Shadowed Souls Anthology: Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Tanya Huff, Anton Strout, Kat Richardson, Kevin J Anderson, Lucy A Snyder, Jim C Hines, Erik Scott De Bie, Kathryn Rusch, Rob Thurman

This anthology has a theme – and it’s generally a theme it’s handled quite well. Shadowed Souls are people who do not stand neatly in black and white morality and definitely straddle that uncomfortable grey shadow zone (ooooh title reference).

Firstly we have Cold Case by Jim Butcher with a story from the Dresden Files series. And if anything this is the story that defines the meaning of the book.

I like the exploration of Molly, now one of the younger Winter Queens with all the power and moral ambiguity of the Winter Court. The Winter Court has always been savage and dangerous and vicious – by design. It’s the bulwark against terrible outsider evil, it’s a court that has been built to fight an eternal, brutal war against monsters. The Winter Court is the very essence of dubious morality; of using monsters to fight monsters

I also like the how we go some way to explaining the rather bizarre horniness of the Winter Court. After all, Winter =/= generally mean sexytimes (except in Canada when hockey is cancelled). The bleak idea that Winter fae are super horny because of the war – because of the need to constantly breed because the war inflicts atrocious attrition on them is horrifying, bleak and very much in line with the theme of the court and the book.

So we have Molly, a character we know is a good and ethical and moral now with a whole lot more power and urges she has to learn to control – and having to do some really terrible things and make some really terrible choices for The Greater Good. Which is all the harder because Molly is a child of one of the Knights of the Cross, a man so good he gave literal demons multiple chances to repent. That’s a hard path to follow. We see both the good – upholding her duty to her people – and the terrible, her having to enforce the rules and sacrifices of the Winter court. And it is brutal. I love it

I am less thrilled with HOW Molly’s sexualness is portrayed here. So, yes, the Winter Court is horny, we know this – but in Molly this is interpreted by lots and lots of flirting. Which is fine, flirtiatious and sexually charged female characters are not a problem: but when Harry had the Winter Mantle he wasn’t sexually flirting – his thoughts were creepy and outright pushing for rape. It’s a stark contrast between male and female sexuality – especially when Molly also comes with a celibacy contract. And, yes, the story of sacrifice and suffering inherent to the Winter Court is powerful – but the backstory sets it in dubious light.

We do have a latino mage and several Native American supernaturals who play a decent role in the book

Sleepover by Seanan McGuire

While the opening story defines the theme of the book, I don’t see this book as fitting into the theme. The protagonist is a succubus but not inherently or unduly evil nor forced to make evil choices. She is coerced into a mission – but the mission is to rescue a child. That’s not morally ambiguous. And while we have a definite misunderstanding about why that child went missing, again there’s no real grey area so much as just a complete misunderstanding on the part of the humans as to how these beings work

I do love the whole concept of the world created – so much so that I think this book would be an absolutely awesome lead in to a new series so we could look at the Lilim and the Bogeymen and the culture and societies that are there that people have completely gotten wrong. If this is an excerpt of a longer series, count me in because the introduction of the main character and the world building definitely has me hooked

Also, lesbian protagonist who nods at LGBT cultural milestones without being defined by them – definitely here for this.

Straightwashing GBLT Characters

Well, there are certain genres of media that automatically assume that GBLT people couldn’t possibly have existed, especially if it’s set in the future (especially in dystopians. I tell you guys, us GBLT folks are super freaking tasty – the zombies and aliens go right for us!) and especially if it’s set in the past. Because we all arrived in 1960, don’tchaknow.

This erasure annoys me, it truly does. But do you know what annoys me even more?

When they remove already existing gay characters to sanitise a work for television. To have those few tiny crumbs we’ve actually managed to achieve removed lest it hurt the delicate fee-fees of the poor straight world.

So when Tanya Huff’s Blood Ties series of books became a TV show, bisexual Henry became straight and gay man Tony was replaced by a straight woman. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t a big fan for the portrayal in the books – but that doesn’t excuse cutting them out entirely.

Or did you know that in the Walking Dead comics, there were actually gay characters in the prison? Again, I actually hated how they were portrayed because they were a mess of homophobic tropes – but they were there. TV show? 3 seasons now and not one damn GBLT character.

Even Troy crosses the line with a very straight retelling of the Illiad.

Now we’re getting Da Vinci’s Demons, that would be Leonardo Da Vinci, he was repeatedly accused of sodomy, never married, was never connected to a female lover, but repeatedly with men, drew erotic pictures of them and left his most valuable painting in his will to one of his live-in “apprentices” Da Vinci. It’s an act of wilful ignorance to not realise Da Vinci played for our team. In fact, if you don’t want to include us icky gay people then you probably need to stay away from Renaissance painters – especially Florentine Renaissance painters! But Da Vinci’s Demons?

Well, the first scene we see him in, pretty much, involves him with a bare breasted woman who he “rescued” from a nunnery and it’s repeatedly made clear that he is having regular sex with. His main love interest - his overwhelming obsession - is Lucrezia Donati. A substantial amount of his time is spent obsessing over her - and her over him; and we get several explicit sex scenes between them. So do we have any indication that Leonardo Da Vinci, actual gay man, was actually even slightly interested in men? Well, in the Tower he is accused of sodomy (Florence is apparently full of “sodomites” - shame we never saw any of them, ever) and on trial. It’s almost comic if it weren’t so insulting - firstly when he makes an ambiguous speech that amounts to “mind your own business” Vanessa speaks up quickly to remind us that he’s totally slept with her.

Review: Blood Bank by Tanya Huff, Book 6 of the Vicki Nelson Series

This review is difficult for me. Blood Bank is a collection of short stories by Tanya Huff that involve the characters and world of the Victory Nelson series. The problem I have in reviewing it is I, frankly, don't like short stories. As soon as I realised what it was, I admit I was disappointed. I like epic series with huge meta-plot and endlessly developing themes and stories and plotting. Little vignettes of people's lives just generally don't do it for me. So, I'm going to try and work past my natural disinclination to do this book justice


I would say these are a series of delightful little stories that just add a lot of little bits of flavour into the world. They each add depth, they each add a new angle and they all hint at the breadth of the world as well as giving little bits of insight into things like Henry's past and Vicki's relationship with Mike.

But, and I admit this could all be personal taste, it all felt a little empty. It added a little flesh to the bones but not much grew – there was no development, no advancing of the plot or story, no growth. It was interesting, it was a series of amusing insights and curious stories. But after 5 books of the plot advancing and going forwards it felt a little like someone had pushed the pause button and we were having an intermission. Even if the intermission is interesting – seeing how Vicki is settling in with her new circumstances, seeing more flashes from Henry's past – it's still an intermission.

It did expand the world. There is a lot of weird and wonderful out there – though the big bugs and the Christmas story were... perhaps a little more out there and twee than amused me. But the world did grow and it was very imaginative creative and it was original in a genre where very little is. And it was a good story – it was interesting, it was fun, it amused me and I enjoyed reading it. It was never a difficult read.

There are a few offish elements. We have a brief visit of a Romani fortune teller. As far as such portrayals go, it's not awful – but one of these days I'd love to read a book with a Romani in it who doesn't have a bloody clue what's going to happen tomorrow – or whether you're going to meet a stranger (tall, dark or otherwise). It's a bit done. I will say, at least, that Tanya Huff has done some research and it's not all Madame Ludmilla staring into her crystal ball while wearing lots of shawls.

There was an alleged/possible First Nations beastie in a lake, but it would have been nice to have a First Nations person involved.

We see a few more of Henry's past romantic adventures – his deep passionate love with women past, and his casual snacking on men. His paternalistic contempt for Tony was lesser in this book – largely because Tony's presence was less. In some ways it avoided some of the issues I have with previous books simply by omission.

It was still heavily erased when it comes to POC for a book set in such a diverse city as Toronto, where much of the story takes place


On the whole it's a good book, but perhaps lacking in big meaty substance. And part of that, I admit, is my dislike of short stories. But I wanted a steak dinner, I got a sandwich. It's a nice sandwich, it's tasty, it's well made and I like it – but still the previous books were steak, I picked this up expecting steak – I want my steak *pout*

Review: Tanya Huff's Victory Nelson Series

I only really started writing reviews relatively recently, certainly on books rather than on various issues that arise throughout a series. This has lead to a few regrets because there are a few books I would have liked to review in more depth when I read them and they were fresh in my mind – probably greatest of which are Tanya Huff's Victory Nelson series.

I have so far read 5 of the 6 books (the 6th is on my ever-growing reading list) and I wish I had written a review on each of them, because they are some of my favourite books. Not on par with Kevin Hearne or Kim Harrison (both of whom stand pretty far up the pinnacle) but certainly just beneath them. Since it's been a little while since I've read them and because I don't really have time for a re-read, I'm going to have to do a review of the series up to book 6. Hopefully my fellow bloggers will read my review and do their own reading and maybe add more individual book details  (*ahem* hint hint)


Victoria “Victory” Nelson was a police detective – and an extremely good one. Her nickname wasn't just a play on her name, it was an acknowledgement of her extreme skill. She and her partner, Mike Celucci, had a competitive, almost antagonistic but deeply connected relationship as they solved case after case. Then Vicky developed a degenerative eye condition. Her peripheral vision is shrinking and her night vision has reduced to almost nothing – and it will get worse and worse until she is blind. Facing this, Vicky quits her job because she will not accept a lowering of her performance or record and becomes a private investigator. Mike stays on as her contact, her friend, her sex partner – and someone she has marvellous blazing rows with.

As a private detective she stumbles upon the supernatural world – in particular she runs across Henry Fitzroy, bastard son of Henry VIII, romance novel writer – and vampire. The two start investigating increasing supernatural occurrences that threaten Toronto, her with her vast experience and skills as a detective with his age, experience and knowledge of the supernatural world. Over the books they investigate demons, sorcerers, mummies, werewolves, werewolf hunters and even mad wannabe Doctor Frankensteins

Through this, Vicki develops her in depth relationship with both Mike and Henry – with Mike himself becoming more and more involved in the supernatural world – as well as their interactions with the ex-street kid Tony.