The Family Grace Gets Reviewed
Longtime reader Jose Rivera posted a review on Amazon.com of The Family Grace: An Extraordinary History. He gave it four stars and labeled it “A Wonderful Primer!” Here is what he had to say in total:
“I’ve been reading Barry Reese’s work for almost ten years. In that time I’ve seen the Grace sisters (Charity and Samantha) and heard about the adventures of other members of their family, but I never got to read them…until now.
The Family Grace is an omnibus of stories dealing with the Grace family and the world of shadows. Sometimes it features a Grace while others and sometimes its tangentially linked to the world of shadows. But you know what’s incredible? It all fits so well! You can read the first couple of stories and have all the context you need for what’s to come later in the book.
There’s a few genres here: we have fantasy, adventure, new pulp and slight horror. If at some point you were ever interested in dipping your toe into the world of Reese’s characters I would HIGHLY recommend this as it is an excellent primer for what you can expect in other works like Lazarus Gray, The Peregrine, Gravedigger, the Dark Gentleman, etc.
Give it a try! You won’t be sorry!”
Thanks, Jose! This was a strange book to assemble as it took many previously published tales from all over the place (several of which were out of print by this point) and put them into a single anthology. If there was ever a second edition of this, we’d have to go back and include a Gravedigger story since she’s a prominent member of the Grace clan that was created after this one was published!
Thanks again!
Major Events specific to certain stories and novels are included in brackets. Some of this information contains SPOILERS for The Peregrine, Lazarus Gray, Gravedigger and other stories.
Folks know that the Grace family have formed part of the heroic backbone of the Reese Unlimited Universe – we’ve seen Samantha Grace as part of Assistance Unlimited; Charity Grace has fought crime as Gravedigger; Eobard Grace has adventured on both Earth and The World of Shadows. There are others that have popped here and there, as well… and when I decided to tell a story set in the Sixties with Assistance Unlimited, I knew there would have to be at least one Grace on center stage. That turned out to be the daughter of the villainous Nemesis and our beloved Samantha.
Work has kicked into overdrive on my newest novel, which has no working title at present. In Lazarus Gray Volume 11 I introduce a new character and she serves a supporting role in that book… but now I’m spinning her out into her own adventure. While she teamed up with Lazarus in the mid-1940s, this novel begins in 19th century England before time-jumping to the modern day. If you’re wondering how this character can pop up in so many different eras, you’ll have to stay tuned. I know, I know – at the rate Pro Se is rolling out my Lazarus novels, you might not get the answers to those questions for a decade or so (it’s been nearly three years since the Lazarus Gray v. 7 was released and I’ve written five more books in the series since then!).
I’m mostly known for my male creations — The Peregrine & Lazarus Gray, for instance — but I’ve spent a good bit of my career writing female leads. 
Charity Grace – aka Gravedigger – has appeared in three novels and she played a big role in the “crossover” novel that paired her with Lazarus Gray and The Peregrine. She’s become one of my most popular creations, thanks in no small part to the stunning costume design that George Sellas came up with. But where did she come from? What inspirations led her to spring forth from my crowded little mind?
What follows is the press release announcing the sale of my Reese Unlimited properties to Pro Se Productions. For those of you wondering what this means, just know that I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t thought it was a good deal. I’ll still have the ability to write new Lazarus Gray novels (he’s the character nearest and dearest to my heart)… it’ll just be work-for-hire instead of being “mine.” I’ve been privy to some of Pro Se’s plans for this universe of characters and I’m pretty darned excited to see them! I’ll continue writing – and blogging – about Reese Unlimited. The changes are really just behind-the-scenes things – I know that some of these characters are beloved by many readers and, rest assured, they are in good hands.
Major Events specific to certain stories and novels are included in brackets. Some of this information contains SPOILERS for The Peregrine, Lazarus Gray, Gravedigger and other stories.