Book Review: Night Terrors by John A. Pitts

'Lo People,

Wanna follow around a lesbian female badass with slightly more social skills than Lisbeth Salander of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo fame? Hey! I know it's a different genre and there is no hacking in this urban fantasy but, wanna read about what Arha/Tenar/Goha from the Earthsea series might have been like if she did without the skirts, spent more time smithing, and scooted around on 100+ horsepower on a regular basis? Gimme. Gimme.

Also are you the kind of reader who places value on the too-often maligned feminine traits of conferring with others, rather than always going it alone, being indirect, or being concerned with childcare? Can we agree to give a shout out to an Omega wolf who has found a place and pack of her own? Does the majority of a First Person POV mixed with occasional third person sections agree with you? Meet Sarah Beauhall. Or meet her again if you've already been reading.


*Spoiler Alert*

Her Tangh-i-ness greatly appreciates pithy plot summaries. However, for those who must have a virgin reading experience, read no further, and eyeball elsewhere.


*Spoiler Alert End*


What kept me going throughout the book was what was going to happen to Katie. Katie already seemed vulnerable and by the time she collapsed into coma and other people started dying because of the magic unleashed tossed Sarah into the spotlight. Sarah's efforts to save her beloved, to Her Tangh-i-ness, mattered more than the array of helper characters who surrounded Sarah. That's not a snipe, that's an observation. For Her Tangh-i-ness to really sink her teeth into a reading experience, she has to care. Her Tangh-i-ness worried that Sarah might lose Katie. She worried that Sarah would start wanting someone else because it was easier to manage than the grief of not being able to make a difference to Katie's condition.

Okay then. This ain't Her Tangh-i-ness's first foray into the middle of a series because she did not happen to read book 1. However, with this book, this reader read feeling kind of clueless because she did not already know who all these other people were or why Her Tang-i-ness should take notice of them. There were some characters who naturally stood out like Jai Li, Bub, Nidhogg, and Qindra. Jimmy, Katie's brother, took a little longer to get close to or figure out but that was because he had been set up as an antagonist. What would have really knocked this adventure out of the park for me was more time spent with Bowler Hat man. Her Tangh-i-ness truly does appreciate a distinctively dressed villain. By the time Sarah dispatches him, Bowler Hat man had shown promise of joining iconic baddies like Freddie Kruger or Pyramidhead and he was related to Jimmy and Katie. Now I'm getting suspicious. That couldn't have been all there was to Sarah encountering this dude.

Note: This copy of Night Terrors was an electronic edition provided by the author. Her Tangh-i-ness usually reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Book Review: Like a Cunning Plan: Erotic Trickster Tales

Book Review: Like a Cunning Plan: Erotic Trickster Tales
Edited by Michael M. Jones
© 2012
Circlet Press

*Spoiler Alert*
A description of Adult material follows. Her Tangh-i-ness greatly appreciates pithy plot summaries. However, for those who must have a virgin reading experience, read no further and eyeball elsewhere.

*Spoiler Alert*
Introduction • Michael M. Jones
Deftly introduces the all female writers, the stories, and the editor’s personal experience with a certain Native American Trickster who shall remain unnamed. Read the rest of the review and the actual Introduction of the anthology to find out which one.

Winter Spirit • Nica Berry
Loved it. Talk about tortured journeys. The first story in Like a Cunning Plan: Erotic Trickster Tales proves worthy of its place. It prickles the emotions of the reader like a bamboo splinter beneath skin. Those who believe in the power of love might secretly wish there was someone who loved them enough to risk pursuing them even at the cost of their own soul. A teahouse, a kagema (male prostitute) and a kitsune (fox spirit) blend into a steamy, fictional beverage.

Good Bad Habits • N. Violett
Instead of being all about the bark, this tale is all about the bite. Mess with Coyote and get messed with and lose near every stitch of clothing you own. First person female protagonist and a dense, sensory-laden exchange between the protagonist and her tall, dark, and be-ringed quarry Lopez. Howl, people until you can’t howl no more. This is a blow-by-blow encounter of why some people show up in public buck-naked.

The Fox Hunt • Nadine Wilmot
One of her Tangh-i-ness’s other faves. Beware. Erectile tissue of both genders could become aroused. During a holy festival, animal masks worn by mutual predators serve as a thematic counterpoint to a tryst. A dove seduces a fox. A nobleman becomes relieved of much coin after he dares to take the virginity of another noblewoman. Loved the repetition of, “Are you well my Lady?”

Fools Rush In • Elizabeth Schechter
First person story again. A famous Master Thief promises to steal from a god in his own temple. Reminds me of a tale Robert E. Howard would have approved of. What the Master Thief didn’t count on was that the god wanted to steal him. Gave a big awwwww-that’s-so-quirky-Romantic sigh at the confessional-type ending.

Come the Revolution • Gayle C. Straun
Back to Classical Greece to witness the bondage and ravishment of the Lightning-Thrower and Thunderer by a fearless, female redhead. Consider this story payback for Io, Europa, Danäe, and Ganymede amongst others. This forms a fitting thematic bookend to the preceding story Fools Rush In.

Tricksters Are Made, Not Born • Kaysee Renee Robichaud
The Norse god Loki approaches his latest mortal quarry with a destiny-ridden suitcase. The unluckiest guy meets the son of Loki and after several sex acts later, learns that he’s also the spawn of a Norse god too. BTW, this is the second story in the antho where handcuffs figure at the post-coital climax.

The Kitsune’s Laughter • Sunny Moraine
Her Tangh-i-ness agreed with the editor’s choice to include two stories dealing with the same trickster figure. Finally, readers get to enjoy some sizzling woman upon transwoman action. A childless Japanese wife calls upon a fertility spirit, the Great Kami Inari to help her and a fox spirit comes to her aid with the necessary baby-making equipment. Hopefully, readers will be left with a vague desire to find someone of their own to share a tatami mat with in a favorite position….


Note: This copy of Like a Cunning Plan: Erotic Trickster Tales was an electronic edition acquired from an editor upon the reviewer's request. Her Tangh-i-ness usually reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Book Review: The Cliff Road Chronicles: Tales of the Brotherhood of Darkness

The Cliff Road Chronicles: Tales of the Brotherhood of Darkness
Anne Fraser
© 2011
By Light Unseen Media



‘Lo Peoples,

Her Tangh-i-ness has returned with more substantial, decidedly non-Twillight vampire fare.

Between the time the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie came out in 1992, and when the Buffy the Vampire TV series launched in 1997 to address the movie’s oversights in characterization, Anne Fraser came up with her own take on friendship amongst the supernatural. 17 short stories later, she celebrated the lives and loves of a gay vampire couple and their vampiric, magical, immortal, and lycanthropic friends located somewhere in Fletcherville, Maine. I bring up mention of Buffy purely because Anne Fraser also masters the delicate balancing act of handling an ensemble cast that could easily be overshadowed by its principals.

I’ve been told I started backwards. I first read All Places That Are Not Heaven by Anne Fraser the same authoress as in The Cliff Road Chronicles. That was the previous review. For my own twisted reasons, I remain enamored of All Places That Are Not Heaven and its antihero. So I allowed life to intrude when reading The Cliff Road Chronicles. I simply felt loath to establish a new bond with Fraser’s intended vampire hero: Gideon Redoak.

However, I eventually found that I regretted my procrastination. As one reads deeper into the short story collection there is meat here. (Yes, Her Tangh-i-ness is aware of the clunk of that particular metaphor when discussing vampires.) But I mean that the stories in The Cliff Road Chronicles ponder not only what true love is but how does one act when love requires action? How does a vampire in love reconcile the specter of human death while remaining involved with that human? Does a brutally abused Dark magician remain one forever? Can vampires grow and change with the times? What do the broken-hearted or aimless undead do with themselves? And most importantly, when did Fairy Godmothers start blowing clove smoke and sporting PVC skirts?

Ahhh. Another writer who enjoys the inclusion of wicked humor along with the darker moments, inclusion of LGBTQ/People of Color characters and a grounded romantic approach. My must-reads in The Cliff Road Chronicles include: Return to Red Oak Hall, A Gay Old Time, Reprise, To Burn in Hell, Lost Boy, Fairy Godmother, Mistress Estrella and Follow that Falcon! Mind you, these stories are primarily non-erotic but feature occasional, brief, tasteful adult passages involving references to gay and straight love-making. Her Tangh-i-ness is a supporter of the Erotic in literature.

Note: This copy of All Places That Are Not Heaven was an electronic edition acquired from an editor upon the reviewer's request. Her Tangh-i-ness usually reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Book Review: Hellebore and Rue

Hellebore and Rue
Drollerie Press
©2011


'Lo Peoples,

Her Tangh-iness has been remiss in the blog department. She is delighted to return to defend the honor of works unfortunately besieged by the small-minded. As an Outer Alliance member and as an ally to the LGBTQ community, I applaud and am committed to inclusion especially in the worlds of the Fantastic.

Whenever I read a work of fiction, I am longing to be transported. I want to love what's going on and to love whomever it's happening to. Editors know this and the best of them patiently sift through hours of preternatural wordage in order to yield a suitable harvest. I bow to the wisdom of Joselle Vanderhooft and Catherine Lundoff here.

Twelve tales of women loving women and their magic brought me the required ensorcellment. Milleus ranged from a slightly altered here-and-now to a fantastical futureverse. Certain stories reverberated with the burr of a fast-moving dragon's scales, obscured their happy endings as in gazing into a cloudy crystal ball, and plunged the reader into another character's existence in the literary equivalent of bi-location. Several stories in particular act as threshold guardians with their shared archetype of a troubled stranger bringing challenge to an established magic-worker and two intimate companions relying upon one another to battle malefic forces.

Standout stories included: And Out of the Strong Came Forth Sweetness by Lisa Nohealani Morton where a good deed yields an unexpected and unforgettable sacrifice; Trouble Arrived by C. B. Calsing brings us down to the swamp where a card dealer faces off with the cheated man who once taught her all the tricks she knew; Personal Demons by Jean Marie Ward caught me totally off guard with a tale of what happens when a serious practitioner gives proof of the reality beyond the flesh; Connie Wilkins shared The Windskimmer where two seasoned conjurers of Sky and Green magic combine their arts to avert tragedy.

Special mention must be made of Rachel Green's multiple viewpoint tale, A State of Panic, where arcane detective work eventually leads a female police sergeant to a deadly ancient diety.

For those who appreciate a touch of wicked absurdity, do partake of D is for Delicious by Steve Berman; I want to follow Kelly Harmon's heroines of Sky Lit Bargains in a longer work if not a sequel; Gloam and Quinn Smythwood educated me as to the ills that attend corpse lights and life-stealing things that walk the earth; Witches Have Cats by Juliet Kemp answers the question: is a familiar that is not a feline just as familiar? RRain Prior takes a rogue elemental and a wandering songstress and pits them against one another in Bridges and Lullabies by RRain Prior; Thin Spun by Sunny Moraine gives an interplanetary exile a new appreciation for her adoptive homeworld and an end to her longing for a lover; and in Counter Balance by Ruth Sorrell a grandmother, a granddaughter, and the granddaughter's lover make a stand against a goddess.


Note: This copy of Hellebore and Rue was an electronic edition acquired from an editor upon the reviewer's request. Her Tangh-i-ness usually reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.