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bwagner's review against another edition
5.0
Mrs. Claus: Not the Fairy Tale They Say is an anthology by ten great authors coming together with their stories about a side of Mrs. Claus we are not use to seeing. Some of these authors are new and some I have read before. There is something for every paranormal story lover in this anthology. These stories will take you on a journey of witches, Valkyries, goblins, goddesses and so much more. Most of these stories are easy flowing and you will be at the end before you realize it. I loved how each story portrayed Mrs. Claus as a hero, the bad girl with attitude. She is a strong character, smart and someone you won't want to mess with. There wasn't a story that I didn't fall in love with Mrs. Claus's character. I highly recommend you read this anthology, I know you will find a favorite story in here like I did.
angelahayes's review against another edition
4.0
4 Stars
Mrs. Claus: Not the Fairy Tale they say is an Anthology of stories all centred around Mrs. Claus. We all know and love the traditional depiction of Santa’s wife. The cheerful, sweet, cookie baking, caregiver from the North Pole. But, what if there was more to Mrs. Claus? What if this image we’ve been given wasn’t accurate? What if there was a whole lot more to her than we’ve been led to believe, or could ever imagine?
Well, that’s exactly what this anthology is all about- each author offering their version of Mrs. Claus. This results in a wide variety of stories, tones, moods, feels, and settings. We zip from Valkyrie to Goddess, Fae to Witch- and so much more. We see her as good, evil, a hero, and a villain… and everything in-between.
This was an interesting look at Mrs. Claus and everything she is, or could be.
Thank you to all the contributing authors!
Mrs. Claus: Not the Fairy Tale they say is an Anthology of stories all centred around Mrs. Claus. We all know and love the traditional depiction of Santa’s wife. The cheerful, sweet, cookie baking, caregiver from the North Pole. But, what if there was more to Mrs. Claus? What if this image we’ve been given wasn’t accurate? What if there was a whole lot more to her than we’ve been led to believe, or could ever imagine?
Well, that’s exactly what this anthology is all about- each author offering their version of Mrs. Claus. This results in a wide variety of stories, tones, moods, feels, and settings. We zip from Valkyrie to Goddess, Fae to Witch- and so much more. We see her as good, evil, a hero, and a villain… and everything in-between.
This was an interesting look at Mrs. Claus and everything she is, or could be.
Thank you to all the contributing authors!
jennadb's review against another edition
4.0
Mrs. Claus: Not the Fairy Tale They Say Anthology is a compilation of very short stories from various authors: Wight Christmas by Laura VanArendonk Baugh The Asylum Musicale by C.B. Calsing Desperately Seeking Santa by DJ Tyrer Christmas Magic by Jennifer Lee Rossman Good Morning by Kristen Lee Moves Like Jagger by Randi Perrin Miss 'Lil Toe Head by Michael Leonberger Unexpected Guests by Andrew Wilson The True Story of Christina and Kristopher Kringle by Ross Van Dusen Shouldering the Burden by MLD Curelas You’d Better Watch Out by Maren Matthias Captain Lizzy and the Stranger in the Fog by Anne Luebke Agatha Sings to the Scorpions by Jeff Kuykendall Red to Hide the Blood by Hayley Stone
Each story has a different take on Mrs Claus. She is everything that you would never imagine her to be, from a sweet lady we have come to love, to a scary monster and everything in between. It was definitely an interesting read, dark and mysterious, sci fi and thrilling, paranormal and more.
If you like a little twisted christmas and eggnog, a little comedy and horror, then this this anthology is for you.
Each story has a different take on Mrs Claus. She is everything that you would never imagine her to be, from a sweet lady we have come to love, to a scary monster and everything in between. It was definitely an interesting read, dark and mysterious, sci fi and thrilling, paranormal and more.
If you like a little twisted christmas and eggnog, a little comedy and horror, then this this anthology is for you.
hncald78's review against another edition
5.0
This anthology will completely flip your preconceived notion of Mrs. Claus on its ear and leave it in a snow drift. Wow! I had never imagined Mrs. Claus to be anything like what was imagined in these pages. It was refreshing and fun to read these interpretations. I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology, much more than I thought I would when I realized the departure from our traditional depiction it would take. A fantastic read!
errantdreams's review against another edition
4.0
As is the case for nearly any anthology, some stories are better than others. But overall the quality is quite high. It’s nice to finally see Mrs. Claus get to do more than bake cookies and help her husband around the house!
Laura VanArendonk Baugh’s “Wight Christmas” introduces us to a Mrs. Claus who’s a Valkyrie! She sets off to warn the Council of holidays that there is a war on Christmas going on: several shipments of toys have been sabotaged, and elves have been injured and killed. She joins up with a wight who works for the Skeleton King in order to investigate the crimes. When dealing with Council business everyone is referred to by their holidays, and I found it hilarious to see people referred to as “National Raisin Council Day” and “Talk Like a Pirate Day”. It’s fun to see that all of these little days of recognition have been allowed onto the Council. This entry is equal parts hilarious and creepy, while the next story, C.B. Calsing’s “The Asylum Musicale,” is just plain creepy. Pregnant Lizzie Fields is in an insane asylum when the mysterious Yessica Klaus is brought in. Only Yessica seems to care when Lizzie goes into labor, but she may have an agenda of her own…
There’s a tale by D.J. Tyrer called “Desperately Seeking Santa” in which Santa disappears and Mother Christmas has to find and rescue him. This was short, straightforward, and kind of unsatisfying. “The True Story of Christina and Kristopher Kringle,” by Ross Van Dusen, also didn’t satisfy me. This time Mr. Kringle has no real agency, and Mrs. Kringle just seems to magically produce whatever’s needed. Still, it’s sweet. There’s an odd little story called “Shouldering the Burden” by M.L.D. Curelas that sees Phaedra–Mrs. Claus–delivering a statue to Greece. Anne Luebke’s “Captain Lizzy and the Stranger in the Fog” is short but kind of neat, introducing us to a Santa who’s charmingly inept at gift-giving, and an airship captain who’s willing to teach him some new tricks. Maren Matthias’s “You’d Better Watch Out” feels like it could have been much more than it was. The Claus family is nifty, and the setup of Mrs. Claus tracking down missing children is cool. But the whole thing just slipped through events like a soft-soled shoe on ice and ended with hardly any real work or conflict. If the story had been about twice as long it probably would have been perfect.
Jennifer Lee Rossman’s “Christmas Magic” is one of the weirder tales. Belle–Mrs. Claus–is an alien, and her people want to steal Earth’s magic. But first she needs to get Santa to leave the North Pole, which means arranging for his first Christmas flight in nearly a century. Randi Perrin’s “Moves Like Jagger” sees witch Rhiannon sending a music critic on a mission for her. It’s kind of randomly weird. Michael Leonberger’s “Miss ‘Lil Toe Head” sees a pair of young women playing Mr. and Mrs. Claus professionally. When “Mister” Claus has to go home for Christmas, the missus meets a very unusual young woman, as well as some weird alien furry creatures who like giving gifts. It’s a beautiful story. (Also, adult-rated!)
One of the more tragic tales is Kristen Lee’s “Good Morning.” Eve and Nick are kept frozen in ice all year every year by the elves until it’s time to wake them to do their holiday duty. In Andrew Wilson’s “Unexpected Guests,” Elora, Lady of the Winter Twilight, and her beloved Nikolaos live in Elora’s fairy realm. Treasure seekers mistake their realm for Santa Claus’s and come armed with iron. Jeff Kuykendall’s “Agatha Sings to the Scorpions” is one of my favorite entries in this volume. It’s an odd little sci-fi tale in which Agatha is playing Mrs. Claus to a bunch of “scorpions”–alien children and refugees–even though Frank, her Mr. Claus, was killed by terrorists. You’ll just have to read this one to truly appreciate the beauty of it. Hayley Stone’s “Red to Hide the Blood” is another good tale. An Inuit woman named Myra is determined to protect old Nick from the creatures that ate several of his reindeer, but that could take some doing. And it might just require Myra and Nick to come to terms with their feelings for one another.
All in all this is an enjoyable volume with a handful of really good stories and another handful of somewhat unsatisfying stories–not at all unusual for an anthology. The good definitely outweighs the so-so, however, and the theme is fun!
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2018/12/review-mrs-claus-ed-by-rhonda-parrish/
Laura VanArendonk Baugh’s “Wight Christmas” introduces us to a Mrs. Claus who’s a Valkyrie! She sets off to warn the Council of holidays that there is a war on Christmas going on: several shipments of toys have been sabotaged, and elves have been injured and killed. She joins up with a wight who works for the Skeleton King in order to investigate the crimes. When dealing with Council business everyone is referred to by their holidays, and I found it hilarious to see people referred to as “National Raisin Council Day” and “Talk Like a Pirate Day”. It’s fun to see that all of these little days of recognition have been allowed onto the Council. This entry is equal parts hilarious and creepy, while the next story, C.B. Calsing’s “The Asylum Musicale,” is just plain creepy. Pregnant Lizzie Fields is in an insane asylum when the mysterious Yessica Klaus is brought in. Only Yessica seems to care when Lizzie goes into labor, but she may have an agenda of her own…
There’s a tale by D.J. Tyrer called “Desperately Seeking Santa” in which Santa disappears and Mother Christmas has to find and rescue him. This was short, straightforward, and kind of unsatisfying. “The True Story of Christina and Kristopher Kringle,” by Ross Van Dusen, also didn’t satisfy me. This time Mr. Kringle has no real agency, and Mrs. Kringle just seems to magically produce whatever’s needed. Still, it’s sweet. There’s an odd little story called “Shouldering the Burden” by M.L.D. Curelas that sees Phaedra–Mrs. Claus–delivering a statue to Greece. Anne Luebke’s “Captain Lizzy and the Stranger in the Fog” is short but kind of neat, introducing us to a Santa who’s charmingly inept at gift-giving, and an airship captain who’s willing to teach him some new tricks. Maren Matthias’s “You’d Better Watch Out” feels like it could have been much more than it was. The Claus family is nifty, and the setup of Mrs. Claus tracking down missing children is cool. But the whole thing just slipped through events like a soft-soled shoe on ice and ended with hardly any real work or conflict. If the story had been about twice as long it probably would have been perfect.
Jennifer Lee Rossman’s “Christmas Magic” is one of the weirder tales. Belle–Mrs. Claus–is an alien, and her people want to steal Earth’s magic. But first she needs to get Santa to leave the North Pole, which means arranging for his first Christmas flight in nearly a century. Randi Perrin’s “Moves Like Jagger” sees witch Rhiannon sending a music critic on a mission for her. It’s kind of randomly weird. Michael Leonberger’s “Miss ‘Lil Toe Head” sees a pair of young women playing Mr. and Mrs. Claus professionally. When “Mister” Claus has to go home for Christmas, the missus meets a very unusual young woman, as well as some weird alien furry creatures who like giving gifts. It’s a beautiful story. (Also, adult-rated!)
One of the more tragic tales is Kristen Lee’s “Good Morning.” Eve and Nick are kept frozen in ice all year every year by the elves until it’s time to wake them to do their holiday duty. In Andrew Wilson’s “Unexpected Guests,” Elora, Lady of the Winter Twilight, and her beloved Nikolaos live in Elora’s fairy realm. Treasure seekers mistake their realm for Santa Claus’s and come armed with iron. Jeff Kuykendall’s “Agatha Sings to the Scorpions” is one of my favorite entries in this volume. It’s an odd little sci-fi tale in which Agatha is playing Mrs. Claus to a bunch of “scorpions”–alien children and refugees–even though Frank, her Mr. Claus, was killed by terrorists. You’ll just have to read this one to truly appreciate the beauty of it. Hayley Stone’s “Red to Hide the Blood” is another good tale. An Inuit woman named Myra is determined to protect old Nick from the creatures that ate several of his reindeer, but that could take some doing. And it might just require Myra and Nick to come to terms with their feelings for one another.
All in all this is an enjoyable volume with a handful of really good stories and another handful of somewhat unsatisfying stories–not at all unusual for an anthology. The good definitely outweighs the so-so, however, and the theme is fun!
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2018/12/review-mrs-claus-ed-by-rhonda-parrish/
deearr's review
4.0
After a lifetime of images of a woman who didn’t do much but fatten up her husband and herself (must be the plate of cookies I always see her with), it was refreshing to read this Mrs. Claus anthology. Editor Rhonda Parrish performed well, giving readers many different types of females Clauses. These women are not merely takeoffs on the one we have always heard about, but imaginative stories that transform Mrs. Claus into someone else.
As with any themed collection of stories, most are entertaining, some are downright awesome, and a couple could have been left out of the book. Ms. Parrish has done well, packaging the book in a manner that I felt started and finished with some of the stronger stories. “Wight Christmas” by Laura VanArendonk Baugh set the bar high for the rest of the anthology, but enough stories reached those heights for me to say that this is definitely a book to tuck away with the rest of the Christmas media. “The Asylum Musicale” is a dark tale, one not usually associated with the season (but I did say there fwere imaginative offerings here and C. B. Calsing does a great job with this one). “Agatha Sings to the Scorpions” by Jeff Kuykendall offers a space-age, sci-fi aspect, and Hayley Stone’s “Red to Hide the Blood” contained bits of humor, horror, and whimsy. There are also some gems throughout the book, such as Randi Perrin’s “Moves Like Jagger.”
I can’t finish this review without a positive comment about the incredible cover art, the layout and design credited to Sarena Ulibarri. Without seeing anything else about the book except the cover I immediately decided to read this book. Christmas is a magical time, and the artwork conveys that feeling. Four stars for this creative collection.
My thanks to NetGalley and Broad Universe for an advance copy of this book.
As with any themed collection of stories, most are entertaining, some are downright awesome, and a couple could have been left out of the book. Ms. Parrish has done well, packaging the book in a manner that I felt started and finished with some of the stronger stories. “Wight Christmas” by Laura VanArendonk Baugh set the bar high for the rest of the anthology, but enough stories reached those heights for me to say that this is definitely a book to tuck away with the rest of the Christmas media. “The Asylum Musicale” is a dark tale, one not usually associated with the season (but I did say there fwere imaginative offerings here and C. B. Calsing does a great job with this one). “Agatha Sings to the Scorpions” by Jeff Kuykendall offers a space-age, sci-fi aspect, and Hayley Stone’s “Red to Hide the Blood” contained bits of humor, horror, and whimsy. There are also some gems throughout the book, such as Randi Perrin’s “Moves Like Jagger.”
I can’t finish this review without a positive comment about the incredible cover art, the layout and design credited to Sarena Ulibarri. Without seeing anything else about the book except the cover I immediately decided to read this book. Christmas is a magical time, and the artwork conveys that feeling. Four stars for this creative collection.
My thanks to NetGalley and Broad Universe for an advance copy of this book.
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