A bit behind on my reviewing or hey anthologies!

Okay I have an excuse.  A new book release means I do have to spend a lot of time marketing that book.  Not that marketing has done me much good so far but it is the attempt correct? 

Between blasting the web with notices of my new and amazing new read....(okay sorry but here!)

New book release!  Face:  A uniquely oriental belief concerning honor, respect and responsibility.  Many will give everything, including their lives, for this concept.

Destiny is a young woman of two clans.  She has willingly joined the ranks of the Firm to  protect a younger brother who has a great destiny.  But it is her role that is the question.  Was she simply born to protect her younger brother or is her role in the universe a greater one?

When the unimaginable happens friends join ranks to fight monsters born out of the mind of men but also those from outside our realm.  The question is, will they Save Face or Family? http://tinyurl.com/m2wc2q2

(back to our regularily scheduled blog =P)

Yeah I know but I need to plug my book right?

Okay this weekend when I was sitting back and relaxing I decided to read up some of the anthologies I have on my ebook reader.  Now anyone who follows my babbling knows I have been a fan of anthologies for a long time.  These collections of many authors tales are a great place to learn if you like an authors style or not.  Short stories are not simply snippets from longer stories, they are an art form in their own right.  Yes I write many, many, many of them, I admit it.  But long before I started writing them I had been reading them.

Back in the 80s I discovered the anthologies of stories set all in the same world.  From Thieve's World to Merovingen Nights to the Darkover anthologies I had many hours of reading pleasure.  Into the 90s I kept buying any that tempted my eye in the book story.  This weekend I sat back and read through the anthologies that Mercedes Lackey put together in her Valdamar series.  Again I found short stories that are like a gateway drug into authors I haven't read.

I admit that my favorite this weekend was from Under the Vale.  The story Simple Gifts had a lighter feel than many of the stories and it was well worth reading.  Now a lot of people read these anthologies and then go on to review the stories like they are incomplete novels.  To me it seems like they just want to complain.  If they wanted a novel then they should go ahead and BUY A NOVEL.  These are short stories, they are not easy to write and write well.  They are complete stories in their own right and are but a moment in time for that world.  Expecting lots of character development or deep meaning is like expecting a youtube video to have the same impact as a full movie.  Really folks, sit back, relax and enjoy these tales.

whoa looks like I am getting a bit preachy but it could be because I am tired of people reviewing one artform as if it was another.  We all have different tastes but then that is what makes us human right?