Dark and Stormy Knights edited by P. N. Elrod

Title:  Dark and Stormy Knights
Editor:  P. N. Elrod
Publisher:  St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date:  July 2010
Format: Paperback, 368 pages
Age Group:  Adult

Dark and Stormy Knights is a collection of short stories by some great authors of paranormal and fantasy fiction.  The book includes stories by Ilona Andrews, Jim Butcher, Shannon K. Butcher, Rachel Caine, P. N. Elrod, Deidre Knight, Vicki Pettersson, Lilith Saintcrow, and Carrie Vaughn.  I had read books by a couple of these authors before but many of them were new to me.

I really loved the majority of stories in this collection.  I think short stories are incredibly difficult to write because there is not as much time to develop characters and do world building.  The writing has to be very tight to fit all the information in that the reader needs to understand what is going on during this brief episode in the character's journey.  All of the authors did a wonderful job with this.  The stories that I enjoyed less were still very good and well written, they were just not to my reading taste as much as the others.

Another thing that I find difficult with short stories is when they are written about a character who is also a main or supporting character in a series of novels.  Sometimes I feel like I need to have read the other books to have the background to understand the story.  This was not the case with the stories I read in this book.  I've been wanting to read Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels' series anyway and now that I've read "A Questionable Client" I'm moving those books up on the list.  Although I've read Jim Butcher's books, I think I would have been able to follow "Even Hand" just as easily if I hadn't known Harry Dresden's story.  "Dark Lady" by P. N. Elrod made me want to read more of The Vampire Files that my husband has sitting on the shelf.

I think Dark and Stormy Knights is a fantastic collection of stories for paranormal and fantasy lovers.  It introduced me to some new authors and now I want to read more!

I received advance uncorrected proofs of Dark and Stormy Knights through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program with the expectation that I would write a review.  The opinions presented here are entirely my own.

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