McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
What do you wish would be done MORE in urban fantasy?
Lisa™:
--- Quote from: neurovore on November 23, 2007, 04:54:46 PM ---Like Charlie Stross has in The Atrocity Archive and The Jennifer Morgue ?
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*Curiosity peaks* Are these any good? The only Cthulhu Mythos stuff I've read is Brian Lumley's. (Yes, I'd recommend it.)
RMatthewWare:
Imagine if Jim had stopped Dresden Files after a trilogy. Imagine all the good stories we'd be missing!
Aside from that, what I would like to see (or even write myself) is fantasy given the Unbreakable treatment. Or in other words, yes, there are supernatural creatures, but they're not really out there. They're in the same world as and are trying to evolve to a newer world. I think Jim's done a good job of that, but I'd like more.
I'd like to see new (or even old) takes on classics like vampires and werewolves. I'd also like to see some of the lesser-known creatures given a bigger role.
I'd like to see less sex for the sake of sex. I know people do it, I don't need to see it.
And I'd also like to see some darker stuff. Real life gets dark. Stories should follow suit.
Qualapec:
--- Quote from: carpathic on November 23, 2007, 01:11:20 AM ---I would think a story told from the perspective of an evil monster. Not one that is good in anyway and not apologetic for being bad. And not a bloody vampire. The mummy book by Anne Rice started to look that way, then they stopped.
A troll in Today's New York city that really does eat children who pass over a bridge. That would be kind of interesting.
Failing that, a story that focused on a more nuanced view of good and evil...
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You may be interested in Nightlife by Rob Thurman. It fits all those qualities...kind of.
Shecky:
--- Quote from: carpathic on November 23, 2007, 01:11:20 AM ---A troll in Today's New York city that really does eat children who pass over a bridge. That would be kind of interesting.
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That troll would last about ten minutes before getting his ass kicked by pigeons.
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Lisa Mc on November 23, 2007, 11:38:57 PM ---*Curiosity peaks* Are these any good? The only Cthulhu Mythos stuff I've read is Brian Lumley's. (Yes, I'd recommend it.)
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I like them a lot. The Atrocity Archives, which is the novel The Atrocity Archive plus the novella "Concrete Jungle", is readily available in paperback, and Jennifer Morgue is currently in hardback. They are about the division of the British intelligence services devoted to containing Lovecraftian threats, who these days mostly tend to pick up and recruit hacker-types who are innocently fiddling around with obscure bits of mathematics. The office politics is really something; it's like Dilbert with necromancy. Specifically, Atrocity Archive is pastiching Len Deighton, and Jennifer Morgue parodying Ian Fleming, though the central character is more of a Neal Stephenson type. There is at least another one coming.
Disclaimer: I have beta-read for Charlie, though only one not-yet-published novella in this series.
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