From acclaimed YA authors Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff comes The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories.

– A vampire locked in a cage in the basement, for good luck.
– Bad guys, clever girls, and the various reasons why the guys have to stop breathing.
– A world where fires never go out (with references to vanilla ice cream).

These are but a few of the curiosities collected in this volume of short stories by three acclaimed practitioners of paranormal fiction.

But The Curiosities is more than the stories. Since 2008, Maggie, Tessa, and Brenna have posted more than 250 works of short fiction to their website merryfates.com. Their goal was simple: create a space for experimentation and improvisation in their writing—all in public and without a backspace key. In that spirit, The Curiosities includes the stories and each author’s comments, critiques, and kudos in the margins. Think of it as a guided tour of the creative processes of three acclaimed authors.

So, are you curious now?

Hardcover, 304 pages  Published August 1st 2012 by Lerner Publishing Group

ISBN  0761375279 (ISBN13: 9780761375272)

The Curiosities is not only a collection of some of the short stories that these authors have put together, it also contains drawings, comments and moments of interest that each author finds in the others’ work.

The commentary within the pages of the book are helpful hints as to what works in a story and what doesn’t. The book not only contains stories that are entertaining and interesting but the points of interest for me, lay in these notes between the lines. Readers who are particularly interested in writing may find some of these techniques discussed, useful in their own practices.

With experiments like writing a story with no dialogue, to POV and word length, as well as what qualifies as an ending to a story, each story varies from author to author.Also, there are fun drawings outlining what is important to each of them in a story.

I recommend this book for those readers that not only enjoy the author’s novels, but for those interested in writing as a pastime or profession. The topics are interesting and I found the whole book inspiring.