Janet Berliner (1939–2012)

*** "Julie's Unicorn" - Peter S. Beagle.
A miniature but feisty unicorn jumps out of a museum's medieval tapestry and ends up in the home of a modern California couple.

*** "Sea Dreams" - Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta
Two women, long-time best friends. One's always been flighty and imaginative, one practical and conservative. And now, one is gone. Whose choices were better?

** "The Same But Different" - Janet Berliner
A crass talent agent seeks to bring an African dance troupe to Vegas, and gets far more than he bargained for.

*** "Seven for a Secret" - Charles de Lint
A horned women passes through a crash pad for the down-and-out and other transients... and changes at least one life with her magic.

**** "The Brew" - Karen Joy Fowler
Two trespassing children discover an eccentric neighbor's secret - one that will follow them into adulthood.

*** "Mirror of Lop Nor" - George Guthridge
Two different, but linked stories.
The first, a tragedy related by a dying warrior on a Mongolian steppe.
The second, a story of a modern Eskimo woman whose life reflects the experiences of that ancient warrior.

**** "The Hunt of the Unicorn" - Ellen Kushner
A drama of manners? A gay man who believes that those who love him must die, due to evil magics. If you loved 'The Fall of the Kings" etc, you'll also love this.

*** "Winter Requiem" - Michael Marano
A horror story, on the old theme of a deal with a devil and demonic possession. All right, but doesn't bring anything strikingly new to the table.

** "A Rare Breed" - Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
If you like the sort of humor where a unicorn catches a middle-aged woman with her pants down in the woods, you will likely enjoy this (more than I did.)

** "A Plague of Unicorns" - Robert Sheckley
A faux-Greek, semi-humorous fantasy of a quest to a land where everyone is immortal, in order to gain a potion of magical unicorn horn to save a dying beloved.

** "Survivor" - Dave Smeds
A magical tattoo causes a Vietnam vet to be afflicted with multiple personality disorder, as he's haunted by the personalities of all his dead army buddies.

*** "A Thief in the Night" - S.P. Somtow
A vampiric evil meets a more powerful purity, in sunny Southern California.

** "Half-Grandma" - Melanie Tem
A rather sappy story of a child encountering the death of a beloved elder.

*** "Three Duets for Virgin and Nosehorn" - Tad Williams
A resentful priest of the Inquisition is charged with accompanying a mysterious box on a sea voyage.
A Dutch maid is asked to model for a visiting artist.
A young Thai princess encounters a handsome and arrogant warrior.
Interesting, and well-written.

*** "We Blazed" - Dave Wolverton
In a mysterious and savage far future, an enigmatically resurrected man searches for the woman to whom he pledged a love beyond death.

2.8 average rounds up to 3.… (more)

The Artifact, by Kevin J Anderson (and others), just affirmed why he is one of my favorite authors. Every book of his that I have read has been action-packed and fast-paced. It feels like you're watching a movie. The Artifact was no exception. A group of men, calling themselves the Daredevils Club meet every year to brag about their adventures. When one of the men discover several mysterious artifacts, seemingly not of this world, he enlists the aid of the Daredevils Club to help find the missing pieces.

The cast of characters was a group of people, so none of them were explored too deeply. But this was a short book, with only a back-story at the beginning, explaining how the Daredevils got together.

With plenty of twists and a surprise ending, The Artifact will keep you on the edge of your seat. I read through it in two days, because it was so hard to put down.… (more)