Rogues

Rogues edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, 806 pages

Rogues, scoundrels, ne'er-do-wells, thieves, ruffians... Rogues is full of them. This collection of short stories spans several genres, and offers up some truly delightful stories of never-trustworthy, always-appealing characters written by everyone from Joe Abercrombie (who opens up the book with a tale following a mysterious package that is repeatedly stolen) to Garth Nix (more double-crossing thievery, this time with magic!) to Neil Gaiman (a charming thief stealing his coat back) to George R.R. Martin himself (who closes the book with a Song of Fire and Ice story that predates any of his novels set in that world).

While the stories got a little slow in the middle, I loved the variety in these stories, particularly Gillian Flynn's story of a sex worker/con-woman (which has the best, and least repeatable, opening paragraph ever) and Walter Jon Williams' story about a conceited actor who gets involved in a Mexican drug cartel while he's filming on location. Some of the fantasy stories were a little tough to get into (50 or 60 pages is not nearly enough to fully realize the worlds in which some of them were set), but all in all, this was a fun collection. As Martin says in the prologue, everybody loves a rogue!