- ISBN13: 9780441016754
- Condition: New
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Product Description
“Clever…entertaining… excellent”(Library Journal) original vampire stories by Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Kelley Armstrong, and more.
From cakes to stakes, a celebration of everyone’s favorite bloodsucking subculture by a baker’s dozen of favorite authors. Each of these thirteen original stories offers a fresh and unique take on what birthdays mean to the undead. From Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse attending a birthday party for Dracula to Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden battling bloodsucking party crashers, these suspenseful, surprising, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous stories will ensure paranormal fans will never think of vampires or birthdays quite the same again.
R. A. MCDANIEL @ 6:18 pm
This anthology features some of the superstars of the paranormal genre writing about their most popular characters – Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse), Jim Butcher (Harry Dresden), Kelley Armstrong (Cassandra du Charme from the women of the Otherworld universe), PN Elrod (Jack Fleming), Tanya Huff (Tony and Henry Fitzroy), and Rachel Caine (Eve Rosser from the Morganville Vampires books) – along with some other fairly recognizable authors such as Christopher Golden and Jeanne Stein. It was the superstars who made this anthology worth buying. Their stories were, with the exception of Ms. Harris’ contribution (which seemed quickly thrown together and unsatisfying), well crafted and engrossing, providing deeper insight into the characters which will make reading future installments of their series even more enjoyable. Some of the other stories left me cold (such as The Mournful Cry of Owls) and others, like Jeanne Stein’s “The Witch and the Wicked” were so interesting and original I will definitely be looking at the author’s other works.
All anthologies have their weak moments but this one has less than usual due to the high caliber of the contributors, with a good 2/3 of the stories being excellent or better. It’s a must read for devoted fans of any of the series included.
Cherise Everhard @ 7:14 pm
This is an anthology of 13 stories, each containing some sort of supernatural element and birthday theme.
Dracula Night by Charlaine Harris
The Mournful Cry of Owls by Christopher Golden
I Was a Teenage Vampire by Bill Crider
Twilight by Kelley Armstrong
It’s My Birthday, Too by Jim Butcher
Grave-Robbed by P.N. Elrod
The First Day of the Rest of Your Life by Rachel Caine
The Witch and the Wicked by Jeanne C. Stein
Blood Wrapped by Tanya Huff
The Wish by Carolyn Haines
Fire and Ice and Linguini for Two by Tate Hallaway
Vampire Hours by Elaine Viets
How Stella got her Grave Back by Toni L.P. Kelner
I bought this collection of short stories for the tales told by Charlaine Harris and Tate Hallaway as each is part of a their series I read religiously. I had never heard of or read anything by the other 11 authors, but after reading these short stories I will be checking out many of their other books. None of the stories were horrible; in fact almost all were magnificent, leaving only one or two that were just OK. This past week I really didn’t have time to read a ‘normal’ book; this was the perfect book to pick up when I had a few minutes. I found this book wonderfully imaginative and very enjoyable.
N @ 8:48 pm
I bought this simply because of the Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher and Tanya Huff stories that were in it. However, I ended up enjoying almost every other story in it. It caused me to go out and purchase Tate Hallaway’s books as well. The Jim Butcher tale was awesome. The Tanya Huff story was cute. It also gave me a new appreciation for Kelley Armstrong, whom I’d previously read but disliked. In general, I don’t tend to like short stories, but I absolutely loved this collection and would recommend it to anyone who likes Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Tate Hallway or Tanya Huff.
K. Eckert @ 9:08 pm
Usually books with a number of short stories in them have some big names with great stories and some unknown authors with either surprisingly good or surprisingly bad stories. This was not the case with this book. All of the stories were really good and there was a larger variety of writing styles than I expected given the genre. All of the stories have to deal with vampires and birthdays.
The main reason I read books like this is to get a sampling of some authors I haven’t read and get a glimpse into the series that they are writing. This book was a good read and I found a couple new (to me at least) authors to check out from it. Because of this book I will read more of PN Elrod’s work, check out the Morganville vampire series, see what else Hallaway and Kelner have written, and possibly check out some of Jeanne Stein’s work too. Below is a quick comment/synopsis of each story.
Dracula Night by Charlaine Harris
This story is an addition to the Sookie Stackhouse series and addresses the celebration of Dracula Night by the vampire community. It’s a fun read; although there’s not a ton of content here.
The Mournful Cry of Owls by Christopher Golden
The only other book I’ve read by Christopher Golden is “The Boys are Back in Town”; which I liked pretty well. This story follows a girl as she learns about her unique heritage. I enjoyed it and it was well written and mysterious.
I Was a Teenage Vampire by Bill Crider
This was probably my least favorite story of the anthology. The story was predictable, boring, and seemed quickly and lazily written.
Twilight by Kelley Armstrong
I liked Twilight okay. It was a little boring and moved slowly but it was well-written and dealt with the topic of vampires dying of boredom.
It’s My Birthday, Too by Jim Butcher
Fun addition to the Dresden Files series. I enjoyed a story in which Thomas played a main role. I especially enjoyed the role-playing; being a DnD player I thought it was hilarious.
Grave-Robbed by P.N. Elrod
This was my first time reading anything by PN Elrod and I liked it. The main character, Jack Fleming, is a bit campy. Some of it reminded me of Harry Dresden a bit. I enjoyed it and will read more of Elrod’s writing.
The First Day of the Rest of Your Life by Rachel Caine
This was a story that took place in the world of Rachel Caine’s young adult vampire series “The Morganville Vampires”. This was my favorite story in the book and now I am interested in reading this series. I’ve read some of Rachel Caine’s Weather Warden series and that is also a good series.
The Witch and the Wicked by Jeanne C. Stein
This story creeped me out. I believe Stein is the writer of the Signs of the Zodiac series. The writing style wasn’t my favorite since it was kind of plain and straight-forward; not as much flare to it as I had hoped. The premise is pretty darn creative and creepy though.
Blood Wrapped by Tanya Huff
This was a nice addition to Henry Fitzroy’s world; it was a fun read. It really brought home the fact that I haven’t read the last few books in this series yet. I was like, what do you mean Vicki is a vampire?
The Wish by Carolyn Haines
I’ve never read anything by Carolyn Haines but I did like this story. The story is very sad and yet it is beautifully written and really grabs a hold of you. It is a very beautiful and well-written story, if not as fun as the rest of the book.
Fire and Ice and Linguini for Two by Tate Hallaway
I’ve never read anything by Tate Hallaway before; this was a fun story. I was intrigued by the witch having a demon trapped in her and by the elemental evil forces at work. I could really sympathize with the characters and the cold weather, being from MN myself.
Vampire Hours by Elaine Viets
I really enjoyed this story. I liked that the main character was an older woman dealing with day-to-day issues a lot of women deal with (okay maybe not as extreme as these issues). I liked how the woman cleverly got back at everyone; it was funny and a quick read.
How Stella got her Grave Back by Toni L.P. Kelner
I’ve never read anything by Toni Kelner, I really liked this story. I liked the idea of vampire dams and I liked the mystery solving that went on in this story. The characters were fun and likable. I really want to know the history between them now.
[...]
Mythadventures @ 10:42 pm
Many Bloody Returns is an anthology dealing with vampirism and birthdays. It features some of the better known writers in the genre. I found it to be predominately good. There were a couple of stories that were rather so so.
Dracula Night by Charlaine Harris gives us a Sookie Stackhouse story. Sookie and Eric makes for an entertaining story. It was interesting to see another side of Eric.
The Mournful Cry of Owls by Christopher Golden was different. I’m not sure how this story really ties into vampires. There was just a minor mention of drinking blood. He has a picturesque way with words however, which I appreciated. I love forests and the woods anyway.
I was A Teenage Vampire by Bill Crider was sort of like the B movie the title suggests. A girl turning 18 wants a real vampire at her Halloween party and her brother tries to help her out in exchange for having his homework done for him. The sibling quibbles sound true to life.
Twilight by Kelley Armstrong involves Casandra. I was happy to get a little more background on this character. She’s appeared in several of Armstrong’s books, but she’s been a somewhat enigmatic character. This little short story fleshes her out a bit more. I enjoyed it.
It’s My Birthday, Too by Jim Butcher always entertains. Harry tries to deliver a birthday present to his brother, Thomas. As usual for Harry, all hell breaks loose when he gets there. Butcher consistently delivers an entertaining story.
Grave-Robbed by P.N. Elrod involves her vampire character Jack Flemming. I’ve read a few of the books about him, but when they started going to his maker and the vampire that made her I stopped reading. I enjoyed this story of how Flemming deals with spiritualists in the early part of the last century.
The First Day of the Rest of Your Life by Rachel Caine deals with the world of her Morganville vampires. I haven’t read anything in this series, so I don’t have a lot of background. She hit the right notes though with her rebellious teenage character. I found I’d like to know more of what happens to her. I’ve read other series by Caine, so I guess it’s time to pick up this series as well.
The Witch and the Wicked by Jeanne C. Stein is another sort of open ended story. I found I’d like to know where things went after the story ended. A witch caters a birthday party for a vampire. The cake she bakes ends up setting the guest of honor on fire, but is he really dead?
Blood Wrapped by Tanya Huff gives us another Tony and Henry story. I enjoyed the Smoke trilogy. Tony and Henry try to find a kidnapped child. The witness implies that it was a monster. Even as they search for the child they discuss what to get Vicki Nelson for her birthday.
The Wish by Carolyn Haines was a rather surealist story. I had to check back to refresh my memory of it. It seems to deal with a women’s fight with death more than vampirism.
Fire and Ice and Linguini for Two by Tate Hallaway seems to be something that follows along with some of her books. I haven’t read any of her books yet, so I really didn’t have all that much background on the characters. The villian of the story was quite unique though. I like how that was handled.
Vampire Hours by Elaine Viets hit the nail on the head with the way older women are treated. I give her kuddos for that.
How Stella Got Her Grave Back by Toni L. Kelner followed along the vampire detective sort of theme. The ending was telegraphed way in the beginning, but it was an interesting journey.