Book Review: Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells
Alchemy-based magic gives a relatively mild supernatural flavor to what is otherwise a novel focused strongly on police procedural lines in Dirty Magic, a novel by Jaye Wells. Dirty Magic, the first in the “Prospero War” series, follows the story of Kate Prospero, police officer. The novel brings us to her story just as the scourge of dirty magic in her rust belt hometown takes a dangerous, and even deadly, turn. Genre mashups, or crossovers, are always a matter of balancing acts. Unless an author is truly ambitious, there usually is a dominant genre, and a secondary genre. Often for fantasy and science fiction readers, SFF is the dominant genre, with mystery, romance, or thriller elements as the secondary genre that is layered in. A relatively popular secondary genre as of late for layering into fantasy, especially urban fantasy, has the bones of the procedural. There are a lot of advantages for a writer to use elements of the procedural, especially in terms of structure and story beats, It provides authors a narrative framework to decorate with the genre elements, and everything else in the novel as well. Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells, then, runs with that last, as the secondary genre to her urban fantasy structure is most definitely police procedural.
Book Review: Radiant by Karina Sumner-Smith
Sitting squarely in the borderlands between science and fantasy, Karina Sumner-Smith’s first turn into novel length fiction (after a number of well received stories, including the Nebula nominated “An End to All things”) is the strongly crafted story of the ghost-seeing young woman Xhea in RADIANT, the first in the “Towers Trilogy”. The science fantasy city of the Lower City and the Towers floating above provides a secondary world urban fantastical environment for Radiant’s story. Class in this world is very much a function of the ability to use magic. Those who can and do practice magic competently live in the floating Towers that serenely hover over the ruination and post-apocalyptic state of the Lower City left behind. The dregs of society, on the other hand, live in those lower city ruins, in quarters ranging from makeshift shelters in ruined subway tunnels to skyscrapers that try and reach the sky.
Book Review: The Dragons of Heaven by Alyc Helms
In the darkened streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown, Missy Masters is struggling to take up the vigilante-hero mantle of her retired, estranged grandfather, Mr. Mystic. Missy shares his stubbornness, his intimate connections with Chinese culture, and his uncanny ability to cross into a realm of shadows and exert limited control over the creatures within. Just as she literally straddles worlds, Missy also dances a line of pretending to be an aged, but expert, male superhero while training to advance beyond her actual novice abilities. She aspires to the strength and moral right that her grandfather embodied while battling against memories of his emotional distance, his personal secrets, and the prejudices common of his generation. Typical of masked superheroes, she has two lives, the separate worlds of Missy Masters and of Mr. Mystic. And she has past experiences, a world away in China, that have led her to be the woman and vigilante of the present.
Book Review: Owl and the Japanese Circus
Supernatural clients, or supernatural opposition, or just looking for supernaturally powerful objects are the worst for Owl. There are supernatural entities hiding in the shadows of the world, and an archaeologist-turned-treasure-hunter who has crossed the dreaded IAA not only knows there are vampires and worse lurking around, she has no outside protection from them. Owl avoids supernatural entanglements in her treasure hunting and thievery whenever she can. She leaves that to her online roleplaying character to deal with. Of course, given that she is living on the run in a Winnebago, even that small pleasure is difficult for her to indulge in. When a Dragon offers Owl a deal to get herself out of trouble with a French clan of vampires who are following her around the globe, desperate times call for desperate measures.
253. Kristi Charish (a.k.a. Indiana Jane) — Owl and the Japanese Circus (An Interview)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode253KristiCharish/Sandf–Episode253–KristiCharish.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSKickass archaeologists, vampire cats, and dragons, oh my! What do vampire-sniffing cats, Las Vegas dragons, and ancient artifacts have to do with one another? Kristi Charish, author of Owl and the Japanese Circus, joins us to discuss just that. We cover her academic past, archaeology weirdness, cats, writing urban fantasy, science, and much more! We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 253 — Download (MP3) Show Notes:. Kristi’s Website Kristi’s Twitter Owl and the Japanese Circus (Simon and Schuster; Gallery Books) Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
231. City Building in Urban Fantasy (CONvergence Panel w/ Emma Bull, Tania Richter, Kathryn Sullivan, and Christoforo Pasquarette)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode231CityBuildingAtCONvergence/SandF%20–%20Episode%20231%20–%20City%20Building%20at%20CONvergence.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSCliff cities, twisted towers, and fantastic streets, oh my! Earlier this year, I moderated / participated in a panel on city building with some amazing folks. And I finally get to release it! From new cities to ancient palimpsestial streets, Emma Bull, Tania Richter, Kathryn Sullivan, and Christoforo Pasquarette tackle the process of city building in urban fantasy (and fantasy at large). Here is the CONvergence description: From cloud citadels to urban wastelands, any city has infrastructure needs: water, sewage, transportation. How will those be met? A discussion of good and bad city design in urban fantasy. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 231 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Emma’s Website Emma’s Twitter Emma’s Books Shadow Unit! Tania’s Website Tania’s Twitter Tania’s Books Kathryn’s Website Kathryn’s Books Kathryn’s Facebook Christoforo’s Bio Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). Additional music from “Black Vortex” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
