Dresden Files-style Urban Fantasy?

[BrotherBenny]

This is my question. Is there any Dresden Files style urban fantasy out there with a male protagonist (unlike the over-saturated urban fantasy market with female leads that are essentially just paranormal urban fantasy romance stories)?

I want to write something in that vein and the only authors I know of are the aforementioned Jim Butcher and Star Trek writer David Mack (and I am looking forward to a sequel to The Calling). Can anyone help me out here?

Thanks.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Yeah, Grimm.

 

[sojourner]

The books for the game Shadowrun are great for urban fantasy, though they are set about 50 years in the future. Sort of a Bladerunner with magic setting. Lots and lots of books.

 

[Avalon]

There's Tom Sniegoski's Remy Chandler books.

Also check out Christopher Golden -- he does the Peter Octavian books, but I haven't read those -- and Simon R. Green's Nightside novels, which feature P.I. John Taylor.

 

[BrotherBenny]

Yeah, Grimm.

That's TV, right? I'm looking for books.

The books for the game Shadowrun are great for urban fantasy, though they are set about 50 years in the future. Sort of a Bladerunner with magic setting. Lots and lots of books.

Maybe I should have been more specific. I'm looking for books set in the approximate present day, though I might look into them and see what kind of future it has.

There's Tom Sniegoski's Remy Chandler books.

Also check out Christopher Golden -- he does the Peter Octavian books, but I haven't read those -- and Simon R. Green's Nightside novels, which feature P.I. John Taylor.

Cool, thanks.

 

[Thestral]

Neil Gaiman's probably got something up your alley.

 

[JD]

This is my question. Is there any Dresden Files style urban fantasy out there with a male protagonist (unlike the over-saturated urban fantasy market with female leads that are essentially just paranormal urban fantasy romance stories)?

I want to write something in that vein and the only authors I know of are the aforementioned Jim Butcher and Star Trek writer David Mack (and I am looking forward to a sequel to The Calling). Can anyone help me out here?

Thanks.

I know you said you didn't want any female leads, but I just read the first book in Kim Harrison's The Hollows, Dead Witch Walking, and I loved it. And while it does have a little bit of romance type stuff in it, that is pretty secondary to the general character stuff, and the criminal case the main character is working on. I thought it was actually pretty Dresdenish myself.

 

[js]

I was always partial to Charles DeLint - don't recall them being particularly romance-y though I think they often had female lead characters.

 

[BrotherBenny]

I need male leads so I can get a feel for the style, as my character is male and it is easier for me to write from a male point of view. I find it quite difficult to write a woman's POV.

 

[Lapis Exilis]

Neil Gaiman's probably got something up your alley.

That's immediately who I thought of:

Neverwhere
American Gods
Anansi Boys
and of course, the greatest graphic novel (and urban fantasy) series ever written, Sandman

His stuff is not so Dresden-ish thought, which is a sort of light version of a hard-boiled detective style mixed with urban fantasy. Gaiman's fantasy is much darker and more mythology-based, basically a very different tone from the Butcher stuff.

 

[BrotherBenny]

OK, so is there anything that close to Dresden that hasn't been mentioned yet?

 

[sojourner]

Before there was Dresden, there was Cast a Deadly Spell.

 

[Greg Cox]

Does John Constantine count, or does he crossover into horror?

 

[McDuff]

I don't know if it's really urban fantasy but I liked Total Recall 2070, which was set in the future. But it's not fantasy it's Sci-fi (people using science not magic or paranormal to do stuff). This show feel more like Blade Runner 2070.

There's Dead Zone TV series too, which I'm not sure if it's what you meant. I guess my examples are not really fantasy.

 

[McDuff]

Maybe Poltergeist The Legacy may be up your alley.

 

[Greg Cox]

I need male leads so I can get a feel for the style, as my character is male and it is easier for me to write from a male point of view. I find it quite difficult to write a woman's POV.

FYI: the trick to writing a woman's POV is not to worry about it too much. According to my girlfriend (who I think is onto something), the problem some male authors run into writing female characters is that they try too hard, like they feel they have to keep reminding the reader that "hey, she's a chick" by talking about periods or biological clocks or clothes or whatever . . . .

When I'm writing Selene or Sydney Bristow or Catherine Willows or Rene Montoya or Batwoman or Xena or whomever, I just write them the same way I'd write a male superhero or detective or vampire assassin or whatever. When you're being attacked by a shapechanging cybernetic chainsaw maniac, it doesn't really really if you have breasts or not. You still need to save the world before it blows up . . . .

Anyway, that's my unsolicited writing tip.

 

[McDuff]

I need male leads so I can get a feel for the style, as my character is male and it is easier for me to write from a male point of view. I find it quite difficult to write a woman's POV.

FYI: the trick to writing a woman's POV is not to worry about it too much. According to my girlfriend (who I think is onto something), the problem some male authors run into writing female characters is that they try too hard, like they feel they have to keep reminding the reader that "hey, she's a chick" by talking about periods or biological clocks or clothes or whatever . . . .

Strange as I always whine about women characters being written like male characters. Full mouth, physically dominant, without fear, and stuff like that. I always ask where are the real women with sensibility but professionalism in TV shows.

Never heard any shows where the female lead talks about her period and her shoes not matching her purse. Sound ridiculous but what shows are you talking about?

Seriously, I think I'll take a look. Never heard any shows where the female lead his mentioning period!! I'm not sure if I ever heard a show or movie mentioning period EVER!! Only alluding to it because of children but that's it. I want to know which shows because I like originality.

 

[Greg Cox]

I need male leads so I can get a feel for the style, as my character is male and it is easier for me to write from a male point of view. I find it quite difficult to write a woman's POV.

FYI: the trick to writing a woman's POV is not to worry about it too much. According to my girlfriend (who I think is onto something), the problem some male authors run into writing female characters is that they try too hard, like they feel they have to keep reminding the reader that "hey, she's a chick" by talking about periods or biological clocks or clothes or whatever . . . .

Strange as I always whine about women characters being written like male characters. Full mouth, physically dominant, without fear, and stuff like that. I always ask where are the real women with sensibility but professionalism in TV shows.

Never heard any shows where the female lead talks about her period and her shoes not matching her purse. Sound ridiculous but what shows are you talking about?
.

I wasn't talking about tv shows, I was talking about books. My girlfriend was complaining that some male authors overcompensate when they have to write from a female POV . . . instead of, say, writing the character as an individual who just happens to be female.

Again, when I'm writing a female character, I think of her as Xena or Mary Marvel or Roberta Lincoln or whomever, not as a Woman with a capital W. And they're going to react differently, depending on their individual personalities and background. Writing Myka Bering is nothing like writing Claudia Duncan . . . .

 

[Caliburn24]

Charlie Huston's five book Joe Pitt series is really good. And it is completed too.

It is noir, gritty, with a hero who feels a bit like Angel from the Buffyverse if he had stayed as a brooding loner(and had even more bad things happen to him).

The vampire clans are fun, and the world is nicely developed and thought out.

Don't get attached to any characters though...

 

[Greg Cox]

There's also P.N. Elrod's "Vampire Files" series about a hard-boiled vampire private eye.