Beauty Has Her Way [Paperback]

Joshua Palmatier (Author), Ed Greenwood (Author), Jennifer Brozek (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 31, 2011

Beautiful, Stong-Willed Women. We Love Them. Now read an anthology filled with stories about them. This is not a heroine's book ... unless the heoine knows how to do bad in the name of good. This anthology is about women across the ages overcoming all obstacles to win their pirze. Sixteen tales where Beauty Has Her Way ... even if she has to get down and dirty to do it! Stories by: Paul D. Batteiger, Ramsey Lundock, Joshua Palmatier, Maurice Broaddus, Kenneth Mark Hoover, Chuck Wendig, Pete Kempshall, Ed Greenwood, Filamena Young, Erik Scott de Bie, David A. Hill Jr., Amanda Gannon, Keffy R. M. Kehrli, KV Taylor, Ann Wilkes, Kay T. Holt and Bart R. Leib

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Dark Quest, LLC (January 31, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0983099316
• ISBN-13: 978-0983099314
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,266,620 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Deadliest of the species indeed! January 20, 2011

By Nathan Crowder

Format:Paperback

I love strong women. That's no secret. I'll take a competent woman adventurer over a damsel in distress any day.

I also love anthologies. Anthologies, as I'm certain someone has said before me, are like a box of chocolates. I picked up Beauty Has Her Way from Dark Quest Books as an informed reader. I knew editor Jennifer Brozek put out quality anthologies. Heck, she even won an award for one last year (the superlative Grant's Pass). And I like several of the names attached to this particular anthology. So even if I found a few literary equivalents of a cherry cordial (the bane of my chocolate box existence), I knew I'd find a few delights in there. Worst case scenario, I could skim the stories that didn't work and save myself some reading time. The book is divided into three sections: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. I figured that in a set up like this, anything could happen.

What didn't happen was me skimming stories. I read every one without hesitation. That always makes me happy. That said, I didn't love all the stories, but I at least enjoyed them all. The first story in the collection was a bit of a rough start. "Sacrifices to the Moon" by Paul D. Batteiger presented us with a bad-ass woman warrior heading into inhospitable wastes, potentially to her death, with no visible motivation other than to prove to the reader that 1) she was stubborn as well as a bad-ass, and 2) to set her up as the Outsider hero. It felt contrived. But by the time the spear came out and she gots to killing anything that stood in her way like a proper barbarian warrior, I was willing to forgive the set up. Did it remind me of Robert E. Howard? Yes. Is that a bad thing? Not a chance!

But there are 16 stories in this collection, so let me share what I saw as the highlights....

In the Yesterday section, the story that grabbed me most was the wild-west fantasy "Vengeance is Mine" by Kenneth Mark Hoover. Holy doodle did I love that story and the steely heroine Magra Snowberry! I would love to see more of the character and the town of Haxan.

I felt the Today section was the strongest, from the Caribbean-tinged dark magic madness of Chuck Wendig's "The Moko-Jumbie Girl," to Filamena Hill's story of a mobster's daughter avenging the death of her cousin in the chillingly satisfying "Men Do Nothing." All of the stories in this section thrilled the hell out of me. Also worthy of particular note is the full-tilt and high-octane action that I've come to love from Erik Scott de Bie's action heroines in the past. He does not disappoint in "Witch Fire" and I hope to see more of the character in the future.

The Tomorrow section packed a double-punch or powerfully emotional stories. "Ride the Rebel Wind" by Amanda Gannon is a breathtaking adventure, truly steam-punk done right. Told from the point of view of a young engineer dragged into action, it tells powerful tale of a mad captain chasing the beastly airship she put on auto pilot and set loose on the world in the wake of the Civil War. But the true gem, and quite possibly the best story in the collection is "A Well-Embroidered Heart" by Keffy R.M. Kehril. At turns heartbreaking and terrifying, it presents a dystopian land run by the most unique necromancers I've encountered in all my years of fantasy fiction, and stars the outcast child seeking vengeance and something more. It evoked thoughts of cold-war European despair and favorable comparisons to China Meiville's better work.

At a paltry [...], lovers of determined women are all but certain to find something to entertain and and intrigue. Recommended.

And now to find some damn chocolates... Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth it just for chuck July 3, 2012

By Arturo Nuno

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

It's worth buying just for Chuck Wendig's story. I'm not a big reader, but his stories are phenomenal and I've yet to read anything bad from him. His stories are definitely not for kids, or people sensitive to violence and other suggestive themes. :)

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining anthology with a variety of tales February 1, 2013

By Clare L. Deming

Format:Kindle Edition

In Beauty Has Her Way, editor Jennifer Brozek [interviewed herein] brings us a collection of short stories featuring women. As Ms. Brozek explains in the introduction, the title is taken from a song by Mummy Calls that she discovered on The Lost Boys soundtrack. Each story here is about a woman, but these are no stereotyped damsels in distress. While certainly in distress, these women don't wait to be rescued by a fairy tale prince, but take action and use all of their assets - beauty, sex, or their wits, to conquer their adversaries. They're not all heroines in the typical sense, and many of them are far from stellar role models, but they do manage to accomplish their goals and get their way.

The anthology is divided into three sections - Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow - and the stories vary all over the speculative genre, including sword and sorcery, historical fantasy, urban fantasy, and space opera. I enjoyed most of the stories, but by the middle of the book, many of the protagonists' motivations centered around revenge. The details about the women's enemies and how they enacted their revenge differed, but especially as these were mainly "Today" stories, the setting did not offer as much variation to set each tale apart. The repetition of revenge as a theme shouldn't take anything away from each story individually - the wrongs these women faced felt legitimate and they often overstepped legal or cultural boundaries to fix the situation they faced.

One advantage an anthology offers over a novel is that there is no overall narrative, so if you tire of revenge or prefer fantasy to spaceships, just skip around and revisit the other sections later. For readers who don't mind mixing it up a little, this anthology provides a good assortment of stories.... I did find one tale - The Runner, by K.V. Taylor - to be out of place. It may have occurred in the future, but with a plot that centered on a clan defending its swampy home, it could just as well have been an alternate world fantasy.

A couple of the stories also felt incomplete - as if they belonged to a larger novella or novel - and left me feeling like I had missed something. In Maurice Broaddus' story of ancient Rome, I, Theodora, some of the most exciting events are described in a few short paragraphs at the end. And in Witch Fire by Erik Scott de Bie, I found the concept of a gun witch to be intriguing, but felt like the witch's encounter would have had more impact if I had understood some of the character's back story better. At the end of the volume, there are biographies for all the authors. I'm going to highlight some of my favorite stories below:

"Dunkle Froline" by Ramsey Lundock
Humans are kept as slaves by their demon overlords in this harsh fantasy world. When a new pit slave is brought into the household, she must learn that the best way to fight her captors may not be the most obvious one. I really sympathized with Tessa and her plight when she is finally freed from the underground pits only to discover how little she knows about her world.

"Vengeance is Mine" by Kenneth Mark Hoover
This story started the cluster of revenge tales for me, but was set in such an interesting alternate weird West setting that I think it was one of my favorites in the anthology. A half-Indian woman takes it upon herself to see that an outlaw is dealt with when the law cannot do enough.

"The Moko-Jumbie Girl" by Chuck Wendig
A cop brings a girl to jail after she kills a pesky neighbor's chickens in an angry fit. Yet, Kalinda's true goals are only revealed to the police once she calls upon the Moko-Jumbie's powers. I liked this story because the plot elements came together in an unexpected way with a satisfying conclusion.

"Someone Else to Play With" by Pete Kempshall
This story was told through the man's point of view, but dealt with his ex-girlfriend's struggle to hold onto him when a rich woman from the other side of town seduces him away. The Australian slang in this tale put me off at first, but the meaning was clear and the language was appropriate to the character, so it ultimately made for an engaging tale.

"Ride the Rebel Wind" by Amanda Gannon
The first story in the Tomorrow section brings us into a post-apocalyptic setting where a few humans roam on skyships between isolated settlements. Two strong women clash in a search to destroy the Kraken as it rides through thunderstorms and brings devastation to defenseless colonies. I couldn't put the book down as I read this dark, yet fascinating, tale about the creation and destruction of a monster.

"Her Eyes On" by Kay T. Holt and Bart R. Leib
What's a woman to do when she's stranded on a planet where only men have rights? Build her own ship so she can leave, of course. But when her husband sells her ship, she's faced with some tough decisions and a daring flight. This story was a great example of a woman who makes tough choices that fall into a gray area of morality, but the authors made me both cheer for her and simultaneously struggle with her decisions. Read more ›