This is a collection of 21 original stories. Some of the authors include Gillian Flynn, Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, Joe Abercrombie, Connie Willis, Scott Lynch and George R.R. Martin. Some of the stories have a fantasy element and others are just fiction.What is a rogue? In the introduction Martin provides us with descriptions such as: "Scoundrels, con men, and scalawags. Ne'er-do-wells, thieves, cheats, and rascals. Bad boys and bad girls. Swindlers, seducers, deceivers, flimflam men, imposters, frauds, fakes, liars, cads, tricksters..." Who wouldn't like stories about those types of people? Well, maybe not everyone.
I enjoyed this collection a lot. There were some stories that I thought were just ok but I loved most of them and now have some new authors to add to my already overlong reading list.
One of my favorites was "Tough Times All Over" by Joe Abercrombie. In a city where almost every one is a criminal, a courier must deliver an important package but then she loses it. It continues to change hands, sometimes being stolen by someone else. Can she recover it in time?
Another of my favorites was "Tawny Petticoats" by Michael Swanwick. Darger and Surplus have recently arrived in New Orleans (one in which there are sea serpents and zombie laborers) and are seeking a female confederate for their con. They find one named Tawny Petticoats. Their con involves conning some unsavory characters. Will they pull off their con, be betrayed by Tawny or will they be the ones conned by the ones they are attempting to con?
A third one of my favorites was "Now Showing" by Connie Willis. It is about a young woman named Lindsay who is in college and the man she was dating named Jack. He had left her in the lurch. She runs into him at the movie theater and finds out he is an agent for the government investigating consumer fraud or is he? It doesn't sound entertaining but Willis does a great job of making it fun.
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