Nice, consistent collection of horror short stories.

Having just finished Pharaoh Fantastic in just over 2 days I can safely say that it's a fun, lively vacation book and perfect for a bit of light reading. It has a variety of stories, some better than others. They include:

·Succession by Tanya Huff- ****One of the best stories in this novel, it shows that magic exacts a price, especially when one is greedy*****
·The Voice of Authority by Jody Lynn Nye
·Beneath the Eye of the Hawk by Jane Lindskold
·A Light in the Desert by Rosemary Edghill
·The Scroll of Wisdom by Josepha Sherman
·Whatever was Forgotten by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
·Let Our People Go by Michey Zucker Reichert
·To See Beyond the Darkness by Bill McCay
·A Lion Set Loose Upon the World by Brendan DuBois **** Not only one of the best stories in this novel, it's a chilling horror story featuring the Lion goddess Sekhmet****
·Games of Fate by Fiona Patton
·The Spin Wizard by Laura Resnick ****This story is laugh out loud funny!****
·That God Won't Hunt by Susan Sizemore **** Susan Sizemore delights again in what is my favorite story in the book! Definitely check this one out!****
·Basted by Alan Dean Foster

... looking for a great, easy read, then check this one out for sure. ...

This is a very enjoyable set of crime stories from several of the most famous names in the genre. Contained within are six stories: five longish short stories (or novelettes) and one short novel. I have read very little of these types of pieces before, so I was unable to compare them to other examples of this genre. But as they say, I may not know trashy pulp novels from the middle part of the Twentieth Century, but I know what I like, and this collection is well worth reading.

As I said, I don't know much about written crime stories, though I have seen my fair share of the films from this era. There's something very enticing about these stories of gangsters, cops and private eyes. Every woman is a blonde and every case has a solution. These aren't the most realistic stories in the world, but you'll have to go far to find more enjoyable ones.

"The Embezzler" by James M Cain, 1938 - This is quite an interesting story set in and around a city bank. Money is missing, and a bank employee must figure out who is embezzling the money and how. A nicely realized romance between the protagonist and the wife of the suspect helps break up the action pleasantly. The ending feels a bit contrived, as if the author was forced to tack on a happy ending, but the story itself is very entertaining.

"Ordo" by Donald E. Westlake, 1977 - An interesting character study of a woman who leaves town and becomes a world-famous movie star. It's told through the eyes of a man she was married to before she became famous. It's a great story that will keep you intrigued the whole time. Fairly simple concept, but the execution raises up the quality of the entire piece.

"Stag Party Girl" by Lawrence Block, 1965 - A whodunit that doesn't quite live up to its full potential. The premise and investigation are fairly interesting, but the ending falls a bit flat.

"College-Cut Kill" by John D. MacDonald, 1950 - This one seems to be structured very similar to the previous story, though it has the advantage of being slightly better executed. The killer's motivation is far too similar to that of the murderer in "Stag Party Girl". It was probably a mistake to include these two stories next to one another in a collection. Placing a story or two in between them would helped to shadow the similarities.

"Everybody's Watching Me" by Mickey Spillane, 1953 -- A story of established gangsters who fear news of the arrival of one of the deadliest hit-men in the country. I didn't care for this story. While the premise is sound enough, there are far too many factions to keep track of in such a small space. There are two difference police departments, several groups of gangsters, a drug supplier, a hired killer, a newspaper reporter, the narrator, the narrator's love interest and his mysterious informer. Perhaps if this was a longer piece there would be more room to develop all these characters and sub-plots, but as the story is, they are just too underdeveloped and confusing. The ending is a surprise, but, unfortunately, it falls apart once you start putting some thought into it.

"So Dead My Love" by Harry Whittington, 1953 - This is the only full novel in the collection though it was a relatively short one. This was quite an enjoyable read. The story is set in a small town in the South, featuring a man who grew up there but then left to become a private investigator in New York. When he's called back to his roots, he must locate a missing person while avoiding the old feuds and power politics that caused him to leave in the first place. This was probably the most entertaining read in the collection. I couldn't wait to see what the protagonist was going to uncover next in this small town. All the characters and their relationships were well explained, and by the end of the story I was able to completely understand how the hero felt about the place he grew up in.

All in all, this was a very appealing collection. I hadn't read much of the genre before this anthology, but now I have a few more authors that I think I will be looking up to read more of. Recommended.

I've read all the dinosaur fiction collections by martin h. greenburg and this book is one of the better ones, though a couple of the stories are a little hard to follow, they all turned out great, and it has more of a lighter side than his other anthologies( based on dinosaurs), you can also try his other books, DINOSAURS, DINOSAURS 2, and DINOSAUR FANTASTIC, the only thing that bugged me was that some stories are republished in other volumes, good dino fiction is hard to come by, and this is it.

This book, which covers SF of the decade of the 1940's, is actually one volume of a series of books on "classic" sci-fi.

The short novels in this book are fair; the volume contains some of the more popular tales (seen in SF anthologies everywhere), and some stories that don't get printed as often.

Interesting note: The Introduction (penned by Isaac Asimov) refers to the work (sci-fi) of the 1940's as "The Age of John W. Campbell", whose work is notably absent from the volume.

The short novels are:

"Time Wants a Skeleton", Ross Rocklynne; "The Weapons Shop", A.E. van Vogt; "Nerves", Lester del Rey; "Daymare", Frederic Brown; "Killdozer!", Theodore Sturgeon; "No Woman Born", C.L. Moore; "The Big and the Little", Isaac Asimov; "Giant Killer", A. Bertram Chandler; "E for Effort", T.L. Sherred; "With Folded Hands", Jack Williamson

If you like Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress series or fantasy in general, then you will like this book. The second volum is good too.

I found this in my lidry's 'Young Adult' section, but some of the stories are not for the age group. 'Dumping Ra' is all about sex and terms whitch arn't for children. Otherwise it's a very good book!

Reading the list of authors that have contrbuted to this book is like reading a Who's Who in the world of fantasy fiction. In "Treasures of Fantasy" you will find stories that make you shiver, cry, or laugh, stories that open new doors of imagination.

While one or two of the authors' styles can be confusing within the context of the others (and boy! do some of these stories make a person really think!), on the whole this is a wonderfully diverse collection of adventures for the reader to join.

From a magic valley that seems to alter the fabric of space, to a child who can do anything simply because no-one's told him he can't, to the rediscovery of mankind's ancient "little people" on a planet far from Earth, this book captured my imagination and my heart.

A must-read for all fantasy/sci-fi fans!

Compiled by Martin H. Greenberg this is an anthology of 21 mysteries involving cats. Previously published short stories by Lilian Jackson Braun, of the famous "Cat Who" mysteries; Bill Crider and 19 others most of the short stories are interesting. They, for the most part, are quick reads, for this reader wanted to get to the next cat tale.

When I first saw this book I was amused, but doubted that I would find any really good horror inside. The first two stories were pretty dreadful, and not in a good way. But once I start a book, I can't put it down so I kept reading. I'm glad that I did.

Once you get past the first few stories, this book is full of some very good horror stories that just happen to involve the White House or the office of President. But the stories themselves are well crafted and terrifying. Some of the best are:

Night of the Vegetables by Edward Lee- this story was so funny that I was laughing out loud. Not a very scary story, but great, nonetheless.

Creature Congress by Terry Beatty and Wendi Lee- Do not pass up this story! It has some great dialog and is good horrific fun.

Jack Be Quick by Graham Masterson is go good and spooky that it is now one of my favorite horror stories of all time. One of the best and most original takes on the JFK assassination that I have ever read.

This anthology contains 16 short stories by a wide range of authors. So if you're looking for a smart, fun horror anthology, give White House Horrors a try. You won't be disappointed.