Housewife Blues and Chihuahua Stories

Book InfoPaperback, 448 pagesExpected publication: July 23rd 2013 by Gallery BooksISBN 1476714150 (ISBN13: 9781476714158)edition language Englishoriginal title Carniepunkseries Hell on EarthSource:Netgalley EARCBook Buy LinksAMAZONB&NBOOK SYNOPSISA star-studded urban fantasy anthology featuring bestselling authors Rachel Caine, Rob Thurman, Seanan McGuire, Jennifer Estep, and Kevin Hearne, whose stories explore the creepy, mysterious, and, yes, sometimes magical world of traveling carnivals.The traveling carnival is a leftover of a bygone era, a curiosity lurking on the outskirts of town. It is a place of contradictions—the bright lights mask the peeling paint; a carnie in greasy overalls slinks away from the direction of the Barker’s seductive call. It is a place of illusion—is that woman’s beard real? How can she live locked in that watery box?And while many are tricked by sleight of hand, there are hints of something truly magical going on. One must remain alert and learn quickly the unwritten rules of this dark show. To beat the carnival, one had better have either a whole lot of luck or a whole lot of guns—or maybe some magic of one’s own.Featuring stories grotesque and comical, outrageous and action-packed, Carniepunk is the first anthology to channel the energy and attitude of urban fantasy into the bizarre world of creaking machinery, twisted myths, and vivid new magic.My ThoughtsFilled with tales from authors both new as well as familiar this anthology's stories are chillingly creepy and eerily seductive at the same time. Starting off with Rob Thurman's slyly crafted piece, and running the gamut from stand alone stories just like Thurman's"Painted Love" to some well known series novellas showcasing characters created by some of today's favorite author's, these stories are horrific rather than horror as they each and every one describe traveling carnivals that are outside the boundaries of what we have grown to expect such amusements to entail. The traveling carnivals in these tales are ones of torment, temptation and terrifying narrow escapes all masterfully penned to tantalize and repulse the reader at the same time.My personal favorites are those offered from Rachel Caine, Jackie Kessler, Kelly Gay and Kevin Hearne.The one story that really touched me was the one author Kelly Gay set in her Charlie Madigan series that she used as a way to give fans another glimpse of Charlie's daughter Emma. It was not as outright weird a tale as some of the others and since it was all about Emma taking a chance on saving some innocent hellhound puppies, along with finally allowing her budding powers to be fully used, the story had me laughing and crying at the same time and ultimately breathing a sigh of relief that things worked out as well as they did in the end. It was gratifying to see that young Emma was following in Mom's footsteps and also made me wistful for more as the series was one of my favorites!As a whole this book alternately had me cringing in disgust, horrified at the appropriate times, flipping pages quickly to get to the end of a few of the more graphic stories that sickened even my jaded mind and other times slowly devouring a story that just did not last long enough before it ended.This is one of those reads that you are totally going to want to go into with an open mind, it is also one of those reads that will satisfy your love of short stories within a series if you are following those particular authors whose offerings appear in the anthology. My advice is if you are looking for a "fun" trip to the carnival within the pages of this book you are needing to look again, the stories are not happy ones even when they have a fairly "happy" ending and the authors who appear in this collection may even surprise you with the direction that their imagination took them when they created their contributions. There are stories in this book that I personally would never read again, not because they are not worthy or good enough but simply because they are not to my taste to revisit, as some of the tales will eventually give me bad dreams if they stick with me as they are just that graphically grotesque in nature.I will say that when my personal copy comes in the mail after the book releases, that I bought prior to reading the egalley, that it will stay on my keeper shelf because of the stories mentioned above that really did enjoy reading.[EArc from Netgalley in exchange for honest review]