Newton's The Book of Transformations, Bastard?
I can't wait for it
Newton's The Book of Transformations, Bastard?
I can't wait for it
Already on my radar, but not planning on paying $20+ for it at the moment, so I'm going to wait for the time being. Still haven't finished City of Ruin, so I'm in no hurry. Plus, I've been getting the UK version so far, so I'll probably stick with that. I don't think Barnes and Noble has it available in the US yet anyways.Originally Posted by Cheerwell
Newton's The Book of Transformations, Bastard?
I can't wait for it
Right now I'm looking for an urban fantasy series with an epic fantasy heart.
The two examples I can give are Jim Butcher's Dresden Files and Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series. Both of these tell the story of a human(ish) protagonist whose adventures build to something more ambitious; what starts with small confrontations with vampires grows into a huge storyline, battles whose outcome will change the world.
As of this moment, I'm only interested in first-person narratives. I don't mind romantic subplots so long as they're not grotesquely codependent or the primary focus of the book. I tend to prefer a female protagonist.
So, any recommendations for me? Any other urban fantasy series where the story grows more epic as the series progresses?
Yes,
Greg Bear: The Infinity Concerto
Jan Siegel: Prospero's Children
and a new one
Lev Grossman: The Magicians
Though like many urban fantasy epics, they are subject to the wizard-of-oz syndrome (a strange desire of the author to return everything back to the same place at the end of the book). I wonder at that, since it's a piece-of-crap plot element in almost every case. Take the ending of the TV show Dollhouse for example- that's how it SHOULD be done.
Last edited by Tiltowait; February 11th, 2011 at 02:45 PM.
Mark del Franco's Connor Grey series could fit the bill. It mainly deals with localized politics in Boston, but book by book the scope has been expanding with events affecting Ireland, Germany, etc. and I wouldn't be surprised if in the future we'll see more action outside of Boston. It also has a companion series, but this one is in 3rd person limited and it takes place in Washington DC, Laura Blackstone. Different planes of existence have come into play, and the politics is really heating up world-wide, particularly with the 3 big factions of Humans vs. Fairies vs. Elfs... and all the politics that goes with it. At any moment there could be a huge war, but I don't know if it'll go there, that's not to say that we haven't seen big battles yet because we have.
Kelly Gay's Charlie Madigan series which starts with The Better Part of Darkness. Takes place in Atlanta, but there's some sort of gateway that connects two other worlds, worlds which had fooled humans into believing they were "Heaven" and "Hell" (haven't gone there yet). Only two books out, so hard to say where this is going, but certainly there seems to be some ambition here on a world-wide scale, plus those other two worlds, but we'll see.
Nightside by Simon R. Green - Didn't enjoy this series as much as I thought I would, but at the very least is fun.
Not really what you would call Urban Fantasy, but really check out Vlad Taltos if you really enjoy Dresden, I think you'll enjoy this one as well.
Got to wait and see where they go from here, but might be worth keeping an eye out to see how "epic" they might get:
Black Blade Blues - JA Pitts (Norse Mythology + Dragons) - I'll say this, first book had a battle of a bit of epic proportions.
Courts of they Feyre - Mike Shevdon, got to wait and see really.
Last edited by Bastard; February 11th, 2011 at 03:32 PM.
Thanks for the recommendations, Bastard! I'm halfway through The Better Part of Darkness, based on your recommendation, and I'm enjoying it so far. From what I've observed, your tastes run close to mine, so I bought it for Ye Olde eBook Reader and started on it last night.
Can anyone recommend a good new Horror anthology? Something actually creepy?
It is not an anthology, but Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box was a good time. One of the better horror books I have read. He actually does have a collection of short stories as well, titled 20th Century Ghosts but I have yet to check it out.
Matt mentioned 20th Century Ghosts and I'd say that is a great place to go. It isn't really an anthology, as it is only work by Joe Hill, but it does collect a wide variety of horror and dark fantasy short stories. I read it recently and loved it. Hill is a great writer.
I'm not as up on new anthologies/collections as I'd like. It's become somewhat harder to keep up with single-author collections since a good deal of short fiction is now published by small presses in small numbers and relatively pricey -- what little I've read by Mark Samuels and Reggie Oliver I've enjoyed, but I haven't been able to afford their collections at the time they came out.
That said, and depending on what you consider "creepy," you might look into works by Caitlin Kiernan, Laird Barron, Conrad Williams, Joel Lane, Thomas Ligotti, Norman Partridge. Now, I'm working with a fairly flexible value of "new" with these names -- Barron and Williams have shown up within the last decade, I think; Lane, Partridge and Ligotti have been around awhile. Ligotti, in particular, is a key figure of late 1980s, early 1990s horror short fiction. I did get around to Glen Hirshberg's The Two Sams and would recommend that highly.
Last year Ellen Datlow and Stephen Jones both put out retrospective anthologies -- Darkness and The Best of Best New Horror resopectively -- covering the past 20-25 (as I recall) years. That might be a good place to start for writers you might like following up on.
Randy M.
Last edited by Randy M.; February 22nd, 2011 at 09:39 AM.
I'd like to get started in on the steampunk subgenre and I was wondering where to start. Ideally I would like an anthology. I've perused the local bookseller's and there seem to be several options. Anyone have any strong feelings about which one is best?
A good place to start would be with Ann and Jeff Vandemeer - Steampunk I and then Steampunk II.
I will give you a few titles here: (I love steampunk!!_)
The Difference Engine by william Gibson, Bruce Sterling
Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology by Nick Gevers
there are more.....
now for different stories...
The Steampunk Trilogy by Paul Di Filippo
Where would we be without The Time Machine by H. G. Wells!!
The Scar by China Mieville(one of my fav authors!)
Mieville is a significant talent in the steampunk genre.
Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld( What a story!!) 5 stars definitely
Boneshaker - Cherie Priest
Heart of Veridon - Tim Akers
The Dark materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel(Might be teen, but still a great read!)
Mainspring - Jay Lake
There are more...This is just a taste!
Love this genre!! have fun!!
So... Charles Stross' Merchant Princes series. Is it as hilariously bad as it sounds or is it actually quite good?
I'm in the middle of the second one and I find it to be quite good...kind of Zelazny's Amber meets the Godfather but not taking itself too seriously. Decent intrigue/politics, compelling setting, entertaining plot. Characterization falls flat occasionally. Overall, I quite like it.
I'll be honest and say I've experienced neither.
So it's quite light-hearted in nature? I suppose it'd have to be, all things considered.
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