Urban fantasy

  • · ·

    Guest blog: Kristen Callihan on First Loves …

    42 Comments

    Kristen CallihanToday, I’m pleased to welcome Kristen Callihan to my blog. She’s the author of the Darkest London historical paranormal romance/urban fantasy series. I met Kristen this year at RWA, and she was nice enough to agree to do a guest blog for me. Take it away, Kristen:

    FIRST LOVES

    We all remember our first love. Especially when it comes to books.

    For me, it was Anne Rice. Since the age of ten, I’d devour any book I could get my hands on. However, my choice of reading material was limited to what was in my house. Thus, I was reading an odd selection of my dad’s Robert Ludlum and mom’s Danielle Steele. But when I was seventeen, while spending the summer at the beach, I came across a dog-eared copy of Interview with the Vampire. And, OMG, it was like a new world had opened up for me.

    FirelightDark and angsty, sensual and rich, the story was at once a fairytale and a nightmare. I loved the idea of immortals who suffered for their supposed gifts. And I loved the fact that their physical strength made them capable of having over-the-top adventures.

    After devouring Anne Rice, I found another love: historical murder mysteries. They captured my fascination because, often, the detective had nothing more to go on than his (or her) wits. Anne Perry, Deanna Raybourn, Tasha Alexander, Elizabeth Peters, provided my reading entertainment for years – actually, they still do!

    Is it any wonder that when the time came to write my own books, I incorporated those elements that I found in my first loves?

    The Darkest London series revolves around cursed lords, lonely immortals, and heroines that have incredible powers of their own. Murder and mystery abounds. And lets not forget the sensuality. Because, really, what makes all that angst worth it if not love? And, ahem, great sex.

    Many times, I’ve been asked if I prefer paranormal romance or urban fantasy. And how to answer? I’m always a sucker for romance. I love watching a courtship unfold and seeing to people fall for each other. And I love a good, dark story with strong heroines who know their mind and don’t need a man to save them. I love a good mystery, and not knowing who to trust or where the story will take me. So in truth, I love both. Which is why my stories walk the line between both genres.

    FIRELIGHT AND MOONGLOW GIVEAWAY

    MoonglowSo what about you? Who was your first reading love? What is it about your favorite genres that draw you in and keeps you coming back for more? Leave a comment on this post to be entered to win both Firelight and Moonglow. Two sets of books will be given away. 

    The giveaway is open worldwide and will be open through midnight, EST, Wednesday, Sept. 19. The winners will be announced here on the blog on Friday, Sept. 21.

    You can find Kristen online at her Web site, Facebook, and on Twitter.

    Thanks so much for being here, Kristen.

  • Best Paranormal Fantasy …

    4 Comments

    I just found out that Spider’s Bite has been nominated for Best Paranormal Fantasy in the Goodreads Choice Awards 2010. Huzzah!

    I seriously doubt that I’ll win, given the number of best-sellers in the category, but I’m thrilled to be nominated. Here’s the link to see the nominees and vote for your favorite.

    And, yes, I’ll admit it — I totally voted for myself. 😉

    In other news, Venom was also given an honorable mention as one of the Best of 2010 by Preternatural Reviews. That’s something else I’m doing the happy dance over.

    I just want to say thanks again to all the readers and reviewers out there. The response to the Elemental Assassin series has been awesome, and I hope you guys like the next two books even more. Happy reading, everyone!


  • Map, map, my kingdom for a map …

    6 Comments

    Pet peeve time: What is up with epic fantasy books not having maps in them anymore? It seems like the last four or five epic fantasy books that I’ve read have not had a map in them — and it is driving me insane.

    In the past few months, I’ve read Burn Me Deadly by Alex Bledsoe and Melusine by Sarah Monette. These are both epic fantasies — and neither one of them had a map in it. This is especially troublesome in the Monette book, since she talks about so many different cultures/people and her characters travel from one side of the world to the other — supposedly this huge, huge distance. Bledsoe’s book is focused on a smaller geographic area so it didn’t bother me quite as much that there wasn’t a map in that one.

    The lack of a map seems to be a new, disappointing trend to me. Back when I first started reading epic fantasy, it seemed like every book I picked up — especially those by the likes of Terry Brooks, David Eddings, and Terry Goodkind — had a map of the respective world in it. Now? It doesn’t seem like anybody has a map in their book.

    Am I the only one that this bothers?

    I like seeing the maps and tracking the characters from one city to the other. I like knowing where the various races/creatures live. I like seeing the topography of the rivers and mountains and whatnot — it makes the characters’ journey seem that much more, well, epic to me. I just expect a map in an epic fantasy book since its scope is usually so big and sprawling.

    I wonder if maybe the publishers are trying to save money/paper by not including maps anymore — if maybe they are using those artist dollars and two pages for something else. Or maybe the author just doesn’t want a map in his/her book. Maybe she doesn’t want to limit herself that way. There could be any number of reasons for this trend.

    Now, I do think that it’s a little different situation when it comes to urban fantasy. I don’t really expect a map in an urban fantasy book since so many of those take place in cities. It’s just easier for me to visualize things on a city scale than on a worldwide scale. But if the characters are traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles over mountain ranges and across seas like they do in epic fantasy books, then, yeah, I expect a map — or two.

    Personally, I’ve thought about doing a map of Ashland, but I can’t draw to save my life, and I think my dollars would be better spent on promoting my books rather than hiring someone to do a map for me. Plus, there are probably some rights/usage issues that I would have to talk to my publisher about first.

    Also, I try to add at least one new location in every one of the Elemental Assassin books, so the map would be out of date by the time the next book came out. And I don’t want to box myself in too much by saying that this goes here and that goes there, when I might come up with a cool idea in the future and need to rearrange things. Besides, my city is pretty simple — the rich part of town, the poor part of town, and the suburbs. All readers really need to know is what part of town a business or house is located in. I think the descriptions/characters take care of the rest.

    I don’t know — maybe I should just chalk it all up to The Mystery of the Missing Map. That would make a great case for Nancy Drew or Veronica Mars to work on, wouldn’t it? 😉

    What about you guys? Are you missing maps in epic fantasy books? Are there any books that you think need a map? Share in the comments.

  • ·

    A different kind of book …

    4 Comments

    I’m still basking in the glow of the Publishers Weekly review, but today, I want to talk about a couple of things that are mentioned in the review, namely this:

    Bodies litter the pages of this first entry in Estep’s engrossing Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series … Fans of Estep’s humorous paranormal romances (Jinx; Hot Mama) may be taken aback by the gritty violence and steamy sex, but urban fantasy fans will love it. (Feb.)

    In other words, Spider’s Bite is a different kind of book than the ones in my Bigtime series. Spider’s Bite is dark and gritty, violent and sexy — it is not a lightweight comic book spoof like the Bigtime books are. The main character in Spider’s Bite is an assassin, and Gin does kill people in the book — in fact, she kills a lot of people in the book. She wouldn’t be much of an assassin if she didn’t kill people, now would she?

    So why am I bringing this up? Well, because I want readers — especially those who enjoyed my Bigtime series — to know what they’re getting with Spider’s Bite. Because it’s definitely a different kind of book, and those looking for a more lighthearted read may be disappointed.

    We’ve all seen blog posts bemoaning the fact that an author has switched genres, and I’m sure that I’ll get some e-mails from readers telling me that they don’t like Spider’s Bite and that I should have written another Bigtime book instead. So why didn’t I do that? Well, there are a couple of reasons.

    First, my previous publisher decided that they didn’t want any more Bigtime books. As much as I love writing the series, I have to eat and pay my bills just like everyone else. And in the book market right now, dark, gritty, urban fantasy and paranormal romance is where it’s at — that’s what editors are buying and that’s what readers are reading.

    Second, I had been wanting to write an assassin story for a while now and penning an urban fantasy gave me the opportunity to do that — and really stretch myself as a writer. That’s important to me because I think that writers who write the same kind of book over and over again get stale. I know that I’ve loved the first few books in a series only to be disappointed by the later titles that just seem like retreads of those first great books (Janet Evanovich comes to mind).

    But I hope that my Bigtime readers will give Gin Blanco and Spider’s Bite a chance. In the end, I think that Spider’s Bite and my Bigtime series have a lot of the same elements in common — a sassy, sarcastic, kick-ass heroine, cool world building, lots of fight scenes, and some sizzling romance. Everything is just much darker in Spider’s Bite, including the humor. In fact, I’m billing the book as dark, fun, sexy urban fantasy — we’ll see if my Bigtime readers and others agree.

    What about you guys? Do you like it or loathe it when an author switches genres? Share in the comments.