Then, as the release day approaches, I'll switch gears and drive us right into the new release with all new teasers. So remember to check back here on the blog on Thursdays!
ARJ’s Top Ten Urban Fantasy Influences
1. The Borderland series,
which starts with an anthology
of the same name edited by Terri Windling, and moves on to some novel-length
works like Elsewhere
by Will Shetterly. It may have actually established the "collision
of the strange and the everyday" definition in my mind.
2. Ariel
by Steven R. Boyett is a cult favorite from 1983, which takes place in
a post-Apocalyptic landscape--where the Apocalypse was caused by technology
failing and magic returning to our world.
3. Books by Charles de Lint, who made Urban Fantasy popular
with his Newford stories. I recommend starting with Little
(Grrl) Lost for the younger YA set, or Svaha
for older readers.
4. Faerie
Tale by Raymond E. Fiest is a great example of UF that straddles the
line into horror
5. The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone, which starts with Three
Parts Dead, is a great example of what makes UF so hard to
compartmentalize--this fantasy novel takes place in an urban environment where
the natural laws on the existence of magic are completely different from our
world, and yet aspects of the city and its denizens still seem so universal and
relatable.
6. The
Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black can stand in for the vampire
books that are sometimes labeled "paranormal" (with or without
"romance" added to it), sometimes fantasy, but in my mind are UF.
7. Daughter
of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor is another that fits the above
description (but not with vampires).
8. Gail Carriger's YA Finishing School series, which begins
with Etiquette
and Espionage, is another world that could equally be described as
steampunk or UF. Her Parasol
Protectorate series, which starts with Soulless, is more on the paranormal
end of the scale, in my opinion.
9. Cassandra Clare's books, especially her Infernal
Devices series, also straddles that steampunk/UF/paranormal line.
10. Christopher
Moore’s books, which are shelved in general fiction in most bookstores,
although they have elements of magical realism, urban fantasy, fantasy,
mythology, and horror to various degrees. My favorite is his A Dirty Job, and
there’s a sequel to it coming out in August.
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