Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Lot 49
Dec 7, 2007

I'll do anything
For my sweet sixteen
I want to read a good urban fantasy about vampires but I've bought three based on Amazon reviews and they were all sub-Twilight trash.

Can anyone here recommend anything?

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

Lot 49 posted:

I want to read a good urban fantasy about vampires but I've bought three based on Amazon reviews and they were all sub-Twilight trash.

Can anyone here recommend anything?

It's been a long time since I've read it but Agyar, by Steven Brust.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

I do wonder how big an impact COVID is going to have to on Urban Fantasy for the next few years. They tend to be relatively 'in modern times' but it seems like that's going to be a weird thing to write around or reference for the foreseeable future. I know British writers have expressed frustration with Brexit and that was just on a local scale.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum
Yeah, a lot of series' tend to do the whole "here's the real world history but with supernatural stuff happening in the background" or "here's real history with a major point of divergence" and either way you cut it, "the time society hiccuped to a halt for a few months" is gonna be a big deal

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Lot 49 posted:

I want to read a good urban fantasy about vampires but I've bought three based on Amazon reviews and they were all sub-Twilight trash.

Can anyone here recommend anything?

I actually wrote this up earlier today for a friend:

- Sunglasses After Dark by Nancy A Collins; it's so 80s-90s punk-gothic-horror.
- Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter; I enjoy how the vampires are typical yet not - but honestly I'm reading this for Jane herself
- Mercy Thompson series by Pat Briggs; I have some big beefs with this series but the vampires are terrifying and great
- Anita Blake by LKH; absolutely terrifying and strange vampires, easily the best incarnation of "vampires are sexy and terrifying"*

*books 1-5 are good, book 6 gets into relationship drama


And I just got Daylight by Elizabeth Knox in the mail, it's about a detective who goes caving and finds a body that might be a vampire.

Aerdan
Apr 14, 2012

Not Dennis NEDry
The Anno Dracula series by Kim Newman is also pretty good, though it starts shortly after Bram Stoker's Dracula with the first book and moves forward from there.

ConfusedUs
Feb 24, 2004

Bees?
You want fucking bees?
Here you go!
ROLL INITIATIVE!!





I will automatically second any Stephen Brust novel. Dude is an under appreciated treasure.

Ika
Dec 30, 2004
Pure insanity

Omi no Kami posted:

Holy crap, I didn't know the latest Rivers of London book was out!

(False Values spoilers) It was pretty fun, but it felt like he didn't do much with the AI stuff and the undercover concept was kinda half-baked; I think it would've worked better as a straight-up "Post-suspension Peter does Wizard Cop Stuff" deal without the Silicon Valley Confidential angle.

Just read the blurb, "Serious Cybernetics Company". I think its safe to assume that's a hitchhikers guide reference?

stabbity
Sep 28, 2004

StrixNebulosa posted:

- Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter; I enjoy how the vampires are typical yet not - but honestly I'm reading this for Jane herself

Been reading this series based off your very first recommendation of it in this thread and yep, can confirm, it's really good. I just finished book 5 and of course my library only has books 1-5 and 10 of the series, so I think I'll be purchasing the next 4 because I can't put it down.

torgeaux
Dec 31, 2004
I serve...

Lot 49 posted:

I want to read a good urban fantasy about vampires but I've bought three based on Amazon reviews and they were all sub-Twilight trash.

Can anyone here recommend anything?

The Joe Putt casebooks are the best modern takes on vampires I've read. Joe Pitt is a vampire, they're about vampire society and they're creative as hell.

Some Pinko Commie
Jun 9, 2009

CNC! Easy as 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣!

Ika posted:

Just read the blurb, "Serious Cybernetics Company". I think its safe to assume that's a hitchhikers guide reference?

Yeah. It isn't the only one in the book, either.

Whether this is good or bad is up to you.

The_Doctor
Mar 29, 2007

"The entire history of this incarnation is one of temporal orbits, retcons, paradoxes, parallel time lines, reiterations, and divergences. How anyone can make head or tail of all this chaos, I don't know."

biracial bear for uncut posted:

Yeah. It isn't the only one in the book, either.

Whether this is good or bad is up to you.

It’s absolutely the sort of wanky thing tech startups do.

Yeroc2
Aug 13, 2003

"The glow is the combination of all your past lives, focusing their energy through your body."
Grimey Drawer

Lot 49 posted:

I want to read a good urban fantasy about vampires but I've bought three based on Amazon reviews and they were all sub-Twilight trash.

Can anyone here recommend anything?

Sunshine by Robin McKinley is a fantastic vampire book that's mostly urban fantasy. The setting is an alternative earth where magic is well known but its fairly analogous to modern day.

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

Aerdan posted:

The Anno Dracula series by Kim Newman is also pretty good, though it starts shortly after Bram Stoker's Dracula with the first book and moves forward from there.

Newman is amazing just for taking "throw every single bit of fiction even remotely connected to vampires and also lots that aren't into a blender oh and also his Warhammer Fantasy character is there" and making it work well.

Old Kentucky Shark
May 25, 2012

If you think you're gonna get sympathy from the shark, well then, you won't.


The_Doctor posted:

It’s absolutely the sort of wanky thing tech startups do.

I genuinely can't imagine what reading that book must have been like to someone who's never even heard of HHGttG, because he drops 8 million references without ever explaining them or ever namedropping the book series. It would have seemed like someone speaking another language.

ToxicFrog
Apr 26, 2008


gently caress, Anno Dracula has been on my to-read list for ages and I still haven't gotten around to reading it, and now this thread drops a whole bunch of recommendations on me :negative:

Other recs not already mentioned ITT:
- Fledgling by Octavia Butler; standalone, the protagonist is a vampire who wakes up after being seriously injured and losing her memory and has to both piece together what happened to her and figure out how to reintegrate into a vampire society she no longer knows anything about
- The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen; it's Dracula "setting the record straight" about how Van Helsing was a murderous lunatic, Mina was totally into him, and his "nefarious plots" were all misunderstandings brought about by his own social awkwardness. Some of the sequels are set closer to the present day.

ToxicFrog fucked around with this message at 03:06 on May 22, 2020

Problematic Pigeon
Feb 28, 2011

ToxicFrog posted:

- Kindred by Octavia Butler; standalone, the protagonist is a vampire who wakes up after being seriously injured and losing her memory and has to both piece together what happened to her and figure out how to reintegrate into a vampire society she no longer knows anything about

I think that one is Fledgling, Kindred is the time travel one.

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

It's not a book recommendation but the British TV series Ultraviolet (not the similarly named but unconnected movies) is a very smart modern take on vampires and also features a very young Idris Elba.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

ToxicFrog posted:

gently caress, Anno Dracula has been on my to-read list for ages and I still haven't gotten around to reading it, and now this thread drops a whole bunch of recommendations on me :negative:

Other recs not already mentioned ITT:
- Kindred by Octavia Butler; standalone, the protagonist is a vampire who wakes up after being seriously injured and losing her memory and has to both piece together what happened to her and figure out how to reintegrate into a vampire society she no longer knows anything about
- The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen; it's Dracula "setting the record straight" about how Van Helsing was a murderous lunatic, Mina was totally into him, and his "nefarious plots" were all misunderstandings brought about by his own social awkwardness. Some of the sequels are set closer to the present day.

I will warn that Anno Dracula does have an uncomfortable thing where the female lead is eternally in the body of a 16 year old and she does have a sexual relationship with a older (in body) person. To the book's credit it genuinely appears to be more of an attempt to emphasize the unaging of vampires but it's still pretty eeeeeeeeh. As far as I know the other books in the series avoid that.

ToxicFrog
Apr 26, 2008


Problematic Pigeon posted:

I think that one is Fledgling, Kindred is the time travel one.

Whoops, you're right, I always get those two mixed up for some reason. Fixed.

Fighting Trousers
May 17, 2011

Does this excite you, girl?

ImpAtom posted:

I will warn that Anno Dracula does have an uncomfortable thing where the female lead is eternally in the body of a 16 year old and she does have a sexual relationship with a older (in body) person. To the book's credit it genuinely appears to be more of an attempt to emphasize the unaging of vampires but it's still pretty eeeeeeeeh. As far as I know the other books in the series avoid that.

Fledgling gets into some similar sexual territory. It's a fantastic book, but that part proved a hurdle for me.

Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004


Out here, everything hurts.




StrixNebulosa posted:

- Anita Blake by LKH; absolutely terrifying and strange vampires, easily the best incarnation of "vampires are sexy and terrifying"*

*books 1-5 are good, book 6 gets into relationship drama

Relationship drama's a fair understatement, LKH went full Horny On Main after book 5 and now the series is essentially supernatural erotica.

The_Doctor
Mar 29, 2007

"The entire history of this incarnation is one of temporal orbits, retcons, paradoxes, parallel time lines, reiterations, and divergences. How anyone can make head or tail of all this chaos, I don't know."

docbeard posted:

It's not a book recommendation but the British TV series Ultraviolet (not the similarly named but unconnected movies) is a very smart modern take on vampires and also features a very young Idris Elba.

:hmmyes: It’s very good.

Lot 49
Dec 7, 2007

I'll do anything
For my sweet sixteen
Thanks to everyone who recommended me something!

Honestly I was sort of expecting to be told it was a played out genre/it's twilight rip-offs or bust etc so getting that many recommendations is a nice surprise.

anilEhilated
Feb 17, 2014

But I say fuck the rain.

Grimey Drawer

ImpAtom posted:

I will warn that Anno Dracula does have an uncomfortable thing where the female lead is eternally in the body of a 16 year old and she does have a sexual relationship with a older (in body) person. To the book's credit it genuinely appears to be more of an attempt to emphasize the unaging of vampires but it's still pretty eeeeeeeeh. As far as I know the other books in the series avoid that.
It helps that she actually thinks and acts like an adult woman so there's not much attention drawn to the body age thing.
Anyhow, the Anno Dracula books are good, especially if you like (tons and tons of) horror and contemporary schlock lit references.

Soysaucebeast
Mar 4, 2008




I started listening to the Dresden Files audiobooks for my re-read up to the new books in a couple months. James Marsters is really good for the most part, but man I can't get over when he mispronounces words. The two big ones so far have been Charybdis (Kerry-diss vs Cuh-rib-diss) and impotent (im-potent vs imp-a-tent). I know it;s not the biggest issue ever, and I am absolutely going to keep listening to the books, but every time he gets a word wrong it just sticks in my brain.

Everyone
Sep 6, 2019

by sebmojo

ToxicFrog posted:

gently caress, Anno Dracula has been on my to-read list for ages and I still haven't gotten around to reading it, and now this thread drops a whole bunch of recommendations on me :negative:

Other recs not already mentioned ITT:
- Fledgling by Octavia Butler; standalone, the protagonist is a vampire who wakes up after being seriously injured and losing her memory and has to both piece together what happened to her and figure out how to reintegrate into a vampire society she no longer knows anything about
- The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen; it's Dracula "setting the record straight" about how Van Helsing was a murderous lunatic, Mina was totally into him, and his "nefarious plots" were all misunderstandings brought about by his own social awkwardness. Some of the sequels are set closer to the present day.

Some of the modern sequels get a little bit "up their own rear end" but I think I enjoyed the first sequel, The Holmes-Dracula File even more than the original book.

While I don't know exactly how "urban fantasy" they are, I also recommend the Nathaniel Cade series by Christopher Farnsworth. In 1867 sailor Nathaniel Cade was turned into a vampire and captured by the U.S. government. With the aid of a ritual performed by Vodoun priestess Marie Laveau, Cade is pressed into service as the President's Vampire - the first line of defense against threat both mystical and mundane.

While the novels are mostly set in modern times, there are a lot of enjoyable "flashbacks" to periods where Cade has served previous Presidents. In order, the series books are Blood Oath, The President's Vampire, Red, While and Blood with the novella, Deep State.

Farnsworth switched publishers so no new Cade books have been forthcoming, much to my disappointment,.

ToxicFrog
Apr 26, 2008


poo poo, I forgot about two really fun ones: the Cheshire Red books by Cherie Priest, Bloodshot and Hellbent. Vampire thief gets hired to steal some government documents and ends up tangling with the men in black and their secret vampire weaponization program.

ToxicFrog fucked around with this message at 21:00 on May 23, 2020

torgeaux
Dec 31, 2004
I serve...

ToxicFrog posted:

poo poo, I forgot about two really fun ones: the Cheshire Red books by Cherie Priest, Hellbound and Bloodshot. Vampire thief gets hired to steal some government documents and ends up tangling with the men in black and their secret vampire weaponization program.

Just went to pick that up hellbent, not hellbound, and sorry, but pricey for a 9 year old book that was hardly a best seller.

ToxicFrog
Apr 26, 2008


Fixed, thanks. And I didn't bother checking the current prices, I figure people who are interested can check whichever storefront they get their books from themselves.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Soysaucebeast posted:

I started listening to the Dresden Files audiobooks for my re-read up to the new books in a couple months. James Marsters is really good for the most part, but man I can't get over when he mispronounces words. The two big ones so far have been Charybdis (Kerry-diss vs Cuh-rib-diss) and impotent (im-potent vs imp-a-tent). I know it;s not the biggest issue ever, and I am absolutely going to keep listening to the books, but every time he gets a word wrong it just sticks in my brain.

I can get past that but it super bugs me when he massively changes a character's voice. The biggest one is Marcone who he just completely shifts one day and it drives me nuts.

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

torgeaux posted:

Just went to pick that up hellbent, not hellbound, and sorry, but pricey for a 9 year old book that was hardly a best seller.

You can pick it up for like 5$ used, possibly for less if you look around. Embrace the paper, love the paper, it's almost always cheaper than the electronic.

Old Kentucky Shark
May 25, 2012

If you think you're gonna get sympathy from the shark, well then, you won't.


ImpAtom posted:

I can get past that but it super bugs me when he massively changes a character's voice. The biggest one is Marcone who he just completely shifts one day and it drives me nuts.

The funny thing is he recorded the audiobooks out of order, starting in the middle and then working backwards and forwards as books were released so the voices change constantly as you work your way through.

torgeaux
Dec 31, 2004
I serve...

StrixNebulosa posted:

You can pick it up for like 5$ used, possibly for less if you look around. Embrace the paper, love the paper, it's almost always cheaper than the electronic.

Yeah, I'm looking. But, I typically get used thru Amazon, too. No joy there. Found elsewhere.

Cugel the Clever
Apr 5, 2009
I LOVE AMERICA AND CAPITALISM DESPITE BEING POOR AS FUCK. I WILL NEVER RETIRE BUT HERE'S ANOTHER 200$ FOR UKRAINE, SLAVA
Is there a good way to get all the Dresden short stories in one place? If I recall correctly, they almost always come as single pieces in multi-author story collections, but that's ridiculously inconvenient.

wallaka
Jun 8, 2010

Least it wasn't a fucking red shell

Cugel the Clever posted:

Is there a good way to get all the Dresden short stories in one place? If I recall correctly, they almost always come as single pieces in multi-author story collections, but that's ridiculously inconvenient.

Brief Cases has most of them.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum

Cugel the Clever posted:

Is there a good way to get all the Dresden short stories in one place? If I recall correctly, they almost always come as single pieces in multi-author story collections, but that's ridiculously inconvenient.

Side Jobs + Brief Cases has almost all of them. There's 4 microficiton stories on Jim's website, and one (so far) short that hasn't been collected elsewhere

NerdyMcNerdNerd
Aug 3, 2004


Lol.i halbve already saod i inferno circstances wanttpgback
I Don't Even Own A Television ( a podcast about bad books ) did Storm Front this week. Excuse me while I enjoy the poo poo out of myself.

I'm still buying the next book.

Fellwenner
Oct 21, 2005
Don't make me kill you.

StrixNebulosa posted:

There's something to be said for vampires and sexual assault allegories but I don't want to talk about that, I want to talk about how interesting this worldbuilding is, or how dumb vampires using katanas is.

e: has anyone in here read Chicagoland Vampires?

I read the first Chicagoland Vampires book, Some Girls Bite, some time back. I didn't write a review so can't remember all my impressions, but it's just a romance with the vampire bits as window dressing. The MC is a Sue. Engaging and readable, if that's the sort of thing you're into though.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

The_Doctor
Mar 29, 2007

"The entire history of this incarnation is one of temporal orbits, retcons, paradoxes, parallel time lines, reiterations, and divergences. How anyone can make head or tail of all this chaos, I don't know."

NerdyMcNerdNerd posted:

I Don't Even Own A Television ( a podcast about bad books ) did Storm Front this week. Excuse me while I enjoy the poo poo out of myself.

I'm still buying the next book.

Is that a well made podcast? Every time I try a podcast about books, it seems like the makers know nothing about how sound production works, and I sit there lowering and raising the volume as different people talk, or give up as they decided recording during a storm was a good idea.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply