Urban Fantasy Recommendations

[Steve Long]

Hi folx! I am busy doing the reading and watching that counts as "research" for next year's Urban Fantasy Hero, and I thought it couldn't hurt to see if y'all had any recommendations.

 

By "Urban Fantasy" I generally mean books and movies that mix magic and modern-day societies in some way. Here's a list of some of the books I already have read or intend to read, by way of example (and to save you the trouble of suggesting them ):

 

Jim Butcher -- Dresden Files novels (and the TV show, obviously)

Charles deLint -- most of his novels and stories

Tim Powers -- most of his novels and stories

Emma Bull -- War for the Oaks

Simon Hawke -- various novels

Neil Gaiman -- Neverwhere, American Gods

Philip Pullman -- the "Dark Materials" trilogy

China Mieville -- Perdido Street Station

David Bischoff -- A Personal Demon

Poul Anderson -- "Operation Salamander"

John Crowley -- Little, Big

Windling and Arnold -- the "Borderlands" anthologies

Tom Holt -- Who's Afraid of Beowulf

 

 

So, beyond those -- have any suggestions? Right now I'm more interested in books than movies.

[Mephron]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendation

 

Mercedes Lackey and a few others (don't have them at hand), the SERRAted Edge and Bedlam Bards series, and spinoffs thereof.

 

Includes urban fantasy, enchanted cars, elves trying to hide among humans (and not doing it well), and a lot of 'the world is weirder than you thing' underlying it all.

 

Also, I am pleased that 'War For The Oaks' is already on the list.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendation

 

Most of what I'd recommend is already on your list, but one thing that's missing is "Elf Defense" by Esther Friesner. She's got others in the same vein as well, but Elf Defense is the best, IMHO.

[Korvar]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendation

 

The Harry Potter books sound like they'd (just about) fit

 

Buffy / Angel / Charmed ?

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendation

 

You may want to at least flip through some Laurell K. Hamilton, Kelly Anderson, Kim Harrison and Charlaine Harris. The vampires/werewolves/"other" stuff living in the same society as humans seems to fall under that umbrella, according to most urban fantasy enthusiasts.

 

Unless you want to leave that element out.

 

Diana Wynne Jones, while a children's author with a variety of stories in different settings, also writes some urban fantasy. The Merlin Conspiracy seems the most obvious, as do the Chrestomanci books.

[BlackSword]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendation

 

To expand on Neil Gaiman, Books of Magic and Anansi Boys. Also from DC/Vertigo, Constantine/Hellblazer.

[archermoo]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendation

 

I know you've already got deLint's stuff on your list, but I'd like to make a specific recommendation. His "Spirits in the Wires" does a wonderful job of combining the tech and fantasy worlds.

[John Desmarais]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

(trying to avoid most of the current crop if nearly identical trashy vampire novels...)

 

Novels

• The Smoke Trilogy and The Keeper's Chronicles -- by Tanya Huff.
  
• Fables (comic) -- by Bill Willingham
  
• The Southern Vampire Mysteries series - by Charlaine Harris
  
• The Weather Warden -- books by Rachel Caine
  
• The Sorcerer's Academy -- by Denise Little (Editor)
  
• The Adept books -- by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris
  
• Spellbinder: A Love Story With Magical Interruptions -- by Melanie Rawn
  
• Magic Street -- by Orson Scott Card
  
• The Diana Tregarde Investigation books -- by Mercedes Lackey

Juvies:

• The Sisters Grimm -- by Michael Buckley and Peter Ferguson
  
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians -- by Rick Riordan
  
• The Young Wizards Series -- by Diane Duane

Movies:

• The Cat Returns -- by Hiroyuki Morita
  
• Kiki's Delivery Service - by Hayao Miyazaki (actually, most of the Studio Ghibli is quite good and falls into the "modern fantasy" genre, but most of it also lacks a definite sense of "modern" in that many of them could jsut as easily be set 50, 100, 300, or more years ago; so you lose some of the "fantasy interacting with modern society" thing)
  
• The 10th Kingdom (yeah, I know, cheesy, but it hits a lot of the genre tropes).
  
• The Librarian movies with Noah Wylie (see comment above)
  

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendation

 

I know you've already got deLint's stuff on your list' date=' but I'd like to make a specific recommendation. His "Spirits in the Wires" does a wonderful job of combining the tech and fantasy worlds. [/quote']

I didn't know you read de Lint.

 

I have a wicked mental crush on him. (That's when you recoil in horror at the idea of doing anything physical with a person, but would follow them around like a lost puppy-dog for his or her mind.)

[Steve Long]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

Thanx for the recommendations so far, everyone!

 

The Adept books -- by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris

 

I'm not sure I can ever read these. I morally object to them on the grounds that Kurtz should write more Deryni novels, dammit, not this other stuff.

 

"Spirits in the Wires"

 

I will look for that one, then; so far of what I've read of his I'd say my favorite is Trader, though it's unsatisfying in some ways.

[lapsedgamer]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

Thanks for starting this thread. Though you had noble intentions, I will use it selfishly as a personal reading list. This is one of my favorite genres.

 

I think you might like the cable TV miniseries The Lost Room. It has science fiction pretensions, but it is really fantasy, IMO. People questing obsessively for magical items. It makes a nice example of the gray area between the two genres. Its out on DVD.

 

Also from TV: the excellent Cast a Deadly Spell and its less stellar sequel Witch Hunt. Both combine 1950s noir with magic and Cthulu style weirdness. They are from the early to mid 90s and can be a littlle hard to find. They're on DVD, but out of print.

 

There was a good Titus Groan miniseries from BBC I saw about two yaers ago that you might enjoy. I never tackled the books, but I liked that show. It's out on DVD.

 

For books: Fritz Leiber's Conjure Wife, Lucuis Shepard's Green Eyes

 

More later. Duty calls.

[Karmakaze]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

You may want to at least flip through some Laurell K. Hamilton' date=' Kelly Anderson, Kim Harrison and Charlaine Harris. The vampires/werewolves/"other" stuff living in the same society as humans seems to fall under that umbrella, according to most urban fantasy enthusiasts.[/quote']

 

If you go with Laurell K. Hamilton, though, you're looking for the Anita Blake books (not the Merry Gentry ones) and you want to stick with the earlier books in the series. Her later work devolved into some very bizarre porn.

[JmOz]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

Terry Brooks has a series of novels, first one is Running with demons, there are at least two others, Knight of the Void or word, can't remember, and Angelfire East

 

Also there is a 4th one I have not read that is to link the series to the Shannara series (Basicaly it has to do with the appocylypse-sp that occured in the past of the shannara series). Can't recomend it as I have not read it yet

[teh bunneh]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

Here's an unorthodox suggestion: the Hellblazer movie, starring Keanu.

 

Don't lynch me!

 

Seriously, if you ignore the fact that the lead character is named John Constantine and just pretend it's a stand-alone movie that has nothing to do with the comics, it's actually a pretty good urban fantasy flick.

 

Also, I can't believe no one has suggested the Nightwatch and Daywatch movies. Good, weird Russian urban fantasy.

[John Desmarais]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

The Adept books -- by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris

I'm not sure I can ever read these. I morally object to them on the grounds that Kurtz should write more Deryni novels, dammit, not this other stuff.

 

Here I've been thinking just the opposite - I want more Adept novels.

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

The Repairman Jack series by F Paul Wilson (starting with The Tomb) - a modern day action hero runs into mystic stuff. This guy is a Dark Champions character dealing with mystic menaces. I can't recomend these books enough.

 

Also by Wilson

The Touch - a Doctor gets a healing touch.

 

His stuff has more isolated instances of mystic phenomenon - although it really ramps up in later Repairman Jack novels. They could also be "horror".

 

Night in Lonesome October - Roger Zelazny.

A Knight of the Word - by Terry Brooks (second book of the series, can't remember the first one)

 

If you are going back a bit as to "modern" - The Lord Darcy stuff.

 

The wife says that for Diana Wynne Jones the three most urban are the Archer's Goon series.

 

While is is post apoc there is Ariel by Stephen R Boyett.

 

Tinker & Wolf who Rules by Wen Spencer - although it could be seen as sort of trans-world. A large chunk Pittsburgh switched back and forth with an area of Fairyland every 30 days.

 

You may want to at least flip through some Laurell K. Hamilton' date=' Kelly Anderson, Kim Harrison and Charlaine Harris. The vampires/werewolves/"other" stuff living in the same society as humans seems to fall under that umbrella, according to most urban fantasy enthusiasts.[/quote']

If you go with Laurell K. Hamilton' date=' though, you're looking for the Anita Blake books (not the Merry Gentry ones) and you want to stick with the earlier books in the series. Her later work devolved into some very bizarre porn.[/quote']

 

Info from the wife, there is a whole subset of Vampire romance modern stuff (and those that don't descend into porn). The Soozie Stackhouse books (as has been mentioned), the Lynsay Sands Vampire novels, stuff by Katie Macalister, Mary Janice Davidson (more the Werewolf novels rather than the Vampire novels), Sherrilyn Kenyon. These are mentioned from the wife, and she said "ignore the Kenyon if you can't stand butchered history and a lot of heaving bosoms" - The wife said these likely only list of stuff work reading in sub genre (although she hasn't read Dead Witch Walking).

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

For an early example of the genre, I recommend The Shadow People by Margaret St. Clair (c. 1969). You'll probably have to search online to find it, but a quick Search turned up several sellers including Amazon.

 

EDIT: This Amazon listing page includes a brief review of the book, about halfway down: http://www.amazon.com/shadow-people-Margaret-St-Clair/dp/B00005XVNT

[csyphrett]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

Simon Green's seven tales from the nightside, and the man with the golden torc, autumn moon wine? (I don't remember the title. A werewolf fights the devil's sun for personifications of the Earth and the moon.) should fit in.

CES

[archermoo]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

I will look for that one' date=' then; so far of what I've read of his I'd say my favorite is [i']Trader,[/i] though it's unsatisfying in some ways.

 

Very good book, and I agree that there are some unsatisfying things about it. I generally re-read books every once and a while, but Trader was unsettling enough to me that it was many years before I re-read it.

 

Memory & Dream is my favourite of his books, possibly my favourite book of all time. Though I think somewhat less useful for your purposes, though I suppose I could be wrong.

[Zindil]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

I can't believe no one has mentioned this series from Neil Gaiman yet: The Sandman Comic series from DC-Vertigo. And yes I mean the entire series. Urban fantasy doesn't get any better than this.

 

Also someone else said above the Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv series. I second that one even if it isn't a book. Buffy is such a popular series among roleplaying geeks that I couldn't imagine a comprehensive urban fantasy book that didn't get some inspiration from Buffy.

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

Another "I cant believe these have not been mentioned yet" is Michael Scott Rohan's Chase the Morning; Gates of Noon and Cloud Castles.

 

The first of those is the best and the other two dont add too much as they essentially are variations of the first novel. Chase the Morning is one of my favourite novels.

 

 

Doc

[archermoo]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

Along the same vein as some of the recent suggestions, Hellboy should be pretty good source material.

[mallet]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

I second "A night in the lonesome October" by Roger Zelazny, it is one of the best books I have read. Actually most of his stuff has a bit of Urban Fantasy in it, even the Amber books (especially the second series).

 

Also you probably shouldn't over look Steven King. I know it is more horror, but most of his books involve magic and a modern urban setting.

[Curufea]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

I'm just happy you're including Perdido Street Station

It's "New Weird" - but I regard it as Dark Steampunk Fantasy (because it has more magic than you usually get in Steampunk).

[eternal_sage]

Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations

 

C.E. Murphey - Urban Shaman (1st book in the series, the others are good too). a little historical glossing, police work is a bit fuzzy, but the character interaction is awesome, and her powers (and there origin) are sort of neat, as is her method of employing them. she is currently my wife's fave author at the moment.

 

she also enjoys Patricia Briggs (Moon Called or Blood Bound), for a Laurel K Hamilton feel, without all the wanton....fornication.

 

the Tanya Huff vampire books are also pretty good (Blood Pact would be a good start), but these are a little dated, as they along with Anne Rice sort of started the whole genre as it stands.

 

as for movies, you can't forget: American Werewolf in London (or Paris), Underworld (1 and 2), and the Covenant.

 

i (for my wife) would also strongly suggest looking at the new World of Darkness books (especially the Mage book) for an interesting game related spin. pretty neat stuff, and it has a list of source materials.

 

most of the other stuff she's into has already been said.