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Many Bloody Returns (Sookie Stackhouse) | 
| Creators: Charlaine Harris, Toni L. P. Kelner
Publisher: Ace Hardcover
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $15.67
You Save: $9.28 (37%)
Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 933
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1
ISBN: 0441015220
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.087308
EAN: 9780441015221
Publication Date: September 4, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Never-before-published vampire stories by Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Kelley Armstrong, and many others. Suspenseful, surprising, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous-these all-new stories will ensure that readers never think of vampires (or birthdays) in quite the same way again. In New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris's "Dracula Night," Sookie Stackhouse is the only human at the annual commemoration of Dracula's birth. But this year, the Prince of Darkness actually shows up-and finds Sookie to be a tasty-looking present. New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher's crime-solving wizard Harry Dresden, of the Dresden Files novels, heads to a role-playing party to give his vampire brother a birthday present in "It's My Birthday Too," only to discover there are some bloodthirsty party crashers who don't share their brotherly love. In "Twilight," Cassandra DuCharme, who appeared in New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's Dime Store Magic, knows she has to kill to live as a vampire another year-but finds herself disturbingly disinterested in the hunt. Plus ten more bloody good birthday stories that take the cake.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
Vampires, Witches and Birthday Wishes October 14, 2007
29 out of 35 found this review helpful
This is an anthology of 13 stories, each containing some sort of supernatural element and birthday theme.
Dracula Night by Charlaine Harris
The Mournful Cry of Owls by Christopher Golden
I Was a Teenage Vampire by Bill Crider
Twilight by Kelley Armstrong
It's My Birthday, Too by Jim Butcher
Grave-Robbed by P.N. Elrod
The First Day of the Rest of Your Life by Rachel Caine
The Witch and the Wicked by Jeanne C. Stein
Blood Wrapped by Tanya Huff
The Wish by Carolyn Haines
Fire and Ice and Linguini for Two by Tate Hallaway
Vampire Hours by Elaine Viets
How Stella got her Grave Back by Toni L.P. Kelner
I bought this collection of short stories for the tales told by Charlaine Harris and Tate Hallaway as each is part of a their series I read religiously. I had never heard of or read anything by the other 11 authors, but after reading these short stories I will be checking out many of their other books. None of the stories were horrible; in fact almost all were magnificent, leaving only one or two that were just OK. This past week I really didn't have time to read a 'normal' book; this was the perfect book to pick up when I had a few minutes. I found this book wonderfully imaginative and very enjoyable.
The Superstars Shine...mostly September 6, 2007
27 out of 31 found this review helpful
This anthology features some of the superstars of the paranormal genre writing about their most popular characters - Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse), Jim Butcher (Harry Dresden), Kelley Armstrong (Cassandra du Charme from the women of the Otherworld universe), PN Elrod (Jack Fleming), Tanya Huff (Tony and Henry Fitzroy), and Rachel Caine (Eve Rosser from the Morganville Vampires books) - along with some other fairly recognizable authors such as Christopher Golden and Jeanne Stein. It was the superstars who made this anthology worth buying. Their stories were, with the exception of Ms. Harris' contribution (which seemed quickly thrown together and unsatisfying), well crafted and engrossing, providing deeper insight into the characters which will make reading future installments of their series even more enjoyable. Some of the other stories left me cold (such as The Mournful Cry of Owls) and others, like Jeanne Stein's "The Witch and the Wicked" were so interesting and original I will definitely be looking at the author's other works.
All anthologies have their weak moments but this one has less than usual due to the high caliber of the contributors, with a good 2/3 of the stories being excellent or better. It's a must read for devoted fans of any of the series included.
 Nice set of short stories November 10, 2007
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
I bought this simply because of the Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher and Tanya Huff stories that were in it. However, I ended up enjoying almost every other story in it. It caused me to go out and purchase Tate Hallaway's books as well. The Jim Butcher tale was awesome. The Tanya Huff story was cute. It also gave me a new appreciation for Kelley Armstrong, whom I'd previously read but disliked. In general, I don't tend to like short stories, but I absolutely loved this collection and would recommend it to anyone who likes Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Tate Hallway or Tanya Huff.
Predominately good November 6, 2007
11 out of 15 found this review helpful
Many Bloody Returns is an anthology dealing with vampirism and birthdays. It features some of the better known writers in the genre. I found it to be predominately good. There were a couple of stories that were rather so so.
Dracula Night by Charlaine Harris gives us a Sookie Stackhouse story. Sookie and Eric makes for an entertaining story. It was interesting to see another side of Eric.
The Mournful Cry of Owls by Christopher Golden was different. I'm not sure how this story really ties into vampires. There was just a minor mention of drinking blood. He has a picturesque way with words however, which I appreciated. I love forests and the woods anyway.
I was A Teenage Vampire by Bill Crider was sort of like the B movie the title suggests. A girl turning 18 wants a real vampire at her Halloween party and her brother tries to help her out in exchange for having his homework done for him. The sibling quibbles sound true to life.
Twilight by Kelley Armstrong involves Casandra. I was happy to get a little more background on this character. She's appeared in several of Armstrong's books, but she's been a somewhat enigmatic character. This little short story fleshes her out a bit more. I enjoyed it.
It's My Birthday, Too by Jim Butcher always entertains. Harry tries to deliver a birthday present to his brother, Thomas. As usual for Harry, all hell breaks loose when he gets there. Butcher consistently delivers an entertaining story.
Grave-Robbed by P.N. Elrod involves her vampire character Jack Flemming. I've read a few of the books about him, but when they started going to his maker and the vampire that made her I stopped reading. I enjoyed this story of how Flemming deals with spiritualists in the early part of the last century.
The First Day of the Rest of Your Life by Rachel Caine deals with the world of her Morganville vampires. I haven't read anything in this series, so I don't have a lot of background. She hit the right notes though with her rebellious teenage character. I found I'd like to know more of what happens to her. I've read other series by Caine, so I guess it's time to pick up this series as well.
The Witch and the Wicked by Jeanne C. Stein is another sort of open ended story. I found I'd like to know where things went after the story ended. A witch caters a birthday party for a vampire. The cake she bakes ends up setting the guest of honor on fire, but is he really dead?
Blood Wrapped by Tanya Huff gives us another Tony and Henry story. I enjoyed the Smoke trilogy. Tony and Henry try to find a kidnapped child. The witness implies that it was a monster. Even as they search for the child they discuss what to get Vicki Nelson for her birthday.
The Wish by Carolyn Haines was a rather surealist story. I had to check back to refresh my memory of it. It seems to deal with a women's fight with death more than vampirism.
Fire and Ice and Linguini for Two by Tate Hallaway seems to be something that follows along with some of her books. I haven't read any of her books yet, so I really didn't have all that much background on the characters. The villian of the story was quite unique though. I like how that was handled.
Vampire Hours by Elaine Viets hit the nail on the head with the way older women are treated. I give her kuddos for that.
How Stella Got Her Grave Back by Toni L. Kelner followed along the vampire detective sort of theme. The ending was telegraphed way in the beginning, but it was an interesting journey.
 why all the good reviews??? January 3, 2008
11 out of 22 found this review helpful
At first i was very excited to read this book. some of my favourite authors wrote stories in here. but after reading about half of them, i noticed a pattern. None of them felt like they had a complete ending. as for as short stories go, this was horrible! hardly any of them felt like they had any point whatsoever. even my favourite author, KELLEY ARMSTRONG,s "Twilight" seemed to fall short. the vampire Cassandra (those who read her Women of the Underworld books should remember her) goes about trying to force herself into taking a human life, or else hers will surely end. as far as the storyline goes, it seemed promising at first. but then as i read about half the story, i couldnt help being disapointed. there was no real interest in it at all. it turned out to be quite a simple story, with an incomplete ending. this wasnt the only story that seemed really off.
CHARLAINE HARRIS' (while i love her Sookie Stackhouse books) "Dracula Night" was just weird. it was about Eric, the vampire, preparing for Dracula ariving at the annual b-day party they threw in honor of him. Something convinces Eric that Dracula will be attending his party (even though Dracula, apperently, never attends any of the tons and tons of parties various vampires throw in his honour) and is going nuts making everything *just* right. the ending is incredibely dull, and sort of combines the conclusion in one paragraph said by Sookie.
Also, "The First Day of the Rest of Your Life" by RACHEL CAINE, the other story i was looking forward to, came up short. focusing on Eve Rosser's 18th birthday (from her Glass Houses series), and the events that unfold from it. it sheds a little light on how Eve came to live at the Glass house with Micheal Glass, but is a pretty pointless and boring story (im sure) for those that haven't read the Glass Houses books.
"The Mournful Cry of Owls" by CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN and "I Was a Teenage Vampire" by BILL CRIDER were probably the most horrible, in my opinion. they were so bad i felt sick at the thought of the wasted paper used to store their short stories. seriously.
There were also various other stories that were a bit wacked, and i couldn't find any of them to be enjoyable. I honestly dont understand why all the positive reviews, and so few negative ones. maybe i missed whatever it was that made this short story collection great, but either way, i would not recomend it, even if you are a fan of some of the authors...
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