Urban Fantasy: I wish there was more necromancy and less group sex

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Urban Fantasy: I wish there was more necromancy and less group sex

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StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Everyone posted:

Then I guess I'm one, too. I don't think China deliberately released COVID. However, I have no trouble believing that they covered up the extent of the threat and that they published misleading data to keep themselves from blame and to exploit the crisis for their benefit.

That isn't what Butcher was saying about China or COVID. We discussed this in this thread already, and Butcher was being really bad about it.

# ? Jul 27, 2020 15:54

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# ? Jun 4, 2024 16:30

docbeard: Jul 19, 2011

I don't agree with the things that Butcher allegedly posted (was it actually even proven to be real, I remember there was some controversy on that) but he came across more as ill-informed than actively malicious to me.

I've largely made peace with the fact that Butcher's politics, what little I've heard of them, are probably not mine, but he doesn't make a practice of using his platform as a famous author to scream out hatred at every opportunity, so I consider him superior to Rowling in that regard, at least.

As for the male gaze stuff in Peace Talks, for the most part I found it to be minor stuff worthy of an eye-roll and little more, but that's just me, and it's not like I have to roll my eyes every so many pages when reading Aaronovich or whoever. (He writes Peter as, well, a young man who is attracted to women but it's never really felt exploitative to me.) I can absolutely understand someone being turned off by "oh poo poo she's HOW OLD now" being expressed in that particular way. There are definitely better ways to do it (such as when I think of my "little cousin" Ben who is a doctor now and has been for years).

Also, yeah, the editing was bad, and the book felt rushed, and was ultimately Just Another (Half Of A) Dresden Book rather than a magnum opus six years in the making (not that it was ever presented that way). I'll still be getting the second half in September. After that we'll see (if I live that long).

Unrelated small-town "urban" fantasy rec: Unwell, a serialized fiction podcast by a Chicago-area theatre group, set in the fictional small town of Mt. Absalom, Ohio. As someone who grew up in a very real small town in Ohio, they capture the setting pretty well (albeit the town I grew up in was about 0.01% as diverse as Mt. Absalom, which I consider a bad thing for my upbringing and a great thing for the show). They're just about to finish up their second season and the whole thing is well worth a listen. Start at the beginning.

# ? Jul 27, 2020 16:02

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

docbeard posted:

I've largely made peace with the fact that Butcher's politics, what little I've heard of them, are probably not mine, but he doesn't make a practice of using his platform as a famous author to scream out hatred at every opportunity, so I consider him superior to Rowling in that regard, at least.

This is a good point, thank you for making it.

# ? Jul 27, 2020 16:06

docbeard: Jul 19, 2011

StrixNebulosa posted:

This is a good point, thank you for making it.

The other side of it is that there's so much fiction out there, and so much of it worthy of reading/watching/listening to, that no one should ever feel obliged to "put up" with anything that makes them ill-at-ease or angry or sad just for the sake of a good story.

We all have our lines, we all have our limits, and I think people can and should make these decisions for themselves.

# ? Jul 27, 2020 16:09

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Speaking of reading other things, I'm reading LKH's Merry Gentry 2, and the first sixty pages of it perfectly capture how bananas it is.

Here's what's happened so far:

- Merry wakes up in bed with two men from her harem that she's been banging, and goes to the window and has an argument with a third man because he's her head bodyguard and there's a power play - either she's the princess and in charge, or she's just a figurehead as he decides everything. They're interrupted by some magical monster testing the wards and leaving.

- A client for her private eye business arrived later and was cagey before finally saying that his client wants Merry to meet with her in private, as she's a fae goddess who was exiled from the courts of Seelie ages ago and has been a hollywood actress in recent times.

- Directly after he leaves there's a scuffle as one of the men she slept with lets his racism against goblins gets out of hand (one of her harem is a goblin, and he is an intensely weird uncomfortable character). He's racist against goblins because a long time ago during the wars against them they captured him and raped him for a night and took one of his eyes. Merry explains to him that if he had understood goblins he could have set rules - the rape might have still happened, but he could have kept them from taking his eye. Then she makes him agree to let the goblin take a pound of flesh or have sex with him, because she won't put up with the racism. He almost does, but the goblin tells Merry that he doesn't want to make this guard do this so it stops.

- On their way over to the fae actress goddess Merry realizes she's in love with Frost, one of her bodyguards/harem and also realizes she's in trouble because she can't marry for love, and she still has to have a child with someone, anyone, so she has to keep using the harem.

- Slam-cut right back to regular noir stylings as they have to face off with the bodyguards to get inside and meet with the actress lady.

In conclusion, :psyduck:

e: Oh and I'm still having trouble telling the harem members apart because they're all bodyguards to Merry as well as being tall, exotic, muscled, and they all have hair that goes down to their waists. Their personalities are slowly differentiating but it's taking time.

e2: On rereading the chapter the goblin doesn't have to have sex with him but it's still pretty, uh. See the excerpt below.

StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Jul 27, 2020

# ? Jul 27, 2020 18:34

Zore: Sep 21, 2010; willfully illiterate, aggressively miserable sourpuss whose sole raison d�etre is to put other people down for liking the wrong things

StrixNebulosa posted:

Speaking of reading other things, I'm reading LKH's Merry Gentry 2, and the first sixty pages of it perfectly capture how bananas it is.

Here's what's happened so far:

- Merry wakes up in bed with two men from her harem that she's been banging, and goes to the window and has an argument with a third man because he's her head bodyguard and there's a power play - either she's the princess and in charge, or she's just a figurehead as he decides everything. They're interrupted by some magical monster testing the wards and leaving.

- A client for her private eye business arrived later and was cagey before finally saying that his client wants Merry to meet with her in private, as she's a fae goddess who was exiled from the courts of Seelie ages ago and has been a hollywood actress in recent times.

- Directly after he leaves there's a scuffle as one of the men she slept with lets his racism against goblins gets out of hand (one of her harem is a goblin, and he is an intensely weird uncomfortable character). He's racist against goblins because a long time ago during the wars against them they captured him and raped him for a night and took one of his eyes. Merry explains to him that if he had understood goblins he could have set rules - the rape might have still happened, but he could have kept them from taking his eye. Then she makes him agree to let the goblin take a pound of flesh or have sex with him, because she won't put up with the racism. He almost does, but the goblin tells Merry that he doesn't want to make this guard do this so it stops.

- On their way over to the fae actress goddess Merry realizes she's in love with Frost, one of her bodyguards/harem and also realizes she's in trouble because she can't marry for love, and she still has to have a child with someone, anyone, so she has to keep using the harem.

- Slam-cut right back to regular noir stylings as they have to face off with the bodyguards to get inside and meet with the actress lady.

In conclusion,

e: Oh and I'm still having trouble telling the harem members apart because they're all bodyguards to Merry as well as being tall, exotic, muscled, and they all have hair that goes down to their waists. Their personalities are slowly differentiating but it's taking time.

'You were raped and had your eye cut out so are clearly lashing out in trauma. Your punishment is to be raped again or have a literal pound of your flesh removed.'

That's... loving wow

# ? Jul 27, 2020 18:41

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Zore posted:

'You were raped and had your eye cut out so are clearly lashing out in trauma. Your punishment is to be raped again or have a literal pound of your flesh removed.'

That's... loving wow

From the book:

quote:

"Be careful, Rhys, or you can leave now, without your second chance." My voice was low and careful again. I was holding on to my magic the way you hold your breath, controlled or you start yelling.

I must have looked like I meant it, because he turned without another word and walked to Doyle. He handed the gun butt first to the dark man, then he stood there for a few seconds, shoulders squared, hands in fists at his sides. It was almost as if he felt more insecure without the gun. If he'd been facing true mortal danger, I could have understood it, but Kitto wasn't that kind of threat to Rhys. He didn't need the gun.

He turned toward us with a shaky breath, which I heard clearly from feet away. Some of the anger had been stripped away, and what was left was barely disguised fear. Doyle was right; Rhys feared Kitto, or rather, goblins. It was like a phobia for him. A phobia with a basis in reality; those are the kind that are almost impossible to cure.

He stopped just in front of us again, staring down at me, face diffident, but underneath was a vulnerability that made me want to say, no, you don't have to do this. But I would have been lying. He did have to do this. If something wasn't done, Rhys would lose his temper once too often and Kitto would get hurt, or worse. We couldn't risk the treaty. And Kitto was mine to take care of. I wasn't sure where my duties would lie if Rhys killed him in a fit of panic. I didn't want to have to order an execution of someone I'd known all my life.

I wanted to reassure Rhys, tell him it was all right, but I didn't want to appear weak, either. So I sat there with a very tense Kitto curled tight in my lap, and said nothing.

"I've always left the room when you deal with. . . it, him," Rhys said, "What happens now?"

I'd had enough, and I suddenly didn't feel sorry for Rhys. I looked down at Kitto. "I offer you small flesh or weak blood." Small flesh was goblin slang for light foreplay. Weak blood meant barely breaking the skin, or even just raising welts. There was every possibility that Kitto would choose something I wouldn't need any distraction for. I'd slowly been teaching Kitto new definitions of petting and foreplay, definitions that were a lot less stressful to all concerned.

He looked down, not meeting anyone's eyes, and whispered, "Small flesh."

"Done," I said.

Rhys frowned. "What just happened?"

I looked up at him. "You always negotiate with goblins before sex, Rhys. If you don't, you end up hurt."

He frowned down at me. "I was a prisoner for a night. I had no ability to negotiate."

I sighed, and shook my head. Most sidhe, Seelie or Unseelie, knew very little about cultures outside their own. It was a type of prejudice that believed nothing but sidhe culture was worth knowing. "Actually, according to goblin law, you did. If they'd tortured you, then, no, you'd have simply had to endure what they did to you, though truthfully there is some room for negotiation even in torture. For sex, though, you always have room to negotiate. It's custom among them."

The frown deepened. That single eye was so confused, so pain-filled. I spilled the small goblin to his feet and stood in front of Rhys, putting Kitto almost between us. For once Rhys didn't seem to notice how close the goblin was to him.

"The goblins will rape, and there's no saving yourself from it, but you can dictate terms, things that can be done and cannot be done."

His hand rose slowly toward his scars, then stopped before he touched them, his hand just hanging in midair. "You mean. . ." And he left the rest of the sentence unfinished.

"That you could have forbidden them from permanently disfiguring you, yes." My voice was very, very soft, as I said it. I'd been half wanting to tell Rhys, and half dreading, since I found out a few months ago how he'd lost his eye.

He turned to me with such horror in his face. I touched his cheeks, rose on tiptoe, and leaned his face down toward me. I laid a gentle kiss on his lips, a bare touch from my mouth to his, then stretched until my body leaned full against his, stretching as tall as I could, my hands still on his face, bringing him closer to me. I laid the same gentle kiss on his scar.

He jerked back, making me stumble. Only Kitto's arm around my waist kept me from falling. "No," Rhys said, "no."

# ? Jul 27, 2020 18:48

Zore: Sep 21, 2010; willfully illiterate, aggressively miserable sourpuss whose sole raison d�etre is to put other people down for liking the wrong things

StrixNebulosa posted:

From the book:

# ? Jul 27, 2020 18:55

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

I'll defend Anita Blake to death but Merry Gentry is in its own class of the author goes absolutely batshit hog wild with whatever the hell she wants to write about.

# ? Jul 27, 2020 18:58

RosaParksOfDip: May 11, 2009

Jesus that looks terrible. Why would anyone read that?

# ? Jul 27, 2020 19:06

docbeard: Jul 19, 2011

Well that's certainly a thing I will never be able to unread.

# ? Jul 27, 2020 19:06

docbeard: Jul 19, 2011

I mean, you do you, but...yeah.

# ? Jul 27, 2020 19:07

stabbity: Sep 28, 2004

Kitto is the worst loving character and I forever hate anytime he's involved in the story. They treat him like a child.

# ? Jul 27, 2020 20:00

Zore: Sep 21, 2010; willfully illiterate, aggressively miserable sourpuss whose sole raison d�etre is to put other people down for liking the wrong things

Like for real who the gently caress decides to tell a rape victim 'Actually its totally your fault they mutilated you and scooped out your eye because you didn't explicitly tell them not to do that. K, time for you to get raped again.'

Ugh, I feel gross just reading the excerpt.

# ? Jul 27, 2020 20:07

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

Zore posted:

Like for real who the gently caress decides to tell a rape victim 'Actually its totally your fault they mutilated you and scooped out your eye because you didn't explicitly tell them not to do that. K, time for you to get raped again.'

Ugh, I feel gross just reading the excerpt.

Wut

Why

Wtf

# ? Jul 27, 2020 20:12

awesmoe: Nov 30, 2005; Pillbug

the first few anita blake books are okay - sort of middle tier UF, with strong horror elements and some kinda dumb writing/annoying protagonist issues but nothing out of the ordinary
6-8 go downhill, 9 jumps off a cliff, and 10 starts digging to the center of the loving world (although i stopped after like 20%, maybe it got better!)

my biggest wtf with book 9 was when anita was possessed (by a rape-ghost), did some magic ritual that got all the werewolves horny and made them have to chase her and rape her, her werewolf boyfriend won the rape-race and they hosed for the first time, and then afterwards she got supermad at him for not telling her that them loving would strengthen their magic bonds. maybe cut the dude some slack anita??

# ? Jul 27, 2020 21:46

DreamingofRoses: Jun 27, 2013; Nap Ghost

Zore posted:

Like for real who the gently caress decides to tell a rape victim 'Actually its totally your fault they mutilated you and scooped out your eye because you didn't explicitly tell them not to do that. K, time for you to get raped again.'

Ugh, I feel gross just reading the excerpt.

I think it was supposed to establish/enforce the nature of interaction between the Fae being close to contractual even in the worse circumstances but yeah, it�s hosed.

It also gets worse.

Edit: Trigger warnings and spoilers might be good if we keep discussing it.

DreamingofRoses fucked around with this message at 23:04 on Jul 27, 2020

# ? Jul 27, 2020 23:00

Some Pinko Commie: Jun 9, 2009; CNC! Easy as 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣!

Well, if rape fantasies and pro-rape fiction are going to be regular discussions I'm going to just go back to marketing scripts on bookseller sites and reader reviews to find things to read.

Jesus Christ, this isn't supposed to be r/Redpill or some other bullshit site.

# ? Jul 27, 2020 23:00

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

biracial bear for uncut posted:

Well, if rape fantasies and pro-rape fiction are going to be regular discussions I'm going to just go back to marketing scripts on bookseller sites and reader reviews to find things to read.

Jesus Christ, this isn't supposed to be r/Redpill or some other bullshit site.

How the absolute gently caress are you reading "pro-rape" into LKH's writing. It contains rape in it, but it doesn't go "oh this is good", it depicts it as the awful horror it IS.

e:

awesmoe posted:

the first few anita blake books are okay - sort of middle tier UF, with strong horror elements and some kinda dumb writing/annoying protagonist issues but nothing out of the ordinary
6-8 go downhill, 9 jumps off a cliff, and 10 starts digging to the center of the loving world (although i stopped after like 20%, maybe it got better!)

my biggest wtf with book 9 was when anita was possessed (by a rape-ghost), did some magic ritual that got all the werewolves horny and made them have to chase her and rape her, her werewolf boyfriend won the rape-race and they hosed for the first time, and then afterwards she got supermad at him for not telling her that them loving would strengthen their magic bonds. maybe cut the dude some slack anita??

This was in book 8, it's disingenuous to portray that munin as a rape-ghost, and.... the magical ritual did get all the werewolves horny and lose control of themselves, which was awful for them and her. She escaped into her cabin, had to fight the munin from possessing her further, and then "her werewolf boyfriend" you mean her ex that she quit seeing because she wanted to be monogamous with Jean-Claude. They were being really sour exes, and he made a deal with the other werewolf alpha so he could be the one to approach her and find out how she wanted to resolve this. And she managed to fight the ghost to agree to have consensual sex with him - and he made a point of making sure she wanted it.

And then the morning after when he let slip that he lied to her about the sex making the magic bonds between them into something super strong that could take control away from her - she got mad! Because that WAS hosed up!

Jesus christ, did we read the same book?

StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 23:35 on Jul 27, 2020

# ? Jul 27, 2020 23:29

Aerdan: Apr 14, 2012; Not Dennis NEDry

Could we just, uh, not talk about LKH novels any more? Even if she depicts rape as awful, I am still not interested in reading about it.

# ? Jul 28, 2020 00:46

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Aerdan posted:

Could we just, uh, not talk about LKH novels any more? Even if she depicts rape as awful, I am still not interested in reading about it.

I'll hold off on posting about her until I run into some interesting UF-related stuff in the plot instead of the relationship drama.

For example: the idea of an exiled fae goddess getting worshipped on the sly by becoming an actress in early Hollywood, that's an actually awesome idea that I'd like to see in a more Rosemary and Rue style UF.

# ? Jul 28, 2020 00:55

the_steve: Nov 9, 2005; We're always hiring!

Jesus. I haven't seen the "rape is bad, but also sometimes justified" hot take since Dominic Deegan.

# ? Jul 28, 2020 00:58

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Anyways more on topic: what are the best UF books featuring fae? Rosemary and Rue series, War for the Oaks, War of the Flowers... what else? SERRAted Edge, maybe?

# ? Jul 28, 2020 01:00

docbeard: Jul 19, 2011

I would in general welcome some guidance as to what is and is not fair game for discussion in this thread. (Not because I want anyone to get into trouble but because I don't.)

StrixNebulosa posted:

Anyways more on topic: what are the best UF books featuring fae? Rosemary and Rue series, War for the Oaks, War of the Flowers... what else? SERRAted Edge, maybe?

The Last Hot Time The Last Hot Time THE LAST HOT TIME

# ? Jul 28, 2020 01:04

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

docbeard posted:

I would in general welcome some guidance as to what is and is not fair game for discussion in this thread. (Not because I want anyone to get into trouble but because I don't.)

The Last Hot Time The Last Hot Time THE LAST HOT TIME

wait I thought he only wrote general fantasy (or whatever you call the Dragon Waiting) but he wrote UF too???? Gimme gimme!

# ? Jul 28, 2020 01:08

docbeard: Jul 19, 2011

StrixNebulosa posted:

wait I thought he only wrote general fantasy (or whatever you call the Dragon Waiting) but he wrote UF too???? Gimme gimme!

I think it was meant to be part of the Bordertown shared universe thing that Emma Bull and Will Shetterley and others wrote but for some reason wasn't. (I've not read any Bordertown stuff myself but my roommate really likes 'em.)

Ford also wrote the best Star Trek novel there has ever been (How Much For Just The Planet).

I actually need to dig out my copy of The Dragon Waiting and read it sometime.

# ? Jul 28, 2020 01:11

torgeaux: Dec 31, 2004; I serve...

StrixNebulosa posted:

Anyways more on topic: what are the best UF books featuring fae? Rosemary and Rue series, War for the Oaks, War of the Flowers... what else? SERRAted Edge, maybe?

Patricia Briggs series. By far my favorite take on the far. They never are the dominant characters, but they're in every book, and featured in a couple.

# ? Jul 28, 2020 01:48

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

docbeard posted:

I would in general welcome some guidance as to what is and is not fair game for discussion in this thread. (Not because I want anyone to get into trouble but because I don't.)

DreamingofRoses posted:

Edit: Trigger warnings and spoilers might be good if we keep discussing it.

Yeah I don't read the paranormal romance stuff so I'm not sure where to draw the line. Do we need a new "if you're posting squick, use spoiler tags" rule?

# ? Jul 28, 2020 02:07

awesmoe: Nov 30, 2005; Pillbug

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

Yeah I don't read the paranormal romance stuff so I'm not sure where to draw the line. Do we need a new "if you're posting squick, use spoiler tags" rule?

people seem to dislike reading it so a guideline saying put gross poo poo in spoiler tags is probably a good idea
(i mean it'll just lead to shouting matches when someone comes in without having read the rule, but hey)

# ? Jul 28, 2020 02:12

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Sleepy thought on the Last Hot Time by John M Ford: I am always super excited to read urban fantasy written around/before the Anita Blake / Dresden Files took off and kind of set the standard for noir monster fighting. Proto-urban fantasy doesn't even know the rules it's subverting, it just does weird stuff and expects you to go with it. I'm mostly thinking of Sunglasses After Dark, which is so late 80s horror it hurts.

Then there are the real genre oddballs like the LINK Angel series by Lyda Morehouse which I have classed as a sci-fi/urban fantasy fusion as it's about an ex-cop in a future where everyone's rights are decided by what religion they're a part of, and she pissed off the Pope personally so she's now a private eye. The UF stuff comes in when she gets involved with angels, and it gets weirder from there.

# ? Jul 28, 2020 05:46

Some Pinko Commie: Jun 9, 2009; CNC! Easy as 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣!

Might as well be posting Vampire the Masquerade Let's Read posts at this point.

# ? Jul 28, 2020 12:47

anilEhilated: Feb 17, 2014; But I say fuck the rain.; Grimey Drawer

StrixNebulosa posted:

Anyways more on topic: what are the best UF books featuring fae? Rosemary and Rue series, War for the Oaks, War of the Flowers... what else? SERRAted Edge, maybe?

Does Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell count? (or is it "do they"?)

# ? Jul 28, 2020 13:11

the_steve: Nov 9, 2005; We're always hiring!

biracial bear for uncut posted:

Might as well be posting Vampire the Masquerade Let's Read posts at this point.

https://lparchive.org/Vampire-The-Masquerade-Bloodlines-(by-gatz-and-TheMcD)/

# ? Jul 28, 2020 13:15

Everyone: Sep 6, 2019; by sebmojo

StrixNebulosa posted:

Anyways more on topic: what are the best UF books featuring fae? Rosemary and Rue series, War for the Oaks, War of the Flowers... what else? SERRAted Edge, maybe?

Well, I don't know if it's exactly "Urban" Fantasy, but Tom Deitz wrote the David Sullivan series which was set in ruralish Georgia. The premise has a Georgia teen and his friends getting involved with the Fae who live "next door" in a dimension close to theirs. The Gryphon King was part of that same world and characters from it appear in further books in the series. It was all written/published in the 80s and 90s but despite that I do not recall any weird, creepy sex stuff. Also, despite being called the "David Sullivan" series, there's at least one book where the Sullivan character doesn't even appear (or if he does it's as a brief cameo).

# ? Jul 28, 2020 13:24

Some Pinko Commie: Jun 9, 2009; CNC! Easy as 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣!

the_steve posted:

https://lparchive.org/Vampire-The-Masquerade-Bloodlines-(by-gatz-and-TheMcD)/

I was talking about the incredibly awful paperback books, not the game.

# ? Jul 28, 2020 13:42

docbeard: Jul 19, 2011

Everyone posted:

Well, I don't know if it's exactly "Urban" Fantasy, but Tom Deitz wrote the David Sullivan series which was set in ruralish Georgia. The premise has a Georgia teen and his friends getting involved with the Fae who live "next door" in a dimension close to theirs. The Gryphon King was part of that same world and characters from it appear in further books in the series. It was all written/published in the 80s and 90s but despite that I do not recall any weird, creepy sex stuff. Also, despite being called the "David Sullivan" series, there's at least one book where the Sullivan character doesn't even appear (or if he does it's as a brief cameo).

I read a ton of Tom Dietz's stuff as a teenager and I am a bit afraid to go back and see how well it holds up.

There was another series of his involving a family with some kind of magical bloodline that had a character who did divination based on the first couple songs he heard on the radio that day, that's pretty much the only thing I remember about it.

# ? Jul 28, 2020 13:52

Proteus Jones: Feb 28, 2013

docbeard posted:

I read a ton of Tom Dietz's stuff as a teenager and I am a bit afraid to go back and see how well it holds up.

There was another series of his involving a family with some kind of magical bloodline that had a character who did divination based on the first couple songs he heard on the radio that day, that's pretty much the only thing I remember about it.

I did a re-read of his sci-fi, and it's serviceable (at times workmanlike) writing. No sex-weird in them that I recall, so I would hope his fantasy stuff would be the same.

# ? Jul 28, 2020 15:41

docbeard: Jul 19, 2011

Proteus Jones posted:

I did a re-read of his sci-fi, and it's serviceable (at times workmanlike) writing. No sex-weird in them that I recall, so I would hope his fantasy stuff would be the same.

My vague memories suggest that his books were operating on the "CW teen drama" level of sex/romance stuff, yeah.

# ? Jul 28, 2020 15:51

Wizchine: Sep 17, 2007; Television is the retina
of the mind's eye.

anilEhilated posted:

Does Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell count? (or is it "do they"?)

I'd say so - unless you want to go down the hellishly fragmented path of sub-genres and micro-genres and call it "historical urban fantasy" or some-such. (Add The Golem and the Jinni to that group.)

# ? Jul 28, 2020 17:54

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# ? Jun 4, 2024 16:30

docbeard: Jul 19, 2011

anilEhilated posted:

Does Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell count? (or is it "do they"?)

This may be just me, but I think of Strange & Norrell as a prequel to the Rivers of London books.

# ? Jul 28, 2020 19:19

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Urban Fantasy: I wish there was more necromancy and less group sex

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