Results tagged “urban fantasy”

What does it mean when a book that seems to be almost universally dismissed as drivel by many in the publishing industry is probably the greatest driving force in the hottest genre on the market today?

I’m no expert, but I’m guessing it means that, somewhere, all those smart industry people are kicking themselves.

If you’re not sure which book I’m referring to (I know—there’s so many that could fall into this description, no?), than I’ll give you some hints:

• It’s about vampires.
• It’s set in a high school in the Pacific Northwest.
• If you have a teenage daughter, granddaughter, or niece, chances are they expect you to get them to the movie theater on November 20th—with gaggles of their giggling friends.
• If you have a middle-aged wife, girlfriend, or sister—ditto.
• If you’re a twenty-something young professional woman—ditto.

If you haven’t guessed by now, then I suggest you lift your hands high up over your head, as that’s the best way to get out from under the rock you’re living beneath.

A few weeks ago, I got into a little discussion with my friends on Twitter (@bantamspectra) about the differences between paranormal romance and urban fantasy. The results (which were posted here on Suvudu), I thought, were pretty interesting.

But this got me thinking a little more about the genre. Or, more specifically, the state of the genre.

As we wind up 2009, one of the big pushes we’ve been noticing throughout the industry is, well, zombies. With what started off as a rather interesting foray into a quietly untapped topic with Max Brooks’ brilliant World War Z quickly exploded with the surprise New York Times bestseller, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. From there, we were basically off to the races.

In the darkness, demons come out to play …

and someone must bring their sins to light.

Part vampire, part werewolf, Riley Jenson knows what can happen when vamps don’t play well with others. But she’s never seen anything like this: a series of brutal murders surrounding the latest hot spot for vampire-human hookups—and the victims aren’t just killed, they’re beheaded. Now Riley is launching into action, toying with a seductive—and highly suspicious—club owner, and finding herself in the middle of another mystery: women being killed one by one, without a trace of violence.

For Riley, solving multiple cases—in a world going mad with human and vampire passions—would have been tough enough. Instead she has two jealous lovers on her hands: Kye Murphy, the amber-eyed werewolf who makes Riley’s wolf blood howl—and Quinn, the cool, elegant vamp who has over a thousand years’ experience at fulfilling women’s desires. While she’s busy juggling these two sexy beasts, Riley’s detective work takes a stunningly violent turn. Finding a murderer is now a matter of life and death. Especially since the killer has long since found her…

Oh Keri Arthur, how you do tempt us with your promise of thrills and chills. Is it any wonder that you’ve captured our reading hearts? No, it probably isn’t. Now—as in today!—Keri returns with her eighth Riley Jenson Guardian novel, Bound to Shadows, and this time Riley really has her work cut out for her: there’s a grisly murderer on the loose who has Riley in his/her sights.

Well, how would you like a sample of Keri’s new book? Would about forty pages work for you? We’ve got an incredibly generous sample for you after the jump. So go ahead and dive in. Keri’s bringing the heat on this chilly fall day.

Harry Connolly, author of Child of Fire, will be coming in to chat later this month on Sept. 29th. Interviewing Harry will be none other than our very own Betsy Mitchell. This chat, though, will be a little different than previous chats that we’ve done. Here’s how: Harry and Betsy will be chatting about being a first-time author. We’re going to try to cover the in’s and out’s, lessons that Harry learned en route to writing Child of Fire, and perhaps what it’s like to watch as your publication date draws near.

Child of Fire, Harry’s debut novel, has already drawn praise, like a starred review in Publishers’ Weekly and the following quote from Jim Butcher:

“[Child of Fire] is excellent reading and has a lot of things I love in a book: a truly dark and sinister world, delicious tension and suspense, violence so gritty you’ll get something in your eye just reading it, and a gorgeously flawed protagonist. Take this one to the checkout counter. Seriously.” — Jim Butcher

You can read an excerpt from Child of Fire on Harry’s website: HERE.

To submit questions for Harry in advance of the chat, send them to info@suvudu.

When I was a kid, my father used to take my older sister and me to “the green striped store” once a week and give us each a dollar to buy comic books. I can remember getting to buy five each (which should date me!). Oddly enough I don’t remember the ones I used to buy, probably because I read them to shreds and they ended up, after a suitably long time under my bed, in the garbage. But I remember the ones my sister had. She was OCD about keeping them looking new, organizing them, and keeping them away from me. She had more success in the first two tasks than she had in the last.

Even battered and torn, her comic collection is worth a pretty penny — but if I hadn’t been her little sister, she’d probably be independently wealthy by now. So all those people she’s helped keep healthy (she’s a doctor) owe me one.

She had the X-Men before they were cool and all of the issues where the old X-Men were captured and Prof. X had to bring in the new ones — you know, like Wolverine and the Banshee. She had The Amazing Spiderman, Sheena Queen of the Jungle, The Claws of the Cat, and a dozen others. Most importantly for you and me, she collected a comic called Werewolf by Night.

And that’s where I came by my love of werewolves; that’s why I write about them.

Judging by all the questions we’ve received about when Karen’s new book was coming out, it’s fair to say this one is worthy of being titled “hotly anticipated.” The fourth novel in the Fever series, Dreamfever finds Mac captive among the shades and seemingly powerless against her vicious tormentor, Lord Master. It will take the intervention of Jericho Barrons to free her. But a new invitation tempts her .  .  . In more ways than one.

So…wouldn’t it be cool if you could read a sample for free? Yeah, we thought so too, so our friends up at Delacorte Press sent us a PDF sample that you are free to take and read. And here’s your link: Download the exclusive free excerpt here.

Oh and if you haven’t started this series yet, you can download the first book, Darkfever out of our free library! How ‘bout them apples, eh?

The World Fantasy Awards nominees have been announced and this year’s list includes two stand-out titles from Del Rey and one title from Knopf.

PANDEMONIUM by Daryl Gregory (Del Rey) is in the running for best novel. The book (and I can tell you from experience that it’s a great read) is a brilliant story about a man in a world where demons regularly inhabit the bodies of people and can jump from person to person. Our Hero, Del Pierce, was inhabited by a Helion as a boy and thinks it has been exorcised from him. But has it? So he goes on a journey to find out. The book includes a great Philip K. Dick/Valis component as well. If you like fantasy in an urban setting (Urban Fantasy, right?), then you’d love this one. And obviously plenty of people do, as it’s been nominated. Want to know more about the demons? Check out the description of a few of them from the book’s description below:

“It is a world like our own in every respect … save one. In the 1950s, random acts of possession begin to occur. Ordinary men, women, and children are the targets of entities that seem to spring from the depths of the collective unconscious, pop-cultural avatars some call demons. There’s the Truth, implacable avenger of falsehood. The Captain, brave and self-sacrificing soldier. The Little Angel, whose kiss brings death, whether desired or not. And a string of others, ranging from the bizarre to the benign to the horrific.”

TENDER MORSELS, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin; Knopf) is deceiving. Technically it’s listed as a kids’ book, but don’t let that fool you. This is a complex story that will engage readers of all ages. And that’s why you see it here, also nominated for Best Novel. From the book’s description:

“Tender Morsels is a dark and vivid story, set in two worlds and worrying at the border between them. Liga lives modestly in her own personal heaven, a world given to her in exchange for her earthly life. Her two daughters grow up in this soft place, protected from the violence that once harmed their mother. But the real world cannot be denied forever—magicked men and wild bears break down the borders of Liga’s refuge. Now, having known Heaven, how will these three women survive in a world where beauty and brutality lie side by side?”

THE DEL REY BOOK OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY by Ellen Datlow, ed. (Del Rey) showcases sixteen original stories by “speculative fiction’s finest voices.” And who are these exemplary writers? Included in this book are the works of Jeffrey Ford, Elizabeth Bear, Margo Lanagan, Paul MccAuley and Kim Newman to name a few.

How good is this book? Even the book’s description ended up being prophetic:

“From Del Rey Books and award-winning editor Ellen Datlow, two of the most respected names in science fiction and fantasy, comes a collection of fifteen all-new short stories, plus a science fiction novella, that could count as a virtual “best of the year” anthology. Here you will find slyly twisted alternate histories, fractured fairy tales, topical science fiction, and edgy urban fantasy.”

For the full list of nominees follows below.

So I’m supposed to be working throughout the day—and (if my bosses are reading) I am! But part of my job is to run our @bantamspectra Twitter account. Which I do—with perhaps too great a frequency.

The problem is, I get into some fascinating conversations with my followers (the fact that I consider them my followers is irrelevant for this discussion), and yesterday was a great example of starting with a small topic, and it exploding into something quite fascinating.

It all started with the rather (or so I thought) innocuous query:

Do you know and/or care about the difference between urban fantasy and paranormal romance?

The response was, while perhaps not overwhelming, surely whelming.

Two camps seemed to set up: those that did know the difference and didn’t care, and those who did know the difference and did.

As @Tupholos said: “Don’t care. I suppose people with strong pos or neg feelings for one or the other might care. I like ‘em both.”

@LynnAAR added: “I read both PR and UF, so no. However, I do like to know what genre I’m buying.” When I asked her if it was so she knew what she was getting into, she replied: “Exactly. If a book is well-written, I’ll like it regardless, but I still like to know what I’m picking up.”

So even those who don’t care actually do care to a degree, in that their immediate selections (what they decided to read) were made fully cognizant that they were holding either paranormal romance or urban fantasy.

For my followers, then, the difference was important, if only so that they were geared up (in the right frame of mind) for the book they were about to read.

(Getting into the meat of things, after the jump—including books that readers of both UF and PR should enjoy)

Diana Rowland, author of the exciting new urban fantasy Mark of the Demon. Diana’s new to the Del Rey family and new to Comic-Con in general, but that hasn’t stopped her work from generating some serious buzz around the convention center. Diana found some time to talk to us about her work, one of her more interesting jobs (she has worked in a morgue) and her time here at Comic-Con; here is what she said.

Quick - What’s the book and why should we all rush out to buy it?

I asked Diana to give a quick pitch about the book and why we should all run out to the stores right now to buy it!

Jim Butcher. One of the foundations of the current urban fantasy movement. He is funny. He is witty. He is entertaining. And Harry Dresden always has his hands full.

In September, Del Rey Books will publish Child of Fire by Harry Connolly in paperback. It is an urban fantasy, in the vein of Jim Butcher. Del Rey pulled out all of the stops, sending the book to Jim for a blurb which he freely gave. The publisher also hired the services of artist Chris McGrath, who has supplied the bulk of the cover artwork on Jim Butcher’s US novels. Connolly even has the first name of Jim’s protagonist!

To say Harry Connolly has all things lined up for a great release is an understatement.

About Child of Fire:

Ray Lilly is living on borrowed time. He’s the driver for Annalise Powliss, a high-ranking member of the Twenty Palace Society, a group of sorcerers devoted to hunting down and executing rogue magicians. But because Ray betrayed her once, Annalise is looking for an excuse to kill him—or let someone else do the job.

Unfortunately for both of them, Annalise’s next mission goes wrong, leaving her critically injured. With the little magic he controls, Ray must complete her assignment alone. Not only does he have to stop a sorcerer who’s sacrificing dozens of innocent lives in exchange for supernatural power, he must also find—and destroy—the source of that inhuman magic.

Child of Fire will be released in paperback on September 29, 2009.

And who knows? Perhaps I’ll get to interviewing Mr. Connolly here on Suvudu in June and see what Child of Fire is really all about.

Are you out there, Harry?

Not Dresden! Connolly!

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Here’s the third free preview chapter of Greg van Eekhout’s debut novel, Norse Code, a Spectra mass market paperback which goes on sale May 19, 2009.

Again, if you haven’t read Chapter 1, go to Tor.com, here, and then come back to us to read Chapter 2, here. Believe me, you won’t necessarily miss anything by reading this first, but Greg went out of his way to write them in order for a reason, so why don’t you try it his way?

I’m really excited about this book, and I hope you will be, too.

Happy reading!

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Below is the second chapter of Greg van Eekhout’s debut novel, Norse Code, a Spectra title which goes on sale May 19, 2009 (if you haven’t read the first chapter, go to Tor.com, here, and then come back to us to read Chapter 2. Seriously, go ahead. We’ll wait).

I don’t want to give to much away, but Norse Code is about as fun as you’ll have reading about the end of the world. Granted, I’m biased (I like good books), but I think what makes this novel so enjoyable is how Greg balances the very “human” nature of these supernatural beings with the magical apocalypse going down all around them.

In other words: Hermod’s my boy.

Happy reading!

As if all the Free Library weren’t enough, or if the Tor.com story whetted your appetite for short fiction, we’ve found another free story for you to read. This is Mary Gaitskill’s Mirrorball, and it comes to you via Pantheon (a division of Crown, who is, in turn, a division of Random House).

The story is billed as being “an urban fairy tale in which a young man steals a girl’s soul during a one-night stand.” It’s a featured story from Gaitskill’s new story collection, don’t cry.

Mary Gaitskill is known for her powerful writing and as you’ll see when you read this story, her pen is as sharp as ever.

You can read the story here: Mary Gaitskill’s Mirrorball

My twelfth published novel hits the shelves on April 28th.

I gotta say, so far, this never gets old. :)

THE PRETENDER’S CROWN is sequel to last year’s THE QUEEN’S BASTARD, out from Del Rey. They’re stories of sex, politics, murder and betrayal, and in some ways they’re the most fun I’ve ever had writing. Most of my other stuff is urban fantasy, so getting to roll around in the lush, alternate-Elizabethan world of the Inheritors’ Cycle was and is a sheer joy. Complex world-building, political intrigue, unlikeable heroines…what’s not to love?

Okay, maybe that last. Belinda Primrose, heroine of these books, is to me perhaps the most interesting character I’ve written. She’s a seductress, a spy, an assassin, and a manipulator: not precisely lovable qualities. To me, though—and hopefully to others—she is at least compelling. And one of the terrific things about writing THE PRETENDER’S CROWN was finding out just how far this unlikeable character could bend before she broke.

Pretty far, it turns out. Maybe farther than even I thought, which is quite something, given that she lives in my head.

But you’re going to have to read it to find out how.

Happy Release Day. :)

PS: Oh, jeez, I just remembered. While you’re at it, pick up Lane Robins’ KINGS & ASSASSINS, which is also out from Del Rey on April 28th. Between that and PRETENDER’S CROWN, you should be reveling in political backstabbing for a week!

A short while ago we asked fans of the CW’s Supernatural to summarize the ending of the episode, “The Monster at the End of This Book” to be entered for a chance to win a set of Season Companion books for the first three seasons (our grand prize) or a chance to win a copy the Season Three Companion Guide (our runners’ up prize). Well, we didn’t quite realize what we were getting in to. Shortly after the episode aired our entries started flying in. Most we not content just to talk about the ending and instead summarized the entire episode.

The general consensus seemed to be that this episode really shone. Anyhow, out of this pool of excited entrants we had to select our winners: one grand prize winner and two runners up. Drawing at random, this is how it played out:

Grand Prize Winner: Joseph S.
Runners Up Winners: Kylee P. and Karen O.

Congratulations to you all and thank you to everyone who watched and then wrote in to our almost-too-much-like-homework contest.

Now, if you haven’t seen the show, then you might be interested in hopping over to the CW site and checking it out. If so, you can do so here: Supernatural Videos.

Or, if you’re a fan of the show and want to check out the books we offered as prizes as well as a few novels based off the characters on the show, you should head on over to Titan Books. And we’ve got the link for you here: Titan’s Supernatural Titles.

A couple weeks ago, I was standing in my hot, stuffy, Brooklyn laundromat… waiting for the clothes to dry. And anyone who goes to the laundromat knows that a hot and humid day means more quarters spent at the dryer. Well, this was a day I didn’t mind the extra time and money spent, because I had Daryl Gregory’s debut novel Pandemonium to read. I kid you not… this novel was giving me the chills. And that’s at 95 degrees!

Pandemonium is all about possession. I could simply say the possessions are by demons, but that’s not entirely true. The “demons” in this novel are pop-culture archetypes. Imagine your favorite pulp fiction or comic book character taking control of your body, using your body to do superhero stuff (throw boulders, stop bullets, jump off cliffs) and when they’re done, you waking up to the bodily consequences of it all. It’s not pretty… but it is still way cool… as long as you’re not the one being possessed.