Parallel Worlds: The Heroes Within Kindle Edition

Parallel Worldsactual rating 3.26Dead End RhodesSarah A. Hoyt3.5 starsI am surprised I liked this. I don't care for Sci-Fi and noir normally bores me. It was a good, old-fashioned mystery with a small bit of angst.Story is told from the perspective of a woman whose boss happens to be a cyborg. He is unaware of this fact. He believes himself to be a private eye. It has a Sam Spade feel to it.Look Me in the StarsChristopher Husberg1 starI couldn't get past the second day. Maybe I'm too old for this type of writing. I don't even like to read my own journal, so why would I read someone else's dithering’s.The Dead Who CareD.J. Butler3 starsInteresting take on a ghost story. Learned a bit of history. In 1921 a man driving his Model T picks up what he quickly realizes is a ghost. The story goes in depth about a Mormon massacre from 1857 the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The Mormons were the monsters attacking another group of Mormons. I knew of their heinous forced marriages from that era, but not the infighting.Myth DeedsJody Lynn Nye3 starsSome graphic mistakes that haven't appeared elsewhere in the book so far. The story was fun, if a bit odd. Magic & old west mentality combined with modern need for the most "likes" set up a unique way of promoting one's self.The Shadow of MarkhamR.R. Virdi4 starsFast story. Nice allegory for racism. Dark elf is trying to find out why children are disappearing . I really liked the author's Grave Report series.Davy Crockett vs. The Saucer MenDavid Afsharirad3.5 starsOld-fashioned kids' tale. Young boys in the 50s find a spaceship.Dead RunAaron Michael Ritchey3 starsI've never cared for post-apocalyptic literature, but this wasn't too bad. No happy ending though. After an economic collapse a teenage boy tries to save his dying sister by finding a way to get into a storage unit housing alien creatures. He hopes to get enough money from selling a baby one to buy the medicine his sister needs. First he has to get passed his evil brother.UnnamedGama Ray Martinez3.5 starsWould like to read a series based on this story. Thomas is the "unnamed". Unnamed is the designation of a unit of fighters railing against creatures from other dimensions. I am skimming thru the anthology trying to flesh out what I wrote the first time I read it. This story I read through completely again. I really wish this was a series.Prisoner 141L. J. Hachmeister3.5 starsSpace story that has some interesting moral dilemmas. Prisoner who has had her memories wiped is transferred to an alien ship in order to find and disable a terrible weapon.Valentine BluesJames A. Hunter4 starsI had Bobby Singer in my head while reading this. Guy drives into a town that seems abandoned. He soon finds the children behaving strangely. I saw "Children of the Corn" being mentioned in other reviews. I concur.The Tragedy of John MetcalfYudhanjaya Wijeratne3.5 starsSome minor disjointedness. Cool story over all. So far this is the only story in the anthology that has "parallel worlds". John Metcalf, an assassin, sees another aircraft while flying to Turkey. Meanwhile in a "parallel world" a different John Metcalf is a doctor. The story goes back and forth between them.Effigies in BronzeColton Hehr3 starsWar story with a conscious. The end sort of petered out though. Soldiers in an era of arrows and spears have cousins as their leaders. One has integrity. The other would kill children without a qualm.Daily BreadE.A. Copen4 starsI read this in a different book. Looking for it drove me nuts. I'm guessing it was at the end of a Lazarus story. Since the author pulled all of her books off Amazon twice within a year the actual edition I read it in is no longer available. This is Josiah's backstory.The Demons of AraeChristopher Ruocchio3 starsAlien war story.A Tale of Red Riding: Seduction of the WerepireNeo Edmund3 starsFunny parts, but Red is tiresome.ThresholdTodd Fahnestock3 starsInteresting premise. Would have liked more info about everything. A boy wants desperately to find out what his power will be. In his world humans appear for a short time before dying. It is against the law to give the humans any aid before they disappear to wherever is next in their journey. One day his mother breaks the law.The Last Death of Oscar HernandezRussell Nohelty3 starsTruthfully it seemed familiar, like something out of "The Twilight Zone" series. Man experiences death and his soul is thrust into a new body over and over again.The Magpie and the MosquitoJosh Vogt3.5 starsThieves, young & old. Skeeter wants Maggie to teach her. After Maggie says no Skeeter ruins her night.MonstersJim Butcher4 starsGrey, the skinwalker from "Skin Game", gets a visit from Johnny Marcone. A gang from out of town wants to open a new business in Chicago. The problem is they want to use children to do it. Marcone hires Grey to stop them.

I wish there had been more detail in the book's description. I will give a short blurb and try to avoid spoilers. If you don't want more information, skip to the next review.Dead End Rhodes by Sarah Hoyt - 5 stars, science fictionThis is a bittersweet story. A former socialite, Stella, travels with Nick, a cyborg detective, and they solve cases from their spaceship. Creating Borgs is very illegal and just being in the proximity of a Borg is punishable by death. Borgs are made by encasing a brain in a mechanical body. Most don’t survive. They are hired to find the missing son of the man who runs a series of mines.Look Me in the Stars by Christopher Husberg - 2 starsThis is a series of blog posts by an apocalypse survivor that doesn’t go anywhere.The Dead Who Care by DJ Butler - 3 stories, paranormalA turn of the century story about Mormons. Hiram makes a promise to care for another soldier’s family after his death.Myth Deeds by Jody Lynn Nye - 1 starDNF. Cute titleThe Shadow of Markham by RR Virdi - 5 starsA dark elf patrols the Markham rooftops trying to save kidnapped children.Davy Crockett vs the Saucer Men by David Afsharirad - 3 stars, coming of age story, science fictionDavy and his friends spot a spaceship and investigate around having to go home for lunch.Dead Run by Aaron Michael Ritchey - 3 stars, science fictionA boy fights to save his sister from a mysterious disease.Unnamed by Gama Ray Martinez - 4 stars, fantasyParanormal creatures are invading the city and the Unnamed fight them in secret.Prisoner 141 by LJ Hachmeister - 3 stars, science fictionRaza was convicted of a crime so heinous, they wiped her memory. She’s chosen to disarm a planet-killing weapon.Valentine Blues by James A Hunter - 3 stars, fantasyYancy Lazarus is a mage. He drives through a town that reneged on a deal with the Pied Piper.The Tragedy of John Metcalf by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne - 2 starsJohn lives in two parallel worlds. In one he’s a magician assassin, the other he’s a scientist. There is a hard ending.Effigies in Bronze by Colten Hehr - 1 starWritten in a heavy period style. DNFDaily Bread by EA Copen - 4 stars, fantasyJosiah Quinn apprentices under an evil man. This is from the Hellbent Halo series.The Demons of Arae by Christopher Ruocchio The Mouth of Hell - 3.5 stars, science fictionLord Marlowe investigated the loss of a legion of 26,000 men and their 4 ships. It was determined they were taken by space pirates. The Roman angle was an odd choice and some more detail on his backstory would have been nice. The story felt like a prequel or a story between books.A Tale of Red Riding: Seduction of the Werepire by Neo Edmund - 3 stars, paranormalA YA story about Red Riding Hood and the Wolfman hunting a vampire/werewolf hybrid. There is a lot of missing detail. I suspect it's part of a larger story arc.Threshold by Todd Fahnestock - 1 starDNF. Lots of odd made-up names.The Last Death of Oscar Hernandez by Russell Nohelty - 2 stars, science fictionA man keeps getting reincarnated and in this version, he rescues a little girl's kite.The Magpie and the Mosquito by Josh Vogt - 2 stars, fantasyA Magpie takes on a young thief and saves her bonded mate. I skimmed most of the story.Monsters by Jim Butcher - 4 stars, fantasy, paranormalGoodman Grey is a professional monster and shapeshifter. Viti is his secretary. Gentleman John Marcone comes into his office and hires him to save kidnapped children from being forced to work in a brothel. The story needed more detail to get 5 stars. Why the silver dollar? What was the secretary? I enjoy John Marcone from the Harry Dresden series but this one had too many unanswered questions. I became curious and did some Googling. Goodman Grey was in Skin Game but I didn't remember him. I confess; I wish the Dresden Series would have ended before Butcher grievously wounded Michael and changed the direction for the series.

A larger than typical anthology this book has a wide variety of tales so most people should find something to their taste. The volume is a great value for just $.99!Reading it I thought it was interesting that so many of the stories mention or take place in Nebraska as we tend to be ignored as a setting like most flyover states.Going over the stories that caught my eye and appealed to my tastes I'd start with the first one which was very good though if the last page was redacted I think it would stand up stronger as the reveal was completely unnecessary in my opinion. Short stories often benefit from less overt revealing.It was wonderful to see Myth again. Honestly just that was enough to pay for the whole book imho.The pied piper story made me think the author played Ars Magica in their youth.Yudhanjaya's story was pretty cool making me think of a certain arthur c clarke quote.I liked the Constantine and Warhammer inspired stories which peaked my interest for more.Magpie's setting with the bondstones sounded like a great rpg setting.And lastly it was nice to see a Dresden story after all these years.Long story short hehe this is a good anthology worth buying with something sure to appeal to most readers. The variety comes at a cost in that you might find a few stories that aren't your cup of tea which is fine if you're used to reading lots of short stories by authors you don't know.

I've never heard of Messrs Hachmeister and Verdi before, but as they are the putative 'editor's of this book, the blame for the spelling, grammar, layout, missing words, and malapropisms must rest squarely other shouldersThe stories themselves are a mixed bunch - one good, three meh, one very poor, but I can't bring myself to read any more in the face of all the flinch-inducing errors - nearly one per pageEdit: Forced myself to finish itWish I hadn't3 good stories in the whole bookEven the Jim Butcher was just mehAmong the worst was a feeble attempt by one of the authorsThe book was produced by what appears to be a vanity publishing outfit promising their website is 'coming soon' - dated February 2020Avoid. Do not buy this book

Purchased this bookset to, primarily, get another fix of EA Copen's 'wizard with attitude', Josiah Quinn; & to also read Jim Butcher's contribution to this brilliant sci-fi/magical compendium! Great to have more revealed in the back story of the gritty Aussie nephilim's past; what's helped to shape his character & what makes him tick. Brilliant tale from JB which I also very much enjoyed. Look forward to reading more treats in this fabulous collection. Who would've thought stop overs in Nebraska could be this exciting - glad they are!

Great original fiction from some of the genres best and brightest minds.well written and full of variety,something here forEveryone who likes the unusual.

So far only read the Jim Butcher story. Worth it for this alone. Goodman Grey is an interest character in Dresden universe

I purchased this book to read the Jim Butcher story (big fan of the Dresden files). After finishing it, I decided I might as well look at what else is written and so I ended up reading everything. This book contains a rather delightful mix of science fiction and fantasy from various authors, each with its own individual style and universe. Overall I ended up purchasing 4 or 5 books from the authors i liked best. I found this book an excellent method to discover new series and authors though it in itself was thoroughly entertaining. Highly recommend.