I’ve always loved horses, so this was a must for me. I also know that there’s never a dud one among Rhonda Parrish’s collection.
So it was with anticipation that I settled down for several enjoyable reading sessions, since I don’t like to read more than two or three short stories at a time. And I found… exactly what I had anticipated.
In some ways I missed some straightforward horse stories. I may have forgotten one or two in the middle, but there are a great many unicorns (at the start) and a great many flying horses (at the end). I think I might have preferred them to be less clustered, although having clustered some of my stories in my collections, maybe it works best for most people. But regardless of presentation order, these are great stories. I bow to all the authors selected, only some of whose work I have met before. It is truly scary how many wonderful authors there are out there.
Did I have a favourite? Um…the ones that came out of the sea, the one made of steam… neither of those are unicorns or flying horses, funnily enough. Well, the steam one might. As a companion volume to Rhonda’s previous Equus selection, these tend to be more fantastical, but just as good. Maybe not as scary. More uplifting. But they are still horses, and nothing’s as magical as a real horse! ( )

These sixteen mostly family-friendly tales can be binged in one very long day or spread out over more than a fortnight.

INTRODUCTION by Rhonda Parrish: This anthology started with unicorns and ended up with freedom.

SPIDER HORSE by Jennifer Lee Rossman is the story of Sleipnir as told by his mom; a family-friendly quick read.

THEIR EYES LIKE STARS, THEIR HORNS ALOFT by Alyson Grauer is PG, about Caballus Dancing Horses, and takes less than an hour

ONE GIANT LEAP by Jamie Lackey is the family-friendly story of Ashley who travels to the moon in search of unicorns and is another quick read.

IT'S THE ELEMENTAL SPIRITS! by Sally McBride is PG about a contemporary immigrant boy band and takes about an hour.

RINK OF DREAMS by M.L.D. Curelas is family-friendly, about a family skating rink at risk of foreclosure, and takes about an hour.

Family-friendly BONDS AND BINDINGS by Rachel M. Thompson involves the unicorn watch in Ilozne in spring and 13-year-old Ylenia and takes an hour.

PG, HOW TO HIDE A UNICORN by Beth Cato takes place in space where orphan Abwilla Amancourt, 11, is just trying to survive and takes less than an hour.

PG, MIST AND FIRE by Laura Vanarendonk Baugh starts at the end of the war of the gods, jumps to the Burning, tells the story of Maria, and takes about an hour.

Family-friendly, THE PRODIGAL HORSE GIRL RETURNS by Lucy Hagan takes about an hour and is about Ilaria, who fell in love with Valkeries at the age of seven and road until she turned fourteen,

Have a tissue handy for THE NIGHT-HORSES by Alyx Barter, five minutes, maybe?

ARGENT by Marshall Moore starting in Washington, D.C.is PG, about the missing Pegasos, and takes about half an hour.

THE HORSE OF THE TREMORDEN by DJ Tyrer is set at Tremorden House in Cornwall in the 1970s, family-friendly about a girl named Morgan, and takes about an hour.

JULIET SILVER AND THE NIGHTMARE REGATTA by Wendy Nikel is a family-friendly steam-punk about capturing a nightmare for the Duke of Hvitfjord's Sky Regatta and takes about 45 minutes.

GHOST HORSE by Carter Lappin is a family-friendly quickie about a horse named Hogan and a girl named Grace.

THE WINGS OF THE TEMPEST by Jamie Perrault is about a colony called Charon near winged horses, a deadly virus that some want to pretend is merely flu, and the PG tale takes about half an hour.

UGLY UNICORN by Rose Strickman ii PG, mentions male virginity, deals with a protection racket, and takes about an hour.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. ( )

I received this book as part of Early Reviewer from LT. The first couple of stories were a bit weird but there are some pretty cool stories if you stick thru it. The Wings of Tempest, the Horse of Tremorden, Mist and Fire would be interesting as longer stories. ( )

This was a very enjoyable collection of short stories about horse-like creatures. The cover shows a unicorn but it also features flying horses and nightmares. There was no foul language or sex. There were good stores told in multiple universes on space ships, under the sea, on the land, and in the air. Not all of the horses are sparkly goody two shoes. If you like horses or you like fantasy, you should enjoy this. ( )