Spells of the City edited by Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenberg – review

In Tennessee William’s play A Streetcar Named Desire, the character of  Blanche Dubois says, “I don’t want realism. I want magic!”–a quote that aptly describes this collection of tales related by their relationship to their cities.  Many of the exploits and adventures within the stories could have mundane explanations.  Maybe the mother really did kill her daughter in Michael A Stackpole’s “The Devil Within,” or maybe the character was imagining the sounds coming from beneath her bed in Judi Rohrig’s ”Falls the Shadow.”  But who wants to read about that when there could be something truly extraordinary about the circumstances?

Admittedly, not all the stories were to my liking, but on the other hand I found several new authors I wanted to try out.  There were also returning favorites from whom I was delighted to read more.  As seems usual for anthologies, there were so-so stories and then there were more intriguing stories.  Of the thirteen stories contained, eight of them were interesting, but not attention-grabbing, while the five I enjoyed the most held a little something extra.

“The Devil Within” by Michael A. Stackpole:  This is a story set within the universe he created for his character Trick Molloy, who’s pulling time as a private investigator for this story.  Stackpole gives new meaning to the phrase “religious fervor.”  I was pleasantly surprised by Trick’s cynicism; there’s nothing I like more than a character who’s an unrepentant cynic.  Stackpole does a good job of laying the foundation for the world without bogging the story down with too much exposition.  I found it intriguing that for a person to tap into their magical ability, they had to have a “trip”–a catalyst, really.

“Falls the Shadow” by Judi Rohrig:  This is my first experience with this writer, though she appears to have several stories in anthologies waiting on my TBR pile, so I’ll have to read those, as well.  This is the classic case of things that go bump in the night but with a twist on what those critters are.  I freely admit I don’t understand this story completely; parts of the action jumbled themselves together, and the explanations were confusing, but the idea of it intrigued me and kept me reading.  I would definitely love to see the idea expanded into a novel, or given a few more stories to flesh it out a bit.

“We Burgled It, We Sure Did” by Mickey Zucker Reichart:  Leprechauns!  This is a story about what happens when people believe a little too much in some of the old tales.  Following the Leprechauns’ speech pattern is a little mind-bending, but the resolution to their problem makes a whole lot more sense than you’d believe from the premise alone.

“Disarmed and Dangerous” by Tim Waggoner:  This is a short story featuring Waggoner’s zombie PI, Matthew Richter.  I love the Matthew Richter books (Nekropolis and Dead Streets, both from Angry Robot Books), but even for someone without prior knowledge, Waggoner sets forth the background details well.  Humor, a little bit of horror, and action abound, and it was also nice to see Matthew’s friendship with Papa Chatha deepen.

“‘Twas the Happy Hour After Christmas” by Robert Wenzlaff:  Santa walks into Thor’s bar, and the two of them share stories about what it’s like having mythologies that keep changing on a mortal’s whim.  Poor Santa is sick of the commercialism of the holiday ruining his life and just wants a vacation.  Meanwhile Thor, who’s had his own share of publicity problems, comes up with a solution.  This was a short, amusing, and intriguing piece full of incidents such as what happened to Odin and how he got his eye back.

In the end, the anthology stood out for one reason to me–each story captured some of the magic and uniqueness that can only be found if you live in a city.  Amid the constant lights, streams of traffic, and seeming sleeplessness, a city holds a powerful magnetism for ordinary and paranormal folks alike.  This collection spotlighted the best of those feelings.