James Moriarty, Consulting Criminal, by Andy Weir (author), Graeme Malcolm (narrator)

Audible Studios, June 2017

I had no idea Andy Weir had written three short stories about Sherlock Holmes' nemesis, Professor James Moriarty. But here they are, narrated quite competently by Graeme Malcolm.

The stories themselves are also well-written and fun. At least, as long as you're okay with James Moriarty is, in fact, a very bad guy, and a cold-blooded killer.

The Scarlet Circus (The Jane Yolen Classic Fantasy Stories #4), by Jane Yolen

Tachyon Press, ISBN 9781616963866, February 2023

This is the fourth volume in a series collecting Jane Yolen's short fiction, in this case, romantic fantasy. It's important to be clear that this isn't Romance in the romance genre sense. These stories contain romance, but are not primarily about romance. It's not the main point of the stories, and endings may be happy, sad, or something in between.

So, expectations set, right?

"Sans Soleil" is the story of a prince born with curse; he's "as handsome as the sun," and the sun will kill him if a sunbeam so much as touches his brow. But there's a lovely young woman, daughter of a duke, who is convinced that this is an old wives' tale, complete nonsense, and who is determined to save him from his confinement to the dark.

Grim Tales, by E. Nesbit (author), Peter Yearsley (narrator)

LibriVox (original publication 1904)

I had no idea Edith Nesbit wrote for adults, but, since she did, it makes sense she'd write at least some horror.

A total of seven stories, they're darkly creepy rather than filled with screaming, dramatic incidents of terror, and gore.

A man in love is approached by another woman he knows with a letter his beloved wrote to the woman's brother--a passionate love letter. He ends his engagement, and gradually, comes to love, and marry, the woman who exposed the truth. But was it the truth? Was the letter a forgery? Can the answer to both questions be "yes"? He makes a tragically wrong decision, and has a tragically dark encounter.

Legacy Systems (Adventures in the Liaden Universe #19), by Sharon Lee, Steve Miller

Pinbeam Books, ISBN 9781935224921, February 2012

Two more Liaden stories, looking into the past, prior to the "current" stories where Val Con and Miri are together Delm Korval.

"Intelligent Design" features Val Con as a boy, with Shan just a few years older. They're heading off on what will be Val Con's first trip as cabin boy on Dutiful Passage, with Er Thom as captain, and Shan as apprentice trader/cargo hand. They're setting off just after Jelaza Kazone has lost its butler due to the butler's clan Delm having no good opinion of Er Thom having married a Terran, Anne Davis. The possibility of more service clans withdrawing from Korval is a background worry as Dutiful Passage sets off.

Judge Dee and the Limits of the Law: A Tor.com Original (Judge Dee), by Lavie Tidhar

Tor Books, November 2020

This is a fun little short story about a very old vampire who is, essentially, a circuit judge for vampires, enforcing the only law that really matters to vampires: don't endanger us all by behaving so outrageously that you get us discovered by the humans we prey on.

Judge Dee is accompanied in his travels by a boy named Jonathan, whom he rescued from a local disaster in England. Because vampires don't really eat, and really don't eat what humans eat, Jonathan devours ferociously whatever human-edible food comes his way. Other than that, he just tries to be observant, learn what Judge Dee has to teach him, and be useful.

Jonathan is enjoying one of those meals when Judge Dee is called Castello d'oro, or perhaps Castello dell'orrore. Castle of Gold, or Castle of Horrors. When they arrive, they find the Baron Guido, and his surprisingly large vampire family--the large number of former humans he has transformed into vampires. Together with the large number of prey humans they have confined, one can easily see some likely violations of the one law vampires care about.

Odder Than Ever, by Bruce Coville (author), The Full Cast Family (narrators)

Full Cast Audio, February 2021

This is a really enjoyable collection of short stories, some fantasy, some science fiction, some riffing on fairy tale themes and settings.

There's a boy whose father is a diplomat--and Earth's first ambassador to another planet. It's challenging being the only alien in his school, but that's not the big challenge he faces. At a critical diplomatic dinner, his presence required by the customs of the planet they're on, but including the ambassador from another planet, where someone as near physical size and development as Jacob is not considered a child. Jacob makes a mistake, and doing the adult thing may cost him something he truly loves.

Falling in Love With Hominids, by Nalo Hopkinson (author), Bahni Turpin (narrator)

Tantor Media, ISBN 9781515942634, September 2019 

This is a wonderful collection of short stories, and Nalo Hopkinson, as the writer, and Bahni Turpin, as the narrator, kept me listening to stories that were just straight up horror that I would ordinarily just skip right over. Along with the horror, there's dark fantasy, lighter, happier fantasy, and even a couple of stories that can fairly be called science fiction. There's a reworking of the story of Caliban, and a new Bordertown story. It's an impressive range.