I had bought this book ONLY for the story of Jim Butcher, that hadn’t been published anywhere else. As luck happens, except that story, and one by Kelly Armstrong, and a classic one from the golden oldie Mike Resnick, rest of the stories were unadulterated crap. Somebody needs to drop the editor (and half of these authors) into the world of Lizzie Borden, and after providing said strong-willed heroine with a sufficiently sharp & hefty axe, let things take their own (and undoubtedly hilarious, from our perspective) course. I would strongly recommend NOT BUYING this book, and would suggest that you wait for the next collection of stories from Jim Butcher to come out. If all of the stories had kept to the theme, I would have given this a fourth star. The stories that were funny were really quite good. Jim Butcher's story was clever and interesting, as were many of the others. A story by the late L. A. Banks was very good, but more sexy and weird than funny. Think of it as True Blood meets X-Files. Some of the others just failed as humor. I mean, really, what is funny about a serial killer who is quickly falling into dementia? The idea that he was losing his short-term memory was supposed to be funny? Really? Another was about drunken rednecks mistaking injured Russian tourists for zombies and killing them. Yeah, lots of laughs there.Another story, one by Heather Graham, was quite interesting and well-written, but just didn't fit the theme of the book and wasn't funny. A few others also fell into that trap.At least Christopher Golden's story was ABOUT humor, in a way, because it was a horror story about clowns, and it did in fact have a punchline. A bit like a darkly humorous Twilight Zone kind of story, but it still fit better than some.Highlights of the book included Butcher's piece, of course, but also Brad Hodson's "Two for Transylvania," which was truly the most unusual prequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula that I've ever encountered. It would have made a great film with Gene Wilder and Christopher Lee in the lead roles.Overall the collection is worth reading, but you will probably encounter some stories that fall flat. Your mileage may vary as to which ones those are.
Do You like book Blood Lite III: Aftertaste (2012)?
Purchased for the Jim Butcher Bigfoot story. The rest of the book was not my cup of tea.
—Yre24
Only read the Dresden Files short story. It was good. Crisp and fun. Dresden style!
—laurie7
I was never really captured by any of these short stories. They were just, ok.
—Eccoco
