MEAN STREETS--collection news

[Harper]

For a while it looked like we might miss the publication date, but, I just got the Advance Reading Copy for this collection and it's going ahead on schedule.

So what is it?

Mean Streets is a novella collection (if you haven't been beaten with the publishing industry's terms yet, novellas are complete 20-25,000 word stories which are not just excerpts from larger works) of four pieces about Paranormal Detectives.

Who's and what's in it?

Jim Butcher contributed a new Harry Dresden story; Simon R. Green wrote a new John Taylor; I did an original Harper Blaine; and Thomas E. Sniegoski contributed his first Remy Chandler novella.

When's it coming out?

January 6, 2009 from Roc in trade paperback format (currently priced at $15 US.

I think it's pretty nifty. This is not the usual fluffy urban fantasy stuff and it has a rather interesting cover--if you look closely, you can see the upper half of the painting is London while the lower appears to be a mix of Chicago and New York. And I'm thrilled to be in this collection of "hardboiled tales of paranormal P.I.s" with such incredible company. I hope I'll measure up--that's a tough crowd, y'know.

[Hagelrat]

Want. January is good for books this year, bad for bank accounts though. :grin:

[Harper]

That's what gift certificates are for!

[BlueNinja]

I'll have to point it out to my wife ... she's got Butcher's books on her Kindle to read.

[Harper]

Butcher's forum has been talking about this one for a while. His story, "The Warrior," is very interesting.... If she's a big Dresden fan, she won't want to miss it. I guarantee.

[Hagelrat]

turns out we have to wait till march int he UK.

[BlueNinja]

Butcher's forum has been talking about this one for a while. His story, "The Warrior," is very interesting.... If she's a big Dresden fan, she won't want to miss it. I guarantee. Well, she hasn't read the Dresden books, but she has read the Calderon series and liked it.

[Harper]

The Codex Alera and the Dresden Files are pretty different, but a lot of people like them both. And of course... the collection has a Simon R. Green story in it. W00t!

[Sakutian]

I jumped for joy when I heard about this book. Haper Blaine and Harry Dresden together in the bindings of a single book, that's just too grand. I love the whole supernatural detective idea and these two are my favorites so this isi just really nice. Plus I get to see some stuff from new writers, or new to me, as well which is fun. Maybe I'll like them too.

My copy doesn't actually arrive for a few more days though so I must be patient and wait a bit more. Or I could finish my time machine and bamf to the future. Perhaps bamfing would be better? I'm pretty sure that it won't turn anyone else into a duck like it did in the test runs.

[Harper]

Quack! :spring_blau:

[BlueNinja]

Despite the sad lack of a paper version, I swiped my wife's Kindle after she got that version. :grin:

Spoiler-laden opinions of the stories.

The Dresden book: Awesome! I love seeing Michael, even if he's no longer 'in action' and Harry's conversation with the archangel was a great way to end the story.

Nightside: Though I love Simon R. Green, this story felt way too predictable to me. I also felt like it was supposed to take place before the last several novels, since John Taylor seemed rather underpowered, and there wasn't even a mention of Suzie Shotgun.

Greywalker: Still in the middle of it right now! But the evil brujo in the graveyard has my interest. speaking of the Kindle version, some editor failed: when the twins appear, there's a lovely boondoggle: "No one had come for them in a long time and they were lonely - was I are lative of theirs?" *sigh* silly editors, Spell Check is not perfect!

[BlueNinja]

Also:

Goooood doggy ... *backs away slowly*

[Archaelos]

I wasn't very happy with the Dresden story in this collection. It was a good read, for sure, but Butcher was a bit heavy-handed with the "moral" of the story. In fact, I think this is true of all four stories, enough to make me wonder if it was something the editor asked for or wanted from the authors.

Neither Simon Green nor Thomas Sniegoski managed to convince me to read any of their other books. Those of you who are familiar with their work, any comment to that? Do these stories represent their usual style or, like with Butcher, is there enough of a difference to warrant a second try on another, better book or story?

On this forum, this may be a dangerous admission, but I hadn't read a Harper Blaine story before. It was a good enough read that I've added "Greywalker" to my buy list.

[BlueNinja]

Neither Simon Green nor Thomas Sniegoski managed to convince me to read any of their other books. Those of you who are familiar with their work, any comment to that? Do these stories represent their usual style or, like with Butcher, is there enough of a difference to warrant a second try on another, better book or story? I don't know about Sniegoski, but the Simon R. Green story is definately sub-par for the Nightside series. I'd recommend either the first Nightside book Something From the Nightside, or the Hawk and Fisher stories found in Swords of Haven and Guards of Haven. All of his novels have a sort of tragedy feeling to them, and he's heavy on the awesome-and-awful-things-bigger-and-badder-than-humanity (which is usually good).

The Butcher story I felt was pretty in keeping with the rest of the Dresden stories.

[Harper]

Convert for the Win!

I recently had to re-read all of my books and at the moment, I really hate the first one--I find it annoying and I don't like the way the characters come across in that one at all. Bleh. Not to say I don't want people to read it, but I think I needed a few more edits.... I liked each book successively more than the previous one (though probably because I did fewer and fewer stupid writer tricks.)

I still like Third Death of the Little Clay Dog a lot, however.

I was kind of disappointed with Simon's--I think he's usually a little tighter.

And I like Jim so I would probably be reasonably happy with anything since I can sort of hear the Jim-voice reading aloud and that makes it all good, even when it's not his best work.

Tom's still a new voice for me. Not having a background in the Christian mythos I get a little lost in the details, but I like his prose and complexity of character he presents.