2011 urban fantasy, short stories in the world of Kitty Norville –
which means werewolves, vampires, and other odder things.
“Il Est Né” has the exiled Kitty of the early books in a diner so as
not to be alone at Christmas, and another werewolf, and murder. (It's
a welcome reminder, minor spoiler, that there are still
non-supernatural threats in this world even if we don't talk about
them often.)
“A Princess of Spain” looks at Catherine of Aragon's marriage to
Prince Arthur, and why that might have turned out the way it did. I'm
generally not a fan of the mindset that says “these historical events
were really because of supernatural creatures” because I think it
devalues the actual people, but this works effectively as a character
study.
“Conquistador de la Noche” is the story of how Rick the vampire was
turned, and why he wasn't just part of a standard vampire clique.
“The Book of Daniel” really does go there: it's the biblical story
with a supernatural twist.
“The Temptation of Robin Green” is the selkie story, curiously
inconclusive but an excellent dissection of someone's mind under
attack.
“Looking After Family” looks at the early life of Cormac, just after
the death of his father, as he starts to turn back into a human being.
“God's Creatures” has Cormac on the hunt, going after a supernatural
killer. This shows the stress of Cormac's pre-Kitty lifestyle: it's
not just that he's indulging in violence, it's that he's killing
people, some at least of whom are not particularly bad people except
for the occasional uncontrollable impulse to violence.
“Wild Ride” shows the backstory of T.J., who turned up in the first
book.
“Winnowing the Herd” has the internal monologue of pre-fame Kitty at
an office party. Nothing happens, but it's enjoyable even so.
“Kitty and the Mosh Pit of the Damned” brings in another sort of
supernatural creature to this crowded world. It seems that you don't
need an actual Devil to make a deal with the devil…
“Kitty's Zombie New Year”, well, yes, of course there had to be
zombies. But this is at least an interesting zombie.
“Life is the Teacher” shows the first hunt of a new vampire (set just
after the second book), and how one might reach a compromise between
the need to eat and stay hidden and something like normal morality.
“You're on the Air” is the other side of that brief call from the
vampire working at Speedy Mart – and again how one can reconcile a
vampiric state with wanting to be a good person.
“Long Time Waiting” deals with what happened to Cormac in prison, and
would be a spoiler for book 8 at least. It's also an effective story
that's not so much horror as “there are more things in Heaven and
Earth”; one of the things I like about this book series is that even
when it falls back on horror tropes it never falls into the
incuriosity that seems to accompany much horror storytelling.
The book ends with some author's notes on the genesis of each story,
which are rather more interesting and informative than usual antholohu
introductions.
There's some excellent material here, and I enjoyed it more than some
of the novels; I think Vaughn may simply be better at less than book
length.
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