Down These Strange Streets (ed. by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois)

Lots of weird short stories. Some good ones, some....not so good. Some of my favorite authors disappointed me, but I found a few new potential authors to check out. Best in the book is the last one, set in Alaska during World War II. Some other intriguing concepts, but as I read the book over the course of 3 months at lunch times at work, several of them have slipped my mind.

A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness

Wow. While not the best amalgam of history, fantasy, and romantic suspense, it's a pretty good story. We have a powerful witch who refuses to use her power, preferring to blend in with the human world, but that all ends when she 'draws' a coveted manuscript to her by accident. We have a powerful vampire who at first only wants the manuscript, then wants the witch herself. We have daemons--they are the eccentrics of the world, the savants.

And this is only the first book in a series. Wish I'd've known that when I picked it up.

By Blood We Live (edited by John Joseph Adams)

Some absolutely wonderful stories here, jumping on the vampire bandwagon. Some really silly, lame ones too, but the good far outweighed the bad.

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer (on CD)

So, I heard the author on NPR a few weeks ago talking about her new (adult) novel. They mentioned the series begun by this book and since it's been on reserve perpetually forever, I figured I'd give it a try.

It's not bad. OK, it's actually very good--although I was not in love with the person reading it--in fact, it's quite subversive for a YA novel. All about self-control and doing the right thing out of love in spite of a lot of reasons not to do the right thing; sometimes the right thing is against one's very nature. Interesting.

As a love story...meh, I'm not thrilled with it, however.

Did I mention the vampires? Oh. There are vampires.