Instinct: An Animal Rescuers Anthology

Read the genre you love and help rescue puppies at the same time, whats not to like. Great stories, some of which you wish weren't short stories, especially Junkyard Rex by Sam Knight towards the end of the book, I could have done with that being a full story and eagerly await the publishing of his forth coming novel 'A girl and her Velociraptor'.

Honestly I only got it for Patricia Briggs as I love her books and Sherwood is my favourite character.

It’s a good thing this is for charity, there are three short takes in here that I thought was good. The best being the one about dinosaurs. I’m not keen on the ones where it’s the animals talking but maybe that’s just me.

i was expecting a lot more sci fi/fantasy type creature connection stories. half way through & most aren't that. if anything ahead wows me i'll upgrade. a bit disappointed, tbh, atm.

I won't lie I only got this book for the Dresden file story, so I can't comment on the other tales, But its worth it for just that.

This collection of short stories is a bit like an appetizer for the worlds that the authors can and have created. Each deliciously different and yet paired with your appetite for fantasy with supernatural care. I love that this was created as a benefit for an animal charity in the mundane world. The characters are appealing, the stories full of twists and if you are new to the genre, a wonderful introduction to the author's styles. Oh my I hope there is a second series. I just might treat myself to the hard copy. This is too good not to have multiple copies.

I love good SFF stories and animals of all sorts, and I read straight through this anthology in just two evenings. Here we have animals both mundane and magical in a mix of SF and fantasy settings. assembled by a top-quality author list in service of a very good cause, Lifeline Puppy Rescue. I have my favorites, but there are no weak links here. This is a collection to savor.“The Gold Standard” is a solid adventure tale. Our outlaw protagonist doesn’t like dogs, and the feeling is mutual. Will it still be so after he’s forced to take a dog on a mission to re-steal stolen gold? That depends on whether he survives… This is one of the tales taken from a larger universe, in this case AJ Hartley’s Will Hawthorne novels. Another, and one of my favorites here, is LJ Hachmeister’s “Kitcoon.” Hachmeister weaves humor and caring into a gritty, grimy tale of a desperate fugitive – Rex from her Triorion universe – who’s not about to complicate her flight by adopting the cutest animal in SF since the tribble.Jim Butcher always has a way with animal tales, and I particularly loved his entry. In “Fugitive,” Mouse, the magical Good Boy, and Cerberus (a.k.a. Spot) of the underworld must join forces when two old enemies unleash the fearsome Nemean Lion. The two dogs must risk their own existence to save kidnapped children, foil the schemes of an evil wizard, and protect little Maggie Dresden.A corn maze, strange-looking human apparitions, and a dog that died years ago populate Alex Erikson’s thoroughly creepy “Howl-O-Ween.” In D.J. Butler’s “Dog,” two friends in a rough city pick up an injured Lab out of pity and bring it home for the night. Is the dog really an ordinary Lab, though? Eliza Eveland, in “Safe Place,” introduces us to Brick. Brick is an aging warhound who (from his point of view) escorts his beloved elven servant Isaac out of their home castle and for a lovers’ tryst and instead find danger the intelligent dog must improvise a way out of. In “The Unlikeliest Places: A Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter Short Story,” by John G. Hartness, a vampire hunter picks up a small, unwanted, and initially irritating companion just as he’s trying to focus for battle. In “The Unexpected Dachshund,” lonely colonists on a distant world with limited resources spend their last credits to adopt an odd-looking dachshund puppy.Faith Hunter offers “Georg and KitKat Save the Witches,” which she describes as “a short story set in the Jane Yellowrock world, but from the critters’ point of view.” The tone is set by the line “KitKit had allowed George the Stupid-Dog to communicate head-to-head in the cat way. Cat familiars were not allowed to share with stupid dogs, but it had to be done to protect so many foolish human-witches.” In Hailey Edwards’ “Keeting it Real,” a canine-shifter babysitter keeping watch on an unpredictable, trouble-loving parakeet familiar runs into a vampire boyfriend and a night of combat. A cat familiar meets a mummified dog in Helpful, and they go on a mission that the embroils them with witches, wizards, and a dangerous amulet. “A Cry in the Night” by prolific fantasy novelist Lucienne Diver finds two Colorado wolf rescuers and their adopted “pack” facing off against an animal that shouldn’t exist. In R.R. Virdi’s “The Kindness of Cats,” we learn that our seemingly aloof cats are more than humans think, and have a mission of kindness we never realize. This is the tearjerker of this collection, and you will never forget the way Shola works to keep her human safe and rescue more. “Junkyard Rex,” by Sam Knight, is set in the Abandoned Lands, a desert fragment of the old United States, where DNA experiments have caused creatures from lost ages to roam alive. A lonely salvager, miles from anywhere, discovers a creature that he could sell for a lot of money. Or it could kill him. Or…?These and other tales (note I avoided the pun) make up a splendid collection of stories about animals and the way humans interact with them. There’s variety enough for every taste, and I nod to editor Hachmeister for pulling together this collection. You’ll never look at our companion creatures, real and imaginary, the same way again.

Enjoyable collection of tales. Some of my favourite authors in there, and not surprisingly, those were the stories I enjoyed the most. However I also made note of a few that I would like to read more of. There were some editing issues in some of the stories.I liked that this supports an animal rescue.

I bought this book for the Dresden Files short Story. Loved it! Mouse and Mr together! Totally worth the price of admission.There were a bunch of really good stories in this book, as I typically find in the short story collections which include the Dresden Files in them.This one started out very slow! The first 6 short stories were awful. Most of the rest were decent. I've listed the ones I liked below.Jennifer Blackstream's - HelpfulJohn Hartness's - The Black Knight ChroniclesL.J. Hachmeister's - short story The KitkoonR.R. Virdi's - short story - The kindness of catsPatricia Briggs - I'm not a big Mercy Thompson fan, but I did like this one.

This is an excellent anthology. There was not a single story that I did not like. I know and have read the work of approx 80% of the authors that contributed their short stories to this book. l know that percentage will raise having found new authors' work to explore just by the virtue of their stories here. Even if you don't like animals or don't care about saving puppies, this book is worth buying. For me, the puppies were the cake and the stories were the devilly delicious icing on top.