My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding

September 4, 2006
Nine top fantasists imagine just how amusingly amok a wedding might run in this diverting compilation of original stories on the theme of nuptials among the fey folk. Jim Butcher, the sole male contributor, serves up the book's best romp, "Something Borrowed," in which wizard detective Harry Dresden prompts a bridezilla rampage from a malevolent fairy when he tries to break up her wedding with the werewolf whose intended she is impersonating. In L.A. Banks's amusing "Spellbound," descendants of the Hatfields and McCoys wage a slapstick war of spell and counterspell, while Charlaine Harris's "Tacky" projects the mishaps that might follow a mixed marriage between a werewolf and vampire. Possibly because most of the contributors are better known as novelists, the bulk of the stories read more like comic outtakes from larger works than independently plotted stories. Fans of paranormal romance will welcome the rare chance to see Sherilynn Kenyon, Susan Krinard, Rachel Caine, Lori Handeland and other favorite authors working in short form.