Just Finished Reading: A Girl’s Guide to Guns and Monsters edited by Martin H Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes

Female heroes or warriors have almost become a cliché these days. Especially in the urban fantasy genre where no story would be complete without a Buffy wanabe or look-alike. That’s not to say that reading about women taking charge, killing bad guys (or monsters) and not bothering to take names afterwards isn’t fun – it certainly is.

As with most books of short stories the quality is variable. Fortunately with 13 stories crammed into just under 300 pages I didn’t have long to wait before a mediocre story was replaced by a better one. I liked The Drifter by Jane Lindskold about a female gunslinger in the old west looking for the vampire that killed her family, Elizabeth & Anna’s Big Adventure by Jeanne Stein about a little girls babysitter who turned out to be anything but human but everything a babysitter should be, No Matter where you go by Tanya Huff about a Vampire ex-cop who goes the extra mile (and the extra dimension) to protect a bunch of teenagers dabbling in magic. Somewhat less likable where Murder She Workshopped by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (who I expected more from) about a writing workshop preyed on by evil forces, Signed in Blood by P R Frost about a magical pen and, the only SF story in the list, Invasive Species by Nina Kiriki Hoffman about a pest controller cleaning spaceships who stumbles on an alien invasion in progress. Generally entertaining but I’m sure there are better collections out there. Oh, and for a book referring to guns and monsters there seemed to be a distinct lack of gunplay – just saying.