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gatun's review
5.0
Cinched: Imagination Unbound came to my attention because it contained a short story by John G. Harness, author of the Quincy Harker series that I love. A corset appears in all the stories. In some it is a major feature and in others the corset is a sinister oppressive feature lurking just at the peripheral of the reader's eye.
The book contains the following stories:
The Basque of Red Death by Eden Royce
Cazadora by Andrea Judy
Snake Bite by Misty Massey
Escape by Kimberly Richardson
The Circus by Emily Lavin Leverett
Homecoming by Dave Harlequin
The Blue Lights by MB Weston
A Gift for Death by RD Stevens
High Fashion Hell by John G. Hartness
Tighten the Laces by Herika Raymer
The Shadow Fatale by Nico Serene
Bone of My Bone, Flesh of My Flesh by Sarah Joy Adams
Lagniappe by Gail Z. Martin & Larry N. Martin
I loved the women in this collection. They were all strong women, with or without the sinister corset. They all made very hard choices and sacrifices to help those they loved and lost.
All the stories were good but the three standouts were:
The Blue Lights - reminded me of the best of the Victorian mysteries like Sherlock Holmes
High Fashion Hell - as usual for a Harker story, funny and horrifying all at once.
Tighten the Laces - hit the unique scale with a large and rocked it
This is a strong collection. I would love to hear it as an audiobook, maybe James Foster and Rebecca Roberts as the narrators.
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The book contains the following stories:
The Basque of Red Death by Eden Royce
Cazadora by Andrea Judy
Snake Bite by Misty Massey
Escape by Kimberly Richardson
The Circus by Emily Lavin Leverett
Homecoming by Dave Harlequin
The Blue Lights by MB Weston
A Gift for Death by RD Stevens
High Fashion Hell by John G. Hartness
Tighten the Laces by Herika Raymer
The Shadow Fatale by Nico Serene
Bone of My Bone, Flesh of My Flesh by Sarah Joy Adams
Lagniappe by Gail Z. Martin & Larry N. Martin
I loved the women in this collection. They were all strong women, with or without the sinister corset. They all made very hard choices and sacrifices to help those they loved and lost.
All the stories were good but the three standouts were:
The Blue Lights - reminded me of the best of the Victorian mysteries like Sherlock Holmes
High Fashion Hell - as usual for a Harker story, funny and horrifying all at once.
Tighten the Laces - hit the unique scale with a large and rocked it
This is a strong collection. I would love to hear it as an audiobook, maybe James Foster and Rebecca Roberts as the narrators.
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Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply.
samanthabryant's review
4.0
A creative and varied collection of short stories all of which include a corset.
I love themed anthologies. It's always fun to see how different writers come to the theme. This one included settings from long ago alongside stories that could have taken place yesterday, genres ranging from romance to Gothic horror to paranormal adventure to steampunk. This being a Falstaff book, of course there's something weird or supernatural going on in each story.
I found this anthology exceptional among others I've read for universally high quality and interesting tales. Not a dud in the bunch.
My favorite story was The Shadow Fatale by Nicole Burns, but I am a little biased towards superhero stories, since I write them myself. I also really loved The Blue Lights at Michelle Weston, a gothic revenge story, and Cazadora by Andrea Judy, in which a determined young woman sets out to avenge her friend with the help of a mysterious woman and finds a vocation. Bone of my Bone, Flesh of my Flesh by Sarah Joy Adams won the prize for surprising me the most with where the story went.
If you're already a fan of the Quincy Harker stories, you'll love High Fashion Hell by John G. Hartness (and if you don't know these stories yet, this is a good introduction, too). There's also a Storm and Fury adventure "Lagniappe"from Gail Z. Martin and Larry N. Martin for fans of that series.
A great collection of stories with variations on how the corset is incorporated. Something for everyone, I'd imagine.
I love themed anthologies. It's always fun to see how different writers come to the theme. This one included settings from long ago alongside stories that could have taken place yesterday, genres ranging from romance to Gothic horror to paranormal adventure to steampunk. This being a Falstaff book, of course there's something weird or supernatural going on in each story.
I found this anthology exceptional among others I've read for universally high quality and interesting tales. Not a dud in the bunch.
My favorite story was The Shadow Fatale by Nicole Burns, but I am a little biased towards superhero stories, since I write them myself. I also really loved The Blue Lights at Michelle Weston, a gothic revenge story, and Cazadora by Andrea Judy, in which a determined young woman sets out to avenge her friend with the help of a mysterious woman and finds a vocation. Bone of my Bone, Flesh of my Flesh by Sarah Joy Adams won the prize for surprising me the most with where the story went.
If you're already a fan of the Quincy Harker stories, you'll love High Fashion Hell by John G. Hartness (and if you don't know these stories yet, this is a good introduction, too). There's also a Storm and Fury adventure "Lagniappe"from Gail Z. Martin and Larry N. Martin for fans of that series.
A great collection of stories with variations on how the corset is incorporated. Something for everyone, I'd imagine.
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