Review of The Rat Burglar by Emily Veinglory

The Rat Burglar is, quite simply, tremendous fun. Based on Japanese mythology, it tells the tale of Sandy, a security guard at an expensive city gallery, and Rudy, a thief with a very unexpected skill. Needless to say, the two clash when Rudy decides to steal a priceless Japanese artifact from the gallery. Needless to say, the path of true love does not run smooth, as Rudy battles to control his shapeshifting abilities, while Sandy struggles to trust him.

The characters are possibly the best thing in an all-round good story. Sympathetic without being goody-goody, attractive without being Ken-dolls, they engage the reader's interest and come off the page as delightfully real. Even though one's a shapeshifter and the other is half Japanese with a distinctly exotic past, you feel like they're the sort of people you could meet every day on the street. Because of that, it's very easy to care what happens to them.

The story itself can best be described as rollicking, with fights and motorbike chases and misunderstandings galore, but this isn't just wham-bam comic strip action. There's thoughtfulness, too, and just the right amount of angst. The plot twists are both unexpected and clever, the well-researched Oriental mythology adds interest to an already intriguing tale, and the ending is delightful and feels just right.

I won't go into any more detail for fear of spoiling the surprise, but this is a perfect short story whether you like shapeshifters or not!

The Rat Burglar is available in Shifting Perspectives from Aspen Mountain Press.

You can read Emily Veinglory's review of Understanding Forgiveness here, and you can read TA Chase's review of my own story, Feathered Friend, here.

Excerpt

Just in case you haven't already seen it plastered all over my web site and my Myspace page ;), here's a little exerpt from Feathered Friend. Hope you enjoy it!

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"I didn't realise I was having such an effect on you," said Avery, turning his hand palm-up and rubbing small circles into the skin.

"You're not... that is, I don't...." Charlie realised he was tangled in half-finished sentences, and drowning in a pair of pretty grey eyes. Eyes that were slate on the surface, but reflected a strange red glow when he stared into their depths. The pale red of a Kipps, if he wasn't much mistaken.... He shook himself, blinked the vision away and nervously licked his lips. The stranger was pulling on his hand now, trying to drag him close, and he resisted in spite of himself. "I don't do one-night stands."

"That's all right, neither do I. A bird is for life, not just for Christmas, you know."

"Well, yes, but...." There it was again, that peculiar reference to birds. Charlie began to feel ever-so-slightly sick. "I only sleep with humans," he said. "Breeding pigeons is a hobby, nothing more. I'm not into that sort of kink."

Avery laughed, a soft cooing chuckle that grated on Charlie's nerves. "So, what kind of kink are you into?" he asked, and pulled so hard that Charlie ended up on his lap.

"Nothing. I mean, I'm not. I don't get off on feathers or anything like that."

"Are you sure?" A single long grey feather appeared in Avery's hand and he \softline brushed it down Charlie's cheek and over his lips, before following its path with his lips.Tiny kisses rained \softline down on Charlie's skin, the contact so small it was almost like the peck of a beak. The thought made him shudder again and he shied away, trying to find leverage to clamber off Avery's lap. But Avery tightened his grip, holding him round the waist and running a hand through his curly brown hair.

"Don't worry," he whispered into Charlie's ear. "I'm not a bird. Not in this form. When I change, I change completely. I'm a man now. A very beautiful man, just the sort you like. You do like me, don't you?"

Charlie stopped struggling to get away and turned. He saw the pale skin and the soft greyish-fair hair and those pretty grey eyes, and he sighed as if he knew he was already lost. "Oh yes, I like you," he said, and surrendered to the embrace.

© 2007 Fiona Glass

Shifting Perspectives cover art

Just in case anyone hasn't seen it yet, I thought I'd post the stunning cover art from Shifting Perspectives. It was created by Deanna C Jamroz and features a rather hot chappie and some very lovely shapeshifting creatures in the fine detail. See for yourselves:

Two men and a sock

Cobblestone Press have just accepted Washday Blues, a fun but slightly silly kitchen-sink style romp about sex 'n' washing, for their Cobblestone Quarterly magazine. The story won't be appearing until June next year as they're booked solid till then, but it'll be in their birthday issue which I'm delighted about. :D

I'll obviously remind everyone nearer the time that it's due soon, but just wanted to break the good news now.

New releases

It's been ages since I posted here - I've had my head down scribbling and haven't really been coming up much for air.

I've had some good news at last, though, with a couple of new releases. One, Lizard King, is available to download and read in Issue 4 of BENT Magazine. The story is based on a Russian fairy tale, The Frog Princess, and tells the very tongue-in-cheek tale of Patrick, a mobile phone, a pet store owner and a lizard. ;)

Also based on a fairy tale is Feathered Friend, a story about a very unusual pigeon and the man who finds it in his pigeon loft. Little does Charlie imagine the effect the bird will have on his life, or his heart. Feathered Friend has been published in 'Shifting Perspectives' along with two more shapeshifter stores by TA Chase and Emily Veinglory, by Aspen Mountain Press. You can read a brief extract of the story at my website.