In this short story collection, our heroes get what’s due to them—with a supernatural flair.

But the injustices that have been holding them back might cost them more than they realized. . . .

Featuring stories by:
Jim Butcher, Holly Black, Kim Harrison, Faith Hunter, Jennifer Blackstream, Maurice Broaddus, Delilah S. Dawson, Kevin Hearne, Tanya Huff, Kerrie L. Hughes, R. L. King, R.R. Virdi

Narrated by:
Alexandra Potocka, Elizabeth Wiley, Graham Halstead, Hannah Curtis, James Marsters, JD Jackson, Khristine Hvam, Marguerite Gavin, Stella Hunter, Therese Plummer, Will Watt

I preordered’Paranormal Payback‘ (2026), edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie Hughes, because I enjoyed the ‘Shadowed Souls’ anthology that they published ten years ago, and some of the same authors are in this collection.

Eight of the dozen stories in the collection worked well for me. I thought the stories by Holly Black, Faith Hunter and Maurice Broaddus were exceptional. I’d have bought the collection jusr to read Jim Butcher’s story. Jennifer Blackstream and Kerrie L. Hughes have pricked my interest in the paranormal worlds their stories were set in. 

I’ve rated and commented on each of the stories below.

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MISTER PETTY by Jim Butcher, narrated by James Marsters ★★★★

This was a fun read. I’d have bought the collection for this story alone. Set in Harry Dresden’s Chicago but with no involvement from the magician himself, ‘Mr Petty’ was an almost self-mocking noir with a supernatural twist and a unique sense of justice. I enjoyed meeting this monstrous supernatural PI and his enigmatic secretary. If Jim Butcher ever writes a novel about them, I’ll buy it.

It was nice to visit Dresden’s city without having to deal with the weight of Dresden’s accumulated guilt, grief and gloom. I enjoyed being reminded of how much fun Jim Butcher’s stories were back in the days of ‘Storm Front’ and ‘Fool Moon’. 

THE UNDERGROUND GODDESS by Kevin Hearne. narrated by Alexandra Potocka ★★

I liked the tone of this story: light but not fluffy. I enjoyed the main character’s mix of dry humour and menace. The Warsaw location and the mix of Polish and Greek myths were refreshing. The narrator carried the story along with skill. So why only two stars? The story didn’t go anywhere. It was all situation and no progression. 

DYING ISN’T JUST FOR THE YOUNG by Holly Black, narrated by Elizabeth Wiley ★★★★★

I loved this because it read like a mainstream novel about a recently widowed woman in her seventies reassessing her life, the compromises she’d made to accommodate her egocentric playwright husband and the demands of her ambitious, controlling children. If it had been just that, it would still have been an excellent short story because the widow’s voice was perfect. It became an even better short story by being set in the same world as Holly Black’s ‘The Coldest Girl In Coldtown‘, giving the widow some intriguing options on how she chooses to live the rest of her life. 

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S SCHEMING by Deliah S. Dawson writing as Isla Jewell, narrated by Thérése Plummer DNF

This was too light and fluffy for me. I dropped out after the first five minutes.

CONTAINED by Tanya Huff ★★★

I enjoyed seeing Henry Fitzroy in action again, especially such bloody, violent, rage-fuelled action. This was a Tanya Huff story, so of course, there was more to it than that. Once Fitzroy took a breath and figured out what was going on, he became more measured and much more dangerous. 

Would it be too much to hope that there might be a ‘Henry Fitzroy – the Vancouver Years’ series?

DIRT by Jennifer Blackstream ★★★

This was a light yet engaging story with unusual, upbeat characters navigating a moderate mystery while utilising a well-thought-out magic system. It kept me entertained and left me wanting to know more about the witch Shade Renard and her world, so I’ll be adding ‘Deadline’ (2018), the first book in Jennifer Blackstream’s eighteen-book-long ‘Blood Trails’ series, to my TBR pile.

BLACK BOND by Maurice Broaddus, narrated byJ D Jackson ★★★★

This was an extraordinarily powerful story. Told with a skilful mix of suspense, tension and recollection, all heightened by the addition of supernatural elements, this story confronts not just the terrible history that it’s based on but how little things have changed a hundred years later. 

What I liked most about this story was how personal and intimate it felt. By making this story a lament for one dead man, rather than a polemic against a regime, Maurice Broaddus made the evil it describes impossible to forgive. 

After I read the story, I looked up the history of what happened at Lyle Station and was saddened but not surprised to learn that the story stuck closely to real events.

DOG-EARED by Kim Harrison narrated by Marguerite Gavin ★★★

This is the story of a demon who, obsessed with getting information on Rachel Morgan (the witch / bounty hunter from The Hollows series that started with ‘Dead Witch Walking’ in 2005), is working on acquiring a wizard to become his new human familiar. The wizard dooms himself by committing the heinous crime of dog-earing a grimoire the demon has lent him and, worst of all, dropping the thousand-year-old book in the bath. The story is about how the demon gets his revenge and how his desire for revenge blinds him to its cost. I thought it was nicely done. As usual, Marguerite Gavin’s narration increased my enjoyment of the tale. 

RAZORS AND REVENGE by Faith Hunter, narrated by Khristine Hvam ★★★★★

’Razors and Revenge’ is set in the world of Jane Yellowrock but is focused on Shiloh, a witch turned vampire who has recently survived being bitten by a werewolf. It’s fast-paced, action-packed, bloody, exciting and crammed with ideas and possibilities. It has the energy I remember from the early Yellowrock books when Jane was still a ‘Have stakes, will travel’ vampire hunter in ‘Skinwalker’ and ‘Blood Cross’. I loved being in Shiloh’s head as she came to terms with who she has become, what she’s capable of and what she hungers for. I hope that she’ll get a series of her own. In the meantime, this has whetted my appetite for ‘Unpredictable Magic’, Everhart Investigations #1, which is due out in July.

A CLEAN BREAK by R. L. King, narrated by Will Watt ★★

There are forty-two books in the Alastair Stone Chronicles about a mage who is also a Stanford professor, and I’m sure that, if I’d read any of them, I’d have enjoyed this story more. This is a story about a ghost/echo in a motel who looks to Alastair to help her get revenge on the men who killed her. The story works well enough. No big surprises but a steady exposition that kept me interested, and action scenes that were graphic and tense. The Alastair I met was tired, pissed off and did very little except watch, ask questions and offer advice (he’s a mage AND  an academic, so that was no surprise), so there wasn’t enough there for me to form an impression of him. 

If this had been a text story, I’d have given it three stars. I dropped a star because I found Will Watt’s narration distracting and irritating. He made a meal of every sentence, slowing down the story and suggesting meaning when there was only exposition. Alastair is a Brit. His British accent is supposed to be part of his charm. The accent Will Watt gave him wasn’t as bad as Dick Van Dyke in ‘Mary Poppins’ ,but it wasn’t convincing either. 

GRAVE PAYBACK by R. R. Virdi, narrated by Graham Holstead DNF

I gave up on this one, mostly because of the language. The premise, a soul without a body being placed inside the recently deceased body of someone murdered by a supernatural, was original but a bit of a stretch. The narration was fine. The opening of the story was a little static, but then the body was tied to a chair, and there was a lot of setup to explain. I’d have stuck with it if the writing had been less wordy. In a first-person account, the repeated choice of a formal polysyllabic word when an informal monosyllable would have gotten the job done makes the main character tedious to listen to.

THE BROOM by Karrie L. Hughes, narrated by Stella Hunter ★★★

I have mixed feelings about this story. I felt like I was stepping into Series 7, Episode 6 or a TV show that everyone else has watched but is new to me. The upside was that I’d like to see more episodes of this series, so I’m now curious to read The Great Lakes Grimoire series. The downside is that the story was packed with so much new information that exposition and info-dumps on family history (which is complex and bloody) overwhelmed what should have been a very emotional story.