Who You Gonna Call? New Anthology an Urban Fantasy Sampler of Beloved Supernatural Sleuths
The new anthology from EDGE – Those Who Fight Monsters, edited by Justin Gustainis – should be on the “to read” list of anyone who calls themselves a paranormal/urban fantasy fan… and here’s why:
Revolving around the theme of
occult detectives, the 14 stories included within feature beloved heroes and
heroines from some of the most popular paranormal fantasy series on the
shelves: private investigator John Taylor from Simon R. Green’s Nightside
novels, Lilith Saintcrow’s bullwhip-wielding hellbreed hunter Jill Kismet, Julie Kenner’s
demon-hunting soccer mom Kate Connor, and Petunia “Pete” Caldecott from Caitlin
Kittredge’s Black London saga, to name just a few...
As Gustainis states in the anthology’s introduction, supernatural sleuths have been around for more than a century: J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Martin Hessilius (1872), Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes (A Study in Scarlet was originally published in 1887), Stoker’s Dr. Van Helsing from Dracula (1897), Algernon Blackwood’s John Silence stories (1900s), etc.
Today, occult detectives have
become an integral part of pop culture: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ghost
Whisperer, The X-Files, LKH’s Anita Blake, True Blood’s Sookie Stackhouse, and
who could forget the 1984 flick Ghostbusters? Gustainis even references the
movie in the introduction:
“More than twenty-five years have passed since Venkman and the boys first strapped on their gear, but the essential question remains unchanged. Even in the 21st century, whenever demons walk the earth, werewolves prowl the countryside, or vampires ride the night winds in search of innocents’ blood…
Who you gonna call?
In the pages that follow, courtesy of some of today’s best writers of urban fantasy, you will find fourteen delightful, disturbing, and downright creepy answers to that question.”
I’m not a huge fan of
anthologies – I frequently find myself disappointed – but this is one of those
rare compilations that delivers the goods. The anthology begins with the
excellent “Little Better than a Beast,” a Marla Mason story from T.A. Pratt in
which the chief sorcerer of Felport must not only battle a legendary monster
but also deal with a time-traveling (and highly irritating) historical figure.
In Green’s “The Spirit of the Thing,” Taylor must unravel a mystery surrounding
a ghost haunting a Nightside bar. Kenner’s “The Demon You Know…” is a
cautionary tale for all rebellious teenagers – pitting Connor and her 14-year
old daughter Allie against someone (or something) who spiked party punch with
something much more dangerous than alcohol. “Deal Breaker” from Gustainis
features his signature character Quincey Morris (Evil Ways, Black Magic Woman,
et. al.) in a mystery surrounding a man who believes that he has made a deal
with the devil.
My personal favorite, though, was Jackie Kessler’s “Hell
Bound,” a sexy and sarcastic Hell on Earth (Hell's Belles, The Road to Hell, et. al.) story in which fifth-level succubus
Jezebel is tasked by her queen to take down a Satanic master magician with the "hopelessly cheesy" name of
Noel Le Noir. This dark little gem of a story was just chock full of great
lines! Here are just a few:
• “A gaudy silver necklace with a pentacle dangling point-side down hung around his fleshy neck. He looked like he’d tried going Goth when he’d hit 35 and didn’t quite make it.”
• “Infernal magic: way better than an underwire bra.”
• “Blood and ichor flew. Curses rang out. I buffed my nails.”
• ”…practitioners of the dark arts taste like chicken.”
And there are still so many more noteworthy stories in this book – a stellar Vampire Babylon story from Chris Marie Green, a story from Tanya Huff’s Smoke and Shadows saga, a mystery featuring Denver homicide detective Jessi Hardin from Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville novels, and an Outcast Season story from Rachel Caine starring former Djinn Cassiel.
Not only is Those Who fight Monsters a wonderful paranormal fantasy sampler, it’s a stellar example of how far this genre has expanded and evolved. I highly recommend this anthology to longtime paranormal fantasy fans as well as those new to the genre: what a fantastic way to be introduced to not one but 14 uber-popular series!
Paul Goat Allen has been a full-time book reviewer specializing in genre fiction for almost the last two decades and has written more than 6,000 reviews for companies like Publishers Weekly, The Chicago Tribune, and BarnesandNoble.com. In his free time, he reads.
