MANY BLOODY RETURNS
Many Bloody Returns
Charlaine Harris Books
Birthdays are a celebration of life. Vampirism is often attached to death and immortality. So imagine adding the two together in classic tales of birthdays with bite. Many Bloody Returns is an anthology of such tales penned by the best in this genre examples of which are Charlaine Harris (author of The Sookie Stackhouse Novels ), Jim Butcher (author of The Dresden Files) and other brilliant and aspiring supernatural writers.
Many Bloody Returns is an anthology composed of 13 tales of birthdays mixed with the world of the unknown. Some humorous while others are with a touch of sadness and melancholy but as it may, some (not all!) of these stories are a definite must read!
- Dracula Night by Charlaine Harris
The anthology is started by Charlaine Harris where she brings in some of her well loved characters from The Sookie Stackhouse Novels. Sookie was invited to a birthday party hosted by Eric Northman for the vampire prince, Count Dracula. In this story, Eric shows some hero-worship syndrome to the prince of night. Not even sure if the prince would come to the party at Fangtasia, Eric still did the party in a grandiose style. Sookie might find herself in trouble once more. I was a bit left wanting for more in this story, but not bad. Can say that I am an Eric Northman fan, that obvious eh?
- The Mournful Cry of Owls by Christopher Golden
As indicated by the title, this one is a sad story. Donika Ristani is almost sixteen and is as normal as any girl of her age. On the day of her birthday, she gets a big surprise when her mother tells a tale of a supernatural she once saw and the events after that which changed her and Donika’s lives. Really, really freaky and strange for me. I was imagining it and I honestly don’t like the picture. But all in all, not bad.
- I Was a Teenage Vampire by Bill Crider
Imagine being a teenager and a vampire at the same time, being stuck in a young body but with the mind that has spanned centuries. This tale is told by Carleton, or as he prefer – Carl. Carl was once an ordinary teenager dealing with everyday life like school, an irritation of a sister, bullies and a geek he refers to as a “remote” friend. He was turned into a vampire by someone he least expected to be a vampire. Teen angst for eternity. That’s all I can say.
- Twilight by Kelley Armstrong
This is another interesting take on how vampires get to live their immortal lives. Cassandra DuCharme narrates how her kind manages to live long. It seems that in this version vampires must claim a life only once every year. In the usual vampire story, vampires kill when they feed but in this particular one, vampires only kill to add another year to their life. Cassandra is torn between doing the annual kill or spare another life in return for her own. Could it be that a vampire is having second thoughts on killing? Ok, this will probably make you side along with Cassandra. But, come on girl, what’s stopping you? You have done so in the last hundred of years, why stop now?
- It’s My Birthday, Too by Jim Butcher
Harry Dresden, wizard extra-ordinaire, is back in this tale of vampires and birthdays. Thomas, Harry’s vampire brother, is celebrating his birthday in style and Harry went to deliver a gift. It was going well when an unexpected guest crashed the party and caused trouble. Using his magical abilities, Harry tried to put an end to the mayhem caused by these supernatural gate crashers. Funny and a very entertaining read for me! I think I’ll go find out more about Harry Dresden.
- Grave-Robbed by P.N. Elrod
An undead detective, Jack Fleming, is approached by a deeply troubled young lady who wants to help her sister from falling into the hands of a fake medium who promises to contact her deceased husband. Just read it. You be the judge…
- The First Day of the Rest of Your Life by Rachel Caine
If you are familiar with The Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine, this short story sort of serves as an introduction to it. Eve Rossiter is turning eighteen and must soon decide if she, like the others in Morganville would sign in under their family’s official vampire protector. Yes, vampires exist in this town. Morganville holds many a secret and one of them is the existence of these “protectors”. Hmm, this one has a lot of promise . I might go find more on the Morganville vampires.
- The Witch and the Wicked by Jeanne C. Steine
Sophie is a witch who owns a catering business. Eighty years old but still looks young, she was sure that it will be a breeze. When she was commissioned to cater to a vampire birthday party, it was pure business for her. Prepare the menu, serve, make sure everything is satisfactory and the deed is done. But things went crazy when the guest of honor was burned to a crisp. What happens next would probably make your jaw drop. I don’t know if I should be amused or grossed out. Whatever, it’s still a very interesting read .
- Blood Wrapped by Tanya Huff
Henry Fitzroy is on the lookout for the perfect gift for Vicki Nelson’s birthday. I was told that the series Blood Ties which feature Vicki Nelson has been made into a TV series. After reading this short story, it made me very curious indeed to go and find a copy of the said series. Not bad, but not that good either.
- The Wish by Carolyn Haines
This story gets the tearjerker award for me . Of all the stories featured in this anthology, The Wish is by far the saddest. It is the story of Sandra, a bereft mother who felt she can cheat death by playing a step ahead of it. Death it seems took two of the most important people in her life but refused to make her be with them. So she took matters in her own hands and decided to live and die in her own terms. Maybe she did best death, but is it all worth it? I like this one. It is written nicely, not making me go back a sentence or two to get back into the flow of the story.
- Fire and Ice and Linguini for Two by Tate Hallaway
Garnet is a witch who has a vampire for a boyfriend. Sebastian insisted that there is no need for them to celebrate his birthday. He has his reasons, one of which is him thinking that he is cursed and celebrating in any form would be like calling in bad luck or something. Call him psychic but with that thing in mind, they soon find themselves fighting for their very lives against a demon. Garnet, dear, cold weather call for warm and very thick clothing.
- Vampire Hours by Elaine Vets
Katherine is an ordinary Miami housewife who feels that life has been a bit unfair to her. She longs for more in life and when she finds out that her husband was cheating on her, she decides to extract sweet revenge with the aid of the most unusual person to act as her accomplice. Not much to say here, sorry.
- How Stella Got Her Grave Back by Toni L.P. Kelner
Imagine finding someone else was buried in your grave? Annoyed? Irritated to death? Oops; if you are standing over your grave that would surely mean that you are dead already. Stella is a vampire who has been away from her home town for quite some time now. Together with her lover, Michael, they went on a visit. When they stopped by her “grave”, they were in for a shock when somebody else was buried there. Stella is sure that’s not her since she dug herself out when she crossed over to becoming a vampire. So is this mystery woman? A supernatural sleuthing is called for. This one is a good ender to the anthology. Really funny and I like Stella’s wit and humor!
In general Many Bloody Returns is not a bad read. I guess I was a bit disappointed though. The title enough was a very catchy one. It held so many promises for a very fun and entertaining read. I mean birthdays and vampires, what a combination that would be. But as I progressed with the book, I found some stories can actually make me go to zzzzzzzz land. Not that they were badly written, but they just don’t have enough magic to keep my attention and interest. I won’t name names here.
Some stories are really well done and vary in themes. Fun, sad, mystery and a little bit of angst can be found here. If what I have just written down did not sit too well with some, well to each their own, right? If I were to be asked if I would recommend this book to my fellow bookworm friends, I will do so but I will have to first make sure to give them the page numbers of the stories worth reading.
Many Bloody Returns
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