Book Review: Eat, Drink, and Be Wary: Satisfying Stories with a Delicious Twist Anthology

Eat, Drink, and Be Wary: Satisfying Stories with a Delicious Twist

Editor: Lisa Mangum

February 11, 2022

244 pages

Wordfire Press

Trade paperback $21.99. ISBN 978-1-68057-292-6
Ebook $4.99. ISBN 978-1-68057-293-3
Hardcover $34.99. 978-1-68057-294-0

Food. We use it to celebrate, to provide both comfort and energy, and to show our love. There’s something about mixing a pinch of this and a dash of that to create something new. And when you pair it with the perfect drink . . . *chef’s kiss*

Stories can do the same thing. They can be a celebration, bring us comfort and energy, and help us express our love. And when the perfect character is paired with the perfect plot . . . well, then you have something worth devouring.

So take a place at the table, and let’s see what’s on the menu.

For starters, gather your pennies to bid for the last two jars of peaches for sale in an apocalyptic future. Follow it up with a slice of pizza guaranteed to bring love into your life. Dig into a shrimp and pasta dish so flavorful, you’d swear it was some kind of witchcraft. Grab a plate of “Lloyd’s Secret Surprise”—it’s out of this world! And for dessert, choose between some very memorable homemade cookies, a slice of chocolate cream pie worth dying for, or a life-sized gingerbread house—just make sure it’s not occupied before you start nibbling at the door.

This collection of nineteen stories is packed full with hearty plots, meaty characters, and a surprising and mysterious twist at the end to serve as the perfect dessert.

All profits benefit the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Table of Contents:

“Words of Warning” M. Elizabeth Ticknor

“Tick Tock” Aleksa Baxter

“The Last Ramekin” Liz Pierce.

“The Gingerbread Contract” Jessica Guernsey

“The Boba Thief” Sixth Moon Press LLC

“The Last Jars of Peaches” Lauren Lang

“Love Potion on a Large #9” Kitty Sarkozy

“The World’s Greatest Chef” CJ Erick

“A Recipe for Home” Alicia Cay

“The Honey Pie” Terry Madden

“Space without Breath” Jen Bair

“Galaxy Edge Café” C. Michelle Jefferies

“Mission Impossible Burger” Mike Jack Stoumbos

“Roll the Dice” Mary Pletsch

“Why I Will Eat Earth: A Manifesto” M. R. Tevebaugh

“An Obsession of Peaches” Bonnie Elizabeth

“Murder in the Roux Morgue” Chris Mandeville.

“Somewhere Far” Ken Hoover

“Royal Wedding” by Kevin J. Anderson

Amazon

Edited by Lisa Mangum and containing selected stories featuring our favorite foods, this anthology is the seventh volume produced by the alumni of Superstars Writing Seminars, and all royalties benefit the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship Fund.

REVIEW

This anthology is a mix of genres, from fantasy to dystopian to mystery, and more, all using food as the center of the story or the setting for the tale. I enjoyed most, but my big favorites were “The Gingerbread Contract,” “Love Potion on a Large #9,” “The Last Ramekin,” “Mission Impossible Burger,” “The Boba Thief,” “Galaxy Edge Café,” “Murder in the Roux Morgue,” and “Royal Wedding.”

“The Gingerbread Contract” takes an old tale and puts a new, modern spin on it. 

“The Boba Thief” is about the Sentinel of San Francisco, a human extension of the magic sentience of the city, who protects the eateries of the Lotus Lane Merchant’s Association. Lotus Lane has merchants with rare commodities not found anywhere else, stuff that magical beings of Asian mythology would be attracted enough to steal, but Emiko is charged to find why the common inventory of sake, rice, potstickers, and boba tea has gone missing. 

“Murder in the Roux Morgue” is about an assistant, Daniel, a graduate of San Quentin’s inmate culinary program and his boss, the chef of the Roux Morgue Restaurant, making “classic cuisine.” Daniel wanted to try new ways, instead of traditional dishes. New ways to murder for. 

 “The Last Ramekin” uses a cooking championship, The Culinary Conjurers (It's like something you might watch on the Food Network.) but the chefs are wizards, sorcerers/sorceresses, conjurers, and witches. It is the final round, with only seven left,  and one of them is a Kitchen Witch. 

“Love Potion” is about a woman moving away after selling her home who gets the urge to try a “love potion” to see if she could make her ex-husband love her again, with scary results. 

Loyd Alexander is a human who owns a café that serves fellow humans and aliens in the Edge and finds his past finally catching up with him in “Galaxy Edge Café.” 

“Mission Impossible Burger” is about virtual reality and the data used to make the wearer of the VR headset really believe a virtual burger tastes like the real thing, and who will do anything to steal that from the programmer. 

The last favorite of mine is “Royal Wedding” by Kevin. J. Anderson. Set in the past, disgruntled peasants had worked hard putting on a wedding and feast for the prince and princess. One peasant woman who worked in the kitchen, Hedda, had been growing to hate the royal couple more and more each day. She decides to use the herb craft her mother had taught her when she has had enough.

The stories in this book are “comfort food” for the reader. There are all sorts of tales, all well-written, that will seduce a person to take a taste of each one, some sweet, others spicy, nineteen courses of pleasure reading.

I gave Eat, Drink, and Be Wary: Satisfying Stories with a Delicious Twist 4 sheep.

Reviewer: Pamela Kinney

About the Editor:

website-FB-Twitter

Editor Lisa Mangum has worked in the publishing industry since 1997. She is currently the Managing Editor for Shadow Mountain Publishing and has worked with several New York Times best-selling authors.

She edited One Horn to Rule Them All: A Purple Unicorn Anthology, A Game of Horns: A Red Unicorn Anthology, Dragon Writers: An Anthology, X Marks the Spot, Undercurrents: An Anthology of What Lies Beneath, and Hold Your Fire, also published by WordFire Press.

She graduated with honors from the University of Utah, and currently lives in Taylorsville, Utah, with her husband, Tracy.

Book Review: Undercurrents: An Anthology of What Lies Beneath

UNDERCURRENTS: An Anthology of What Lies Beneath

by Lisa Mangum,‎ Jody Lynn Nye,‎ Kevin J. Anderson,‎ Kary English,‎ Jessica Guernsey,‎ Kristin Luna,‎ Terry Madden  (Author),‎ Chris Mandeville,‎ Lauren A. Lang,‎ Joy Dawn Johnson

March 15, 2018

334 pages

Publisher: WordFire Press

Fear is instinctive. Primal. It lurks, ready to spring. Will you conquer it or be consumed?

Monument, Colorado. WordFire Press is proud to announce the release of UNDERCURRENTS: An Anthology of What Lies Beneath. This is the fourth volume produced by the alumni of the Superstars Writing Seminar. All proceeds benefit the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship Fund.

In Undercurrents: An Anthology of What Lies Beneath, twenty-three talented authors, including The New York Times bestsellers Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, and Jody Lynn Nye, have stood on the shores of their psyches and looked out over the ocean of possibility and wondered “What lies beneath?”

The sea creatures and sea monsters that answered their calls range from a giant kraken that rules the deepest ocean to the smallest puffer fish that creates intricate works of underwater art. Creatures of classic mythology—mermaids, sirens, and sea serpents—swim alongside more unusual beasts—underwater cats and singing whirlpools. These stories dive deep into the fears many of us face, including loss, abandonment, death, and physical, mental, or emotional danger. When the fears we keep buried beneath the surface rise up and threaten to consume, we must make a choice: conquer or be conquered.

A collection of 23 short stories ranging from contemporary fiction to horror to sci-fi to fantasy that feature a variety of sea monsters and sea creatures. Each story focuses on a different element of fear and a character who either conquers that fear or is consumed by it.

This is a solid anthology of short stories about sea monsters. The sea causes fear in some and wonder in others. Sometimes people dive headfirst into the unknown and other avoid it. All these types of people are explored in the 23 tales. Many of the stories have a cautionary message like a fable. Stories you would hear in a pub by the docks. Told by a crusty one-eyed sailor with a pint or two in him. Some of the stories have a more modern setting.
I enjoyed a majority of the stories. Most fall in the 3 1/2 sheep range. But there are a few that scored 4 to 4 1/2. There is something for everyone and each story is unique. The editor did a good job of providing variety in subject and mood.

This a charity anthology and proceeds go to the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship Fund. Below is a link to information about the cause.

3.75 "Sea" Sheep

SharonS

email-website

Superstars Writing Seminars, founded in 2010, is unique among writing seminars. The curriculum focuses on teaching writers the business of being successful in the publishing industry. The instructors are chosen from the top of the industry and include International Bestselling Authors, Top Editors, Indie Publishing Platform Managers, and many more. The primary goal at Superstars is to teach you how to have a successful writing career by sharing how those at the top of the industry manage their careers.