I’ve written a review of “ROAR volume 6” that I’m in, without saying that I’m in it. The review, which has not been published yet, does not mention my own story (there are 27 others).
It depends on what you’re reviewing it for, and your own comfort level, possibly; I’m not sure whether I’d be comfortable reviewing something I was in, even with disclosure. Claw & Quill won’t accept reviews of anthologies from contributors.
This is one more reason to submit to anthologies – if you have a story accepted, then fewer people will try to guilt you into writing reviews for it! Submitting to anthologies is really a time-saving measure.
So when will you be reviewing all the books? 
(See?)
Review: ALL THE BOOKS
I confess that I haven’t had time to finish “All The Books” (authors: many). Therefore, this is a preliminary review based on what I’ve read so far. “All The Books” contains remarkable variety. Some of the entries in this collection only contain pictures. Some of them only contain words. Some of them only contain phone numbers. Some of them only contain matches. (These so-called “matchbooks” make for light reading, literally, especially when combined with a fireplace.)
Some of the entries were definitely better than others, but overall, I think that every reader will find something to like in “All The Books.”
Rating: Snake out of 10.
Started on “Hot Dish 1” today. Honestly damned impressed. Thus far made it through “Seducing the Sky” by Kandrel and “Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre” by Huskyteer. There’s some outstanding copyedit problems in the stories so far, but they’re solid from a narrative standpoint.
I really thought that “Seducing the Sky”'s litany portions were exceptionally strong. Well done Kandrel.
Two down in the anthology, more to go.
My review of ROAR volume 6 is published today.
That’s excellent!
I just finished Typewriter Emergencies. Here’s the review I posted on Goodreads:
This is a strange collection. It has some exceptional stories in it – notably, “Best of Breed” by Renee Carter Hall and “Rogue” by Phil Geusz. These stories are each gems. The stories overall were mostly strong character sketches with dark edges. Very dark edges. A few of them were just kind of weird – in the middle of all these highly character-motivated pieces, there’s suddenly an all-action vampire-hunter story; then a story that seems to be riffing off of hundred-year-old sci-fi tropes and not quite making them work. I did enjoy how a lot of the stories played with the line between secret-life-of-animals and full anthro, and there was definitely interesting furry world-building in the background of many of them. If you’re interested in character-driven furry fiction, then this collection is worth checking out.
The 2nd half of the Dreamhealers Duology. The first half of which made me cry no less than three times.
There is significantly less crying in this book. While the plot is more dramatic and further reaching than MindTouch, and the highs even higher… the lows are less sublime. The character’s discover of an unfolding relationship and domesticity were such a touching part of the first half that I raved about it for days. This book is lacking that; but it is just as well… I doubt anyone could have duplicated in another work, even a sequel.
The wisdom we overlook when we fly past a sign at 100 mph, and then having to walk back and pick it up is a valuable lesson. We all have those moments/milestones. Jahir has at least 2 of them. As does Vasi, although his is more like the opposite and he has to race away at 100mph to put his wisdom to use.
I really would like to have seen Jahir disappoint someone, a friend. Certainly, there were people he couldn’t save, outrageous requests that he couldn’t agree to, and love that he could not return. But in every case, people, people seemed to shield him quickly, taking the sting out of it. Of course, in a few cases, he stepped “heroically” past those shields.
I was disappointed only on the crudest levels about the sex (I mean they’re young, it could still happen - if not… well, that’s what fan fiction is for). The story was very satisfying, with just a little “patness” to keep it from 9 stars.
Is there any way to contact Weasel Press if you aren’t on Linked in or Twitter? i would like to request a review copy of “Typewriter Emergencies”, but I can’t find an e-mail address for them.
Thanks very much, Rechan. Request sent; let’s see if I get it. Some publishers send review copies; others don’t.
Yes! Weasel Press promises to send it at the end of the week. Expect to see my review of “Typewriter Emergencies” soon.
Posted reviews to Goodreads of Inhuman Acts: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1382762834
and Flight of the Godkin Griffin: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1406432973
I finished NSFW: Enter at Your Own Risk yesterday and posted it this morning to Good Reads.
Thank you Husky for your kind words about my stuff in Inhuman Acts.
and a version to Flayrah!
Reading two books in October was a bit more than I could chew. But I did finish Pulp! and have posted a review.
Oh, hi.
I read a bunch of books over October, though a couple were graphic novel installments (Locke and Key 1 and 2, highly recommended if you like supernatural horror/thriller stuff, among others) and only two were furry-related.
Abandoned Places had a few very good stories in it, and a few that weren’t so great. The good ones were very worth reading, however. The main complaints were that too many stories lacked agency - it was mostly the characters just kind of moving along a set route and ‘experiencing’ the stories rather than interacting with them. I should work on putting a review of each after re-reading them, but I may just concentrate on the ones I liked a lot.
Those were ‘Piping’, ‘Rainfall’, and ‘Prospero’. I also quite liked ‘World’s Biggest Dragons’, ‘All that Glitters’ and ‘Empathy’, all for different reasons.
The other furry book I read was another anthology, this time of a more saucy fantasy flavour - Dungeon Grind. Ignoring the story I submitted there, I enjoyed reading that one, and was surprised that I did, as the more erotic line of things usually isn’t what I’d choose to pick up and read. If you only read one story from that anthology, pick ‘50 Scales of Grey’. It’s short, sweet, and very, very funny.
One of my other October books was Neuromancer, but I make a point of reading that at least once a year! Snow Crash is another one of those books for me. Must read regularly.
Furry Booktober may be over, but I started reading Earthfall (Dinosaur Wars #1) by Thomas P. Hopp during October, so I’m going to cross-post my Goodreads review of it here:
This book is like a cross between Jurassic Park and Stargate. If you think you would like that, then you’ll probably enjoy this book. I found myself skimming through the action sequences, but other than that, I found the story quite delightful.
It’s also worth noting that this book is generally free for Kindle on Amazon, since it’s the first book in a series. However, I found that it had a satisfying enough conclusion that I don’t feel necessarily compelled to read any more of them. That said, once I work through some of the other books waiting for me to read them, I may come back to this series just for fun.
Oh, yes, and it does have talking dinosaurs – in case that wasn’t clear.