Strange Candy
So... I read Strange Candy. And it wasn't all bad. Some of the stories were silly or forgettable, but there are a few that I really enjoyed. I thought I'd give a quick rundown of each one - no flogging, just a general overview for those who are yet to venture into these waters :)
Those Who Seek Forgiveness
It's Anita, but not as we currently know her. This is the old Anita - a little softer and more naive than the Guilty Pleasures Anita, maybe, but it's definitely her. She raises zombies! There's no sex! It's the very, very first Anita Blake story ever in fact. Basic plot: A woman asks Anita to raise her dead husband so she can apologise for having an affair. Anita goes through all the negative parts of animating but the woman says no, raise my husband, dammit. Of course things go awry. I like this one. It made me nostalgic for times gone by.
A Lust of Cupids
There are a lot of things I didn't like about this story. First there's the whole "millions of cupids oh my!" aspect. There is one Cupid, LKH, as well you know. You did the whole Asher and JC as Cupid and Psyche thing, didn't you? (Didn't she? Or did I just fantasise it?) Ignoring that, I just think this was a dumb, silly story. Woman is persued by a pack ... sorry, a lust of Cupids who are determined to hit her with the arrow of true love because she's over 30 and single. She meets a man who saves her from the dread Cupids. Huzzahs and medals for all! Then the Cupids shoot them both with the arrows of true love. The end. (And it really is the end, I'm not being sarcastic.)
The Edge of the Sea
I loved this story. It was atmospheric, sinister, creepy, everything I used to expect from LKH before she discovered Sex and Relationships. Adria's housemate is raped and murdered by what Adria swears was a merman. So are other women. Will Adria be next? *drumroll* Seriously though, this was a beautifully written story. One of my favourites, and so far removed from the Siren dross in DM you wonder how it can be the same woman writing it.
A Scarcity of Lake Monsters
Odd title, okay story. Quite sweet in parts, as cryptozoologists struggle to save endangered lake monsters from evil drunken boaters. There's also an amusing side story about satyrs kidnapping school girls, but that didn't get nearly as much attention as it should have.
Selling Houses
Set in the Anitaverse, but without a single Anita character in it. A real estate agent struggles to sell a house where demonic possession has taken place. It's a bit Amityville-esque, but there are some really quite creepy passages where the estate agent finds bleeding walls and hears little boy ghosts (the freakiest kind of ghost, as we all know). Guess what kind of creature eventually moves into the house? I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
A Token for Celandine
This is the story that Marion Zimmer Bradley rejected for being a Tolkien pastiche and LKH was all, "yo, bitch, I know what pastiche means, don't be all up in my grill and shit." It's not anything special, although the world its set in intrigues me. But basically it's all elves and healers quest for redemption. Also, a demon.
A Clean Sweep
This was a really short piece about a superhero called Captain Housework. The clue is in the name, really. I expected it to be all fluffy and forgettable, but it had an ending that alternately made me grimace and laugh, and for that I must salute it.
The Curse-Maker
Another high-fantasy story, showing what might have been if LKH hadn't discovered Death and Darkness. Umm... I can't really remember what happens in it. Something about a bard being poisoned and woman called Sidra laying some smackdown on the weasley bastard what done it.
Geese
I think this is my favourite in the collection. It was beautifully written, different from the other high fantasy stories. A young girl transforms herself into a goose to escape the curse that will compel her to try and murder a wizard. It sounds a bit daft, but it's fabulous.
House of Wizards
A girl with no magic marries into a family of wizards and they're all like, "omgwft?" That's ... that's pretty much it.
Oh wait, except the girl is short and busty and in the end they all love her, especially her tall, blonde, handsome husband.
Here Be Dragons
This was another stand-out one. Jasmine is a dream therapist, working to "cure" a sociopathic child of her violent impulses before the authorities decide to "get rid" of her. There's a really creepy atmosphere to this story as we wander through the dreams of serial killers and paedophiles. And the ending... *shudder* Things are not as they seem.
Winterkill
More demons, more swords, more sorcery... I don't know. These high fantasy stories of hers aren't bad, but they're nothing new. I can understand why she had trouble getting them published - the market is saturated with this kind of thing, or was when she was writing it, anyway.
Stealing Souls
Sidra is back! And this time she's gonna lay the smackdown on a mad witch whose son she killed years before. More demons.
The Girl Who Was Infatuated With Death
Another Anita story, set sometime between OB and NiC. It started out with a great premise - Anita has to find a young girl who wants to become a vampire because she has bone cancer. The girl is 17, so if she does get turned, it's classed as murder. However, after spending a couple of pages setting that up, LKH sends us off to admire Jean-Claude's red satin shirt for the rest of the story. Yawn. Oh, and there's some angst about Anita avoiding him and how she really should be shagging him instead of saving this girl and then they have sex with chocolate sauce on top. Disappointing really.
So overall, it's not a bad collection. I don't know if I'd have bought it if I'd had to pay full price for it, but there are couple of stories I'll re-read. Honestly, compared to the newer AB books, it's like a completely different woman has written them.