Urban Fantasy: Vampire and Witches and Weres, oh my!

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by JD, Dec 2, 2012.

  1. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted in this thread in over a year.
    They've announced the premiere date for Shadowhunters, January 12, and released a couple of clips. It appears to actually be one scene separated into too. It's kind of weird the way they did this because there are a lot of things that are different, like I'm pretty sure Magnus had nothing to do with Pandemonium, Clary and Jace didn't interact outside of the club, and the big fight was just one quick kill of a single demon, but it's still recognizable as the book.

    On the book front, I haven't read any of the UF series I'm working on in a while, so I'm pretty sure either a Kate Daniels or a Dresden Files book will be one of the next things I read.
     
  2. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    And the thread risises from the DEAD!
    I've gotten back to my urban fantasy reading over the last couple months, starting with some Dresden Files.
    Back in April through May I read through the first four stories in The Dresden Files: Side Jobs, the series short story collection. I really enjoyed all four stories, the first one was a bit simple, but it's understandable since Butcher explains in the introduction that it was one of the first things he ever wrote. I enjoyed the other three even more, the one thing I liked most about them was how each one really focused a lot on a different member of Harry's supporting cast.
    I started reading Small Favor, the 10th Dresden novel yesterday.
     
  3. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Does anyone know where in the series timeline the Dresden Files comics, Wild Card and Down Town take place? I flipped through the trades and Jim Butcher's website and I can't find anything about when they take place.
     
  4. USS Firefly

    USS Firefly Commodore Commodore

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    I thought the first book was ok, a little bit simpel.
    I don't think I am continuing the serie
     
  5. Gov Kodos

    Gov Kodos Admiral Admiral

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    Valancourt Books has a lot of books by hard to find or out of print authors. I recently picked up several by Gerald Kersh and Charles Beaumont. If you like Twilight Zone type horror stories they are some fun reads. Kersh's 'Neither Man nor Dog' and 'On an Odd Note' were great short story collections of horror. Beaumont's 'A Touch of the Creature' was also a fine set of short stories.
     
  6. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Never heard of either of them, but the descriptions of the stories in An Odd Note do sound like they could be interesting.
    Which series is that?
    After my other post I skimmed through Goodreads and found the answer to my question in a couple of reviews, Wild Card is set after White Knight. Not sure about Down Town, but since appears to be after Wild Card I'll wait until after I've read that one before I look it up.
     
  7. USS Firefly

    USS Firefly Commodore Commodore

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    The dresden files.
     
  8. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Shameless plug. Check out ALL THOSE EXPLOSIONS WERE SOMEONE ELSE'S FAULT by James Alan Gardner.

    Think superheroes vs. vampires and werewolves and other supernatural beings. Comic-book science vs. Gothic horror in an epic battle of genres.

    (And, yes, I edited the book.)
     
  9. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Storm Front is by far the weakest in the series, it gets a lot better as it goes along.
    EDIT: Oops, turns out I had the order of the comics mixed up, Down Town is actual before Wild Card.
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2018
  10. USS Firefly

    USS Firefly Commodore Commodore

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    Well maybe I give it another change when I have the time
     
  11. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    For me at least, the fourth book, Summer Knight, was where the series really went from good to great.
     
  12. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    After 3 years, I've finally gotten back to the Kate Daniels series with Gunmetal Magic, the first full length novel not narrated by Kate herself, but by her best friend Andrea Nash instead. I'm only a couple chapters in and it's already reignited my love for this series.
     
  13. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Earlier this week I downloaded the e-book version of Dresden Files: Brief Cases, the second short story anthology, and last night I finished up the first story, A Fist Full of Warlocks. This was a fun little story told from Luccio's perspective, with her teaming up with a talking horse who isn't really a horse, and a historical figure back in The Old West. I've liked Luccio since she was introduced, so getting a story told that revealed a bit of her history from her perspective was cool, and the Wild West was a nice change of pace from the rest of the series modern stories.

    On the 17th Jim Butcher, the author of The Dresden Files, announced that he had finished the finale of Peace Talks,the next book in the series, and that all he has left now is the wrap up chapter. So it sounds like we can hopefully expect to hear about a publication date soon. This works out good for me, I've only got 5 books left in the series, so there's a pretty good chance I should be able to get caught up just in time for the new book.
     
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2019
  14. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I've finally gotten back to work on The Dresden Files, and right now I'm on page 344 of Changes. I can see why the book has that title, the number of changes to the status quo in this one book is kind of crazy, and I haven't even reached the end yet.