FenrisUlf Posted October 1, 2007 Report Share Posted October 1, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations Just thought of something, it might have been mentioned but Think Disney (I'm serious) Gargoyles... Man that show was PERFECT for this, it really was... Wouldn't that count as Superpowered Urban Fantasy? And yes, I loved the show too. Great protagonists, great cast all the way around, and Xanatos was the best d*mn villain I've ever seen anywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted October 1, 2007 Report Share Posted October 1, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations One just occurred to me, and I don't know if he's been mentioned yet: Christopher Moore. His stuff is very quirky and funny; he strikes me as the Terry Pratchett of the urban fantasy set. He has two books about vampires, but he gets into a lot of other mythologies, as well. A Dirty Job, about taking on Death's workload, is an excellent read, and should yield a lot of material regarding an "otherness" that most people don't notice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowcat1313 Posted October 3, 2007 Report Share Posted October 3, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations kinda surprised these havent been mentioned yet Bureau 13 novels by Nick Pollotta, based on the RPG Bureau 13 Judgement Night Bureau 13 Doomsday Exam Bureau 13 Full Moonster Bureau 13 Damned Nation always loved nicks stuff, including Illegal Aliens hes also written several of the Deathlands books and at least a couple Mack Bolan books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Device Posted October 3, 2007 Report Share Posted October 3, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations Poul Anderson - Operation Chaos, Operation Luna Robert Heinlein - Magic Inc. (Published as a Double with Waldo Robin McKinley - Sunshine Charlie Stross - The Jennifer Morgue, The Atrocity Archives Aaron Allston - Galatea in 2D Scott Westerfeld - The Midnighters Trilogy Christopher Moore - Coyote Blue, Island of the Sequined Love Nun, Practical Demon Keeping, and others Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrFaust Posted October 4, 2007 Report Share Posted October 4, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations I'll throw in James P. Blaylock's The Paper Grail and The Last Coin, which share a lot in common with Tim Powers' novels. I'm told All the Bells on Earth rounds out the trio, thematically speaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted October 4, 2007 Report Share Posted October 4, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations kinda surprised these havent been mentioned yet Bureau 13 novels by Nick Pollotta, based on the RPG Bureau 13 Judgement Night Bureau 13 Doomsday Exam Bureau 13 Full Moonster Bureau 13 Damned Nation always loved nicks stuff, including Illegal Aliens hes also written several of the Deathlands books and at least a couple Mack Bolan books We knew you had called dibs on them and we didn't want to steal your thunder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted October 4, 2007 Report Share Posted October 4, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations Apparently Thomas Burnett Swann has some good stuff, though most of it's out of print. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmccarty4 Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations +1, my wife has read all the Aisling Grey novels by Katie MacAlister, and she has picked up other "chick lit w/ magic" books. Yes, it's a whole sub-genre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations I'm not sure if the use of "chick lit" as a genre is telling us there is something wrong with our publishers, or something wrong with our entire culture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations Is there something separating chick lit from romance novels? Is chick lit aggro-feminist or something? Or is it just a fancy name for "almost a romance novel but with magic or sci-fi or something thrown in"? I don't think I've ever heard the term before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmccarty4 Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations I don't think I've ever heard the term before. Gee, I guess my wife has been reading chick lit for so long, I'd assumed the term had wide exposure. Entertainment Weekly usually reserves part of their (short) book review section for chick lit books. Is chick lit aggro-feminist or something? No way. At their core, they're deeply traditional. Girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy. I think chick lit readers would be offended if somehow the girl didn't get the boy; it'd violate the primary convention of the genre. It'd be like a Clive Cussler novel in which nothing manly or impossible happened. Is there something separating chick lit from romance novels? It's like this: romance novels are published by a Romance Novel publisher. Harlequin is the most famous, but there are several. Fabio, the blond long-haired Italian guy used to be the cover boy on every third book, generally holding a fetching lass in a lusty embrace. They're mass-market paperback size, usually on really cheap paper, with small print. They are accordingly cheap, on the order of $4.99. Chick lit is always in trade paperback size, features higher-quality paper, comes from "normal" publishing houses, and has pastel-colored covers with cartoony illustrations on the front. They cost on the order of $10.95 (less at Costco & Target). My impression is that most chick lit is either written by Brits or American Anglophiles, and the majority of the heroines seem to work in the media (lots of publishing, advertising, television, and such). I get the idea that they're better written and not quite as predictable as romance novels. They're supposedly a little hipper, a little more knowing, a little more contemporary. Bridget Jones' Diary is THE chick lit, the ur-chick lit. Chick lit entered my world when Bridget Jones' Diary hit the best-seller list. When Bridget Jones' Diary came out, my wife stopped reading romance novels & started reading chick lit. Or is it just a fancy name for "almost a romance novel but with magic or sci-fi or something thrown in"? Most chick lit is straight-up normal fiction. But it turns out that a bunch of chick lit authors must have been BTVS fans (or been White Wolf RPG-ers?), because after BTVS became a cult hit, the wife started finding & reading vampire chick lit and werewolf chick lit and magic chick lit. Here's my bucket: my wife's not a gamer, but in the "hope springs eternal" department, I think there's an outside chance I might be able to interest her in our little hobby, as long as it's something like the Aisling Grey novels. But I'm going to have to get her to brief me on the stories, because... I'm just not going to read them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations But I'm going to have to get her to brief me on the stories, because... I'm just not going to read them. LOL...thanks for the explanation. Yeah, it sounds like an upgraded version of romance novels then. Like a graphic novel to a comic book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations LOL...thanks for the explanation. Yeah' date=' it sounds like an upgraded version of romance novels then. Like a graphic novel to a comic book.[/quote'] Well, there's far less purple prose, and, in general, less sex. The heroines are also more likely to be based on someone the author knows, rather than someone she wishes she could be. I'd say calling them an evolved form would be a more accurate statement than "upgrade," but that's just splitting hairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenrisUlf Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations Most chick lit is straight-up normal fiction. But it turns out that a bunch of chick lit authors must have been BTVS fans (or been White Wolf RPG-ers?)' date=' because after BTVS became a cult hit, the wife started finding & reading [i']vampire [/i]chick lit and werewolf chick lit and magic chick lit. I've heard those latter called "Occult Romance". Once tried to look at one (who knows, it might be good). Oh my lord, was it awful. Soppy romance + the worst excesses of Laurel Hamilton = Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations Don't miss the Terry Pratchett books, especially Nightwatch, Thunk! and Going Postal. Heavier on the Fantasy side, but an interesting look at adventures in a fantasy world with a modern Urban sensibility. Also, Undead and Unwed and the other books in the series is a weirdly entertaining comic take on life as a modern female vampire. Darklost and Mick Farren's other vampire books are a very pulpish / comic bookish take on magic in 21st Century America, pretty interesting as a potential game setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kristopher Posted October 6, 2007 Report Share Posted October 6, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations Ooh' date=' good catch, although the first one is actually spelled 'Witchblade' IIRC. Great stories though. Never saw the TV show, I heard mixed things about it - anyone out there see it?[/quote'] I kinda liked the TV series, wished they'd gotten it to a resolultion before it was dropped. I kinda like Yancy Butler, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photon1966 Posted October 6, 2007 Report Share Posted October 6, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations What about Tanya Huff. Her books of various "Blood" series is now a television show called Blood Ties. I really enjoyed her books and the show is an ok fun romp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icel Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations Roger Zelazny with Jane Lindskold's "Lord Demon". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StGrimblefig Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations I don't suppose Isaac Asimov's Azazel stories count? They are pretty tightly focused on George (the mooch) and his pocket-sized demon friend, and played for humor, but they are still stories about a modern world where a guy has a demon doing things for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobrunnicles Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations Some of Dean Koontz's material, while generally considered horror, veers into the fantastic on occasion. Certainly he's had a 'fallen angel/risen demon' story at one point although I don't remember the name. Anyone else recall it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Cross Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations The Quatermass TV series were published as a set of cheap paperbacks from Arrow books many years ago.While they're out of print as far as I know,they are still worth picking up,especially Quatermass & the Pit.Also,is there a novelization of the TV series The Stone Tape out there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations Some of Dean Koontz's material' date=' while generally considered horror, veers into the fantastic on occasion. Certainly he's had a 'fallen angel/risen demon' story at one point although I don't remember the name. Anyone else recall it?[/quote'] I believe that was Hideaway. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations I don't recall if anybody recommended this, but I just watched Night Watch. That certainly fits in with what has been discussed. Also Karas. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations Tales of Gavagan's Bar Uneven, but it does a nice job of mixing fantasy into a modern urban setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StGrimblefig Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 Re: Urban Fantasy Recommendations Now you've done it: Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (and sequels) Yes, it is mostly science fiction. But there was a leprechaun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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