hc.newton

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.

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What’s Locks & Keys’s Blurb?

Will a persecuted witch give the kingdom’s heir what he deserves? Does the squad of plucky rebels find a way out of an infiltration gone wrong? How can a street urchin survive in the shadow of an infamous gang? Can a thief brave the belly of the beast in search of a treasure that will never be hers? How sinister can a bond be between an orphan and her mother?

Pirates raid a fishing island in the sky. A sickly girl pushes past the threshold for Demonsnight. An apprentice gloomsinger comes face to face with what he fears most. With her life on the line, a cook prepares one last dish. A demon girl flies to the city of humans, begging them to change.

Ten unique fantasy stories by ten different authors. Dragons, sky pirates, and even samurai inhabit these pages. Locks, keys, and secrets loom over all.

These authors are part of a group that calls themselves The Secret Scribes—and you should check them out.

Highlights for Me

Sometimes when it comes to collections like this, I write a paragraph or two about each story. I’m not going to do that this time, because 1-1.5 of these stories didn’t do much for me, and I really don’t want to say anything negative about the stories, nor do I want to say something tepid (which is really what I’d go for). Because even with those stories, there was something about the writing that made me want to root for the authors.

But I want to say some specific things—so I’m going to focus on just a couple of the stories.

“Rebels Without a Clue” by Seán O’Boyle I was feeling pretty positive about the collection from the first story, but this sealed the deal for me—there was no way I wasn’t going to like the anthology. There’s some great satire where the revolutionaries are so caught up in notions of equality that they can’t do anything. There are…um, nope, can’t say that. Hilarious and bleak. And the ending was just fantastic. I own both of O’Boyle’s books, but just haven’t gotten to them yet—that’s changing really soon.

“Cold Mutiny” by Tom Bookbeard Okay, Bookbeard has been tantalizing me and you readers the last two Julys by talking about his book about Space Pirates. Well, this short story gives us an idea what that novel could be like. And, yeah, I’m ready for it.

“Drakesong” by Bill Adams I admit that at the beginning of this story, I chalked it up to “interesting, but whatever…” But before it was over, I’d moved into “interesting, and wow!” I don’t know how to talk about it without ruining the whole thing, so I’ll just say give this one a chance, you’ll be glad you did. (and most of you won’t need that encouragement anyway)

“You’re the Key” by Alex Scheuermann It’d be easy to say that this collection saved the best for last (although the competition is stiff). Scheuermann takes you for a ride—the world is stunning, beautiful and broken, the characters are truly flawed (or worse), the plot takes directions you won’t see coming—and somehow, there’s a little bit of hope in the midst of a lot of darkness.

So, what did I think about Locks & Keys?

I had to force myself to stop there—if only because I kept reading bits and/or pages from those stories, and I was on the verge of re-reading the whole book again. And I just don’t have time for that.

Okay, one more quick thing—if all you know about Dave Lawson comes from the covers to his novels (which puts you in the same boat as me), you won’t expect his story to be what it is.

This is a strong collection—while I won’t say they’re all winners, none of them are losers. Not only are these stories solidly entertaining reads on their own—or as a whole—they’re great advertisements for the other stories/books by the individual authors.

I’ve built a shopping list while reading this—and I expect you will, too. And if you don’t? Well, you’ll have had a good time anyway. This is one you want to nab, folks.