I love a good short story collection. While the genre has had its ups and downs over the years, for my money, there’s nothing like a set of nice self contained reads for lunch break reading, or any other reading sessions that are limited to a half-hour or less.
Strip Mauled, a collection of comedic stories focused around the lives of werewolves in modern suburbia, fits the bill nicely. Edited by Esther Friesner, who also edited the Chicks in Chain Mail series, this volume contains a total of twenty-one stories. While there are a couple of steaming ploppers best cleaned up with a plastic bag, for the most part these are a mixture of clever or laugh-out-loud funny stories.
A personal favorite was the Desperate Housewives inspired “That Time of the Month” by Laura Underwood. Containing some of the best wordplay this side of a Robert Asprin novel, Underwood absolutely nails the suburban jungle, just with werewolves. Another standout is Sarah Hoyt’s “The Case of the Driving Poodle” a detective story featuring a most unusual femme fatale.
Definitely a good read. This has been sitting in my To Read pile for years since rescuing it from a closing Borders. I’m glad I finally found the time to read it through.