Nathan Caroland Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Hey folks, I'm a big fan of modern day dark gothic magic and wierd creatures along the lines of the Anita Blake Series, Dresden Files, The Nightside .. etc. I just ran across another author here about three weeks back named Kim Harrison and she writes a series about a modern day Witch (where Vampires are legal, Weres are prohibited to 'were' except for three days a month, magic is taught in universities .. etc). There are three books and I snatched all three of them up and read them in about a two week period and I have to say I enjoyed the hell out of them. Three books out so far, and they are all well put together. Has a sense of wonder, action and a dose of comedy (when a Pixie assassin threatens to lobotomize someone when their sleeping - now that's just funny) that all seems to be in the right amount. Now my problem with the Anita Blake series, particularly this last fiasco of a book of hers, was that she was so sexually charged up that she was having sex atleast three or four times in the earlier books, which got a damn chapter each, and towards the end there, everything BUT a chapter was devoted to her having sex with four or five guys at once (can we say air tight .. sorry, that's crude, but I hate what the author did to that series). Anyhow - that isn't a problem with Kim Harrison in the least. Three books, and two 'sex scenes', but they are tastefully done and more to the point - they MIGHT get about two pages in the book instead of a damn chapter. Hurraaah! Now I don't have to know what a large penis this Vampire has and how the sweat glistens from his taught buttocks. Yeah, you can tell I'm still pissed at whatsherditz Anita series. But I digress. Good books. Pick them up. Enjoy them, I certainly did and I'm looking forward to the next one very much. http://kimharrison.net/Dead%20Witch%20Walking.htm http://www.kimharrison.net/Good%20Bad%20&%20Undead.htm http://www.kimharrison.net/Every%20Which%20Way.htm I just found her site when I went to go look for links. Frankly, its a crap site, and the woman, to be honest, looks like she's a bit of a weirdo, but .. she writes good so that's all that matters to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supervike Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Ack...some of this stuff looks like a Harlequin Romance novel, with a supernatural twist. I have an aversion to those stories where the vampires are 'sexy'. I like my vampires revolting, thankyouverymuch.... But, this Dresden Files thingy caught my eye. That is a good series I take it? We should start a book club...if we could get enough of us to actually agree on a book to read!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted January 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 I agree, the cover and even the author sort of makes it look like a romance novel where everyone is nipping on someones ear whispering sweet love me, but seriously, not much of that in these books, though the covers would lead you to believe otherwise. Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher, awesome series. Go get 'em, not bad reads in the least bit, and I saw a Sci-Fi channel commercial saying that the series has been turned into a TV series. Personally, I think it'll likely suck - but I'm hoping not. Book of the Month Club eh? Throw four or five books up for reading, get into them, discuss them - yeah, I'm in for it. Supervike just offered to head it up - I saw it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supervike Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 Very smooth, you are. Maybe I saw a commercial for the Dresden thing, and it caught my eye. Still sounds very interesting. Book Club would be fun. Anyone give us some suggestions (in addition to the ones Nathan lists) of books they'd like to 'group read'? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jubilee Posted January 15, 2006 Report Share Posted January 15, 2006 I thought the Kim Harrison books were awesome. Another good "modern supernatural" series is the "Women of the Underworld" by Kelley Armstrong. Starts with Bitten & Stolen, followed by Dime Store Magic & Industrial Magic, and the most recent one is Haunted. I've read Bitten, which was about werewolves, and some of it was gruesome enough to disturb me (which isn't that hard really). I skipped Stolen, which bridges the story between the main character of Bitten and that of Dime Store Magic, but I don't feel like I significantly missed anything in the story that way. Haunted was probably my favorite. Another of my favorites is a trilogy by Terry Brooks - Running with the Demon, Knight of the Word, & Angel Fire East. I just finished listening to the series in audio and enjoyed it even on my 3rd or 4th "reading." His newest book, I think, is supposed to be the start of a sequel trilogy. There's a bittersweet trilogy by Jan Siegal, Prospero's Children, Dragon Charmer, and The Witch Queen that I really enjoyed. I'm hoping there's going to be more in that series. This list would not be complete without the mention of Charlaine Harris's excellent Southern Vampire Mysteries series. There's lots of fun to be had in it - it's also in a setting where Vampires have "come out of the closet," but it is definately going in a more enjoyable direction than the Blake novels have of late. I used to enjoy the Anita Blake novels, but between the zombie-horror scenes (which give me nightmares) and the sex scenes (which mostly bore me), there hasn't been much worth reading in the last 3 or 4 books. I haven't even bothered with the newest (Incubus Dreams?). They are getting as bad as the Meredith Gentry novels, which I could never read past the first few chapters of the first book. I once read a book called something like "Dragons over Chattanooga" - a fantasy realm had invaded the earth or something and the main character was, I think, some sort of law enforcement guy. I've since lost or loaned the book away and don't remember the auther - but it was fairly good. There's also Dark Heart, I think it's called, by Margaret Weis and some other person. It was written years ago, and sounded like it was supposed to be a series. There's never been a sequel, though, but I did notice in the supermarket recently that there's a new printing of the novel - I hope it's because they're gearing up for a sequel, not just because Weis has another new popular fantasy book out & they're trying to market on it. It was a modern fantasy about a cop and some kind of immortal servant of a dragon (who might have been evil?) and their ill-fated meeting.. That's all I can think of for now.. /ali Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted January 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2006 I'll be picking up the Kelly Armstrong and the Charlaine Harris books as they sound interesting and I've seen the books in review somewhere before but haven't remembered the names when I was at a store. Anita Blake - believe me, don't waste your time. The last book pissed me off so badly I've ranted about it everytime the womans name is mentioned these days. The two books before that I was still high on the idea of Anita Blake that it allowed myself to get through it, but really, not worth the trouble of purchasing them. Terry Brooks isn't one that I've considered before. Why do I feel like I remember him for fantasy or alternate world fantasy? Maybe I'm wrong. Weis though ... bleah. I've ready probably six or so of her novels and I have to admit, she just isn't my style of author, rather dislike the heck ouf of her and her Dragonlance stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duende Posted January 15, 2006 Report Share Posted January 15, 2006 Here's a recommendation for a book I haven't even read but is by a favorite author of mine. Phoenix and Ashes by Mercedes Lackey is a modern retelling of the Cinderella story set in the time of WWI. I'm not really into historical stuff or into "real world" settings, I like stories that take me into entirely new worlds, so I haven't read this one. But I've read plenty of other of Lackey's novels and she's rarely failed to write something entertaining. Also by Mercedes in this vein are The Serpent's Shadow and The Gates of Sleep. :wavey: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valloa Posted January 15, 2006 Report Share Posted January 15, 2006 Here's a recommendation for a book I haven't even read but is by a favorite author of mine. Phoenix and Ashes by Mercedes Lackey is a modern retelling of the Cinderella story set in the time of WWI. I'm not really into historical stuff or into "real world" settings, I like stories that take me into entirely new worlds, so I haven't read this one. But I've read plenty of other of Lackey's novels and she's rarely failed to write something entertaining. Also by Mercedes in this vein are The Serpent's Shadow and The Gates of Sleep. :wavey: I've got all those, they are all great reads. If you like Lackey's other books, I'd pick them up. Also, there is "The Fire Rose" in the same world setting and was the first of those she did. "The Wizard of London" is the latest one, though it is not as good as the others. Maya~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jubilee Posted January 16, 2006 Report Share Posted January 16, 2006 I've read one of those ones in that series by Mercedes Lackey - can't recall which one. Serpent's Shadow, I think? The one where the main character was a female doctor. I liked it alot - always meant to pick up the rest of them, but reading time cuts in on writing time.. =( I generally like Lackey's stuff, although that modernish one about the bardic guy & the elf was downright awful - I think it might have been her partner author, though, because it seemed like I only liked the writing in every other chapter.. As long as we're on an urban fantasy kick, too, might as well throw in the books by Gael Baudino - starting with maze of moonlight. Also, Gossamer Axe is a good one. The maze of moonlight series is about elves vs. modernity/the inquisition, & gossamer axe is more modern, about an elf chick who forms a band or something. It's been a while. There's an excellent "magic existed in ye olde england" book by Patricia C. Wreded - actually a couple. Both Sorcery & Cecilia books are great. The Magician's appretence ones are good, though a bit younger. I love Wrede's other fantasy, too. Short & fun. Along the same bent is the "His Dark Matter" series by, well, I can't remember his name - the books were The Subtle Knife, the Amber Spyglass, and something else.. Again, it's a young adult series, but I read the first when I was about 16 or 17 and picked up the second two later, in my twenties, and found it entertaining and not too dumbed down. There's also a set of books by Josepha Sherman, the first I read was "A Strange & Ancient Name" - I don't know if they're really a series, although they're all set in the same basic universe - a fairy world mixing with the real world and all the folklore that entails. It's been a long time, again, since I read them, although I did just re-read the one mentioned over the Christmas Break - it's more of a medieval fantasy, although some of them might have been more modern. Terry Brooks has written two other series. Probably his most name-recognizable is the Shannara series. Personally, I have always loved his books and have a special place in my heart for Sword of Shannara, as it was the first fantasy novel I ever read. I've heard disparaging remarks about his "Tolkein-esque" story, but honestly, almost all fantasy is descended from Tolkein, one way or another. I also just finished listenning to his most recent trilogy in the series and enjoyed it a great deal. He is also wrote a series starting with "Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!," which is evidently being made into a movie by Universal. It's not my favorite, but it's entertaining - about a modern man who buys a magical kingdom to be its king. Speaking of modern people transported into fantasy settings - there's two series by Christopher Stasheff - the Warlock series & Her Majesty's Wizard. I quite like the first few in the 2nd series, and like most of the ones in the first, though it's one that's gotten a bit long in the teeth - luckily they're short books. The first series is set in the far future where humanity long ago populated dozens of worlds. Most of them fell into fedualism and medievalism, some cutting themselves off on purpose & others losing contact due to break downs. The main character belongs to a government exploration agency - it's very "trek"-esque in that they have a non-interference policy concerning worlds that don't have a certain level of technology. Anyway, he ends up on this planet where by some freakish occurance, a high degree of latent psychics populated it, and over the years, inbred enough that their psionic powers began to manifest more openly - so there's lots of wizards & witches in it. There's also some psychic moss that responds to psychic projects, which has led to the existance of various fairy creatures and things straight out of folklore. Eventually said main character goes semi-native. Enough from me for now.. /ali Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiccanpony Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 just in case someone wanted to know......Kim has a book 4 to Dead Witch Walking....coming out sometime this year, it's "A Fistful of Charms..I've preordered mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted January 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 Hot damn, I know I'll be buying it. She came on the scene in 2004 didn't she? 2005 she knocked out two new ones and then we've got one coming out this year. I hope she's able to keep up a decent pace. I almost feel like I would rather discover a new author after she's put out umpteen books so that I have something to read through for awhile, as it is, I'm knocking out books too quickly and I'm having to go elsewhere to find reading entertainment, sometimes its a good find (like Kim Harrison) and sometime it is a horrid find (like Poison Agendas, the new Shadowrun novel). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedDawn Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 I find all these great authors that I want to tell everyone about - and you all already have!! All the authors you've mentioned (except for the Bitten, etc. author) I've read and liked. I ALMOST bought Bitten's author's first two books, but as I was already buying some other stuff (end of series books) that I thought I'd see if the library had them first - wanted to see if I liked them before I bought them. I just finished a series by Jane Lindskold, the first of which is "Through Wolf's Eyes." It sounds like it would be a were-type book, but it's not. Firekeeper, the main character, has been raised by wolves since she was a little girl. There are four books in the series and I've enjoyed them all. Anyway, glad other people enjoy the same books I do! And I have to say, I've enjoyed the Anita Blake books - sex and all! If I ever sat down and wrote it would probably be erotica so the copious amounts of sex don't bother me. (Last book pissed Scott/Grumb off too so it might be a guy thing! - then again, maybe not - it may just be me! ) Talk to ya'll later! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maelyn Posted August 21, 2008 Report Share Posted August 21, 2008 Sunshine by Robin McKinley. Very pleasant read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted August 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2008 Have to peruse it. One that I just picked up was called 'Thirteen'. Can't remember the author, I'll go and find the book in a bit, but that was a very good book IMO. Can tell a guy wrote the sex scenes in there though as it was very much adolescent fantasy in that regard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.