Customer Reviews

Werehunter

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're hard up for a Diana Tregarde investigation (Lackey won't write them anymore), you're in luck! *Two* Tregarde stories can be found herein (short, but we take what we can get).

"Werehunter" - A young woman from our world, swept through a gate into High Hallack, finds that she has the powers of those of Were blood - she takes the shape of a wildcat. We find out a bit about how Kildas, one of the 12 *other* brides taken by the Were riders, fared after Gillan and Herrel left the Towers in _Year of the Unicorn_.

"SKitty", "A Tail of Two SKitties, SCat", "A Better Mousetrap" - These tales appeared separately in various volumes of _Catfantastic_. The basic idea is based on the old tale of Dick Whittington - how he became a wealthy man, when all he could invest in a shipping venture was his cat. These 4 stories are much better than the source material, though. Meet the CatsEye Company ship Brightwing - more specifically, the shipscat SKitty and her handler, Dick White. All of them revolve around Brightwing's new contract to trade with the Lacu'un.

Shipscats have to be smart enough to stay out of trouble - so they've been bioengineered to give them greater intelligence, and front paws resembling hands (and in SKitty's case, a wildcard - she's also telepathic, at least with Dick). One consequence - *nobody* envies Dick's job of looking after SKitty's occasional litters of kittens, since a kitten has only 2 neurons - one to keep the body moving at warp speed, and the other to get it into trouble. "You SWORE to me you weren't in heat when I let you out to hunt!" "I lie."

"The Last of the Season" - The slimebucket protagonist has the perfect cover for his activities as a murderous child molester - he's the ice cream man. His only concern is that his activities are seasonal - he can only stalk children safely during the warm season, when an ice cream vendor can blend into the scenery. But Molly, the little girl who is 'the last of the season', turns out to be his undoing.

"Satanic, Versus" - Diana Tregarde *does* have a day job - and her agent Morrie has persuaded her that, as a member of Romance Writers of the World, she should attend their Halloween costume party. (Andre suggested the Avengers costumes; he vetoed her idea of going as a witch and a vampire, since it's not 'come-as-you-are.') Morrie also wants them there as an escape hatch for another writer - Robert Harrison, who's looking a bit wild-eyed by the time he meets them, having been shanghaied by Morrie to escort another, newly-divorced writer. Dangling a presentable, single man in front of the RWW crowd - can we say, "drumstick in a school of pirahna"? (And yes, this is *the* Robert Harrison, from _Stalking the Night Fantastic_. When an emergency pops up, it's hilarious to watch him and Diana *both* step in to handle it, neither one knowing what the other is.)

"Nightside" - The first Diana Tregarde story to be written; it later grew up to become the novel _Children of the Night_. (It turns out Di *did* write Andre into one of her Regency novels; when he finds out, he offers to help her do some more 'research.' Ahem.)

"Wet Wings" - A world where political correctness has grown into censorship and oppression.

"Stolen Silver" - The only Valdemar story in this book. Ever wonder how Alberich, a Karsite soldier, became the weaponsmaster of the Heralds' Collegium?

"Roadkill"- What if that trash skittering across the road in the breeze really *were* alive?

"Operation Desert Fox" - As you should know, 'Desert Fox' was Erwin Rommel's nickname (the great German tank commander, the one who appeared in the film _Patton_). Here, though, Rommel *is* a tank - Bolo RML-1138, an AI in a tank's body, working with a human partner, Siegfried O'Harrigan (if you think Siegfried's name is odd, you don't know the half about his background; he's from Liberia). The two of them have been assigned by a cheapskate government to meet the minimum requirements for a colony's defense force. After all, nobody would *really* attack a backwater like Bachman's World, would they?

"Grey", "Grey's Ghost" - Grey is an African parrot, the beloved pet of Sarah Lyon-White, a new student at Mem'sab Harton's boarding school in London. Lackey describes Mem'sab as 'a sort of Victorian Diana Tregarde, sans vampire boyfriend.' Instead, she has her husband, Sahib Harton, and the staff of the school.

"...Mem'sab was a completely remarkable woman, for she had a Sikh, a Gurkha, two Moslems, two Buddhists, and assorted Hindus working in peace and harmony together - 'and Mum said in her letter that it's easier to get leopards to herd sheep than that!'" Instead of the stereotypical Boarding School Hell, this school provides familiar things for the children born in India, Africa, and other outposts of the Empire - curries and rice to eat, the sounds of Hindustani (Kipling is an especial favorite with the kids, since he reminds them of home).

The introduction was kind of out of nowhere, but I enjoyed most of the stories. The SKitty stories needed some help - a little cheesy, and the last one suffered from a severe length limit or something, I don't know. "The Last of the Season" was, um, freaky. It's like, I don't mind that she has a message about child porn and murder and stuff, but - the teddy bear? Yikes. If I were that kid, I'd be almost as scared of the bear as I was of the guy. The Diana Tregarde stories were good. I've never read those books, but now I'm probably going to, 'cause she seems cool. "Wet Wings" was Ms. Lackey's obligatory "I'm so great" bit. A little too transparently self-indulgent, I guess, although she had a point. It just could have been made without the use of a sledgehammer - and definitely without the cheese. "Stolen Silver" was in the Greenberg anthology "Horse Fantastic" several years ago. I spent a while tracking down a copy of that book just for this story... oh well : ) it's worth owning twice over, I guess. Alberich is my favorite Valdemar character. I had a nightmare about "Roadkill" a couple days after I read it - okay, I'm a wimp. But it's creepy. "Operation..." was pretty sweeeeeeet. The beginning was lame, regular Lackey background filler, but once the story got started it was fun. Kinda uneven, with the Disney-esque solutions and dialogue that are what occasionally drives me nuts about Lackey, but there were some great moments. The last two stories were interesting. "Grey" was a little silly, especially in the beginning, but its sequel was better - despite the "you're such good kids for coming to the adults" bit, which made me roll my eyes. But, hey, she wouldn't be Mercedes Lackey if she didn't have those little scenes. I would certainly be interested in reading that book... especially if she tried cutting the stereotypes a little more. Hey, what is UP with all those idiotic ads at the end? They'd be more likely to turn me off to the books they're pushing than convince me to buy them. Oh well. Isn't Amazon cool for giving us all space to babble? ; )

This is a collection of short stories intended as a companion to FIDDLER FAIR.

The book begins with a strange introduction about caring for birds. I do not know why this was included, or so long.

Four of the stories compose the Skitty stories previously found in the CATFANTASTIC books. These are rather contived tales about a telepathic Shipscat. They sort of remind me of bad SF mysteries; you know the type where some unexplained device is pulled out at the last minute to save the day.

Some of the other stories have also shown up in other collections.

Diana Tregarde fans will enjoy a cute story as DT attends a romance-writer's convention.

The final two stories are "Grey" stories. The first was written for a birdkeeping magazine, but neither is really about birds. The author describes them as sort of a Victorian-age Diana Tregarde series.

Overall not a bad collection, but a little less diverse than FIDDLERS FAIR. If you tend to buy collections and like these sorts of stories, there is a very good chance you have read or encountered these stories before.

This is a delightful collection. Though two of the stories were a bit darker than I am used to with Mercedes Lackey, I did enjoy them. "Satanic, Versus..." was especially hilarious and I hope to see more of Diana Tregarde in the future. Truth be told, I was considering buying the entire CatFantastic series just to find out what happens to SKitty, so I was trilled to find all the Skitty stories in here. And I am definitely hoping for a book about Grey, the Parrot. All in all, a throughly enjoyable collection.

Loved all these short stories. It was great to find out some background information about Alberich (Valdemar character). Dick & SKitty, etc. are wonderful! A novel about them is definitely needed!! Please, please write quicker Misty, I can hardly wait for the next one.....

I love Skitty and Scat. Would definitely like to read more about their adventures. Werehunters was a new twist. Thoroughly intriguing. I would read it again.

Science fiction
Werehunter
By: Mercedes Lackey
This is an anthology of stories and I am writing about three in particular that target one character SKitty. SKitty is a genetically engineered cat made to be on ships that they help out by clearing out rodents that sneak on board and cause trouble or/and damage therefore making it easy for the crew. Bio-tech made these cats like SKitty since spacers could not deal with pets that need looking after yet they also couldn't deal without a cat to act as a rodent control for mice and things on their ship. So bio-tech made genetically engineered cats to be intelligent companions of astronauts on their ships. So they made cats that were as intelligent as humans and other unique qualities. The type of ships cat that SKitty is has like all the different types enhanced intelligence, a smooth short undercoat so that they she does not shed, forepaws like that of a raccoon, and middle eared tuning so that she actually enjoys some types of space movement instead of disliking it. They also are trained before adoption to use the crew's sanitary facilities and are taught the emergency procedure. At six months old they are put up for adoption. This book is about her adventures with dick her caretaker.

I kind of enjoyed this book. Why I liked as much as I did is because it was fun and I do not often read science fiction although I do still enjoy it. One of the reasons though that I did not enjoy it more is that it is in an anthology and while I am happy that it was at least more than just one short story it was not much and it leaves me wanting more.

I enjoyed most of the short stories in this book, but it would have been worth the money just to read the Valdemar story. For those of you who have read all the Valdemar books, especially Arrows of the Queen, you need to read this story. It doesn't exactly clear up questions, but it's a story I've wanted to read since I've read those books. I bought the book and read the Valdemar story fist, then went back and re-read it. Now my best friend has the book to read and she has enjoyed it as much as I.

I have had this book lying about forever and hadn't read it - I'm not sure why it took me so long to do so, it is absolutely fabulous!
*First there is "Werehunter," a girl from our world who is desperately unhappy and in dire straits who is whisked to another world to discover that she can shift to a leopard form.
*Then follows four stories all set in the same world - "SKitty," "A Tail of Two SKitties," "SCat" and "A Better Mousetrap," which are just delightful stories about genetically engineered cats used in space ships and what happens when one gains recognition on an alien world that is overrun with vermin.
*"Last of the Season" is a really ... uncomfortable story and I can't go into details about it because it wouldn't pass the monitoring here. Suffice it to say that a little girl's teddy bear is also her guardian and a good thing, too. A very bad man gets what he deserves.
*In "Satanic, Versus" and "Nightside" we get a pair of Diana Tregarde stories - the first is a very amusing romp where Diana and Andre attend a romance writers convention, and the second is a short story that was the seed for Children of the Night: A Diana Tregarde Investigation.
*"Wet Wings" tells a story of political correctness run amok. It's a world not far away from the one we live in. Read and be afraid ...
*"Stolen Silver" is a Valdemar story; the story of how Alberich came to be a Herald. I recognize it, so I guess it must have been subsequently inserted into another book somewhere?
*"Roadkill" is another creepy story, inspired, Mercedes says in her foreword, when she saw a piece of cardboard blow across the road and wondered "what if it were alive?"
*"Operation Desert Fox" is a short story set in a Bolo anthology by Keith Laumer and is very entertaining.
*"Grey" and "Grey's Ghost" are set in the Harton school for English children whose parents are off in India or Africa (set in the Victorian era) and have sent their children back to England - Grey, the title character, is an African Grey parrot.

Each one of these stories is a true gem - Mercedes Lackey has shined each of them up for us until they sparkle. I heartily recommend this for fans of Ms. Lackey or anyone who enjoys a truly good tale.

Besides the Free Bard series, this was one of the first of Mercedes Lackey's books I had ever read, and it got me hooked. After reading this book, I was so eager to read anything I could of her books that I went out and collected every single one of her Valdemar books. The stories are exciting, and so different from each other that you never know what to expect. From the dark, haunting stories of vampires and kidnapping, to the exciting magic of fantasy worlds, to the Grey stories, which reminded me of "A Little Princess", her stories will capture your imagination and keep you fascinated until the end.