This anthology eBook was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest interview. I did get a chance to interview the publisher recently for Underground Book Reviews: You can check that here: https://www.undergroundbookreviews.org/shelfies-brett-brooks-of-pandahead-publishing/

HAND OF GOLD by Brett A Brooks:

Pussy Katnip is a public doman character from the 1940's. You can read about her here: http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Pussy_Katnip

Brett A Brooks and his Pandahead Publishing have created two previous books about her. But circumstances have not led me to read those adventures yet. Still, I haven't read the old Green Mask Comics that she used to appear in, so I assume I can jump right in.

The old Pussy Katnip stories were funny animal back up stories. Brook's remake on her is still anthropomorphic, but the species are lightly touched on, what we furries would call zipperbacks today -- just people in suits. From the cover, we know Pussy is a cat. The goons that show up are mentioned just briefly as "dogged men." A wonderful singer is named Foal, and that's her singular descriptive hint of her species. There's even a squirrelly man that scampers up on a chair... but is he a squirrel?

As a furry, these distinctions are important, but a regular reader would still need to know some basics... like, just how big is this implied squirrel? Human sized? Rodent sized? Is the big fluffy tail common? Even if doesn't make a difference to the society at large, it's still important in a fight, right?

These are images that are easy to put to bed in a comic, but in a prose piece, the wrong assumptions can ruin a story.

Now, the plot of the piece is nicely done. Aided by her magic potion, Pussy reluctantly defends Rodney (the squirelly man) against her better judgement. The fight scenes are not terribly intense, but I suspect, this was Brook's intent as I am told the two previous Pussy Katnip stories are largely free of guns. And I was surprised by the way our heroine dealt with the problematic contraband. That was satisfying, although it makes sense since ... well, that would be a big spoiler.

BARE SNOW by Joshua Robertson