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Where the living gently caress is the new book? I don't need another SoIaF in my life, I need some overpowered Wizardry loving Up Demons and/or Faeries in my life.
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Nov 6, 2017 21:35
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MadJackal posted:Where the living gently caress is the new book? I don't need another SoIaF in my life, I need some overpowered Wizardry loving Up Demons and/or Faeries in my life. It's in "gently caress you, I'll write it when I feel like it/I need more money" territory.
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Nov 7, 2017 19:40
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Since I remember someone asking about it many, many pages ago, I report that The Man from the Diogenes Club by Kim Newman is being reprinted and will be released this Boxing Day. The latest Anno Dracula book, One Thousand Monsters, came out last month. I have it on my shelf, but haven't started it yet.
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Nov 7, 2017 23:04
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Wheat Loaf posted:Since I remember someone asking about it many, many pages ago, I report that The Man from the Diogenes Club by Kim Newman is being reprinted and will be released this Boxing Day. It was me asking for it, and it's on my kindle-wishlist now. EDIT: being a Kim Newman fan is loving weird. I read an interview many years ago where he referenced the fact that Geneviève from Annodracula is a pre-existing character and listed off a few of her previous adventures, which I dutifully looked for for many years before eventually discovering that he was talking about loving Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying novelizations. Old Kentucky Shark fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Nov 8, 2017 |
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Nov 8, 2017 01:22
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Old Kentucky Shark posted:EDIT: being a Kim Newman fan is loving weird. I read an interview many years ago where he referenced the fact that Geneviève from Annodracula is a pre-existing character and listed off a few of her previous adventures, which I dutifully looked for for many years before eventually discovering that he was talking about loving Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying novelizations. He has two or three universes inhabited by different versions of the same characters. There's the Warhammer tie-in books he wrote in the 80s at the start of his career; there's the Anno Dracula extended universe; and there's the Diogenes Club universe (which is the most extensive one he's done - he's spoken about how his aim with it is to create an original pulp universe - and also includes Angels of Music, The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School, Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles and I think some of his earlier stand alone short stories and novels like Jago and The Quorum). I think Angels of Music is my favourite work of fiction he's written even though it's probably densest with references I don't recognise, because I love the concept of it so much: Charlie's Angels in Paris during La Belle Époque where the Angels are (in the first story) Christine Daaé, Trilby O'Ferrall and Irene Adler, Bosley is the Persian, Charlie is the Phantom of the Opera and the villain is the Countess Cagliostro. The second or third part of the book is a Mission: Impossible parody involving a team of Angels composed of Audrey Hepburn characters going up against Charles Foster Kane, who has assembled a league of B-list villains from 1910s move serials so he can enact the plan from Tomorrow Never Dies. Professor Moriarty is a close second. Wheat Loaf fucked around with this message at 01:42 on Nov 8, 2017 |
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Nov 8, 2017 01:38
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Wheat Loaf posted:The latest Anno Dracula book, One Thousand Monsters, came out last month. I have it on my shelf, but haven't started it yet. e: drat, I totally missed Angels of Music. Need to get that. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 08:50 on Nov 8, 2017 |
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Nov 8, 2017 08:48
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Wheat Loaf posted:He has two or three universes inhabited by different versions of the same characters. There's the Warhammer tie-in books he wrote in the 80s at the start of his career; there's the Anno Dracula extended universe; and there's the Diogenes Club universe (which is the most extensive one he's done - he's spoken about how his aim with it is to create an original pulp universe - and also includes Angels of Music, The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School, Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles and I think some of his earlier stand alone short stories and novels like Jago and The Quorum). That sounds awesome!
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Nov 8, 2017 10:12
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anilEhilated posted:It is not bad, but feels kind of underwhelming as it is mostly setup for the next big AD novel that is supposed to look at the same setting one hundred years later (and according to the teaser at the end, feature the man from the Diogenes club as well. Yeah, as I understand it, One Thousand Monsters was originally solicited as Anno Dracula 1999: Daikaiju (which he's said will homage cyberpunk and kaiju movies) but was converted into a prologue when he realised he was putting enough backstory in for it to be its own thing.
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Nov 8, 2017 18:09
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Tearing through Angels of Music and it's been really fun so far, although I have to wonder: I know how much Newman loves his references but ...Batman? I'll be sorely disappointed if it isn't Falke. On one hand, it seems really obvious and on the nose, on the other it's too good a joke to pass up... Meh.
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Nov 10, 2017 18:35
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anilEhilated posted:Tearing through Angels of Music and it's been really fun so far, although I have to wonder: I know how much Newman loves his references but ...Batman? I'll be sorely disappointed if it isn't Falke. On one hand, it seems really obvious and on the nose, on the other it's too good a joke to pass up... Meh. I am reminded of a short story by Chris Roberson that appeared years and years ago in one of the Tales of the Shadowmen books, in which the French film serial character Judex encounters a rich American doctor who's visiting Paris with his neglected wife in 1916. The wife reveals to Judex that she has had an affair with an American pilot named Kent Allard who is serving with the French air force, and although Allard doesn't know, she is pregnant with his child. However, she plans to return to America and allow her husband to believe that the baby is his son, to ensure that he has the best education and upbringing possible, which a poor airman couldn't provide. Right at the end, the first names of the doctor and his wife are revealed: Thomas and Martha.
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Nov 10, 2017 19:25
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Jim Butcher will be speaking at our little library (seriously, its tiny) in Denver next week: https://www.facebook.com/events/1948248908767177/ Just thought I would drop this in here in case anyone wanted to go harass him about when the next Harry Dresden book will be out 
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Nov 16, 2017 16:39
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Finished Angels of Music and while it's a good book and great fun, it's basically average Newman fare. I honestly think I enjoyed Secrets of Drearcliff Range more. And the Professor Moriarty stories won't be dethroned anytime soon. I am kinda starting to get a crossover headache, though. Geneviéve being in Paris is sort of consistent with her being there in AD; but the Kate Reeds are obviously different people and how the hell does the Diogenes Club universe (which hasn't kicked in properly yet, mind you) fit in, discounting the fact it's gonna somewhat cross over with AD... Ugh. I mean, they're all pastiches but now we're getting into the territory of pastiches of pastiches. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Nov 16, 2017 |
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Nov 16, 2017 18:58
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As far as I can tell there's two main universes: there's the AD universe; and there's the Diogenes universe, which is a bit looser (after all, it already deals with alternate universes in stories like "Swellhead") and includes Drearcliff, Professor Moriarty and Angels of Music (as well as miscellaneous short stories like "A Drug On the Market" and "Is Anybody There?"). One of the very few times I've used Twitter was to ask Newman whether this was the case and his answer was basically, "Yeah, more or less." The version of Genevieve in Angels of Music is the same one as appeared in, for example, "Sorcerer, Conjurer, Wizard, Witch" in Mysteries of the Diogenes Club; her appearance in Angels of Music is contemporaneous with the events of the novel Dracula. As I understand it, the implication is that whereas Anno Dracula is the timeline where Dracula won, Diogenes and its shared universe is the timeline where events played out basically as in the novel. Likewise, as I recall, in "The Man Who Got Off the Ghost Train" in Secret Files of the Diogenes Club, there's a bit where Richard Jeperson discovers the corpse of Sebastian Moran, who shot himself with his own hunting rifle in one of the carriages, and unless I misremember, that's also alluded to in Professor Moriarty. There is an AD version of Richard Jeperson who's only briefly mentioned in one of the Johnny Alucard stories and I presume that he's the one who'll be showing up in Anno Dracula 1999. Wheat Loaf fucked around with this message at 22:19 on Nov 16, 2017 |
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Nov 16, 2017 22:15
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I'm reading the October Daye books! they're....they're okay! They're written well enough, I've never cringed but I've never been impressed by a phrase. The imagination and the world is kinda cool, but also kind of arbitrary and things just happen or dont happen to suit the plot. If you like UF as a genre, from the top to the bottom, they're well worth checking out. If you only like the cream of the crop, ehh, maybe pass
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Nov 16, 2017 23:04
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awesmoe posted:I'm reading the October Daye books! they're....they're okay! They're written well enough, I've never cringed but I've never been impressed by a phrase. The imagination and the world is kinda cool, but also kind of arbitrary and things just happen or dont happen to suit the plot. If you like UF as a genre, from the top to the bottom, they're well worth checking out. If you only like the cream of the crop, ehh, maybe pass I agree, October Day is up there in terms of Urban Fantasy. The first book has a cliche that I hate, but it gets much much better.
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Nov 17, 2017 00:28
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October Daye books are great IMO. Solely deal with Faerie and the fae. There’s a few good overarching plots throughout, a good cast of likable characters, and they’re just about the right length for urban fantasy - not something you finish in a couple hours, but less than double digits.
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Nov 17, 2017 14:07
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Exmond posted:I agree, October Day is up there in terms of Urban Fantasy. The first book has a cliche that I hate, but it gets much much better. I love how later books put basically everything in this book into a new and different light (not to call it retcon).
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Nov 17, 2017 16:33
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anilEhilated posted:It is not bad, but feels kind of underwhelming The Japanese vampire Suzan Arashi is probably the best gag in the entire series though. I think I've gotten all the references other than Higo Yanagi and Tsunako Shiki who both have me stumped. ookiimarukochan fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Nov 17, 2017 |
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Nov 17, 2017 19:08
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ookiimarukochan posted:The Japanese vampire Suzan Arashi is probably the best gag in the entire series though. I think I've gotten all the references other than Higo Yanagi and Tsunako Shiki who both have me stumped. Most of the Japanese references are a bit lost on me. What's Suzan Arashi meant to be? If there's something I don't recognise in a Newman story, I tend to assume it's from an obscure horror movie from the 1960s.  I wonder if the surname (Zark) he gave Drusilla from Buffy is a reference to anything? There's a little bit of Buffy in the book; references to how the Master was the top vampire in Europe before Dracula came along.
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Nov 17, 2017 20:46
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Same here. Please don't turn out to be anime. e: Honestly, I've got to say my favorite Newman gag is the one I mentioned above in Angels of Music. Such a facepalm when that clicked.
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Nov 17, 2017 21:37
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I think my favourite is either the Hellraiser reference in The Bloody Red Baron (for "fair play, that one was clever" value) or the bit in the same book where the Red Baron impulsively shoots a small white beagle then doesn't understand why he did it. The craziest part of the Die Fledermaus reference in Angels of Music that you mentioned is that one of the fictional opera singers who appears in it comes from a Looney Tunes short of all places.
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Nov 17, 2017 22:42
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Wheat Loaf posted:Suzan Arashi "Arashi" means "Storm" and she's got a form of vampirism that turns her invisible. It's a reference that's not even remotely Japanese which is why it took a while for it to sink in for me. What did you guys think of the Popejoy stuff though? That started out funny as first but got a little heavy handed toward the end I think. --EDIT-- Now that I think about it there's some stuff that may not be obvious to everyone. The antagonist of the novel is explicitly Yasunori Katō, from Doomed Megalopolis (M Bison stole his look) and if the bit about Lord Ruthven sticking his penis into the head of a dead pig while at university baffles you it's a 1:1 roman a clef retelling of a story about the last British Prime Minister which broke early in 2016. All the yokai stuff in the book appears to have come out of Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn - the level of reference you'd expect given the other books is entirely missing sadly. No Ge-Ge-Ge no Kitaro or Koga Ninja Scrolls which you'd expect would be the minimum. ookiimarukochan fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Nov 18, 2017 |
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Nov 18, 2017 02:50
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So if I enjoyed the Dresden Files books a lot and loved Tad Williams' Bobby Dollar books, where would I go for more urban fantasy with a film noir tone?
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Nov 18, 2017 07:04
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SirSamVimes posted:So if I enjoyed the Dresden Files books a lot and loved Tad Williams' Bobby Dollar books, where would I go for more urban fantasy with a film noir tone? I like Stephen Blackmoore's stuff: City of the Lost and the Eric Carter series (same universe).
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Nov 18, 2017 07:35
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SirSamVimes posted:So if I enjoyed the Dresden Files books a lot and loved Tad Williams' Bobby Dollar books, where would I go for more urban fantasy with a film noir tone? sandman slim series (meh), daniel faust series (ok), felix castor series (fairly decent), maybe alex verus series (great but maybe not what you're looking for) for scale I would rate the first bobby dollar book as not bad and the second one as sub-meh.
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Nov 18, 2017 08:41
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Have any must reads come out in the past four years? I haven't read any dumb urban fantasy since the last Dresden book came out and I kind of miss it.
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Nov 18, 2017 08:47
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Ghetto Prince posted:Have any must reads come out in the past four years? I haven't read any dumb urban fantasy since the last Dresden book came out and I kind of miss it. For dumb urban fantasy read Alex Verus, for smart urban fantasy read Rivers of London.
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Nov 18, 2017 15:19
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SirSamVimes posted:So if I enjoyed the Dresden Files books a lot and loved Tad Williams' Bobby Dollar books, where would I go for more urban fantasy with a film noir tone? Try the audio version of Rivers of London, because the tone of the narrator and the little music pieces here and there give it a noir feel.
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Nov 18, 2017 16:18
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Wheat Loaf posted:I think my favourite is either the Hellraiser reference in The Bloody Red Baron (for "fair play, that one was clever" value) or the bit in the same book where the Red Baron impulsively shoots a small white beagle then doesn't understand why he did it. I think mine will always be Carl Kolchak showing up among the reporters in Anno Dracula.
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Nov 18, 2017 17:36
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ookiimarukochan posted:"Arashi" means "Storm" and she's got a form of vampirism that turns her invisible. It's a reference that's not even remotely Japanese which is why it took a while for it to sink in for me. Haha, okay, that's a contender for my new favourite. quote:What did you guys think of the Popejoy stuff though? That started out funny as first but got a little heavy handed toward the end I think. I liked it fine. I had a smile at it.
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Nov 18, 2017 22:41
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Pretty disappointed by the new Harmony Black. I really liked the creepy X-Files-ness of the first one, but the more they've gone into government conspiracy, the less I've enjoyed it. Cold Spectrum was really dull and instantly forgettable for me.
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Nov 19, 2017 15:40
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Ghetto Prince posted:Have any must reads come out in the past four years? I haven't read any dumb urban fantasy since the last Dresden book came out and I kind of miss it. Another vote for the audiobook version of Rivers of London. The narrator is loving perfect. Plain old book reading of the series is good, but it hits a whole other level if you listen to the narration.
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Nov 20, 2017 14:32
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I just finished Empty Threat, the first novel of The Black Pages, by Danny Bell. I enjoyed it a lot. Things I liked:
Things I didn't like:
I would still recommend it, though, as it's a quick read and was a fun time. I'm excited to see if the next installment improves on it. After all, most urban fantasy series have a rough first book or two.
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Nov 27, 2017 20:06
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Blasphemeral posted:I just finished Empty Threat, the first novel of The Black Pages, by Danny Bell. I enjoyed it a lot. Looks interesting. $15 for the paperback, no ebook offered? Nope. Edit: I see goodreads references to the kindle edition, but it's not offered anywhere as one. And, the reviews track yours pretty well, too. torgeaux fucked around with this message at 14:32 on Nov 28, 2017 |
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Nov 28, 2017 14:27
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The Kindle omnibus of the first six Dresden Files novels available for 7,99.
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Nov 29, 2017 12:34
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Hey, this isn't exactly urban fantasy, but can anyone sell me on Jasper Fforde?
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Dec 6, 2017 10:53
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Wheat Loaf posted:Hey, this isn't exactly urban fantasy, but can anyone sell me on Jasper Fforde? Haven't read it, but The Goodreads summary seems interesting. quote:Suspenseful and outlandish, absorbing and fun - a novel unlike any other and an introduction to the imagination of a most distinctive writer and his singular fictional universe. That actually sounds somewhat Urban Fantasy-ish as long as the Libriomancer series counts. This review of the book is pretty funny to read, too. Some Pinko Commie fucked around with this message at 14:42 on Dec 6, 2017 |
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Dec 6, 2017 14:40
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Megazver posted:The Kindle omnibus of the first six Dresden Files novels available for 7,99. I assume this was a sale, because it's $43.99 now.
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Dec 6, 2017 14:54
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The last comment there, a full nine years after the original review was posted: quote:i liked this book actually 
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Dec 6, 2017 15:09
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Wheat Loaf posted:The last comment there, a full nine years after the original review was posted: This other book by the same author sounds a lot more interesting. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2113260.Shades_of_Grey
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Dec 6, 2017 16:39
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