Unbound (2009)
Unbound (2009) — Anthology
Genre and Sub-Genres[]
Urban Fantasy
Editor and Authors[]
Editor: Kim Harrison
Contributors: Kim Harrison, Vicki Pettersson, Jocelynn Drake, Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost
Description[]
"Kim Harrison reveals a hidden adventure, as Jenks and Bis investigate a strange haunting...and find far more than they ever expected. Melissa Marr delivers her first adult story, featuring a young woman struggling to escape the supernatural fate of her family. Jeaniene Frost goes to New Orleans, where Bones must face down a ruthless pair of serial killers, while Vicki Pettersson returns to Sin City and the war between Light and Shadow, and one man's fight for his soul. Jocelynn Drake's tale is set in Savannah, where a strange murder calls the balance between human and nightwalker into question."
Reckoning is a prequel told through Bones's point of view, set about six months before he meets Cat in Halfway to the Grave. The story was inspired from a haunted tour I took in the French Quarter five years ago where I learned about the LaLauries, sadistic husband-and-wife serial killers from the 1800's. Truth is stranger than fiction, people. ~ Jeaniene Frost - UNBOUND on the loose
Read about the LaLauries here:
- The LaLaurie House
- Delphine LaLaurie - Wikipedia
- http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/classics/haunted_crimescenes/6.html Haunted Crime Scenes — Crime Library]
Settings[]
- New Orleans
- Sin City (Las Vegas)
- Savannah, Georgia
- Cincinnati, Ohio
Supernatural Elements[]
Witches, vampires, faeries, pixies, dryad, demons, Ley lines, ghouls, glaistig, super heroes, posessed statue, agent of Light
List of Stories[]
| Story Title | Series and Order Number | Author | Supes | Lead(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Ley Line Drifter" | The Hollows #7.5 | Kim Harrison | pixies, dryad-posessed statue | Pixy Jenks, Vincet |
| "Reckoning" | Night Huntress series 0.5 | Jeaniene Frost | vampire, ghouls | Bones |
| "Dark Matters" | Signs of the Zodiac #4.5 | Vicki Pettersson | superhero, legion of Shadows, agent of Light | JJ, Solange |
| "The Dead, the Damned, and the Forgotten" | Dark Days 0.6 | Jocelynn Drake | vampires, vamp Keeper | Mira |
| "Two Lines" | none | Melissa Marr | glaistig, | Eavan, Daniel Brennan |
Synopsis by Story[]
"Ley Line Drifter" by Kim Harrison — Rachel Morgan series (The Hollows)
- Pixy Jenks faces murderous dryad locked inside statue ✥ Rachel’s pixie partner, Jenk’s perspective. He is preparing to move his family back into their beloved stump after living the winter in Rachel’s desk, when a visitor comes knocking. A young pixie buck named Vincet needs Jenk’s help to save his family. Their garden is in the park, but a statue is killing his children at night. They just had some new babies and it’s too risky to move them so he wants Jenks to help fix the problem and rid their home of the evil lurking there.
"Reckoning" by Jeaniene Frost — Night Huntress series 0.5
- Bones, faces New Orleans ghouls who eat victims alive ✥ It takes us back into Bones’s past, before he ever met Cat. He’s in New Orleans and has been asked to assassinate a couple of ghouls that are torturing and killing people.
"Dark Matters" by Vicki Pettersson — Signs of the Zodiac #4.5
- JJ superhero has illicit affair with Shadow agent Solange ✥ JJ was born into a family of superheroes that were sworn to protect the humans from the Shadows. And, when he was five he begged his parents to take him to see the Fourth of July fireworks the humans were having. They eventually got all the necessary clearances and went, but on their way home were attacked by a legion of Shadows that inevitably killed JJ’s parents. Ever since he has had to live with the fact that it was his fault his parents lost their lives. Now, JJ is an adult and is an agent of the Light as were his parents, but he is just going through the motions and not really living his life. Until one night he comes across Solange, one of the Shadows that killed his parents and he starts an unlikely and forbidden affair with her that sparks life into him at long last.
"The Dead, the Damned, and the Forgotten" by Jocelynn Drake Dark Days 0.6
- Savannah vampire Keeper Mira investigates murder ✥ Mira is a nightwalker that is in charge of keeping all the other vampires and supes in line. So when she ends up with dead bodies in her territory she has to clean it up fast or be forced back to Venice and live under the thumb of the Coven, where some of her most gruesome memories of her past reside.
Two Lines by Melissa Marr -
- Eavan resists sex and murder that morph her into a glaistig until Daniel Brennan, sex slaver, tempts her into both. ✥ Eavan is drawn to Daniel even though he is evil. He drugs girls and sells them in the black market and she’ll do just about anything to stop him even though she knows she’s flirting with danger as she tries to get close enough to take him down. She has worked her whole life to stay human, but Eavan’s growing need to take Daniel down could be her undoing. Her mother is a glaistig and if Eavan partakes in sex and murder in the same month, then she will change into a glaistig as well, where she will be forced to murder on a regular basis just to survive.
~ Sources:
Cover Artist[]
Artist: not listed
Publishing Information[]
- Publisher: Eos
- Browse Inside Unbound by Kim Harrison, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson, Jocelynn Drake, Melissa Marr
- Book data: Paperback, 358 pages, Pub: Sept 2009—ISBN: 0061699934
Cover Blurb[]
Revisiting the paranormal realms they've made famous in their wildly popular fiction, New York Times bestselling authors Kim Harrison, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson, and Jocelynn Drake—plus New York Times bestselling YA author Melissa Marr with her first adult supernatural thriller—unleash their full arsenal of dark talents, plunging us into the shadows where the supernatural stalk the unsuspecting . . . and every soul is a target.
Get ready for the ride of your life—because the wildest magic has just been unleashed . . . and evil is about to have its day. Unbound
Trivia[]
From all accounts, the LaLauries got away with their crimes, and no one really knows what happened to them after they left New Orleans with an angry mod chasing them. While I stared up at the LaLauries old house and listened to their history, I was hit with plot ideas: What if the LaLauries were really ghouls? What if they came back to New Orleans to continue their bloody rampage? What if Bones were hired to track them down and kill them? And what if, while Bones was hunting the LaLauries, another undead hit man was also hunting him? Years later, Reckoning gave me the chance to answer all those questions, and more. It also let me deeper into Bones's mind than I've been before, writing him as I normally do through Cat's point of view. Getting this glimpse into Bones's mind during his bad-ass, bounty-hunting days before Cat surprised me with some of the insights I learned. Of course, Reckoning is just one of five stories, and I can honestly say I am a fan of each of the other four authors in this anthology (one of whom is my awesome critt partner, Melissa :). ~ Jeaniene Frost - UNBOUND
External Links[]
Book:
- Goodreads | Unbound (The Hollows, #7.5) by Kim Harrison — Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists
- Browse Inside Unbound by Kim Harrison, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson, Jocelynn Drake, Melissa Marr
- Publication Listing - ISFdb
Live Interview:
Author pages for book—Excerpts:
- Kim Harrison's Unbound - excerpt
- Excerpt: Chapter One of .... by Jeaniene Frost
- Jeaniene Frost - UNBOUND on the loose
Author Websites:
Bones Story References:
Reviews:
- Fangs For The Fantasy: Review of Unbound by Kim Harrison, Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson and Jocelynn Drake
- Unbound by Kim Harrison, Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson, & Jocelynn Drake ~ open book society
- Books and Quilts: Unbound by Kim Harrison, Melissa, Jeaniene, Vicki Pettersson, Jocelynn Drake
- Review: Unbound by Kim Harrison (Anthology) ~ A Great Book Is The Cheapest Vacation
Other Links