Strange Brew edited by P.N. Elrod

Tales of Witches and Dark Magic abound in this collection of stories by the hottest paranormal authors.

"Seeing Eye" by Patricia Briggs involves a werewolf going to a witch to discover the whereabouts of his missing brother. But when the kidnappers turn out to be the black family of the witch he went to for help, he discovers that she's blind- one eye sacrificed by her father, one by her- and she still holds a grudge against them. But can the two work together to get back his brother?

In "Last Call" by Jim Butcher, Harry Dresden must track down magically-tainted beer bought from his friend, Mac's, pub. The beer contains a potion that causes heightened emotions- and it's going to be sold at a sports arena. Can Harry retrieve the beer before it gets drunk and find the person behind the tampering, before anything seriously bad happens?

"Death Warmed Over" by Rachel Caine, a witch who specializes in resurrections finds out that witches with that power are being killed, and she might be next on the list. To help her, the Police want her to resurrect Andrew Toland, a hero witch who she's resurrected before, to be her bodyguard and help her catch the person killing the witches. But as she struggles with her inappropriate feelings for Andrew, can they both deal with the killer gunning for her?

"Vegas Odds" by Karen Chance, has a witch who is half-werewolf being attacked by her own students. Students that someone enchanted to attack her, and if the enchantment isn't taken off, they'll die, slowly. But it appears that the attack was motivated by the name and deeds of her father, and whoever enchanted her students has a grudge against her father. Can she track down the perpetrator and save her students?

"Hecate's Golden Eye" by P.N. Elrod has Jack Fleming and his partner Charles Escott helping a young lady retrieve the diamond pendant that was left to her by her Grandmother. The Yellow Diamond in the pendant is known as Hecate's Golden Eye, and has great magic. It's lucky to women and very unlucky to men. But can even a detective and a vampire stand up to its magic once its unleashed?

"Bacon" by Charlaine Harris involves a witch and a vampire who married a werewolf. When the vampire's husband was slain. She's all too ready to take revenge on his killers. But is the witch part of the solution, or part of the problem?

"Signatures of the Dead" by Faith Hunter has an Earth Witch called in to eliminate whoever is killing other witches and their families. When she teams up with a were-hunter to track down those responsible, can she deal with the fallout, and the prospect of losing more friends and family?

"Ginger" by Caitlyn Kittridge focuses on the sister of her main werewolf character. Ginger has long thought herself a weakling- and she is, compared to her sister. But Ginger has her own strengths, and when she must save people at a courtroom by holding a man who would murder everyone in it in her wards, she may just get a chance to find and show off her own strengths, and see who is a weakling after all.

"Dark Sins" by Jenna Maclaine follows the only witch who has managed to maintain her ability to call power and cast spells after she'd been embraced by a vampire. But when she, her love and their friends are attacked by Dark Witches, she must learn to use her spells in her new form, fast! And discover why she is the only witch who retained her spellcasting ability...

I liked this book. A lot of stories were by writers I consider old friends when it comes to writing. Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Karen Chance- I loved all of their stories, including Charlaine Harris's, which actually made me shudder in both an "ooh, that hurts" and a "Ye ghods that's appropriate" way.

The authors I hadn't read before still made a favorable impression on me, enough that I would go out and read books by these people. It would be hard to pick a favorite story out of any of these, because I just flat-out enjoyed every minute of most of them. If I had to pick a least favorite, it would be "Dark Sins"-not because it is actually bad, but because the characters were the least well-explained and the background least well-developed out of all the stories. And that isn't damning it with faint praise, as I still enjoyed it- I just would have appreciated more explanation!

This is a truly excellent anthology, and all of the authors here would rate 4 or 5 stars out of five with regards to storytelling and writing ability. Highly recommended.