Register | Log in | FAQ | Search | Memberlist | Usergroups
Profile | Log in to check your private messages | Blogs |

ARWZ Forum Index
    > Alternative Reality Caf�


 
Post new topicReply to topic
View previous topic :: View next topic
Author Message
Violanthe
Webmaster


Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 5903

PostUrban/Paranormal Fantasy

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 10:59 am
Reply with quote

I've been working on writing some urban fantasy, but I'm not terribly familiar with other entries in the genre. Can anyone recommend some quality urban fantasies? If it's available on audio, that's a plus!

Also, what's the deal with "paranormal" fantasy? I've looked up a few on Amazon, and I can't tell what's precisely "paranormal" about them?
_________________
Violet "Violanthe" Kane
[email protected]
ARWZ.com: A Magazine of Alternative Reality Fiction
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Blog
pecooper
Active Member


Joined: 05 Apr 2006
Posts: 306
Location: Port Angeles, Washington

Post

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 7:28 pm
Reply with quote

For urban fantasy, you might want to try some of the books of Charles de Lint. A number of his books are set in Ottawa or other modern towns but are undeniably fantasy. You will need to check out the blurbs on the books because he also delves into traditional fantasy.

I can't help you with paranormal fantasy. Isn't fantasy, by definition, about the parnormal?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Peter
Senior Member


Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 649
Location: NSW, Australia

Post

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 7:04 am
Reply with quote

Michael Bishop's Who Made Stevie Crye is one that comes to mind. Not so much urban, as "contemporary" though, if that makes sense. It's not set in a true urban place, but in a small community in the American South.

Still qualifies, I think.

Peter
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Mervi
Warlord


Joined: 29 Aug 2006
Posts: 1119
Location: Finland

Post

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 7:55 am
Reply with quote

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere about mystical underground London.
I've also heard good things about Jonathan Carroll.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Blog Visit poster's website
Violanthe
Webmaster


Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 5903

Post

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 6:42 pm
Reply with quote

I'm certainly quite familiar with Neil Gaiman's work.

The other authors you've recommended, how contemporary are they? I'd like to read some stuff that's been published within the last few years so that I can argue the current market appeal for my book.
_________________
Violet "Violanthe" Kane
[email protected]
ARWZ.com: A Magazine of Alternative Reality Fiction
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Blog
pecooper
Active Member


Joined: 05 Apr 2006
Posts: 306
Location: Port Angeles, Washington

Post

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 8:23 pm
Reply with quote

Widdershins by Charles de Lint was published in 2006. I don't know how urban it is, but it is definitely contemporary North America. He has been writing urban fantasy for over a decade now.

I think the other authors mentioned are also fairly contemporary.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Violanthe
Webmaster


Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 5903

Post

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 12:23 pm
Reply with quote

Have any of them published a FIRST novel in the last few years?
_________________
Violet "Violanthe" Kane
[email protected]
ARWZ.com: A Magazine of Alternative Reality Fiction
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Blog
pecooper
Active Member


Joined: 05 Apr 2006
Posts: 306
Location: Port Angeles, Washington

Post

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 7:21 pm
Reply with quote

Violanthe wrote:
Have any of them published a FIRST novel in the last few years?

As I said, de Lint has been writing for 10 or 15 years. Neil Gaiman goes back farther and Michael Bishop, farther yet. Jonathan Carroll, I don't know about.

If you are asking for the name of a new author who writes urban fantasy who is also successful, I can't help you. The number of books being published is just too great to keep up with. Anybody else got an answer?

Maybe if you told us just what sort of story elements you are talking about, here, you could help us narrow it down.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Violanthe
Webmaster


Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 5903

Post

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 12:26 am
Reply with quote

I'm not looking for particular story elements. I'm just looking to know my market. I'm writing an urban fantasy novel at the moment, and so I want to be able to liken my novel to successful books in this genre that have recently sold. I like to be able to include established and recently published authors in my queries. I'm okay on the established end. But I'm looking for urban fantasists on the recently published end in order to get an idea of what the market looks like for new writers (and to show that market in a positive light to prospective agents).

The tricky thing with established writers is that their name, in itself, becomes a marketable commodity. I'm looking for urban fantasy where the name is relatively unknown, and so the story concept and genre overshadow the name as a selling point.
_________________
Violet "Violanthe" Kane
[email protected]
ARWZ.com: A Magazine of Alternative Reality Fiction
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Blog
Mervi
Warlord


Joined: 29 Aug 2006
Posts: 1119
Location: Finland

Post

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:36 am
Reply with quote

There's been a lot of dicussion about urban fantasy in one of the yahoogroups that I follow (RomanticSF) and these names have come up as quality urban fantasy writers:
Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Tinker and sequels by Wen Spencer
Tempting Danger and sequels by Eileen Wilks
Retriever novels by Laura Anne Gilman
Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine
Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs
Urban Shaman and sequel by CE Murphy
the Black Dagger Brotherhood
Charlaine Harris - Both Sookie and Harper
Kelley Armstrong -

They're in my to read pile so I haven't read any of them myself yet.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Blog Visit poster's website
Golophin
Moderator


Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 238

Post

Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 8:34 am
Reply with quote

I would reccomend Lilith Saintcrow's ( thats a great name!!) first and second novels Working for the Devil and Dead Man Rising. They're both recent publications.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Shadow_Ferret
Active Member


Joined: 03 Apr 2006
Posts: 318
Location: Milwaukee, WI

Post

Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:48 pm
Reply with quote

Kim Harrison's Dead Witch Walking is a first novel which came out a few years ago. I think she's since put out 4 or 5 more in the series.

Jim Butcher's first novel Storm Front came out in 2000. I believe he's now on the 8th book in the series.

Kelley Armstrong's Bitten came out in 2000 or so and she's got several more in that series out.

Amazes me how these people can pump out the books and I'm still working on my draft. It's a fast moving genre and I hope I get mine out there before interest cools.

Of course there's Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series, but that's been out for quite a while.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Epitarc
Regular Member


Joined: 18 Sep 2006
Posts: 124
Location: Over there

Post

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:41 pm
Reply with quote

Does it strike anyone else that most of these are women?

Is this considered a "chick lit" genre?

Liked the early Anita Blake books and have read the first of the Dresden-files but other than that this isn't really something I know much about.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Shadow_Ferret
Active Member


Joined: 03 Apr 2006
Posts: 318
Location: Milwaukee, WI

Post

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:44 pm
Reply with quote

Chick lit? I guess the women's stuff falls under the category of paranormal romance. That is an extremely hot genre right now.

The Dresden Files debuted several weeks ago on Sci-Fi and now Tanya Huff's series about Vicki Nelson, a PI who teams up with a vampire, just debuted as Blood Ties on Lifetime Sunday evening.

But yeah, I'm not aware of how many men write in this genre other than Jim Butcher.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Mervi
Warlord


Joined: 29 Aug 2006
Posts: 1119
Location: Finland

Post

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 9:43 am
Reply with quote

Epitarc wrote:

Is this considered a "chick lit" genre?


It depends on what you mean by chick lit.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Blog Visit poster's website
Violanthe
Webmaster


Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 5903

Post

Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:09 am
Reply with quote

Jim Butcher is certainly not chick lit.

Anything that smacks of Laurell K. Hamilton probably is, though.
_________________
Violet "Violanthe" Kane
[email protected]
ARWZ.com: A Magazine of Alternative Reality Fiction
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Blog
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You can vote in polls in this forum





Alternative Reality Web Zine: ISSN# 1559-3037


All materials on these pages (including fiction, poetry, essays, articles, interviews and opinion pieces) are copyrighted to the original authors and may not be reproduced without permission.




View Page Stats
ARWZ topic RSS feed 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group