Mean Streets

Thumbs up on 3 out of the 4 novellas

No surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed Jim Butcher's short story "The Warrior". A fast-paced tale, centering on Michael Carpenter, his family, and his connections within the church many months after the events in 'Small Favor'. One of the reasons why I enjoy Butcher's stories is that his novels are filled with character development and lots of action. We don't get 3+ pages of unnecessary description about the scene, and if the description goes on for more than a paragraph, it's because it's important to the characters or the scene itself. This is also why his novels are so tough to put down once started.

I also easily fell into Kat Richardson's Harper Blaine story "The Third Death of the Little Clay Dog". A 'Greywalker' story centered around a third party client's bequest in their will to place a clay dog statue on someone's grave during the Day of the Dead celebration in Oaxaca, Mexico. I found the mystery to be intriguing and the characters engaging. So much so, in fact, that I read the first 3 novels of the 'Greywalker' series immediately after finishing two other books I was reading at the time. I also put myself on the waiting list as soon as her 4th installment was available at the library, and will do so again when #5 'Labyrinth' comes out in August 2010.

To a lesser degree, I enjoyed Thomas Sneigoski's 'Remy Chandler' short story "Noah's Orphans" -- particularly his conversations with his Black Lab Marlowe (who reminded me of Shadow, the dog I grew up with). The story was well-written, interesting, and I liked Remy & Marlowe, but the battling of fallen angels and tracking of Noah's killer is just not interesting subject matter for me.

It is rare that every story in an anthology speaks to the reader. "Mean Streets" does pretty well in that I enjoyed 3 of the 4 stories presented. The final short story "The Difference A Day Makes" by Simon R. Green was the dud for me. John Taylor is a private investigator in The Nightside ("the longest night in the world, where the sun has never shone and never will") where anything dark, sick & twisted that can be imagined can be found. Taylor is a paranormal version of the hardboiled detective Philip Marlowe with the dialogue sounding exactly like Humphrey Bogart's characterization. I never connected with any of the characters, and the mystery was unappealing to me. Way too formulaic in style and plot, and too much overblown description about things I could care less about. I found the story to be boring and trite, and it was a struggle to read the entire tale and not just stop reading after the first chapter.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

four excellent paranormal urban fantasy noirs

¿The Warrior¿ by Jim Butcher. Harry Dresden knows he has faced some death defying strange cases, but fears this time with the Michael scenario he may not make it out even dead let alone alive.
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¿The Difference a Day Makes¿ by Simon R. Green. In the Nightside, the femme fatale enters the private investigative office of John Taylor to obviously hire him. However, her request is off the chart, which says a lot with what the detective has seen and done; she needs John to find her lost memory.
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¿The Third Death of the Little Clay Dog¿ by Kat Richardson. The case was expected to be easy and fast so the Greywalker wonders why she is in such dire straits as nothing went right starting with the attacks from the grave of the raging vengeful late Harper Blaine
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¿Noah¿s Orphans¿ by Thomas E. Sniegoski. He is hired to uncover who killed the centuries old Noah; for a fallen angel like Remy Chandler the case seems simple, but he will soon learn once again as he did when he fell from grace that there is nothing straightforward under heaven and earth.
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These four paranormal urban fantasy noirs occur in the author¿s renowned ¿world¿ starring ultra famous lead characters. Each tale is well written feeling complete even in the novella format and complement one another as the writers rose to the occasion of expectations from their fan base. An obvious must for readers of any of the four paranormal sagas, newcomers will appreciate the introductions to these literary legends as they investigate the otherworldly MEAN STREETS.

Harriet Klausner

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Nice Collection

This collection makes it easy to get a brief glimpse into the worlds of four different characters. Personally, I bought it to read about Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden. What I found was a book that had three other lead characters with great appeal.

I recommend it to those who like a bit of magic/arcane in their mystery.

Mean Streets - Tells it all

This is a great collection of short stories. I was familiar with some of the writers and enjoyed their latest shorts. The rest of the writers in this collection were new to me and I'm looking forward to finding other books by them. Kat Richardson continues the tales of GreyWalker series and it is fun. Thomas Sniegoski presents a chilling future where one's desires can be met at any price. Overall I read these stories and was really entertained.

Fast paced, exciting and action packed

Each story was unique, dramatic and a quick read. I could not put this book down, each story was amazing. If you enjoy stories about supernatural characters with a strong plot and likeable characters this is the book for you. If you have a short attention span, even better because each story is action packed and flies by quickly.

love simon r. green

like the gritiness of this series

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A great way to get a short story on your favorite characters

I enjoyed reading the short stories that were in "Mean Streets". Each author give you a little snippet in the lives of the characters you love: Butcher's wizard Harry Dresden, Richardson's Harper Blaine, Sniegoski's former angel Remy Chandler and Green's John Tyler. While I do enjoy getting full novels from each of these authors, these short stories help tide me over until the next novel comes out. I definitely recommend "Mean Streets" to read.

MEAN STREETS -A MIXTURE OF STORIES

MEAN STREETS has four stories by different authors. They are a mix of sci-fi, vampires, and a detective plus... Computers having sex with humans!! This book is all over the place. The Warrior by Jim Butcher was good. Also The Third Death OF The Little Clay Dog was good. The other two were off beat. One was way to sci-fi for me. Having sex with computers a little weird to say the least. All and all I liked two of the stories out of four. That is why I rated this book a three.

A Mean addition to any fantasy collection.

I bought this book for the Jim Butcher short and ended up finding a few new authors to check out.

A Good Review

A good review of the new "magickal" fiction genre. While the short stories a quick read, they are well done and feature some of the genres more popular characters. There was one story that was a little below the action-packed movement of the others. And I hate to admit it, as this book was written to entice, but later I have purchased at least two other books by the authors featured here. And if you are familiar with the fictional universes populated by these characters, these stories propel them forwards. What more could you want from fiction while flying or sitting beachside?

Will it become "not to miss"? No. But good entertainment. Hell, yes.

rojo

Good Stories

I usually don't care for a book with a number of stories in it. Just as I am getting into a story, it ends and goes to another one. But these authors have a great ability to put a beginning, middle and end to each story and have them satisfying.
Good work guys!

Really enjoyable

A collection of stories by a group of authors that I recommend checking out. This book gives a taste of each of these authors main characters and I think, after reading this, many will want to see more.

Mean Streets by Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, Kat Richardson, & Thomas E. Sniegoski

Urban fantasy fans, pay heed! "Mean Streets" is an awesome anthology with stories by four big-hitters of the genre. In one book, you can visit with Chicago wizard Harry Dresden, Nightside PI John Taylor, Greywalker Harper Blaine, and fallen angel Remy Chandler in their own worlds. Stories of murder and attempted murder most foul, but with magic added to the mayhem.

For those who are unfamiliar with the above names, they are the creations of Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, Kat Richardson, and Thomas E. Sniegoski. This anthology gives you a chance to get a feel for each writer's style and characters and it's hard for me to believe that you won't find at least one (and likely all four) to your tastes.

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