Annie Reed has been called "one of the best writers of her generation" and for good reason. She writes in multiple genres, including mystery and suspense, science fiction, thrillers, romance, and urban and contemporary fantasy, along with the occasional story that doesn't fall into any one specific category.

She's a founding member and frequent contributor to the innovative UNCOLLECTED ANTHOLOGY, now in its eleventh year of publishing themed urban and contemporary anthologies three times a year. Her short fiction appears regularly in PULPHOUSE FICTION MAGAZINE; MYSTERY, CRIME & MAYHEM; and THRILL RIDE MAGAZINE. She's even written official STAR TREK fiction and admits that she's an unabashed MCU fangirl. She currently writes and edits fulltime.

Unexpected Critters by Annie Reed

From a mouse with a compulsion to paint the monster who lives in his house to a very special cat ready to battle to the death to protect her person.

From a grieving young woman who discovers magic thanks to the rabbits who hide beneath the bushes in a suburban backyard to an artist whose animal friends help her answer the most important question of all.

These are some of the unexpected critters you'll meet in the seven contemporary fantasy stories in this collection by multi-genre writer Annie Reed, a master of short fiction that packs an emotional punch.

Stories include:
"Queen of the Mouse Riders"
"Chance of Bunnies, with Occasional Toad"
"The Night Mischief Became a Real Cat"
"After"
"Creatures of Shade and Shadow"
"First Steps"
"Paintings of Cats by Mice"

CURATOR'S NOTE

Annie Reed writes stories in all genres. Unexpected Critters happens to include some of her most acclaimed fantasy stories. Of course, they feature creatures—rabbits, mice, and the required cat. Annie's perspective is slightly skewed, and always filled with heart. – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

 

REVIEWS

  • "Annie Reed is considered by many to be one of the best new writers appearing in fiction."

    – Dean Wesley Smith, Editor, PULPHOUSE FICTION MAGAZINE

  • "One of the best writers I've come across in years. Annie excels at whatever genre of fiction she chooses to write."

    – Kristine Kathryn Rusch, award-winning editor and writer of The Fey series

  • "The appearance of a new Annie Reed story is a treat. Try one and you'll be hooked."

    – David H. Hendrickson, award-winning author of “Death in the Serengeti

  • "Annie's writing is magic, seriously."

    – Robert J. McCarter, author of A Ghost’s Memoir series
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

Excerpt from "Queen of the Mouse Riders"

Starlight the Cat had a battle cry like a two-note yodeler gargling mouthwash. She reserved that particular cry for whenever she caught a mouse. Or something that looked like a mouse. Or a mouse-shaped stuffed toy.

Most of the time she'd only caught one of her toys. Thank goodness. But on at least one memorable occasion she'd interrupted a visit from Sarah's mother by presenting a live mouse as the third course for their lunch date.

Sarah's mother was deathly afraid of mice.

So where did Starlight drop the mouse? Right at her mother's feet, of course.

Sarah's mother had screamed. Starlight had looked suitably insulted at having her contribution to the meal rejected. And the mouse? It had attempted a quick getaway, but Sarah had thrown a kitchen towel over the poor thing, taken it for an elevator ride—where she'd gotten a few odd looks from her neighbors—and released it into the wild in the bushes outside her apartment building.

She'd laid out traps after that, but no more mice appeared, living or dead.

The dream, complete with the suddenly British Bronx-born movie star, dissolved completely as Sarah sat up in bed. She groped for her cell, thumbed it on to read the time—two thirty-eight!—and squinted in the general direction of her bathroom.

The next to last thing in the world she wanted to do was get out of bed, but the very last thing she wanted to do was discover mouse guts in her bed anytime soon. Or feel a live mouse running over her face. Yuck!

The nightlight next to the bathroom sink threw a faint ghostly glow into Sarah's bedroom. She slid out of bed and shivered as her feet hit the cold hardwood of her bedroom floor.

"It's a good thing I love you, kitty cat."

She tucked her feet inside her fuzzy pink slippers and pulled on the zippered hoodie she'd left on the other side of her bed.

She really needed to buy herself a robe one of these days. For late-night mouse rescuing, if nothing else. And there hadn't been anything else in longer than she cared to remember, hence the promising dream.

Starlight did her gargle-yowl again, louder this time.

"Coming, mousie," Sarah said. "And don't you dare eat it, baby girl, you hear me?"

A second sound echoed off the bathroom tiles. Not a squeak—Sarah would have expected that—but an angry shout. A very high-pitched, tiny shout.

Sarah stopped short, blinked, and then pinched herself on the arm to make sure she was awake.

"Ouch!"

Yup. Definitely awake, and probably bruised to boot.

So what in the world was going on in her bathroom?

She crept to the bathroom door, turned the light on, and poked her head inside.

Starlight was crouched in her hunter-kitty pose. She held something in her mouth that was vaguely mouse-shaped with brownish-gray fur and a long, thin tail. Only the tail had a fuzzy puff of fur at its twitching tip.

Mice didn't have fuzzy tails, did they?

And they certainly didn't have something that looked like a tiny saddle on their backs or little bits of colorful string on their heads that looked like a bridle.

Sarah took all that in at a glance. What really caught her attention was the tiny figure standing right in front of Starlight shouting at her cat.

The figure was shaped like a man, but that's where the resemblance ended. No more than three inches tall, it was covered in grayish fur—at least the parts that Sarah could see since it was wearing tiny little pants—and had a sharp snout where a person's nose would be. It had big, mouse-like ears on the sides of its head, a raised row of darker fur that ran from the top of its head down the back of its spine, and held something long and sharp-looking in a hand that really looked like a rodent's paw, only with an opposable thumb. It was shouting at Starlight in a language Sarah couldn't understand.

She'd never seen anything like it. She wasn't even sure anything like this could really exist in the world.

She pinched her wrist this time, which convinced her—yet again—that she really was awake.

Okaaay. Now what?

Practical Sarah took over. Whatever this thing was, it was threatening her cat. Maybe it had something to do with the mouse-thing Starlight had caught.

"Hey, Starlight?" Sarah kept her voice low. "Maybe you should drop the mousie."

The little creature with the weapon turned his head toward her when she spoke, but it was little more than a glance. It (he?) was clearly more concerned with Starlight. She supposed she would be too if she was in its position.

Sarah crouched down next to her cat. "Good kitty." She petted Starlight on her head and then grabbed the cat by the scruff of her neck before she could run away with the mouse.

Or whatever it was.

Starlight's gurgling-yowl changed to an angry growl, but after a moment, she dropped the mouse.

Or whatever it was.

The little thing ran over to the tiny warrior person, and it (he) climbed on the mouse's back.

Sarah expected the mouse and rider to make a beeline for the bathroom door. She jumped to her feet to get out of the way—wherever they came from, they were welcome to go right back there, thank you very much—but she needn't have bothered.

They headed toward her wicker shelves instead.