Strip Mauled

Supernatural Suburbia #2

by Esther M. Friesner (Editor)

The Follow-Up to Witch Way to the Mall from the Creator of the Chicks in Chainmail Series. It’s the Werewolves’ Turn to Howl Across the Well-Kept Lawns and Neat Picket Fences of Supernatural Suburbia. Werewolves and the suburbs are a natural go-together. Okay, so they’re not the Obligatory/Iconic Suburban Golden Retriever or Chocolate Labrador, but they’ve got a much better chance of taking home the Best in Show ribbon than their Undead rivals, the vampires. In some suburban households, if it brings home a trophy, who cares if it also brings home bloody chunks of the neighbors every time the full moon shines? And let’s not forget one more advantage to the suburban If his lupine side does something nasty on your lawn, his human side can come by later with the Pooper Scooper. In your face , Dracula! Therefore, welcome to the fur-sprouting, mall-browsing, moon-howling, latté-sipping world of Strip Mauled . You’ll like what you find. Sit. Stay. Good reader. Stories of suburban lycanthropy by Sarah A. Hoyt, Dave Freer, K. D. Wentworth, and more—including Esther Friesner herself.

Genres: Fantasy, Anthologies, Short Stories, Urban Fantasy, Humor, Werewolves, Paranormal

416 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 28, 2009

About the author

Esther M. Friesner was educated at Vassar College, where she completed B.A's in both Spanish and Drama. She went to on to Yale University; within five years she was awarded an M.A. and Ph.D. in Spanish. She taught Spanish at Yale for a number of years before going on to become a full-time author of fantasy and science fiction. She has published twenty-seven novels so far; her most recent titles include Temping Fate from Penguin-Puffin and Nobody's Princess from Random House.

Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in Asimov's, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Aboriginal SF, Pulphouse Magazine, Amazing, and Fantasy Book, as well as in numerous anthologies. Her story, "Love's Eldritch Ichor," was featured in the 1990 World Fantasy Convention book.

Her first stint as an anthology editor was Alien Pregnant By Elvis, a collection of truly gonzo original tabloid SF for DAW books. Wisely, she undertook this project with the able collaboration of Martin H. Greenberg. Not having learned their lesson, they have also co-edited the Chicks In Chainmail Amazon comedy anthology series for Baen Books, as well as Blood Muse, an anthology of vampire stories for Donald I Fine, Inc.

"Ask Auntie Esther" was her regular etiquette and advice column to the SFlorn in Pulphouse Magazine. Being paid for telling other people how to run their lives sounds like a pretty good deal to her.

Ms. Friesner won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story of 1995 for her work, "Death and the Librarian," and the Nebula for Best Short Story of 1996 for "A Birth Day." (A Birth Day" was also a 1996 Hugo Award finalist.) Her novelette, "Jesus at the Bat" was on the final Nebula ballot in the same year that "Death and the Librarian" won the award. In addition, she has won the Romantic Times award for Best New Fantasy Writer in 1986 and the Skylark Award in 1994. Her short story, "All Vows," took second place in the Asimov's SF Magazine Readers' Poll for 1993 and was a finalist for the Nebula in 1994. Her Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel, Warchild, made the USA TODAY bestseller list.

She lives in Connecticut with her husband, two children, two rambunctious cats, and a fluctuating population of hamsters.

Reviews

[Cissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best collections I've read recently. Most of the stories were very good, and there were some cool twists on the whole werewolf thing: the guy who was not a werewolf, yet who the weres thought was, so he got a job on a werewolf company and a house in a werewolf suburb, but didn't quite fit in...; and the one where a werewolf girl finds True Love at a furry convention- these were 2 of the standouts. Oh, and Jim Hine's truly peverse take on children's TV. Very fun stuff!

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthologies are a dicey lot to try and give a single rating. While there was one five-star story and one or two four-star tales, most of stories were just kind-of there. Not bad but not really unique or funny enough to stand out. On the plus side...hey, werewolves rock and even a bad werewolf story is still good.

[S.J. Bell]

"Alas, poor werewolves," writes Esther Friesner in the introduction to Strip Mauled. "Forever doomed to be Avis to the vampire's unassailable fang-hold on Hertz, Pepsi to their Coke, Burger King to their McDonalds!" To which LupLun replies, "Where you been? Antarctica?"

I shouldn't be mean. Strip Mauled was published in 2009, meaning that said intro was probably penned in 2008. At which point, yes, the bloodsuckers did rule the roost. But, the wheel turns. Over the past two years, we've seen two debuting werewolf series' make the bestseller lists, a number of more established series being rediscovered, and lest we forget Team Jacob was trouncing Team Edward pretty soundly until the latter started firing the canon. The vamps remain on top, but they're slipping. You're as likely to see parodies of vampire romances than straight examples on the bookshelves these days. Clearly, brooding immortals with cold skin and neck fetishes don't do it for the modern fangirl. She wants someone who romances her, as Trent Reznor put it, "like an animal." So, an anthology with a stated goal being "helping our long-suffering lycanthropic brethren to lay claim to their rightful bite of the American Dream" seems almost quaint these days. Our moon, after all, is already waxing.

Read the full review at Lupines and Lunatics

[Lindsey Duncan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part of a series of anthologies set in suburbia, each looking at the trials and tribulations of a particular brand of supernatural species (or occupation, in the case of the witches), Strip Mauled is the werewolf part of this set. Unfortunately, while most of the stories have humorous moments and are at least worth a smile, most of the authors in turn sacrifice tension and interest in favor of levity. Sometimes, it's hard to suspend disbelief; other times, it's hard to care. When the characters aren't emotionally invested, how can the reader be?

There were some aspects of the anthology I enjoyed. For instance, some of the stories - but not all - link to the tales in Witch Way to the Mall. The sense of continuity was nice. And of course, some of the humor is enjoyable enough that it doesn't matter that the attached story isn't the most gripping of tales. Superlative in the volume - no surprise - was Friesner's own contribution. Incisively witty and hilarious, the satisfaction and suspense in the tale is to see how the odious narrator is outmanuevered. Usually, I object to editors including their own stories ... here, I just can't.

This is a serviceable anthology - only one or two of the stories are actually bad. With the exception of Friesner's, however, I can't really say that any of them stand-out, either.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is twenty short stories about werewolves in suburbia, most of them intending to be funny. But the problem is, twenty short stories is just too, too many. I would have preferred ten or fifteen stories that may (or may not) have been longer. “Enforcement Claws” by Steven Piziks is about a suburb with a very strict Home Owner’s Association, that while it allows werewolves, zombies and witches, it doesn’t allow for “mixing phyla” until the president of the HOA’s son (she's a werewolf) comes out as a werecat. “Special Needs” by K. D. Wentworth is about a Cub Scout pack for young werewolves in the suburbs, that gets a new member, with an obnoxious mother.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd seen this book before at Barnes and Noble but hadn't been in the mood for short stories. The first week of school, however, is challenging; I didn't think I could remember longer storylines with the pressure.

In general, I like the collections that Esther M. Friesner edits. In this grouping, three stories particularly tickled my fancy while two left me confused.

I may re-read the whole collection later but, right now, I'm keeping the book for the three stand-outs. I'm recommending those stories to my friends who enjoy paranormal fiction with a sense of humor.

[Janika · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most anthologies, some stories were better than others, and I skipped the last one as I'm really not a fan of reading fiction written as if it was a drama script, but overall I enjoyed this collection.

I am glad however that I did read the first anthology in this series first, even though it arrived in the post after this and the third, as some of the stories picked up from where previous stories had left off. I enjoy it, generally, but it makes it important to start reading with the first volume.

[Spring Holbrook · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really a werewolf fan, so I was pretty surprised by how entertaining I found all the stories in this compilation. Much like the Chicks in Chainmail series, there were some repeat authors between this volume and Witch Way to the Mall? which is cool, and also encourages me to re-read that one.

This is good humorous reading for fans of werewolves in particular or the supernatural in general.

[Connie Lynne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Esther M. Friesner is not an excellent comedic writer; she's a mediocre one who's occasionally good. She usually is a great editor of comedy, however. This book read more like a collection of stuff written by her than stuff edited by her. The title metaphor was tortured at times, and the comedy was broad and sophomoric.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like anything edited by Esther Friesner, and I enjoyed most of these werewolf stories. I found Enforcement Claws hilarious, and Frijoles for Fenris was also great. I had trouble getting into the last story, the Creature in Your Neighborhood. It was strange, which is okay, but it didn't fit in with the other stories. I am looking for other compilations edited by Esther Friesner.

[CuriousLibrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 3.5 from me.

I found this to be a stronger pack (*grin*) of stories than the witch compilation. Maybe because werewolves are not as over-mined as witches and vampires (have not yet read the vampire collection).

Nice escapist stories of werewolves in the suburbs. Always enjoy Esther as an editor.

[Blake · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Esther Friesner's other books (the barbarian adventurer ones), but the werewolf angle didn't really grab me except for the ones that made me laugh. I guess I'm just not much for werewolves (same goes for vampires, except for Buffy of course...they just seem like too much of the same thing).

[Nola · Rating 3 out of 5]

As is standard with a collection of stories based on a theme - some of the stories were good and some were better. On the whole, an enjoyable collection, with a couple of interesting twists on the theme of malls and werewolves.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent collection. Even the worst of the stories is not time wasted. Excellent expression of proper disrespect for society. Some of the stories come close to master status. Best of the genre I have read since Dickson.

[Fred · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some pretty poor stuff in this.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection of stories. As in every collection YMMV.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the stories are not particularly good, though several are entertaining and Jim C. Hines story is fantastic.

[Alicia]

okay....bunch of short stories rolled into one book

[Jessica Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much fun and a great variety of short stories. I have to admit that the one with the furries might be my most favorite just because of the extreme ridiculousness but still well written.

[Rainbowjay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not usually a fan of short story anthologies but this had me howling.. I know bad pun. If you like great werewolf stories a great read.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not nearly as good as Friesner's original short story compilation Chicks 'n Chainmail.

[Ch J Loveall · Rating 4 out of 5]

pg diff because of binding

[Lyssa Sue Shaffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I giggled & I grinned, I guffawed & laughed out loud. This collection of stories is a riot! These images created dreams, funny moving dreams that delighted my mind & spirit.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of short stories that contain werewolves in some form or fashion. A very enjoyable read.

[Ralph · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the stories were good, others disapointing.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great collection of stories written with wit and humor and just a touch of sass. Really great read.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely funny collection of short stories about werewolves in suburbia - Esther does it again.

[Aleis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last story is just too much and totaly made this book for me.

[Doris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology was curated by an author whose other works I have seen and in some cases enjoyed.

The thought of this gathering of short works was to present to the reader a few diverse readings from various authors with the main theme centered around werewolves, be they the main character or thought.

"Isn't That Special", "Support Your Local Werewolf", and "Special Needs" are 3 stories that stand out for their character development, strength of the storyline and the plausibility (at least within the fantasy realm). I would rate them 5 stars.

Others such as "Meet the Harrys" are funny but not quite to the same level as the previously rated stories. Others may disagree with my ratings, and think that stories such as "The Pack Intern" are at least as hight as "Special Needs" which is fine. I did like Intern, just not as much as others.

Overall, there were some very good stories, some good stories, and a scant few that were not really very good. The theme of the book, the stories within, and the assorted authors contributions though are great, and the final thought I had as I finished was a combination of 'wow this is great' and 'are there any more', so I would rate this close to a 4 for overall worthiness to read.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite 'pack'ing a punch in terms of sheer number of stories, this collection was weaker than its 'vampy' counterpart. I had tried to 'wolf down' the stories, but found most of them to be merely hairy, and not toothy enough. The authors seemed to be rather obsessed with American notion of suburbia, starkly contrasting with the previous collection that was far more diverse and witty. Most importantly, only a few authors tried to compose a story with any element of humour. The rest were trying too hard to make the werewolf a creature that gets 'accepted' into the American suburbia.
Nah! Didn’t find it to be too enjoyable, honestly.