The Literate Kitty

A fascinating and beautiful medieval city. A young American woman on temporary foreign assignment, coping with the unknowns of working in a strange land and with the hassle of trying to avoid her misogynistic new supervisor. A host of vampires, witches, ghosts, and assorted other fae creatures. What could be more entertaining?  Well, a lot of things, actually—although there are, fortunately, a few high points—in E.J. Stevens’ urban fantasy, Hunting in Bruges .  ________________________ Jenna Lehane is a young—check that, very young—member of the American order of a worldwide organization known as the Hunters’ Guild, whose mission it is to keep humans safe from all manner of dangers… especially those of the supernatural variety. It seems nefarious paranormal activity has recently picked up in the ancient city of Bruges, and the Guild there—woefully understaffed—has put out a call for assistance. Fresh off a job that had kinda gone sideways, Jenna’s boss kno...

There’s plenty of uncertainty in this thing we can “life”, but there's one thing we can always count on: time is gonna keep right on doin’ its thing, marching along at its own pace. No matter how much we might want to stop it, or at least to slow it down a bit, that’s just not gonna happen. It’s not always bad, that passage of time; some things actually improve with it. Wines and whiskies become smoother and mellower. A favorite t-shirt or pair of jeans grows softer and more comfortable. Trees stretch taller and fill out to provide more shade and beauty. (Okay, I'm sure there's more, but that's all that springs to mind.)    Most things don't have such a positive relationship with time, of course. The cycle of life as we know it is such that, after a particular point, all living things cease growing or regenerating and begin the gradual process of decline, leading, inexorably, to... well, a last hurrah, if you will. Generally speaking, animals (including humans) go t...