The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

I chose it for book club off the NPR book concierge. I looked for a book from 2018 that the library had multiple copies of.

Published: 2018

Genre: fiction

Length: 343 pages

Setting: 1969-2010, NYC, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and a few other places in the U.S.

Summary: Short version: Four siblings’ lives are affected when a fortune teller gives each their death date

On Black Sisters Street by Chika Uniqwe

I was looking for a U author to fill a category in my 2019 Alphabet Challenge. I didn’t finish before the year ended, so I get to start the year with a tricky author letter. I picked this one because it was set in Belgium, which also got me a new country setting.

Published: 2007 in Belgium, 2009 in the U.S.

Genre: fiction

Length: 254 pages

Font: Electra

Setting: Belgium, early 2000s, and flashbacks to Nigeria and Sudan

Summary: Short version: The lives of four African women who became Belgian prostitutes

The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society by T. Kingfisher

Now that I finished my book of short stories, I need a new source of short stories to review on Mondays. I thought I’d finish reviewing the short stories that were nominated for the Hugo Awards. I got all the Locus Award nominees reviewed, so it’s on to another award.

Published: some time in 2018 at Uncanny Magazine, where you can either read or listen to the story for free

Genre: fantasy short story

Setting: fairyland and the British Isles, some time ago

Summary: Short version: Rose MacGregor’s fairy lovers meet to remember her

Long version: The story is told as a series of reminiscences between a group of fae. Each on of them was Rose MacGregor’s lover at some point. They’re all used to loving and leaving behind a woman who pines after them. Instead they’re pining after Rose, even the pooka and the bull selkie. She used them all soundly, usually enticing them with a story about a lost sheep, and then sent them on their way.

Final thoughts: Oh such a fun story. Definitely for the adults among us, since all the sex is implied. If you’re too young and read the story, you’re going to miss most of the underlying threads since it’s all innuendo. Kingfisher (who is the pseudonym of Ursula Vernon when she’s writing for adults) puts in delightful bits of humor like this line:

“Excuse me! I am a pooka! We drown people! None of this waiting around for them to die of a broken heart! We are efficient!”

I’ve reread the story three more times just writing this review and it continues to be delightful. There’s even a bit at the end where we meet Rose in her 60s with a granddaughter who can probably trace her lineage back to the selkie. Go do yourself a favor and check it out – it’s short and free online.

Title comes from: A group of fae get together every year and drink to the memory of Rose MacGregor

 

Cold Case by Jim Butcher

I’m slowly making my way through Jim Butcher’s collection of short stories, Brief Cases. This is the ninth story in that collection.

Published: originally in 2016 in the anthology Shadowed Souls

Genre: urban fantasy short story

Length: 48 pages

Setting: in the town of Unalaska, Alaska, after the events of Ghost Story

Summary: Short version: Mab sends Molly, as the Winter Lady, to collect tribute from the Miksani

Bigfoot on Campus by Jim Butcher

I’m slowly making my way through Jim Butcher’s collection of short stories, Brief Cases. This is the seventh story in that collection, and the third about Irwin, the bigfoot scion.

Published: originally in 2012 in Hex Appeal

Genre: urban fantasy short story

Length: 52 pages

Setting: University of Oklahoma, between the events of Turn Coat and Changes

Summary: Short version: Dresden tries to save Irwin from his vampire girlfriend

Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop

It’s been on my TBR list so long I have no record of how it got there. I read it now because I could get it on my Kindle.

Published: 1998

Genre: dark fantasy

Length: 373 pages

Setting: various locations within a medieval society

Summary: Short version: Witch is born and begins to unconsciously create her Court

Micah by Laurell K. Hamilton

It’s #13 in the Anita Blake series and I read it back closer to when it came out. I found a copy at the used book store and was happy to add it to my collection (this was when I was still reading the series).

Published: 2006

Genre: urban fantasy

Length: 245 pages

Setting: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2000s

Summary: Short version: Zombie raising and sex with Micah