A compilation of short stories all pertaining to...you guessed it. Aahhrrrooooo! There were some absolute gems and a few clunkers. My absolute favorites were Maberry, Meikle, Newman, and Smith. Here's the breakdown of each story:

Like Part of the Family - Jonathan Maberry

Mr. Hunter is a private detective that moved to Philadelphia. He can be very persuasive to get what he wants. Even if he's up against something not quite human. Great story.

5 out of 5 stars

Baby - James Roy Daley

It's good to know who the man really is that you're marrying, especially if you ever plan to have a family with him.

4 out of 5 stars

Anniversary - John Everson

Every month Margaret prepares for her date with Charles when the moon is full. When the sex is that good, you'll do anything for your partner no matter how unorthodox their relationship is.

4 out of 5 stars

The Virgin O' Full Moon Falls - James Newman

Quick little tale of revenge when a pack of rednecks attack the high school virgin queen.

5 out of 5 stars

The Trojan Plushy - David Bernstein

Another revenge tale that combines the werewolf with witchcraft and the Trojan Horse. Has a Twilight Zone-kind of feel.

4 out of 5 stars

Jesus When The Sun Goes Down - Simon McCaffery

The church camp counsellors are hell-bent to save the souls of their campers. But, who is going to save the counsellors?

5 out of 5 stars

Three Dog Night - John F.D. Taff

An animal control officer brings in a strange stray dog.

4 out of 5 stars

Grandma, What Big Teeth You Have - Rob Rosen

Grammy has a secret. Sammy thinks he know what is. He's right...and he's wrong.

4 out of 5 stars

Scarred For Life - Michael Laimo

Fairly predictable yarn about the birth of a father's child.

3 1/2 out of 5 stars

 

Hairs and Graces - William Meikle

Set in a fairy tale, magical and medieval Britain which makes for the perfect setting for a werewolf story. A female investigator is hired by a Lord to find the original owner of a belt he recently purchased. Ah, but this is no ordinary belt. Love, love this story. The only downside is that it ended when I wanted it to keep going. But, isn't that the sign of a good story - you don't want it to end?

5 out of 5 stars

Out of the Light - Douglas Smith

Jan is a hunter of shape-shifters from the old country. After a tragic mistake takes the life of the girl he loved, Jan moves to Toronto into the big city and away from their habitat. But as time passes, all things evolve. Great story.

5 out of 5 stars

Hungry Like The Moon - Rob E. Boley

A tale about what happens if you're a werewolf and are caught in the zombie apocalypse. Nice merge of genres.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Unlucky Moon - T.J. May

Be careful when you answer those ads on Craigslist.

3.5 out of 5 stars

A Taste of Blood and Roses - David Niall Wilson

A woman's disabled veteran husband is a werewolf. While the writing was decent, the story had no substance and went nowhere.

2.5 out of 5 stars

Under A Civil Moon - John Grover

Werewolves Union soldiers racing through the south. This southern belle knows what to do. Not a lot of meat in this story to gnaw on.

2.5 out of 5 stars

Unleashed - Nina Kiriki Hoffman

What to do about childcare when you're a new mom AND a werewolf. Could've been so much more entertaining than this mess.

2 out of 5 stars

 

Steak - Randall Lahrman

Turning into a werewolf is like discovering the Fountain of Youth. Simple and fun story.

3.5 stars out of 5

Silver Anniversary - Stephen M. Wilson

Wedding gifts can come in handy. Another simple, fun one.

3.5 stars out of 5

 

Buy A Goat For Christmas - Anna Taborska

A werewolf attacks an African village, but the blacksmith has a secret weapon. Great storytelling with a nicely fleshed out setting

4.5 stars out of 5

Sq389 - David Wesley Hill

A werewolf attack in virtual reality, blah, blah, blah. Don't even waste your time.

1/2 star out of 5

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For his fourth (and final) book in the Song of the Ancestors, John Grover mixes things up a bit and delivers a three-part tale that really delves into the history of his world, while exploring the consequences of all that has gone on before.

The Ashes of Orum opens on a surprising, but entirely welcome, note. Rather than picking things up right where Ballad of the Fallen left off, Grover takes us back to the origins of his world with a story that has that feel of classical mythology or epic fable. It feels like a storyteller's story, but that's perfect for the tale he's spinning. We get to see how the races were born, what conflicts tore them apart, and what led to the humans departing their world. If I were to have one complaint, it's that humanity seems to evolve (in terms of civilization) at an accelerated pace, but the power of myth and magic keep that from being a serious stumbling block.

It's only after that extended introduction that we catch up with the heroic survivors of the last book, and (more importantly) their children. This is a sort of next generation story that does a nice job of both passing the torch and of retiring the original heroes. There is a coming of age (and coming into one's power) aspect to the tale, but that's not the only focus. What Grover does here that's really exciting is take us back to the events of Web of the Spider Queen and explore some of the forgotten consequences of the acts of heroism and terrorism in that first book. To say much more would be to get into spoiler territory, but it's a fantastic way of bringing the series full circle without resulting to any sort of cheats or implausible twists.

The final part of the tale takes us into a full-on, epic, catastrophic fantasy war for survival. There are some fantastic battle sequences, some truly horrific monsters, and acts of magic that are as imaginative as they are visually stunning. As he's always done in the past, Grover pushes his heroes to the very brink, putting them in legitimate peril and making the reader honestly wonder who and what might survive. There is a final twist at the end that I fully expected, but it leads into a climactic resolution that's more than strong enough to justify it.

If you're a fan of Song of the Ancestors, then you'll find The Ashes of Orum an entirely satisfying conclusion, If you've yet to give it a read, and you have some change to spare, go back and check out Web of the Spider Queen - at less than a buck, it's a steal.

Ballad of the Fallen (Song of the Ancest... For the third book of his Song of the Ancestors series, John Grover picks up the threads of the first two tales, but introduces a new threat. Having recovered from the internal strife and civil wars of the last volume, the races of Orum must band together in Ballad of the Fallen to resist the advance of a chilling new foe.

And when I saw "the races of Orum" I mean all the races of Orum - Amazons, Elves, Fairies, and even the Lizard Men.

No longer just undead minions of The Spider Queen, the Necromantic Clans have united under one merciless leader to tear apart the veil between worlds. All they need to enact their terrible scheme is the blood of a child, one unique across the face of Orum . . . the 'miracle' offspring of the forbidden union between Amazon and Human. It's always a risk to build a story around the protection of a child, around the power of parenthood, but here it works. With not just one, but two children coming under shadow from the Clans, he has a lot of potential to exploit.

While I felt the second volume faltered a bit, this one definitely marks a return to form. The pacing is better, the danger feels authentic, and the sense of palatable evil - so crucial to any fantasy saga - is definitely there. Most importantly of all, perhaps, is the fact that his characters are really at risk this time around - so much so, in fact, that not everyone will survive to make it through to the next instalment. I still would love to see Grover expand upon his stories to provide a little more depth or back story, but he does a superb job within the structure of a short novella.


Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins

The Human Condition (Song of the Ancesto... Book 2 of the Song of the Ancestors, The Human Condition, is another strong effort from John Grover that doesn't quite live up to the promise of Web of the Spider Queen, but still manages to be a solid read.

With the war against the aforementioned Spider Queen behind them, the races of Orum are slowly recovering, taking time to enjoy the rebirth of the world around them. Unfortunately, where the promise of romance should be building bridges between the races, old prejudices and hatreds put the fragile peace at risk. It's this slow, sweet opening to the story that I found to be the weakest part of the story, with the romantic dialogue a little too weak and cliched for my tastes. Fortunately for the reader (if not for the characters), tensions spill over and secrets are betrayed, leading to a civil war between the races.

As as the case with the first story, Grover excels at describing conflict, especially with the frantic scene changes and shifts in perspective. It all begins with the Amazons fighting among themselves, followed by the Faeries making war upon them, all over the fate of the single Human rescued from the Spider Queen's lair. It's a bitter war than sees allies turning upon one another, with a significant emotional component that escalates the conflict a notch above the original war. The battle scenes are as inventive as they are bloody, with some welcome new twists.

Where the book really comes into its own, though, is in the final stages of the story, with the descent into the world of frost fae, but to say much more about that would be to get into spoiler territory. To be honest, I wasn't sure where this second volume could go with the war against the Spider Queen already over, but I quite like the direction that Grover is taking, and look forward to seeing where it goes next.


Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins

Web of the Spider Queen (Song of the Anc... What do you get when you hand a horror author the skeleton keys to a fantasy kingdom already under siege by the forces of darkness? If you're lucky, you get a story like Web of the Spider Queen.

For the most part, this is a straight-forward fantasy tale, one that dispenses with the preliminaries and launches right into the heart of the story. As readers, we're dropped into a hopeless situation, with the elves, fairies, and amazons of Orum on the cusp of defeat at the hands of Sinnia, the Spider Queen. It's a grim situation, marked by overwhelming odds, a seemingly limitless supply of monsters, and an all-powerful villainess who is (almost) justified in her supreme arrogance.

It's here where Grover's horror roots come through, with a more detailed exploration of the monsters and their carnage than is generally found in fantasy. In establishing the nightmare horrors of his world, he provides all the gory, grisly, gratuitous details for which a reader could ask. This is definitely not a tale for the squeamish, especially once the heroes head underground, but one that will definitely satisfy those readers with a taste for the grotesque.

This is not just a story of monsters and carnage, however. The heroes here are surprisingly well-developed for such a short novella, and we get just enough background on their races to truly appreciate their situation. In addition, while most of the story takes place on the blood-soaked battlefields and in web-strewn caverns of Sinnia's realm, Grover smartly takes us into the beauty of the last remaining forest of the elves, providing us with a brightly illuminated symbol of what the world has lost to the spiders and their Queen.

Fast-paced and full of action, the novella follows parallel storylines, switching between the glorious last stand of armies upon the battlefield and the desperate quest of the heroes throwing themselves into the heart of darkness. The sense of impending doom is tangible, but it never descends into the realm of bleak helplessness. While we, as readers, may not be so optimistic, there's a strong feeling of hope shared among the characters (complete with a little flirting-in-the-face-of-death) that really holds it all together.

While the ending is pretty standard for the genre, there are some interesting revelations that provide for a very nice twist. It's clear there's just as much history behind Web of the Spider Queen as there are new stories to be told, so it will be interesting to see how Grover balances the two in future instalments. Whichever way he goes - forwards or backwards - I'm definitely up for another song of the ancestors.


Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins