Book Review: "Club Dead" by Charlaine Harris

This is the third book in Charlaine Harris' Sookies Stackhouse novels, better known by everyone as the novels that inspired the TV series "True Blood". The premise for this book is that Bill, Sookie's vampire boyfriend, is doing a job for the Queen of Louisianna when he's kidnapped by the King of Mississippi. The local vampires inform Sookie that Bill was apparently seduced by an old vampire lover and was going to dump her. But Sookie heads off to find out what had happened to Bill anyway, to rescue him if necessary, even though she's heartbroken. She starts her search--with the help of vampire Eric and werewolf Alcide--at Club Dead.

I had a major problem with this book pretty much right off the bat, because I never believed that Bill was actually seduced and going to dump Sookie, and that was the entire premise behind Sookie's emotional state for the entire book. I didn't buy it, and I didn't buy Sookie going off to save him if that had even been true. So the entire character-driven part of the plot was a no-go for me from the start. And I don't see why it had to be set up this way in the first place. Why couldn't Bill have said he was going off to do this job for the Queen, and then have him vanish. Sookie would of course want to know what had happened to him, so the rest of the book could have remained the same, with a slightly different twist to the emotional content of the book.

Oh, I realize WHY it was set up this way: so that Sookie would be "free" to possibly be seduced by either Eric or Alcide. But couldn't they have attempted their seduction even with Bill gone, possibly truly dead, and Sookie in emotional turmoil because of that? It would have been the same book plotwise, but with much more believable and tortuous emotions playing throughout.

However, I kept reading, and in my head I rewrote the book so that the beginning didn't have Bill "dumping" her and didn't have him looking at supposedly "secret, suspicious" things on the computer. I simply had him doing a job for the Queen that Sookie wasn't supposed to know about, then being kidnapped, with the possibility that he'd somehow been taken in by a past lover, since it was made clear that if vampires joined, each would have an unworldly hold on the other (so Bill's past lover would have an unreasonable hold on him). Now Sookie's out to save him, with the very real threat that he may be truly dead.

And with that revision of the beginning in my head, the rest of the book was rather good. I liked how the plot played out, with the temptations of Eric and Alcide, and I liked the mystery of the dead body in the closet (which I figured out almost instantly), and I liked how the characters interacted and dealt with each other. Rewriting that first chapter or two, but keeping the rest of the book (with minor tweaks to adjust for that revised beginning) made this a very strong book overall.

But that beginning . . . it just threw off the character believability completely for me. Just keep that in mind if you're going to read this. Maybe it made sense to other readers, but for me I had to do that mental revision to something that made sense for me.

Anthology Review: "Spells of the City" edited by Jean Rabe & Martin H. Greenberg

Spells of the City

Edited by Jean Rabe & Martin H. Greenberg

This anthology contains 18 stories of magic set in major cities of various types, from NYC and Chicago, to Nekropolis, a city in another dimension. They range in tone from dark and serious, to light and funny. I thought a couple of stories stood out, those written by Tim Waggoner (the Nekropolis story) for some light-hearted detective fun, Bradley P. Beaulieu’s and Linda P. Baker’s from the serious and/or darker side, and Robert Wenzlaff’s for its ability to just make you smile. The rest were good, too, although I had a few minor issues with a couple of the stories. Here are the individual thoughts on each:





Trollbridge by Timothy Zahn: The opening story focuses on, not surprisingly, a troll who works the toll booth at the George Washington Bridge in NYC. He loves his bridge, so when it’s threatened by terrorism, he sets out to stop it and find out who’s behind it. A fun opening to ease us into the anthology.

Snatch as Snatch Can: A Harry the Book Story by Mike Resnick: I’ve read another anthology or two with a Harry the Book story in it, some better than others. This one is mediocre, with a mobster claiming that Harry rigged a beauty contest and demanding his money back. His attempts to force Harry to give it up are mildly amusing. But as I said, there have been better Harry the Book stories.

Psycho Danny and the Video Man by Margaret S. Lundock: I really enjoyed this story, where Psycho Danny uses his magic to win at the races. A mild use of magic, but it lets Danny live a decent life and he isn’t hurting anyone. But the Video Man thinks differently. The way the Video Man communicates with Danny was great, and the confrontation dramatic. My only complaint would be that I thought the ending (literally the last paragraph) should have been slightly different. It didn’t feel quite right; close, but quite there yet.

The Devil Within by Michael A. Stackpole: I liked the main character—a detective with “talent” who is kicked off the force because of that talent—and the setup of the world here, as well as the setup of the magic. And I really liked the story . . . until the final scene where it ended rather abruptly and, more annoying, the explanation for why and how the evil-doer operated was given as a couple paragraphs of infodump.

Wee-Kin Warrior by Marc Tassin: In this story, the faeries have conscripted a down-on-his-luck gamer to help them fight their wars. The gamer hates his job fighting the other faerie creatures, wandering the real world with sword at the ready and skateboard padding as armor, until he gets a job with REAL danger. A fun story.

Falls the Shadow by Judi Rohrig: The monsters under the bed are real. The main character in this story knows it and flees to the city, works night shifts, and sleeps in a bathtub in order to escape them. She thinks she can never get rid of them . . . until she meets someone else who knows how to use their talents to fight them. An OK story. I thought it was unbalanced, with too much build-up (interesting build-up though) and not enough time spent on the end.

We Burgled It, Sure We Did by Mickey Zucker Reichert: A fun little story with Little People robbing banks . . . but only taking the gold coins. Captain Stoltzfus (who I believe is a recurring character in some of Mickey’s short stories) gets the case and gets more than he bargained for when it takes a slightly magical turn . . . or was that magically delicious turn?

London on the Brink of Never by Steven Savile: I had a hard time getting into this story, set in London with an emphasis on the fog . . . or at least a version of London. I never connected with the main character, which may be just a personal thing. The story never resolved for me. A few interesting elements in this London, a few cool ideas, all of which only made me want more of an explanation or more story.

Rose by Jackie Cassada: A little dog magic here, with a main character who has a knack for finding lost dogs. In her current search, she finds not just the dog she’s looking for, but a pit bull on the brink of death after an organized dog fight. But there’s more to the dog fight than meets the eye, and with the help of a few friends—both dog and human—she confronts the man behind a growing evil. A nice story, although I thought the confrontation/ending was rather quick and the evil needed to be developed more.

An Excess of Joy by C.J. Henderson: Interdimensional evil threatens the entire world in this story, set in New York City and centered on one man who recognizes the danger and finds the only way to combat it, with the help of a whole slew of entertainers. Not a new idea, but good and well written.

Stannis by Anton Strout: This is more of an “origin story” for how a living gargoyle came to be, Stannis being said gargoyle. He’s been left alone on the roof after his creator died, restricted by the rules imposed on him. Thankfully, one of his creator’s ancestors has run across the journal explaining how he was made. The story really feels like a setup for something bigger to come later on.

Faerie Dome by Dean Leggett: This one’s set in Chicago and features a man who’s protecting the family legacy, the faeirie dome hidden downtown. He, and the two women that work for him, are attempting to research the fae and their powers, especially any artifacts that might be related to the fae. But when they get their hands on a crystal skull, the story takes an unexpected dark twist. Hard to say anything else without ruining it, but I certainly didn’t see it coming.

Disarmed and Dangerous by Tim Waggoner: The city in this story isn’t on earth, which is a unique twist. Instead, all of the strange creatures of legend have fled Earth and set up their own city called Nekropolis, with its own rules and government. The main character, a detective, chased one of its denizens through a portal and unfortunately became a zombie on the far side. No point in returning home, so he’s now a private eye in Nekropolis, hired for various jobs. In this story, he’s approached by a demon to help rescue her lover, taken by local mobsters for a gambling debt. It’s more than it seems, of course. A nice quirky story, with a practical use for the zombie-ness of the main character.

Good Morning Heartache by Bradley P. Beaulieu: Slight shift in style here from the light-hearted feel of the last story to something more serious. We’re in NYC in this one, with a mother whose son, learning to play the trumpet, is also flirting with a darker crowd—a gang, drugs, etc. She’s afraid for her son, but then someone much more menacing appears on the scene with a strange metal box in hand . . . and seemingly the power to make her son’s mediocre musical talent into an extraordinary skill. Rather than exciting her, it terrifies her, and she needs to find a way to extricate her son from the man’s grasp. A good story, well-written and interesting.

’Twas the Happy Hour After Christmas . . . by Robert Wenzlaff: Back to light-hearted here, with Santa Clause taking a short break to visit Thor, the bartender of a bar in NYC, in retirement from his godhood days. Santa’s exhausted from the extent of the belief in him and all it demands and needs a vacation. He isn’t really expecting Thor to help, but just perhaps . . . A nice little story with a few touches that will make you smile.

Eli’s Coming by Linda P. Baker: The main character in this one is Lida, a fortune teller whose real passion is sculpting. On this day in the market she’s approached by a silver-gray man who instantly captures her attention. Most of the story is about Lida discovering exactly who he is, and who she is and what she’s capable of as well, but I can’t reveal that without ruining the story. A good story with a much darker twist than I was expecting.

Helvik’s Deal by Vicki Steger: This one’s set in a fading steel industry town, centered on the local bar and its bartender, Lucy. Her life is ho-hum until one of her regular patrons pays his bar tab one night with a deck of old cards. Then things begin to happen to her—she wins a local radio station’s contest, for starters. But there’s a price to pay for everything good that happens, as Lucy finds out. I thought the story was fine, but it developed rather fast, to the point where some conclusions were too rushed.

Second Choices by Brian M. Thomsen: The last story in the anthology is about Vicki, a lonely woman who feels that she was dealt a mediocre life and wouldn’t mind a second chance where she could make second choices, be more daring and risky. On her last paid visit to her therapist, the therapist gives her that chance in the form of a diary. All she has to do is go back to a day in high school and write the journal with the choices she’d make now, with knowledge of how things turned out, instead of the choices she made back then. But of course Vicki finds that even second choices might not lead to the best of possible futures. A good solid story to end the anthology on.

Guest Blog: Politics in SF&F

I have another guest blog up today, this time at Stina Leicht's LJ! She asked if I wouldn't mind talking about politics in SF&F and I have to say I was surprised. I use politics all the time in my writing, and I really enjoy politics in the novels I read. I love it when lords and ladies are scheming behind each other's backs, backstabbing each other and whatnot. I can't believe this topic hadn't crossed my mind as a potential guest post in the past. In any case, here's what I had to say about it. Politics pretty much HAD to play a part in the new "Well" books, since it's about three cultures clashing.