As editor - BEAUTY HAS HER WAY - by Science Fiction and Other ODDYsseys. A mostly good review. Some interesting points.

As author - CTHULHUROTIC - by Robert Derie. He liked most of the book but did not like my essay. Not super in depth but a good over all review.

Fangoria gave 'The World is Dead' anthology 3 skulls out of 4. My particular story, A Bite to Remember, was not mentioned.

***
I just sent off a blurb for Barry Napier's short story collection, Debris.

"Debris is a chilling, imaginative and provocative collection of short stories. This collection covers the gamut from urban legends to human frailties to alien menaces and almost everything in-between. Barry Napier shows his technical skill in the craft through his use of poetry, flash fiction and short stories as well as his skill as an author with the well-turned phrase. Definitely a collection to read and enjoy. Just don't read it in the dead of night if you have an overactive imagination."
--Jennifer Brozek, submissions editor for the Apex Book Company

http://www.apexbookcompany.com/blog/2009/06/review-of-by-blood-we-live-edited-by-john-joseph-adams/

Review of By Blood We Live, edited by John Joseph Adams

Publisher: Night Shade Books
Publication Date: August 2009
Type: Anthology
Reviewed by: Jennifer Brozek
Rating: 5/5

Vampires are the apex predator in fiction today. They are deadly, sexy, enticing, terrifying, and ideal as both a menace and an attraction. We love to read about these intriguing monsters. Love to defeat them. Love to be defeated by them. In By Blood We Live, John Joseph Adams has put together a collection of vampire stories that not only flows well together but shows off the best and worst aspects of our favorite creature of the night.

With over 200,000 words in this anthology, there works by old favorites such as Neil Gaiman, Anne Rice, and Stephen King. There are also works from new favorites like Elizabeth Bear, Jane Yolen, and Joe Hill. Every story fits with every other story but every story is original and fresh on its own. Frankly, there isn’t a clunker in the bunch and that made this anthology for review a real treat to read.

For me, there are three outstanding stories in this collection that shine above the rest. It is their writing, perspective, and originality that made these stories stick in my head long after I finished reading them.

“Child of an Ancient City” by Tad Williams – This story tells a tale of an ancient vampire from an Islamic point of view that brings to mind the tale of Scheherazade and the tales she told to save her life. The blackened skin of the terrifying, hunched creature eschews the seductive quality of the vampire while heightening its horror.

“Lifeblood” by Michael A. Burstein – This story tells the tale of combating a vampire with faith – Jewish faith rather than the traditional Christian faith. The use of song and prayer within the song is a brilliant reinterpretation of brandishing the crucifix.

“The Wide, Carnivorous Sky” by John Langan – A previously unpublished story about a group of military men who encounter a vampiric creature in the heat of battle is especially intriguing for many reasons: the psychic connection between the monster and the men, the origin of the creature, and the philosophical discussion between the military men on where the monster came from and why it was here hunting on Earth.

All of the stories in the anthology have something to recommend them. Harry Turtledove’s story “Under St. Peter’s” is delightfully blasphemous. Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s “The Beautiful, The Damned” is lush and vibrant with its references to The Great Gatsby, and who would not want to return to the ‘Lot in Stephen King’s nostalgic and creepy story, “One for the Road.”

I received a PDF version of this anthology for review and I plan to buy it as soon as it hits the shelves. Night Shade Books and John Joseph Adams created another winner with this anthology of vampires. It is one not to miss.

I was asked to blurb a book by marlowe1 for Dybbuk Press. The book's author apparently has an LJ: avantpop. This is the blurb I gave the book. It's not my usual reading fare but it was very good.

"Provocative and intriguing, THIS OTHER EDEN by Michael Hemmingson is akin to reading a cross between someone's private journal and a True Crime magazine. Feeling titillated and naughty, as if reading a sibling's most private and dirty secrets, I found myself wholly unwilling to put this book down. It is a glorious train wreck of loss, betrayal, and crime mixed with intimate thoughts and a poignant sense of loneliness. THIS OTHER EDEN is the kind of book that will make you forget your own life for a while but will also allow you to be grateful for it when you put the book down." ~ Jennifer Brozek, Submissions Editor, Apex Book Company

I am of two minds about this anthology, "The Monster Within Idea," edited by R. Thomas Riley, from Apex Publications. On one hand, I really liked it. On the other hand, it really frustrated me. The good stories, like "Touching God," "Jenny," "Haven," "The Run," "Bubo" and "Brittle Bones, Plastic Skin" are really excellent stories. Creepy, visceral and evocative stories than make you grin while your skin puckers in goose bumps. They lead you to the edge of the precipice and then drop you over to a satisfying conclusion--be it a sudden crash at the end or the revelation of wings.

The other stories are not bad stories. Far from it and that is why I am frustrated. I believe this is a stylistic choice by the author/editor (who does a good job putting the stories together in a way that makes them flow), but many of the stories seemed to be chapters 4 through 6 of an eight chapter story. They don't have satisfying conclusions. They are well written, draw you in and then leave you hanging. The most frustrating of these stories is the first story of the book, "Attrition." It stops too soon. I want to know if the protagonist makes into and through the tunnel. I want to know what he goes through. Instead, I am left with knowing he is going to go through it but not knowing if he makes it or not.

I give this anthology a 3 out of 5 because the strong stories are enough to pull the reader through the stories that stop too soon. There is no bad writing in this anthology. Just a few too-short stories mixed amongst the gems.

I received the PDF of the anthology with a request to proof my own story. Just to make sure there were no glaring errors. There was also light invitation to look at the other stories and to proof them if I wished. I started reading from the beginning with the intent to proof in mind. Within the first story, I forgot all about proofing and settled down to just reading.

I read the entire anthology last night and loved it.

Seriously, I loved 90% of the stories and the one story I had problems with (too much hand waving on how they did what they did and not enough explanation) was so well written that I could forgive the 'f*cking magic' aspect of the story.

It is very rare that I like all stories in a collection. Most collections have a breakdown of 1/3 love, 1/3 neutral, 1/3 hate. In "The World is Dead" I loved 14 of the 17 stories and was neutral on the last three. I think the strongest part of the anthology is first part, subtitled "Work." It is so delightfully twisted and wrong that I couldn't stop.

The anthology is broken out into subsections of "Work," "Family," "Love" and "Life." "Work" is my favorite by far. My story, "A Bite to Remember" is in the "Love" section and I think it is the only story that doesn't have an actual zombie in it, and yet, it is definitely a zombie story.

"The World is Dead" anthology is an excellent collection of awesomely twisted and delightfully wrong stories well worth reading.