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"Singing the Comic-Con Blues”
by
Seanan McGuire
urban fantasy in a Kindle edition that was published by DAW Books on February 23, 2021 and has 61 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night, Late Eclipses, One Salt Sea, Discount Armageddon, Home Improvement: Undead Edition, “Never Shines the Sun”, Chimes at Midnight, "In Sea-Salt Tears", Indexing, The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination, Half-Off Ragnarok, Midway Relics and Dying Breeds, Games Creatures Play, The Winter Long, Sparrow Hill Road, The InCryptid Prequels, Pocket Apocalypse, Black as Blood, Blocked, White as a Raven's Wing, The Ghosts of Bourbon Street, IM, "Good Girls Go to Heaven", A Red Rose Chain, "Full of Briars", Reflections, Once Broken Faith, "Dreams and Slumbers", Shadowed Souls, Chaos Choreography, Magic For Nothing, Indigo, Every Heart a Doorway, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, The Brightest Fell, "Of Things Unknown", Beneath the Sugar Sky, Night and Silence, "Suffer a Sea-change", The Girl in the Green Silk Gown, "The Recitation of the Most Holy and Harrowing Pilgrimage of Mindy and Also Mork", Tricks for Free, That Ain't Witchcraft, "The Measure of a Monster", The Unkindest Tide, "Hope is Swift", Come Tumbling Down, Imaginary Numbers, "Follow the Lady", In an Absent Dream, "The Fixed Stars", "Forbid the Sea", "No Sooner Met", Across the Green Grass Fields, A Killing Frost, "Shine in Pearl", When Sorrows Come, "And with Reveling", "Candles and Starlight", "Such Dangerous Seas", Sleep No More
A novella, 5.2, in the InCryptid urban fantasy series and revolving around the rogue Price family. The focus is on Antimony Price who lives in Portland. You can find it in the back of Calculated Risks, 10.
If you’re interested, there is a chronological listing of the InCryptid books on my website.
My Take
There’s a good bit of back history to start, along with Annie’s going on about how her various chosen activities have advanced her battle skills. There’s also an inside look at how difficult it’s been for the Prices to hide their existence. Antimony, Alex, and Verity have all been stunted by this need in their pursuit of their interests.
McGuire also provides more information about the Aeslin mice. I do wonder why the Aeslin mice don’t recognize Antimony as a Priestess.
McGuire uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Annie’s perspective, and I gotta say Annie does make some good points about how unlikely it was that someone from the Covenant would note those cheekbones or how likely it was for someone to recognize Verity in any of those many competitions.
Oh, meow, Annie does go on at length on why she hates her sister, Verity. Having to take her along on her first mission does give McGuire the opportunity to exploit that antagonism, lol. Oh, sisters . . .
I’m almost as frustrated as Annie that Sarah and Artie don’t recognize their own feelings for each other.
Lolol, the four take some Aeslin mice with them, and when they get in the car Sarah turns on a classic rock station — and “the collected mice cheered again and some of them began to boogie”.
Annie continues with that reveal from Calculated Risks, 10, about why the Prices are resistant to cuckoo (and incubus) influences.
It’s a novella of sibling anger, evolving romance, and the honesty and honor of Price family values when it comes to cryptids.
A good read.
The Story
There’s a cryptid drowning men on the West Coast, and Annie is desperate to head up a mission to keep cryptid existence a secret and prevent more murders. True, she is young . . . and she is so angry that Aunt Jane is forcing her to take Verity.
It’s only on the promise that Verity won’t try to take over that Annie finally agrees.
The Characters
The nerdy Antimony “Annie” is the youngest in the Kevin and Evelyn Price family. Verity, a.k.a. Valerie Pryor, is the oldest daughter, a competitive dancer with whom Annie has an acrimonious relationship. Alex is their brother, a cryptozoologist.
Artie Harrington, half-human, half-Lilu (incubus) and all empath, prefers life in the basement to being out in the world. Elsie, a succubus and telepathic, is gay. Jane Price Harrington is their human mother; Thomas, a Lilu, their father. Grandma is the dimension-trotting Alice Price hunting for her missing husband, Thomas. Aunt Mary Dunlavy was a crossroads ghost before Alice was born and her babysitter after.
The Aeslin mice have an eidetic memory and believe the Price-Healys are their gods. Somehow they manage to speak in Capital Letters.
The easily distracted Sarah Zellaby is a telepathic ambush predator, a cuckoo, one of two in the world with a moral center — who can’t recognize faces, and their cousin.
The Emerald City Comic Con is . . .
. . . taking place in Seattle.
The Covenant of St George is . . .
. . . a bigoted, hate-filled organization out to kill anyone they deem not human. The Prices rebelled several generations ago and ran for America.
Mrs Shindell had been Annie’s biology teacher. Cryptid indicates something that is unknown to science. Danny is a Bigfoot.
The Cover and Title
The title is all about Annie “Singing the Comic-Con Blues”, a nerd convention she desperately wants to attend but would rather not have Verity along.
