Mean Streets [Hardcover]

Kat Richardson (Author), Thomas E. Sniegoski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2009

Readers will be delighted with this collection of original novellas tied to popular crime/fantasy series. The standout is Sniegoskis' "Noah's Orphans," in which angel PI Remy Chandler must solve the murder of the biblical Arks builder, whose battered corpse is found on an abandoned oil rig. Sniegoski manages to make a far-fetched setup both plausible and moving. Butcher's "The Warrior" hints at a mysterious ongoing war, while wizard detective Harry Dresden solves a case with typical dry wit. Green employs darker humor in "The Difference a Day Makes," in which PI John Taylor assists a woman who wandered into the dark world hidden within London, while Richardson's "The Third Death of the Little Clay Dog" neatly merges noir conventions with a fantastical plot. All solid and suspenseful, these stories are sure to please.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Roc (2009)
• ISBN-10: 1607518635
• ISBN-13: 978-1607518631
• ASIN: B002HFMYVO
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,002,516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 1 hit, 2 good, 1 huge miss..., February 11, 2009

By 

I. J. Gilbert (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mean Streets (Mass Market Paperback)

Anthologies usually aren't something I'm interested in - I generally prefer the more fleshed out, complete stories of a novel length book. But I'm a Jim Butcher fan, and the other authors have some solid reviews so I figured I'd give it a try...

Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden story was good. Harry's friend Michael Carpenter, former Knight of the Sword, is being threatened and it's up to Harry to figure out who it is and and stop them - if he can manage to without getting killed himself. The story was well-paced, and can be enjoyed by people not familiar already with the Dresden series. Butcher took care to give enough background information so that new readers wouldn't be lost; but familiar readers won't be bored by repetition. Butcher does a good job, in that while his hero is a powerful wizard, he's far from indestructible, and often gets out of jams by the skin of his teeth. This was the best story of the anthology in my opinion, but then I already admitted to being prejudiced on this count.

Kat Richardson's Greywalker/Harper Blaine story was interesting. I'd never read any of her work before so was totally unfamiliar with the character; but like Butcher enough background information was provided that I could follow the story line easily enough. Basically, Harper is hired to do a simple job in Mexico - one that turns out to be, of course, more complicated that it's first thought to be. Richardson's heroine has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts, and she uses this ability to solve the puzzle of this short story. This is NOT an action-packed tale though - so if you're expecting a lot of intense scenes of peril for our heroine, you'll be disappointed. Overall, the story was good enough that I'll be looking into more of this series.

And then we come to Sniegoski. I'm slightly familiar with his work - mostly through the ABC Family miniseries based on the Fallen stories. Sniegoski has the potential to offend many, many people that are of the deeply religious convictions who aren't open to alternate thoughts on this subject. Remy Chandler - formerly the angel Remiel of the highest order of Angel, the Seraphim - has spent millenia living as human, as much as he can - loving and losing as he marches through time; and now working as a private detective. He's asked to look into the death of Noah (yes, Noah of the Ark) and to find the killer, or killers. The story was interesting, and I think the author did a good job portraying Chandler's fight to live as human while fighting his angelic reality. There is a good plot twist in the story, and like Richardson's story, it was good enough that I'll be looking into this series as well.

Finally, we come to Simon R. Green's Nightside story of John Taylor, private detective. Taylor is hired by a woman who has lost the last 24 hours of her memory, and she wants it found - what happened to her during those missing 24 hours. I admit, I was looking forward to this story most of all - I really enjoy finding a new (to me) series that I can then sit down and devour novel after novel - and Green has written a lot of Nightside novels already. But, I had a real hard time getting into this story for one basic reason. There was little or no tension in the story. We start out with Taylor enlisting his friend Dead Boy - who is like his name implies, dead. And as a zombie he's incredibly strong, pretty much immune to pain, and like Taylor has a rep of not being a person to mess with. Then we get introduced to Dead Boy's car - yes, his car - that is from the future, armed and armored to the teeth, and yep - you guessed it - also has a rep of not being something to mess with. Getting the idea? Basically Taylor and his buddy are so overpowered, that there are in little danger. The one time Dead Boy is overwhelmed, Taylor then pulls out his abilities which seem to be a little precognition and the ability to see all that is hidden and basically just walks amongst the foe disabling them. Every time our hero's party is threatened, our hero just pulls out his trump card and flattens them. You never really get any feeling that they are in any real danger. There is one screen during the 'car chase' that is just badly written in which Taylor is threatened by one thing which then seems to be forgotten about when he decides to take action. Trying to avoid much in the way of spoilers, so I don't want to be more exact than that.

So, in synopsis, one great story, two good ones, and one klunker. Which is too bad as the klunker is the story I was most hoping to enjoy. Granted, it's a short story, and Green can't do a lot of character development in that venue; but then again, both Richardson and Sniegoski managed it well.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All four of these authors write a 'mean' story., January 15, 2009

By 

melindeeloo (sb,ca) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Mean Streets (Mass Market Paperback)

Mean Streets succeeds where so many anthologies fall short - pun intended. So if you are buying this one just for the Harry Dresden short, you're going to pleasantly surprised because authors Green, Richardson, and Sniegoski manage to keep up with Butcher and all four authors deliver great urban fantasy novellas packed to the brim with satisfying stories carved from their series

"The Warrior" - Harry Dresden steps in when it appears that his good friend and former Knight of the Cross, Michael and family may be in danger. Someone wants Michael's old sword, a holy weapon against evil, which was given into Harry's keeping and that someone knows that Harry doesn't fear his own death but will go to any lengths to protect those he cares about. - This is one of the better mini episodes from Jim Butcher's Dresden world but Butcher does makes heavy use of the characters from his series so if you are new to the Dresden series you won't love Michael as much as I do or get the same kick out of seeing Butters doctoring Harry, but you will still get a good feel for Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard and all-around decent guy.

"Noah's Orphans" -- As much as I love Harry, when I skimmed through the book in the bookstore the start of Thomas E. Sniegoski's story is really what made me buy this book. Sniegoski's hero is angel Remy Chandler, who has chosen to leave heaven behind, and spent the last few millenium trying to be as human as possible, now making his living as a private detective. Though Remy wants nothing to do with the fallen angel who comes seeking his aid, Remy ends up on the case when Noah (of flood fame) is found murdered and "Noah's orphans" (the flood survivors denied a place on the Ark) are implicated. - The part of the story that captured me in the bookstore was the poignant beginning of the tale where Remy is dealing with the grief of the loss of his wife and the perfect moment of happiness he had finally achieved after all his endless years on earth. I really liked Remy and his dog Marlowe and the bits of angel mythos woven into the mystery.

"The Difference a Day Makes" -- John Taylor, resident detective of the bizarre world of Nightside, can't resist a dame in trouble. This time said dame wants John, whose talent is finding anything, to help her find her lost memories - I like Simon Green's twisted offbeat writing style, and the weird elements of the world of Nightside so much that the resolution to the mystery is almost anticlimactic, but then Nightside stories are more about the journey than the destination.

"The Third Death of the Little Clay Dog" -- Kat Richardson's first two Greywalker books are buried somewhere on my TBR pile, but I'll be digging them out soon. Richardson's heroine Harper Blaine, is able to walk the spirit world of the 'Grey' and talk to the dead. Turns out that's a skill that's going to come in real handy when Harper is tasked with placing a dog statue on a grave in Mexico during Dia Las Muertos. - Harper is a great character and all the Day of the Dead traditions add texture to tale, as Harper tries to get a handle on the significance of her mysterious task.

These were all four star reads and lucky me, one of the nice perks of anthologies are discovering new authors, I am adding Richardson and Sniegoski's series to my list.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally some modern fantasy stories for members of the male species, April 16, 2010

By 

T. Edmund Jenkin - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mean Streets (Mass Market Paperback)

I quite often find collections of short stories from successful writers to be little more than divided effort cash-cows, however Mean Streets was a cut above the rest.

Jim Butcher's story is an action packed story from his regular character Dresden. I'm often leary when swords are mentioned due to my favourite groan-worthy quote "A sword gets you a lot of space, even on a crowded hovertrain" from Saintcrow's Deal with the Devil. This story kicks ass though.

The next piece by Green is a pretty comical work "I opened my third eye; my private eye" (my eyes rolled) that isn't a bad read, probably more of a WTF don't take too seriously work though.

Richardson's story is a lengthy tale of msytery which is a great read, but does become a little convoluted and the author tries to squeeze decent twists into a short story.

Sniegoski risks melodrama of biblical proportions but pulls off a decent story with some cool action and a compelling lead character.

Overall these stories are of a style of urban fantasy that will appeal to boys a bit more especially in a genre dominated by twlight fans. The stories are action dominated with good character development underneath. Well worth the read