“Dead Reckoning” book 11 in the Sookie Stackhouse Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris

“Dead Reckoning”
book 11 in the Sookie Stackhouse Vampire Mysteries
by Charlaine Harris
Read by Johanna Parker
Published by Recorded Books (2011)
Approx 10.5 hours

For some reason I’ve slacked off on the Sookie Stackhouse Vampire Mysteries from Charlaine Harris. I think that the stories don’t seem to hold my interest as much, at least the last book, “Dead in the Family,” didn’t. I was browsing the internet looking for more books to load up on my hand me down iPod, since I lost everything I had on my last iPod, I saw that Charlaine Harris was releasing a new book. I also realized I had missed one, and since this series is not one to jump into in the middle, I had to go back and get this one from last year first. While each can be read as a single story they seem to refer to events and ideas introduced in previous novels and it just works out better if you have all the books under your belt.

Before I go any further I have to explain my sad tale of losing my iPod. Hopefully someone can take this as a warning and not do what I did. I bought a generic iPod car-charger and to make a long, sad story short, I fried my iPod with too much amperage. The unit was hot to the touch and once I found it was unusable I opened the case and saw little black marks where resistors had been burned. I had over 50 books, lots of podcasts, and a little music loaded on my faithful companion and lost it all. So now I’m reloading a smaller iPod with what I can.

Okay sad story over let’s talk about this audiobook. To begin with, Johanna Parker is remarkable in her reading of the series, her voice sounds just like what Sookie Stackhouse should sound like. If you are a fan of the HBO series “True Blood,” you probably already know that the series is based on these books. Anna Paquin plays the part of Sookie in the series and does a good job, but I think the voicework of Johanna Parker is better. Parker is also able to let the listener know when other characters are speaking with subtle voice changes. She does a nice job capturing the spirit of the other characters, but she has Sookie down perfect.

I won’t try to recap all the books in the series but I will give you the gist of what is going on up until this book.

Basically the world of Sookie Stackhouse is filled with all sorts of supernatural creatures. The Vampires have revealed themselves to the world and are in the process of becoming accepted citizens in the world. Seeing the success of this, the were-creatures (were-wolves, were-panthers, were-tigers, et.al.) have recently revealed themselves as well. As you can guess the religious right are protesting these abominations, and there are certain factions of people who want the supernatural beings dead. In another twist of supernatural fate, Sookie herself has discovered she is half faery. The faery and fae have recently gone back to their realm and have closed all portals to the human world. Some Faery have stayed behind, some willingly and some not.

Sookie herself has dug a deeper hole for herself in the supernatural culture by falling in love and being married, technically, to Eric Northman, the Sheriff of an area of Louisiana which includes Bon Temps, Sookies hometown, and Shreveport. The Vampire world is run by Kings and Queens of regions which in the United States runs along with state borders. Recently the Queen of Louisiana has been killed and the area is under the Rule of the king of Nevada, Felipe de Castro. Felipe has sent his second in command, Victor, to Louisiana to watch over the area. The problem is, Victor seems to want power for himself and sees Eric as someone to conquer. Eric sees Victor as someone to kill.

In this book, friends and enemies from Sookie’s past are causing problems. Sandra Pelt, a werewolf whose sister was killed by Sookie, has a score to settle. Victor is challenging Eric’s position and, in other ways, threatening her friend and employer Sam Merlotte, a shape-shifter. Sookie’s Great-uncle Dermot and cousin Claude, a couple of Faeries, are making themselves at home in Sookie’s house in the aftermath of the separation with the faery world. Amelia and Bob, a couple of witches from New Orleans come to make sure the wards to keep the evil out of Sookie’s home make a mistake and nearly wrecking Sookie and Eric’s relationship. Bill Compton, or Vampire Bill, Sookie’s first vampire lover, admits he’s still in love with Sookie. Meanwhile, Sookie is learning more about her grandmother Adele’s relationship with her half-fairy grandfather Fintan.

So with all these faeries, werewolves, witches and even a Vampire Elvis, Sookie has to find out who is trying to kill her and destroy Merlotte’s bar and at the same time find out her standing in Eric’s love life.

I think that if all the love story aspect were thrown out I’d be more interested and wouldn’t have to play catch-up to get the latest book but, it’s there and folks like that aspect. I just really like the fun romp in the supernatural world while trying to solve mysteries. Almost like Scooby-Doo but with more adult content.

 

“God’s Eye” by A.J. Scudiere

“God’s Eye”
by A.J. Scudiere
Multicast performance
Published by Griffyn Ink Corp.
15 hours and 25 minutes

Every once in a while I venture into the new publisher/author/audio producer realm of audiobooks and it can be hit or miss.  This book was a mix of a lot of hit and a little miss.   I have been asked before why I never write a bad review, and my answer is because I never read or listen to a bad book.  If a book is bad I put it down and don’t bother with it.  With all those good books out there why should I waste my time?  So with that in mind and reading this review you know that this was not a bad audiobook…but….there were some moments which need to be pointed out so you can be prepared for them.

I think I’ll have to address this review in segments, so first I’ll start with the writing and story itself.  The writing is very dark and the story is very intriguing.  So there is the win.  The basis of the story is that Katherine Geryon works in a financial investment company, in fact, her name is in the company name, Light & Geryon.  Okay to be exact, her father’s name is on the company, but hey you get the idea.  The company funds projects and gets high returns on their investments.  Katherine’s job is research.  She looks into company histories to see if return on investment is high enough to sink money into the project.  This becomes important later in the book, but I’ll leave that surprise up to you to find for yourself.

The main concept behind the story is a war  between an angel and a demon for Katherine’s soul.  The two, Zachary and Alistar, must win over Katherine and she must make a decision as to which one to go with.  One will win and the loser will die.   The problem that Katherine has is that she is seduced by both and once she finds out she must make the decision she cannot figure which one to go with.  To be fair A.J. Scudiere’s writing is so ingenious that even the reader/listener cannot determine which is the angel and which is the demon.  I have to say I was rooting for one or the other to win throughout the book, and kept changing which one that I couldn’t figure out which was which until the very end, and then I said to myself, “I knew it,” but in reality the mystery through the book kept me guessing throughout.  That aspect alone makes this book a very nice escapism piece of horror fiction.  I enjoyed the writing and storyline immensely.

The book is a multicast performance in which each different character was read by a different voice actor.  When the story was from Zachary’s point of view you’d hear his voice and from Katherine’s you’d hear her voice with all dialogue performed by each actor.  This was nicely done and with the added bonus of having Ed Asner (yes THAT Ed Asner) as the voice of Katherine’s father, the voice work was nice.  The actor portraying Zachary had a very interesting super deep voice that kept me interested in his side of the story.

At this point here’s were some of the non-hit part of the audiobook took place.  While the actor portraying Alistar was superb in his performance, his voice just seemed to be too old for the part written, but he made it work and made it more bearable.  The actress portraying Katherine did another superb job….but…there were three words that drove me buggy throughout the entire book, and they were enunciation problems.  The words; wouldn’t, couldn’t and didn’t would sometimes come out as; woont, coont and dint, and that just totally irritated me.  If the story hadn’t been so good I would have stopped listening.  (yeah, I know that’s a bit picky, but it just didn’t belong in this story.)

Being touted as an “AudioMovie,” I was thinking there would be more in production for this audio book.  There were some sound effects thrown in that helped to mentally visualize the settings of some of the scenes and when the cell phone would ring and the story called for the character to be startled, it would startle me also.  So the sound effects are very subtle and there were times where they seemed a bit forced, or maybe that more were needed.  They went for the middle of the subtle and full-blown production and I think it worked, but there were moments.   The really cool parts were the sound effects used when portraying the changes from the other worldly creatures to humans, some sounds that just don’t occur naturally and the production company created some nice effects that could give some people nightmares, and that’s a good thing.

All around I would recommend this audiobook and say enjoy the constant twist and turns that create a nice supernatural mystery, but just be prepared for a few slips here and there.

“Ghost Story” The Dresden Files, Book 13 by Jim Butcher

“Ghost Story”
The Dresden Files, Book 13
by Jim Butcher
read by John Glover
Produced by Penguin Audiobooks
Approx. 18 hours.

Whew! I just finished the latest novel in the Dresden Files series from Jim Butcher, and let me tell you I’m relieved.  In the last book, “Changes,” Harry Dresden died, worse yet, he was assassinated.  I, along with many other Dresden fans, were left hanging.  I mean, c’mon, it can’t end this way…Harry can’t die!  Okay, he’s not immortal, but really, it IS called the “DRESDEN Files.”  I had to wait about a whole year to find out what happened.  I know in comic books they sometimes bring back heroes from the dead, but I really didn’t know how Jim Butcher was going to get by with this one.  Sure he’s written a novel about Spider-Man and knows the tricks, but with the Wizard Harry Dresden, that’s not the same.

Finally I got to put the audiobook on and sit back and listen.  But wait, the publishers threw another curve at us fans.  Really it wasn’t the publisher’s fault but, Wow! it was a big problem.  James Marsters, who has become the voice of Harry Dresden in the audio books, was not available for the production.  If you don’t know, all these novels are told in first person, and Marsters made Dresden POP!  Marsters became Dresden and vice versa.  So who do we get now?  John Glover.  To give Glover some cred, he did portray Lionel Luther in the TV series of Smallville, and he knew the kind of superhero attitude that lives within Harry Dresden.  Okay, I’ll give him that.  I can’t say that he did a bad job of this, because he didn’t, in fact when voicing the other characters in the story, Glover shined, but it just wasn’t Marsters voice behind Harry.  It seemed more of an inconvenience but as the story progressed, Glover did a great job, I just have a thing for Marsters’ voice as Harry.  Had I never heard the Marsters version I would say Glover was awesome, but for right now Marsters is my favorite, just like Tom Baker is my favorite Doctor from the Doctor Who series.   Sure other actors do a great job, but I will always hold my favorite.  Maybe I can look back later and say Marsters was a great Harry Dresden and Glover was a great Harry Dresden’s Ghost.

We start out this story with Chicago’s resident wizard, Harry Dresden, contemplating his death.  He sees the light down the tunnel, but lo’ and behold, the light is a train.  Harry is ready to take this head on when he is whisked away from the tracks from Carmichael, a former Chicago Police Officer that specialized in paranormal type of crimes.  Harry saw Carmichael ripped to shreds by a loup garou years ago, so he knew he was still dead, the problem is what is going on.  Carmichael takes Harry to the police station in the “In Between” Chicago, where Harry is told that before he moves on he must find out who killed him.  If Harry doesn’t do this 3 people in Harry’s life will be hurt.

Harry had just recently found out he had a daughter and was assassinated just after he saved her by wiping out the entire race of Red Court Vampires.  This genocidal act was done by pulling some favors from some unsavory characters and created a void in the supernatural power struggle of the world.  When Harry is sent back to Chicago (as a ghost) 6 months have passed since his death and the world has changed reflecting that void trying to be filled.  His first stop is at the home of Morty the Ectomancer (one who can communicate with spirits).  He finds Morty’s home under attack by wraiths and being guarded by ghosts of Morty’s ancestors.

After a very cool battle Harry learns some of the secrets of being a ghost.  First off ghosts’ power comes from memories, and in order to fight one must expend that memory energy, but the cost is that with each expended memory the ghost loses a little of itself until it becomes a murderous wraith.  Harry’s magic as a wizard is no longer effective against the living and he becomes a beginner in relearning the magicks of the ghost world.

Harry then learns what has happened to his old friends, Karrin Murphy, a former Chicago cop who now fight against the supernatural threat with a team of werewolves, vikings (courtesy of the mob boss Gentleman John Marcone) and Waldo Butters, former coroner now the owner of Bob, the spirit form of a former wizard now the supernatural equivalent of the internet.  Occasionally they get the help of Harry’s former apprentice, Molly, who seems to have lost a bit of her mind in the battle against the Red Court and now goes by the name of “The Rag Lady.”

Helping his former friends now becomes a priority and Harry seems to have forgotten his task of solving his murder.  But leave it to Harry (via the great writing of Jim Butcher) to manage to work the two into the same task.    Throughout the story Harry gets hints as to who his murderer is but can’t seem to grasp the answer.  Here’s where I was a bit miffed, because I had it figured out at the first hint.  But through the twists and turns that make the Dresden Files stories so great we find out why Harry doesn’t get it.  (Thank you Jim Butcher for the awesome storytelling.)

Another thing that grabbed me at first was why wasn’t Harry’s Brother, Thomas, not involved? What Happened!?!?  But alas Butcher had that figured out as well.  Yep, this is one of those books that you have to get to the very end before it all soaks in.  Great Stuff.

But what happens next?  I think I’ve got it figured out, and yes it looks like Butcher will be releasing a new book in the series, “Cold Days,” so it looks like we’ll get more.  Again, I say, “Whew!”

“Paul is Undead” by Alan Goldsher

“Paul is Undead”
by Alan Goldsher
read by Simon Vance
published by Blackstone Audio (2010)
Approx 8 hours

As the kids say, “OMG,” I am still giggling thinking about this book and I finished it 2 days ago.  “Paul is Undead” has got to be one of the funniest books I’ve read in a long time.  This book is written in the format of the many biographies of rock stars in that it is a series of interviews that tell the story.  This time though the story is not the story we all know as the rise of The Beatles to the “Toppermost of the Poppermost,” a phrase used by John Lennon throughout the book and the definition is not fully understood until the very end.

In the tradition of all the horror mashups that have been released recently, (e. g. “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” and “Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters,” and “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”) Alan Goldsher gives it a go, mashing up the supernatural and the Beatles.  The entire history of The Beatles is retold with The Beatles now being Zombies and wanting to take over the world.   Okay, really only 3 of the Beatles are zombies, Ringo is a 7th level Ninja, of course.

When you rush out to get this book, I would HIGHLY recommend getting the audiobook version.  Simon Vance does a superb job of not just reading the book but performing it as well.  Vance does his best impression of all celebrities mentioned in the book including the Fab 4, but with more, he does the voice of the Chicago reporter who is writing the book, Mick Jagger, Ed Sullivan, Elvis, Rod Argent, Yoko Ono, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Satan and more.  At times I felt as though I were listening to an audio biography produced by Ken Burns (but without the long drawn out scenes.)  Vance had me laughing out loud with my headphones on with his presentation of this already hilarious book.

The book opens with Howard Cosell breaking in and announcing the attempted beheading of John Lennon by Mark David Chapman.  Lennon’s head is reattached and Chapman is arrested.  From there we go back to the birth of John Lennon when as he came out of the womb he was zombified via the “Liverpool Process.”  The “Liverpool Process” of creating zombies is different from many other zombie creations known around the world.  The “Liverpool Process” produces a super human zombie that can think, has supernatural powers, great speed, can hypnotize anyone, and can tear off and reattach any limb and more.  Oh they still hunger for the gray matter but they can also eat , drink and experiment with drugs, the brain eating is saved for special occasions.

John then recruits/turns Paul and the duo are unstoppable, George Harrison is turned by Paul because John thinks he is too young.  Stu Sutcliffe doesn’t get turned to a zombie instead after quitting the Beatles he becomes a vampire.  After the three play a few gigs they realize they need to replace Pete Best because they need a drummer who can protect the band.  Enter Ringo Starr, a 7th level ninja, who can turn himself invisible (great subtle joke there).

Sure they have their problems, after all the world doesn’t quite know what to do with zombies, but they make great music.  Even worse, world renowned zombie hunter, Mick Jagger, is always trying to destroy them.  Rod Argent is accused of riding the Beatles’ coattails by naming his band The Zombies, even though they aren’t undead.  Roy Orbison is a deity of unknown proportion who doesn’t allow Paul to steal his glasses.   Smoking marijuana creates zombie flatulence which creates a purple haze of a more potent material that takes Bob Dylan by surprise.  The Mahareshi Yogi gets dismembered, and finally Yoko Ono a 9th level ninja, has it out for Ringo.

All the stories are there, from their first Ed Sullivan appearance, the Shea Stadium troubles, and the band playing a concert on the rooftop of Abbey Road Studios, but with the hilarious zombie twist.  For any Beatles fan this book is a must, it will have you laughing throughout.
Lots of gory laughs to be had.

“The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle” Graphic Novel by Jim Butcher

“The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle”
Graphic Novel
by Jim Butcher
Illustrated by Ardian Syaf
Published by Del Rey (2008)

Jim Butcher confesses in the preface to this collected edition, that when he writes a Harry Dresden story he pictures the action in comic book form and I found it interesting that as I read each new novel my mind immediately interprets into a comic book /animation format.  Jim says it’s because he collected Marvel comics for a large part of his life, maybe that’s my reason also.  I find it amazing that he and I shared the same passion, if only I had turned that passion into great writing like he did.

Anyway, these stories were originally published in comic book form in four issues.  This edition collects those comics into one graphic novel and includes a section with extra artwork representing the covers and character development sketches.  Reading this story in comic book form allows the reader to enjoy the action with some great artwork.

This story is a prequel to the Dresden files taking place just before the first book , “Storm Front.”  A side note here “Storm Front” has since been adapted to graphic novel form.

After a security guard at the Lincoln Park Zoo is found dead at the zoo, the police immediately think that a gorilla named Moe is to blame.  Special Investigations Lt. Karrin Murphy, doesn’t think it fits that the gorilla escaped, killed the guard and locked himself back in the cage.  So she calls in the only guy capable of handling the world of the weird, Chicago’s own wizard, Harry Dresden.  Harry has to find what actually happened and present it to Murphy so the officials can somewhat swallow the story.  Harry is soon attacked by  several jungle cats, a black dog and a hag.   With some help from Bob the skull, Harry finds out what is killing but now he has to figure out how to stop them or more than just the zoo will be in trouble.

With excellent Jim Butcher storytelling and beautiful artwork “Welcome to the Jungle” is a great introduction to the Dresden files series.

“Side Jobs” by Jim Butcher

“Side Jobs”
by Jim Butcher
read by James Marsters
Produced by Penguin Audio
approx. 13 hours

While still rushing with adrenaline from the huge cliff-hanger at the end of the last Dresden book, “Changes, ” I’m looking everywhere I can for my Harry Dresden fix.  If you haven’t read any of Jim Butcher’s series, “The Dresden Files,” you are seriously lacking in your fun, exciting detective story romp through the supernatural reading.

Harry Dresden is a wizard and a private detective protecting the city of Chicago.  His adventures have taken him through the land of the Faeries, off fighting werewolves and vampires and even Gruffs (you’ll have to read about that one).  His support staff consists of some college students who spend their evenings as werewolves protecting their neighborhood, Karrin Murphy at first a lieutenant for Chicago P.D. Special Investigations, but later demoted to Sargeant,  Thomas his half-brother and White Court vampire, Bob a spirit of a wizard locked within a skull (the wizarding world version of a computer), Mouse a giant Temple Dog, Mister an oversized cat, and on occasion, Gentleman John Marcone Chicago’s biggest mob boss.

With that team you’d think Harry would be able to take on anything, well in general he can, but for the most part it’s his luck that doesn’t hold out.

“Side Jobs” is an anthology book set in Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series.  Most of the stories were published in other anthologies but finally here they are in one book, in chronological order of appearance in the time stream of the Dresden Files books.   I had read many of these before because seeing a Jim Butcher story in an anthology, I had to read them at the time of release.  There are a couple of stories that were only available on the website and a new one that takes place just after the previous book in the series.  This collection contains the following short stories:

“Restoration of Faith,” takes place before “Storm Front and originally published on Jim-Butcher.com. This story tells a little of a backstory on Dresden as he was working to get his private investigator’s license.  Harry rescues a little girl from a troll under a bridge.

“Vignette” takes place between Death Masks and Blood Rites and was originally published on Jim-Butcher.com.  This one is a very short  fun story about Bob and Harry trying to write the perfect yellow pages ad.

“Something Borrowed” was originally published in “My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding,” and takes place between “Dead Beat” and “Proven Guilty,” is about Billy and Georgia’s (werewolves that help Harry from time to time) wedding day.  Harry saves Georgia from a faerie and in doing so wrecks their wedding day, but they do live happily ever after.

“It’s My Birthday Too” was originally published in “Many Bloody Returns” and takes place between “White Night” and “Small Favor” and depicts a day when Harry is trying to give his vampire half-brother, Thomas, a birthday gift but ends up saving Thomas and some “larpers” from a Black Court Vampire.

“Heorot” was originally published in “My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon” takes place between “White Night” and “Small Favor” and is the story of Harry rescuing a missing bride with the help of Miss Gard, a Valkyrie and agent of Gentleman Johnny Marcone.  This one mixes in some Norse Mythology into the Dresden world.

“Day Off ” was originally published in “Blood Lite” and takes place between “Small Favor” and “Turn Coat”.  This is a very funny story in which Jim Butcher explores the bad luck Dresden faces when trying to take a day off.  Harry’s apprentice is blowing up lab, the werewolves have fleas and a wannabe wizard is bombing the house.  “It’s my day off!”

“Backup: A Story of the Dresden Files” (Mike Mignola illustrations from the first edition not included)  novelette from Harry’s brother, Thomas’ POV, originally published by Subterranean Press, takes place between “Small Favor” and “Turn Coat.”  Harry is being used by an ancient evil, and Thomas must put a stop to it without him noticing.  This story explores more of the “Oblivion Wars” which have only been mentioned in  earlier books.

“The Warrior” was originally published in “Mean Streets” and takes place between “Small Favor” and “Turn Coat” reveals what happens to the Carpenter family after the events of “Small Favor.”  Michael Carpenter was a Knight of the cross, weilding the sword Amoracchius to battle for God.  At the end of “Small Favor” Michael was battered to the point where he lost function of one of his eyes and some limbs.  Michael will still battle when his family is threatened but will the take up the sword again?

“Last Call” was originally published in “Strange Brew” takes place between “Small Favor” and “Turn Coat” and tells when Harry takes on the darkest of dark powers–the ones who dare to mess with this favorite beer.  Someone is lacing Mac’s Home brew with a psycho-control drug, and Harry must stop them.

“Love Hurts” was originally published in “Songs of Love and Death: Tales of Star-Crossed Love” and  takes place between “Turn Coat” and “Changes.”  Harry and Murphy investigate a series of love spells with deadly consequences.  This also shows another side to the Harry / Murphy relationship.

And finally a new novelette exclusive to the anthology: “Aftermath” which takes place 45 minutes after “Changes” and is told from Karrin Murphy’s point of view. She must help find a kidnapped werewolf.  All through this story Murphy is using what she has learned from Harry while at the same time mourning his “possible” death.

If you haven’t read any Dresden novels you may want to pick this one up, as it is a great introduction to the fun to be had.   While I’m recommending, if you are into audiobooks, I highly recommend this in audiobook form.  As are all the Dresden Files audiobooks, it is read by James Marsters (you know, Spike from the Buffy the Vampire Hunter Series).  Marsters voice captures the wit and wisdom of Harry Dresden, and being that all the novels are told in first person you feel as though Harry is talking directly to you.  If the Sci-Fi channel would have cast Marsters as the lead in the short lived Dresden Files series, I think they series would have done much better….just sayin’.

“Strange Brew” Edited by P.N. Elrod

“Strange Brew”
Edited by P.N. Elrod
Multiple readers
produced by Audible Frontiers (2009)
approx 12 hours.

In continuing my search for more Jim Butcher’s “Dresden Files” stories I find another collection of short stories that have a few of my other favorite supernatural authors and I may have found a few more.  This book features 9 stories all dealing with the supernatural, in particular witches, wizards and potions.  There is no Professor Snape to let this lot know if they are doing it right or wrong, but for the most part they all get it right.  The nice thing is that for most of the authors in this book, they have a running series and these short stories take place within the realm of that same series and for the die-hard fans, here’s one more source for some quick pleasure while waiting for that next book.

Each story has their own reader thus giving this collection in audiobook form a better sound of being different stories from different authors.  Now let’s talk about each story one by one.

“Seeing Eye” by Patricia Briggs:  Patricia Briggs returns to the world of Mercy Thompson, but follows an entirely new character – the witch (Wendy) Moira Keller. Tom Franklin, werewolf and second in the Emerald City pack, shows up on Moira’s doorstep asking for her help in finding his kidnapped brother Jon, Moira cannot refuse him, even though it could mean her death. For Moira is no ordinary witch, and she has a dark past connected to those who have taken Jon – the Samhain Coven, led by the cruel and power-hungry Kouros. Together, Moira and Tom set out on Jon’s trail, using her magic and Tom’s strength to discover Jon’s fate, and to face Samhain once and for all.

“Last Call” by Jim Butcher:  Harry takes on the darkest of dark powers–the ones who dare to mess with his favorite beer. All Harry wants to do after a long hard day of wizarding and private investigating is have one of Mac’s famous home brews and possibly a steak sandwich, but when Harry, walks into Macanally’s, he finds the place in disarray, not the normal planned disarray but one which finds several tables turned over, customers and Mac,himself, unconscious.  Harry then finds that the home brew has been tampered with and a deeper darker mystery unveils in which an ancient being wishes to take over Chicago.  This story takes place between Small Favor and Turn Coat.

“Death Warmed Over” by Rachel Caine: This story takes place in a world where witches moonlight in extremely specialized fields. Holly Caldwell is one such witch with a rare affinity for resurrecting the dead, working at her day job when she receives a last minute email from her other boss, Sam – a request for a “disposable,” or a long-term resurrection from the local police department. Holly has sworn off disposables ever since her first and last job – because of the pain her impossible relationship with the resurrected caused her. Now, Sam and the police want Holly to raise the same man from her past, a powerful witch named Andrew Toland who died in 1875 fighting an army of resurrected dead gone violent (or more commonly, zombies). Though it pains her to reopen a relationship that is in all ways impossible, Holly breathes life back into Andrew. Unfortunately for them both, only later do they learn that someone has been killing resurrection witches, and Holly is next on the list.  This turns out to be kind of a creepy love story of sorts that has a twist in the mystery unfolding.

“Vegas Odds” by Karen Chance: The longest story in “Strange Brew” is Karen Chance’s “Vegas Odds.”  The story bursts with excitement from start.  Half-Were Lia and her boyfriend Were Cyrus destroy her house while under attack from a group of War Mages.  From there the listener is thrwon into a world full of magic and a strong instantly likeable heroine while never letting up on the non-stop action.

“Hecate’s Golden Eye” by P.N. Elrod:  Yes even the editor gets into the action with a story from her Vampire Mysteries series featuring the Vampire Noir, Jack Fleming and his partner Escott from 1930′s Chicago.  Fleming and Escott are asked to recover a stolen heirloom–a rare yellow diamond with a curse. Any man who touches it DIES. Of course, since Jack’s already dead he should be immune, right? Maybe, maybe not.  Mix in some con artists and a homicidally violent mad Irishman and see what happens!  Just picture the old film noir detectives, but picture one as a vampire and you have this fun tale.

“Bacon” by Charlaine Harris:  A beautiful vampire joins forces with a witch from an ancient line to find out who killed her beloved husband.  This story has the funniest ending and is worth the purchase of this book alone.  This story takes place in the world of Sookie Stackhouse (you know, from “True Blood” fame) featuring the vampire Dahlia.  There was a previous Dahlia story in the anthology “My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding,” and Dahlia does appear in “All Together Dead.”

“Signatures of the Dead” by Faith Hunter:  The story is told from the perspective of Molly, a witch who is asked by the police to track down a group of killer vampires. The star of the story is actually Jane Yellowrock, skinwalker and vampire hunter, who has the job of actually finding and exterminating the vampires. This story is an introduction for the Jane Yellowrock character, who is going to be the protagonist of her own series of books.

“Ginger: A Nocturne City” by Caitlin Kittredge:  This is the story of werewolf detective Luna Wilder’s witch cousin Sunny Swan. This thriller is a morality tale of sorts showing how doing the right thing can get you into more trouble then you can imagine, and that in everyone is the will to get done what needs doing. Who knew that the small task of supporting her cousin by visiting the trial she is testifying in will lead her into the dark depths of Nocturne’s City underworld?

“Dark Sins By” Jenna Maclaine: Recently turned vampire, witch Cin Craven may be the strongest witch in existence if she knew how to use her magic. This small fact allows for the imprisonment of Cin and her companions The Righteous a group of vampires that act as judge, jury, and executioner of their own kind.

So if witches are your cup of tea, check out “Strange Brew.”

“Dead and Gone” Book 9 of the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries. by Charlaine Harris

“Dead and Gone”
Book 9 of the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries.
by Charlaine Harris
Published 2009 by Ace Books

With Season 3 of HBO’s “True Blood” starting and the recent publication of book 10 of this series, “Dead in  the Family,” I decided to get to jumping on the continuing adventures of Sookie Stackhouse from Bon Temps, Louisiana and her life dealing with the supernatural.

Sookie is pretty much the average bar waitress in a small town in Louisiana, it’s just that the rest of the world going on around her is way beyond the average.  You see, in these novels the vampires have “come out of the coffin,” which is to say they have revealed to the rest of the world that they do indeed exist.  With the invention of synthetic blood, “True Blood,” they no longer have to prey upon humans for their food source.  This coming out has created some very interesting times for the world and especially for Sookie Stackhouse.  There have been some bad times because of the vamps coming out.  One of those is for a religious group taking offense to the existence of vampires, saying they are an abomination.  This group calls themselves “The Fellowship of the Sun,” and they are always wreaking havoc upon the vampires.

Okay I say Sookie is pretty much average she does have one “disability,” she can read people’s minds.  So as you can figure she doesn’t have much of a dating life because she knows exactly what her date is thinking.  Enter the vampires.  Sookie discovers that (for the most part) she cannot read the thoughts of vampires.  With this she finds relief finally she can be with someone and not learn of their deepest darkest secrets.  She falls in love with a vampire and then learns of a whole new world that exists within the realms of the “real” world.  The supernatural world not only consists of Vampires, but also; werewolves, shapeshifters, witches, fairies & fae, goblins and probably more.

In the previous novel Sookie has just found out that her great-grandfather is a prince of fairies.  He is one of the last remaining fairy royalty.  This makes Sookie part fairy, and explains why she’s so attractive to vampires (vampires cannot resist fairy blood) also this may explain her “disability.”  In this novel it seems as though the fairies are not happy with the intermingling that has been going on with humans.  This starts a civil war amongst the fae and Sookie’s great-grandfather, Niall, has come to warn Sookie that her life may be in danger.  The fairies all want to go into their own world and never again return to the human world, but before they leave they want to remove all traces that fairies ever existed.  This means killing those that are part fairy, like Sookie and her brother, Jason.

As if this weren’t enough, the Were community (which includes werewolves, were panthers [Jason Stackhouse has been turned into a werepanther], were tigers, were foxes and shapeshifters of all sorts) have decided to also reveal themselves to the world since the vampires have been pretty successful with their reveal.   They do so on television nationwide and in prominent areas have representatives shift into their animal form so the normal humans can see.  This includes the bar where Sookie works.  Sam, the owner of the bar where Sookie works, and a true shape shifter (he can shift into any animal shape)reveals himself to the community.  Many folks take the big reveal with little unease.  After all they have vampires, why not werewolves.

At least that’s how it seems at first.   The next day, Jason’s ex-wife and werepanther, Crystal Norris is found crucified in the parking lot of Sam’s bar, Merlotte’s.  Sookie is determined to find the killer.
In the vampire world Louisiana is just getting into the groove of the new King of Louisiana, and the only remaining original sheriff of the vampires, Eric Northman, in order  to protect Sookie from becoming a slave to the new King, tricks her into what can be seen as the vampire equivalent of marrying Eric.  Sookie seems at first upset, but then again, she does have feelings for Eric, so she decides to see how it plays out.

Soon the fairies attack and Sookie is forced to call in all her markers from the werewolves, the vampires and the witches to keep her safe, but the war begins and Sookie is kidnapped by fairies, keep in mind these aren’t your Tinker Bell type fairies…these are vicious killers.

The war is on and Sookie is in the middle, can she be protected?  Will she find Crystal’s murderer?   You’ll have to pick this one up yourself and find out.  Here’s a clue…there is a book 10 in the series and this one is number 9.

“Changes” Book 12 of “The Dresden Files” by Jim Butcher

“Changes”
Book 12 of “The Dresden Files”
by Jim Butcher
Read by James Marsters
Produced by Penguin Audio, 2010

As I eagerly began this book, yeah, I was pretty much salivating at the promise of a new Harry Dresden, wizard for hire, novel, I was not aware that the title would speak volumes as to what is in this book.  I have to warn you, while I’m not one for spoilers, ther may be one or two that slips in this review, it’s hard keeping it to myself.  Harry Dresden’s life and the lives of those around him are going to go through major changes in this book.

First let’s sum up what’s up with these books.  Harry Dresden is a wizard of the White Council.  The White Council is the world’s wizards that police the world’s population’s use of magic.  They do all they can to prevent black magic from occurring.  The White Council is at war against the Red Court of Vampires.  Vampires are represented by 3 courts, Black, the ones closest to the Nosferatu image of vampires, White, the ones that don’t drink blood but live off the energy of a human, and the Red, these are the ones that look bat-like but can create a flesh mask to hide their true selves.  The Red Court want to rule the world.  Harry’s ex-girlfriend Susan was halfway converted to a Red Court vampire, all she needs is to take human blood to become a full-fledged vampire.  To avoid this she ran off to South America to find a group that is fighting off the urge to become full fledged vampires and to battle from within the Red Court.

Harry Dresden is a black sheep when it comes to the family of wizards, when his mother died he was raised by his uncle who turned Harry to the “Dark Side,” but Harry was too young to realize there was another choice.  Harry managed to be turned over and trained by Ebenezer a White Council member and the only wizard capable of bearing the Black Staff.  The Black Staff gives the wizard the ability to break any laws of magic to protect the laws of magic.   Harry also has a Fairy Godmother, a real godmother who is a powerful Fairy.  Serious Magic there with the Faery and Fae.  The Queen of Winter of the Faery court has been trying to recruit Harry to become her Knight, basically the Queen’s body guard and errand boy, but with killer intentions.

Wizard Dresden also has help from an odd collection of assistants, Harry’s half-brother is a Vampire of the White Court, Harry’s Apprentice Molly is being taught how to become a wizard after nearly slipping to the “Dark Side.”  She is also the daughter of Michael Carpenter a Knight of the Cross (yes THE CROSS).  Harry’s best friend is a Chicago cop working in the strange crimes division, Karrin Murphy, Harry’s computer of sorts, Bob, a wizard spirit kept in a human skull that knows pretty much everything in the history of magic,  and finally Harry’s 2 pets  Mister, a huge fat cat, and Mouse a huge Chinese Temple Dog.

So that’s where we stand with some great magical fights and some great team work through all the Dresden files books, until we get to this one.  Here’s where it all “Changes.”

At the beginning of the book Harry gets a call from his former girlfriend, Susan, saying that the Red Court has kidnapped their daughter.  Harry has a daughter? Yep, that’s news to him also.  Now it’s personal, with some emotional moments Harry decides he’s going to do everything he can to get back his daughter.  But first Him and Susan and Martin, here protoge in the Red Court underground go to the building where Harry has his private investigator/wizard for hire office.  Red Court attacks Harry’s office building is blown up…no more office and that is only change #2 in a long series of changes.

His first choice is to see if he can get help from the White Council of Wizards, after all they are at war against the Red Court.  Talk about bad timing the Duchess of the Red Court is making an appearance before the White Council at the same time Harry arrives.  What a chance Harry has now to demand his daughter back, except in order to protect his daughter he does not reveal to anyone that she is his daughter only a little girl kidnapped by the Red Court.  It seems the Duchess is there to promote peace and a cease fire in the war.  There goes the White Council’s help.

Harry then turns to “Gentleman” Johnny Marcone, Chicago mob boss.  Marcone cannot help but steers him to a security firm that can help.  After a trip to Europe, Harry is presented to an extremely powerful being, could it be?….Thor’s father, Odin?  He cannot help but does provide some tools.

Harry eventually gather’s what forces he can and heads to the Mayan temples in Mexico.  It seems the Red Court is using Harry’s daughter to perform a blood curse ritual.  Using the girl as a sacrifice, this will kill all in her bloodline.  Harry is the target.  So with the final Knight of the Cross, a cop, a white court vampire, an apprentice, a temple dog, and his fairy godmother Harry is off to Mexico.

At the end is a huge battle that features some serious magicks, and gunplay that would make John Woo proud.  The big event is what Harry has to sacrifice in order to go to Mexico.

Okay…I’m not sure how to say this but the end of the book left me flabbergasted.  After the huge battle the world of Harry Dresden changes.  I’m doing everything I can to keep from telling you the end so I think I will stop here.

Great book…get it.

“The Warrior” A short story by Jim Butcher in the collection “Mean Streets”

“The Warrior”
A short story by Jim Butcher
in the collection “Mean Streets”
Multiple Authors
Multiple readers
Produced by Recorded Books
approx 2 hours (for this story)

I am getting ready to listen to the latest novel about Harry Dresden by Jim Butcher, “Changes” but I had downloaded and put on my iPod this story that occurs earlier in the timeline of the Dresden Files.  So, I’m listening to this one first.  The entire collection runs about 10 hours in audiobook form and I am continuing with the rest of the book, but I had to stop and let you know about this story.

Before we go further let me tell you about the book “Mean Streets.”  This collection of original novellas tied to popular crime/fantasy series which include; Thomas E. Sniegoski’s “Noah’s Orphans,” angel PI Remy Chandler must solve the murder of the biblical Arks builder, whose battered corpse is found on an abandoned oil rig. Simon R. Green writes with a slight humor that is similar to that by Jim Butcher in “The Difference a Day Makes,” in which PI John Taylor assists a woman who wandered into the the “nightside” a world hidden within London, and another noir type story by Kat Richardson’  “The Third Death of the Little Clay Dog” neatly merges noir conventions with a fantastical plot.  I’ll let you know how those go when I finish the entire collection.

“The Warrior” by Jim Butcher Reveals what happens to the Carpenter family after the events of Small Favor, this story takes place between Small Favor and Turn Coat.

Michael Carpenter, a former Knight of the Cross has turned in his sword, Amoracchius.  The weird part is that an Archangel has decided that Harry Dresden, wizard and non-religious, hold the sword until it’s new rightful bearer can be find.  Harry, from a previous battle, after the death of another Knight of the Cross, Shiro Yoshimo, has possession of another sword, Fidelacchius.  Many in the church cannot accept the fact that Harry, an non-believer, has possession of 2 of the 3 swords.

In this story someone is sending Harry photos of the now retired and recovering Michael Carpenter.  Harry assuming that Michael is in danger, goes to the Carpenter home and tries to warn him.  On the way Harry saves a little girl from being run over by a car.  At first this may just seem like a simple piece of the story, maybe more of a filler, but at the end that action makes the world a better place.  That’s the way Harry rolls.

Upon arrival at the Carpenter house, Harry explains the photos and concerned the Carpenters have Harry spend the night for safety’s sake.  During the night someone tries to steal the swords, luckily Harry expected this and had fakes in plain sight while the real swords were hidden.  On chasing down the thief, harry discovers the man is military trained and protected to an extent against magic.

Harry and Michael track down who is trying to steal the swords and along the way Harry learns about faith and goodwill.  Great short story here in the world of the better wizard named Harry.  Now to finish this book and get on with “Changes.”