Hotter Than Hell – Anthology – Review

I picked this anthology up because I’ve recently been hooked by Kim Harrison’s Hollows series, and Marjorie Liu’s name on the cover sealed the deal. Interestingly, many of these authors, including editor Kim Harrison, are usually shelved in Horror or Sci-Fi/Fantasy, but you’ll probably find this anthology in the Romance section. Like their authors, the stories range from erotic horror to erotic paranormal romance to mostly just erotic. Notice the common denominator? I’m thinking that’s how the title happened.

Of the thirteen authors featured, I’d only read a few before. I looked at this smorgasbord as a way to find some new authors. Now, I can’t do a full-on review of all 13 stories or we’ll be here all day, but here are some highlights:

1. Tanya Huff – a fun, clever story about modern day Sirens and outwitting the bad guys. I love that.

2. Marjorie Liu – actually didn’t love this Minotaur story as much as I do some of her books. Like my thoughts on The Last Twilight, I had similar issues with this story – it just seemed a little too fuzzy around the edges for me. Neat premise though.

3. L.A. Banks – honestly? This one just seemed a little silly to me: Artemis wakes up and sees the current ecological devastation, and starts picking off CEOs, first turning them into stags and then hunting them.

4. Keri Arthur – I loved the writing and characterization in this little werewolf story. While I think the short story might not be Arthur’s best format, as the story seemed kind of unfinished, the stuff that was good makes me want to try a full length book.

5. Lilith Saintcrow - <shiver> - wins the prize for the creepiest story in the book. Love the writing. I suspect it might be a little too dark and cold for my taste, leaning farther into horror than I generally like to go. But I might have to read a full book first, just to make sure.

6. Harrison’s contribution had an O. Henry-like twist at the end that I had to go back and re-read before I “got” it. I’ll just say: whoa.

There are 7 other stories here to sample, but these are the ones that stood out the most for me, good and bad. Overall, if you like hot paranormal romance, this is a nice compendium for your nightstand. Harrison has a number of other anthologies out with the “Hell” theme, too, if this one hits all of your RAVE buttons.

Also reviewed by:

Literary Escapism
Amberkatz
The Good, The Bad, The Unread
TechnoMom
Urban Fantasy