Those Who Fight Monsters

Those Who Fight Monsters: Tales of Occult Detectives, Justin Gustainis (ed.), Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, 2011

These days, urban fantasy stories are big business (in literary terms). This anthology presents new stories of demon hunters by today's most popular writers.

Kate Connor is your average suburban soccer mom, who just happens to work for a super-secret branch of the Vatican. Allie, her teenage daughter, is a demon-hunter in training, but is not yet ready to join Kate on patrol (a never-ending source of sulking and whining on Allie's part). Allie sneaks off to a fancy party in a huge mansion owned by a demon who needs human sacrifices.

Quincey Morris is an occult investigator in Austin, Texas. His latest client is a man whose dot-com went out of business. Contemplating suicide, he signed over his soul in exchange for ten years of success. The ten years are up in a few hours, and the man is terrified that he is going to Hell. Can Morris do anything about it?

Petunia "Pete" Caldecott is a former Inspector with the London Metropolitan Police. Sitting in a bar one night, wanting to be alone, she is approached by an inhabitant of the land of Faery. The prince of Faery has been murdered, which is totally foreign to Faery, and human eyes are needed to find the murderer.

Tony Giodone is a former hitman who has been turned into a werewolf. He now works for the police force of the Sazi Council (they are the good guys). His latest case involves Carmine, a mob boss, who has snuck into Calgary, Alberta, because there are people who want a certain thing very badly. They have no problem with killing anyone who gets in their way. It involves a vial of a very sophisticated virus, and what looks like a photo of a brick wall.

These stories will certainly keep the reader interested. For non-horror readers (like yours truly), the horror part is not overwhelming. Urban fantasy readers will love this book, and it is a first-rate group of stories.