A Girl's Guide to Guns and Monsters

by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie L. Hughes

Book Overview

A collection of 13 tales of strong women, armed with weapons they are not afraid to use. These are urban and paranormal stories certain to appeal to all readers of these popular genres. Features... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0756406145
• Release Date: February 2010
• Publisher: DAW
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.9" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Solid Anthology with Consistent Quality Throughout

We all know the complaint about some anthologies--some of the stories are great, some are drek, and many in the middle are just average. So I was quite pleased when I read A Girl's Guide to Guns and Monsters that, even though I wasn't its target demographic, the quality of the stories held up at an above average level throughout the book even with a mix of monsters, mayhem, mood, and market profile of the various authors. Other reviews have listed the stories and authors, so I won't repeat all of that. One minor detraction from the anthology is that a number of the stories are set in the worlds of the individual author's other writing, which leaves those not familiar with those worlds/characters at a slight disadvantage. For those interested in seeing earlier installments of Elizabeth Vaughan's amusing tale of Wan Sui Ye, grab a copy of Furry Fantastic (DAW 2006) and Zombie Raccoons & Killer Bunnies (DAW 2009) or, better yet, contact DAW and insist that they get Vaughan to write up the entire tale for a stand-alone novel. (By the way, much better cover art for Girl's Guide than the art for Zombie Raccoons & Killer Bunnies in my humble opinion.)

"Considering the welcome they'd already had, the odds were very good screaming would not attract bun

"Girl's Guide" attempts to marry the urban fantasy and the butt-kicking women genres. Well, at least, that's the statement that the totally cheesy cover is trying to say. In truth, there are some of both types of stories here. And as usual, this anthology has a mix of regular DAW authors and free-lancers, and seems to be a quasi-sequel to Zombie Raccoons & Killer Bunnies by the same editors, and which contained some of the same authors. This anthology encompasses a wide rainbow of creatures, plus having a number of stories containing continuing series characters. ------There is a rare short story by Jeanne Stein. 'Elizabeth & Anna's Big Adventure' is a chapter in Stein's long running (seven novels so far) Anna Strong vampire series. While a good story for the fans, it probably won't have a lot of appeal to those unfamiliar with the series. Anna reluctantly babysits Elizabeth who opens the front door to her house, and accidently lets in a couple of home-invaders that are there to kill her famous lawyer father. He's not home, but Anna is, poor them. This is basically just a minor Anna adventure that would only have rated as filler in one of her novels. ------ 'Jiang Shi' is another adventure in Elizabeth A. Vaughan`s new non-novel series involving the middle-aged and overweight Kate. 'Jiang Shi' is a direct sequel to 'Ninja Rats On Harleys' that is in "Zombie Raccoons", and it suffers because of this. There really isn't much more than some absurdist action involving ninja rats, wise mice, and evil possums, and if you haven't read the first story in the series, then you won't quite get what is going on, and Vaughan doesn't give us a lot of explanatory material. This story also doesn't have much of an ending as it ends with what looks to be a lead-in to the next story in the series. But this all could have been forgiven if Kate were a more interesting character, and while there is a good couple of pages where she describes the death of her dreams, in the end, she's a whiner and when the action starts she faints. ------ 'No Matter Where You Go' is another story in Tanya Huff's long running, six books since 1991, Victoria "Vikki" Nelson series. Here ex-cop, and full-time vampire, Vikki stumbles onto a magic ritual being performed by four malcontented teen-agers who end up opening up a portal to another world. The world is hostile and Vikki has to dive in to help them survive, unfortunately in doing so she's stuck in this world, and it will be up to Mike Celluci and Tony Foster to save her and return her to her reality. A great story in the Vikkiverse but, again, fans will probably like this story more that non-fans. ------ 'Signed In Blood' may or may not be a sequel to 'Super Squirrel To The Rescue' in "Zombie Raccoons" as both stories involve writers, but only in 'Signed In Blood' is she named. Here Tess Noncoiré, the star of three novels so far, is in the process of writing her new novel when her gal pal, a filk singer,

Tough ladies facing tough odds

13 may be an unlucky number, but this anthology is a lucky assemblage of unique and fascinating stories. Themed to the idea of women (sometimes survivors of abuse, sometimes not) who take up arms in defense of themselves, their loved ones, or their society, it includes names both well- and little-known and stories that range from the Old West (Jane Lindskold's "The Drifter," in which a woman who's also a werewolf goes on the hunt for one of her own kind) to a 22nd-century Sol System (Nina Kiriki Hoffman's "Invasive Species," in which Random Delaney, free-lance exterminator of vermin on spaceships, finds herself faced with a new and baffling kind of pest). Most of the tales take place in the present, including Jeanne C. Stein's "Elizabeth and Anna's Big Adventure" (a DA's eight-year-old daughter and her babysitter, who's a bounty hunter and something more, face off against a vengeful ex-con), Anton Strout's "Lupercalia" (a college woman goes hunting the man who jilted her--but he's not a man, he's the god Eros), "Murder She Workshopped" by Kristin Kathryn Rusch (a killer of "evil magical creatures that misuse a human form" stalks her latest target at a writers' workshop), Jim C. Hines's "Heart of Ash" (a very tough dryad turns uncanny-hunter), Elizabeth A. Vaughan's "Jiang Shi" (a hilarious tale of--well, I don't think I can describe it in this small a space), a new Victory Nelson tale by Tanya Huff, and four others I marked as enjoyable enough to be worth another read. Fantasy lovers and readers who like liberated women should find it thoroughly satisfying.

For adventurous women only!

Women, monsters, and butt-kicking--what more could I ask for? A Girl's Guide to Guns and Monsters, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes, is a collection of thirteen stories about strong women taking on monsters in a variety of settings and genres. The stories proceed in chronological order from the old West to space-faring SF, so you won't even get mental whiplash along the way. As always with anthologies, the main issue is that not every story will please you equally: with so many different authors and approaches, something's bound to leave you flat. For me, I found Anton Strout's story wasn't well-served by the short story length; the characters felt flat, as though they needed more depth and exploration. The overall quality of the anthology, however, is stellar, and I have some true favorite stories in here. Among them are a Jim C. Hines story featuring a highly unusual and compelling dryad; a hilarious Kristine Kathryn Rusch story that takes place at a writer's workshop, with an assassin as a main character; and a sci-fi story about a mother who makes a living as a most unusual pest control worker---and the peculiar pests she takes on. All in all, one of my favorite recent anthologies! [note: review book provided by publisher]