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Beast Within #2
Beast Within 2: Predator & Prey
Predator and prey. Hunter and hunted.These aren't your usual shapeshifter stories. These are the stories of bears, tigers, spiders, birds and more. Werewolves in steampunk England. Werespiders in Japan. Werepelicans in Louisana. Wereferrets in New York.This is an anthology that shifts the normal perceptions of who is the predator and who is the prey. Come take a walk on the wild side with the most unusual of guides and enjoy Beast Within 2.Beast Within 2: Predator & Prey features stories by Erik Scott de Bie, Dylan Birtolo, Michael West, Kerrie Hughes, James L. Sutter and more...
228 pages, Paperback
First published July 15, 2011
3 people are currently reading
91 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Brozek
164 books132 followersJennifer Brozek is a multi-talented, award-winning author, editor, and media tie-in writer. She is the author of the Never Let Me Sleep, and The Last Days of Salton Academy, both of which were nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. Her BattleTech tie-in novel, The Nellus Academy Incident, won a Scribe Award. Her editing work has netted her Bram Stoker Award, British Fantasy Award, and Hugo Award nominations. She won the Australian Shadows Award for the Grants Pass anthology. Jennifer’s short form work has appeared in Apex Publications, Uncanny Magazine, and in anthologies set in the worlds of Valdemar, Shadowrun, V-Wars, Masters of Orion, and Predator. Jennifer is also the Creative Director of Apocalypse Ink Productions.
Jennifer has been a freelance author and editor for over ten years after leaving her high paying tech job, and she’s never been happier. She keeps a tight schedule on her writing and editing projects and somehow manages to find time to volunteer for several professional writing organizations such as SFWA, HWA, and IAMTW. She shares her husband, Jeff, with several cats and often uses him as a sounding board for her story ideas. Visit Jennifer’s worlds at jenniferbrozek.com.
Jennifer has been a freelance author and editor for over ten years after leaving her high paying tech job, and she’s never been happier. She keeps a tight schedule on her writing and editing projects and somehow manages to find time to volunteer for several professional writing organizations such as SFWA, HWA, and IAMTW. She shares her husband, Jeff, with several cats and often uses him as a sounding board for her story ideas. Visit Jennifer’s worlds at jenniferbrozek.com.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 21, 2012
3.5 stars really.
#storyeachnight tonight with Solitary Instinct by Wendy N. Wagner from Beast Within 2: Preditor and Prey. This is a not-at-all veiled story of empowerment through predation, which while not at all bad was little more. The problem with tales like this is often they're too simplistic, too obvious. The mc's initial weakness is too much so you know that suddenly having power will corrupt the MC to a similar degree. People don't change so easily even when suddenly empowered, lending the story an air of inauthenticity, as well as making the take away message that people cannot be trusted with power, so it's better to keep them repressed. Not saying that's the author's message just the corrupted message of such tales after you read too many of them.
The Strange Tale of the Viennese Mathmetician by Joshua Reynolds from Beast Within 2. A WW-ish steampunk tale with exiled royalty-turned-spies, Dracul raiders and zeppelin bombers its vivid & a little dizzying. It's very exciting, but a little too intense for a short story, rather like if one took the 2nd half of Inglorious Basterds and cut in the vampire bits of From Dusk til Dawn at the theater scene. With werewolves. Regardless it's an awful lot of fun.
The Adventure of the Missing trophy by Mark W Coulter from Beast Within 2. A Sherlock Holmes & Werecritters tale it's woefully straight forward for a Holmes story. Not to mention supernatural. It's not at all bad, just....expected. The problem with theme anthos is that you can't have a story published in a werewolf book and then have the big reveal be that a character is a werewolf. Readers are going into stories with expectations and that kind of reveal doesn't work. Especially in a theme story. We are no longer in a world where people just don't think about the paranormal. Story tension solely being "It's a Supernatural thingie!" is not going to work in a culture where we've grown up with Count Chocula and Frankenberry and Demi Moore loving a ghost. When writers depend on the same old tension readers look for new things to do with their favorite themes. Thus ParaRomance & UF.
Blood Will Tell by JG Faherty The short form cheats this rich historical tale. It would make an excellent, classic horror-style novel or novella if expanded.
Vanessa McAvoy's Statement by Kelly Sails, a tale of a kindergarten class of shapeshifters gone sugar-mad. It's over the top, silly and invokes memories of Kindergarten Cop. "It's not a tumor!" (Apparently it's a were-ferret)
Tonight's #storyeachnight was Ties of Silver by James L. Sutter from Beast Within 2. Overall, I liked it. Love the paranormal noir angle, the voice, the plot, everything. Would have loved a whole book. Except that the only female in the story is only described by her breasts. The complete flatness of her seriously annoyed me.
The Long Road to Sanctum by Richard Farnsworth (Beast Within 2). It's not really a long story, which is a shame because the post-apoc western feel reminds me of @k_h_koehler 's Black Jack Derringer. It's an enjoyable read, but I was so into the weird western thing I was disappointed that there was little meat to the story.
Masako's Tale by @bymichaelwest from Beast Within 2. It's a good tale with a rare Japanese flavor. Definitely an unexpected and welcome change from more standard werecritter fare. It's really a fairy tale more than a shifter story. Though it is that too.
Help Wanted by Lydia Ondrusek from Beast Within 2. It's a real lovely story, not at all the kind you'd expect to find in a horror-themed book. It's set during the post-oil spill clean up in the gulf and handles the topic real well. A pleasure to read, actually.
Desperate Housewolves by Erik Scott de Bie. Despite pretty much knowing what was going to happen this was a fun little tale (totally made better by a male lead who volunteers at an animal rescue!)
Life Decisions by Dylan Birtolo. It's a 20s shifter mob tale, but lacking a lot of things, like details. I didn't realize it was a 20s story because there's little flavor to it. Likewise there's little emotional involvement with the story. It's one of those "things happen in an order" stories. But without any vibrancy or emotional connection.
Tonight #storyeachnight is Papa Pirana by Angel Leigh McCoy. I was prepared not to like this one because of a cliche-feeling opening. Yeah, it could have used a little more tightening (again I saw where the story was going) but it had everything the previous story lacked--excellent multicultural flavor, lush description, and an oddball kind of shape shifter that I never expected to read about. Kudos.
Deserter by Gabrielle Harbowy & Marie Bilodeaux. Military SF shifters for the win! This nice little blend of a tale is surprisingly yummy and manages to toss a nod to classic-style shifter tales into the mix.
Corvidae by Kerrie L. Hughes. It feels like the start of a Coraline-like adventure. I would have read a lot more of this one.
In One Stride Comes the Dark by Kenneth Mark Hoover--What a perfect, poignant end to this anthology. A wild west tale with all the archetypes, but none of the trite cliché, your Wise Native, White Hat and Outlaw all make an appearance. Totally satisfying.
#storyeachnight tonight with Solitary Instinct by Wendy N. Wagner from Beast Within 2: Preditor and Prey. This is a not-at-all veiled story of empowerment through predation, which while not at all bad was little more. The problem with tales like this is often they're too simplistic, too obvious. The mc's initial weakness is too much so you know that suddenly having power will corrupt the MC to a similar degree. People don't change so easily even when suddenly empowered, lending the story an air of inauthenticity, as well as making the take away message that people cannot be trusted with power, so it's better to keep them repressed. Not saying that's the author's message just the corrupted message of such tales after you read too many of them.
The Strange Tale of the Viennese Mathmetician by Joshua Reynolds from Beast Within 2. A WW-ish steampunk tale with exiled royalty-turned-spies, Dracul raiders and zeppelin bombers its vivid & a little dizzying. It's very exciting, but a little too intense for a short story, rather like if one took the 2nd half of Inglorious Basterds and cut in the vampire bits of From Dusk til Dawn at the theater scene. With werewolves. Regardless it's an awful lot of fun.
The Adventure of the Missing trophy by Mark W Coulter from Beast Within 2. A Sherlock Holmes & Werecritters tale it's woefully straight forward for a Holmes story. Not to mention supernatural. It's not at all bad, just....expected. The problem with theme anthos is that you can't have a story published in a werewolf book and then have the big reveal be that a character is a werewolf. Readers are going into stories with expectations and that kind of reveal doesn't work. Especially in a theme story. We are no longer in a world where people just don't think about the paranormal. Story tension solely being "It's a Supernatural thingie!" is not going to work in a culture where we've grown up with Count Chocula and Frankenberry and Demi Moore loving a ghost. When writers depend on the same old tension readers look for new things to do with their favorite themes. Thus ParaRomance & UF.
Blood Will Tell by JG Faherty The short form cheats this rich historical tale. It would make an excellent, classic horror-style novel or novella if expanded.
Vanessa McAvoy's Statement by Kelly Sails, a tale of a kindergarten class of shapeshifters gone sugar-mad. It's over the top, silly and invokes memories of Kindergarten Cop. "It's not a tumor!" (Apparently it's a were-ferret)
Tonight's #storyeachnight was Ties of Silver by James L. Sutter from Beast Within 2. Overall, I liked it. Love the paranormal noir angle, the voice, the plot, everything. Would have loved a whole book. Except that the only female in the story is only described by her breasts. The complete flatness of her seriously annoyed me.
The Long Road to Sanctum by Richard Farnsworth (Beast Within 2). It's not really a long story, which is a shame because the post-apoc western feel reminds me of @k_h_koehler 's Black Jack Derringer. It's an enjoyable read, but I was so into the weird western thing I was disappointed that there was little meat to the story.
Masako's Tale by @bymichaelwest from Beast Within 2. It's a good tale with a rare Japanese flavor. Definitely an unexpected and welcome change from more standard werecritter fare. It's really a fairy tale more than a shifter story. Though it is that too.
Help Wanted by Lydia Ondrusek from Beast Within 2. It's a real lovely story, not at all the kind you'd expect to find in a horror-themed book. It's set during the post-oil spill clean up in the gulf and handles the topic real well. A pleasure to read, actually.
Desperate Housewolves by Erik Scott de Bie. Despite pretty much knowing what was going to happen this was a fun little tale (totally made better by a male lead who volunteers at an animal rescue!)
Life Decisions by Dylan Birtolo. It's a 20s shifter mob tale, but lacking a lot of things, like details. I didn't realize it was a 20s story because there's little flavor to it. Likewise there's little emotional involvement with the story. It's one of those "things happen in an order" stories. But without any vibrancy or emotional connection.
Tonight #storyeachnight is Papa Pirana by Angel Leigh McCoy. I was prepared not to like this one because of a cliche-feeling opening. Yeah, it could have used a little more tightening (again I saw where the story was going) but it had everything the previous story lacked--excellent multicultural flavor, lush description, and an oddball kind of shape shifter that I never expected to read about. Kudos.
Deserter by Gabrielle Harbowy & Marie Bilodeaux. Military SF shifters for the win! This nice little blend of a tale is surprisingly yummy and manages to toss a nod to classic-style shifter tales into the mix.
Corvidae by Kerrie L. Hughes. It feels like the start of a Coraline-like adventure. I would have read a lot more of this one.
In One Stride Comes the Dark by Kenneth Mark Hoover--What a perfect, poignant end to this anthology. A wild west tale with all the archetypes, but none of the trite cliché, your Wise Native, White Hat and Outlaw all make an appearance. Totally satisfying.
July 22, 2012
I picked up this book at Gen Con from one of the authors who has a story in it and finally got around to reading it. Though I am only about 2/3 done my overall opinion isn't likely to change. The stories vary in quality, which is unsurprising since they are several different authors. The formatting of the book could have been better done, especially around the illustrations. To me the illustrations detracted from the overall quality. Still it is an enjoyable read and good exposure to authors you might not encounter otherwise.
January 17, 2012
One of the three best anthologies I have ever published a story in.
"The long road to sanctum.'
"The long road to sanctum.'
February 10, 2013
Uneven anthology, with some stories being better than others, but the standout here is Michael West's "Masako's Tale." Beautiful tortured love story, and the ending really creeped me out!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews