stars
I liked the gradual reveal of the setting for this story. The love story was kind of sweet, but the lack of tension and rapid progression through time kept me from feeling too invested.

Fallen, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
3.5 stars
This was an imaginative sci-fi twist on Lucifer and the fall. The faith vs. knowledge argument between the two higher beings fighting over the dreamers’ fates was rather heavy-handed, and it kind of bummed me out with its either/or-ness.

Working Conditions, by Patrick M. Tracy
4 stars
This one was short and sweet, and I was charmed by the relationship between Delia and Sam. Vampirism has been used similarly before in service of the hope portrayed in this story, but I still liked it.

Last Contact, by M.C. Sumner
5 stars
Loved this one, a light sci-fi story with lots of fun pop-culture references and a delightful hippo-shaped alien. Plus, I learned how to pronounce Featherstonhaugh!

Ronin, by William McCaskey
4.5 stars
Inventive and moving, this was nice one, written by one of the collection’s editors. I laughed out loud when I realized the identity of the narrator. The end of the story wrapped up very quickly, but I liked how the narrator found a way to help his old charge.

Skjöldmódir, by Michael Z. Williamson and Jessica Schlenker
3.5
Well-written, but sad. I may have gotten more out of it if I had ever read Beowulf. I liked hearing the story from Grendel’s mother’s POV. Except for her hopes expressed in the final lines, it didn’t really seem to fit the collection’s theme of hopeful stories with happy endings.

Bonds of Love and Duty, by Monalisa Foster
5 stars
This felt like a piece of a larger story, but I still really enjoyed it. The concept of the donai was intriguing to me already, and then it took a surprising turn with wolves. I can never resist wolves. I’m interested in learning more about the author and her work.

Zombie Dearest, by Laurell K. Hamilton
3 stars
It’s been a while since I read an Anita Blake novel, and I thought it might be fun to revisit the world, but this story is really better for loyal readers of the series. She tried to include pertinent information, and it did help me follow the story, mostly. But it was largely done through awkward expository dialogue with Jean Claude and it wasn’t great.
Hamilton is one of the editors of the collection, and I really liked what she said in the intro. It’s what inspired me to read all the stories. I like that she included authors who haven’t published that much, alongside bestselling authors. I like her sassy author photo in the back of the book. I just didn’t love her story. ( )