#urban fanasy

[starcaptain]

I've been developing a queer modern fantasy comedy podcast over the past two years with some excellent actors and a great production partner and now it's here!

The Occult Adventures of Norman P Blank!

Step into the magical world where mystery and danger threaten from every corner. Mild-mannered lawyer Norman P. Blank helps the people of magical San Francisco with their problems, legal or otherwise!

#new podcast #gay podcast #gay #queer podcast #fantasy podcast #fantasy #urban fanasy #modern fantasy #Spotify

[abookishshade]

So January, 2024 was a productive reading month for me.

I read 7 books in all, of which, I read:

🔹️2 audiobooks

1️⃣▫️The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eyn, tr. Lizzie Buehler- ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (lit fic, thriller, contemporary)

I had not known about this aspect of the tourism industry before reading this book. So it was quite fascinating to me.

2️⃣▫️All Systems Red by Martha Wells- ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Sci-fi)

This is, I think, the first pure sci-fi that I have read, and I enjoyed being inside the head of a robot.

🔹️1 series continuation

3️⃣▫️Sweep of the Heart by Ilona Andrews- ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (fantasy, romance)

Finally I'm done with the Innkeeper Chronicles. While this was still a comfort read, it was also a slow read. There was a lot of political intrigue involving characters I didn't much care for so this one wasn't as fun as the previous books in the series.

🔹️2 rereads

4️⃣▫️The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (middle grade, greek mythology, urban fanasy)

It was also my first read of the month. The recently released show got me interested in this again. I have made another post on it.

5️⃣▫️The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (middle grade, greek mythology, urban fanasy)

It was also as much fun as the first Percy Jackson book, especially because I have forgotten everything from my first read. Came across the character Circe in this one, and couldn't help myself from wanting to know her pov next before starting the 3rd book in the series.

🔹️2 fresh reads

6️⃣▫️Circe by Madeline Miller- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (greek mythology, feminist retelling)

The Sea of Monsters made me want to read Circe. And this was my favorite read of the month. I loved the character development of Circe. I loved the witchy vibes. I loved the depiction of her solitary independent life on the island. I loved the critiques of patriarchy. What I didn't like was the ending.

SPOILER AHEAD

I understood Circe's loneliness but I didn't like that the powerful witch Circe ended up needing to spend her mortal life with Telemachus and bear his children to get her happy ending.

SPOILER OVER

7️⃣▫️The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (historical fiction, mystery)

I buddyread this one, and enjoyed reading it even though it was a slow read. Buddyread definitely helped in going through with it. There were two timelines. Sometimes the transition from one timeline to another felt like an interruption but at the end both the timelines added to the substance of the story, especially the past timeline was important for the characterization of our protagonist. I loved the various little details including those pertaining to the setting, the law and the architecture and also those pertaining to the various characters and their dynamics with each other. I also enjoying making speculations about the killer. I also liked how it touched upon some of the societal issues of the time period through the lens of a woman.

#abookishshade #book reviews #bookworm #books #booklr #bookblr #book blogger #books and reading #book community #reading community #monthly wrap up #the disaster tourist yun ko eyn lizzie buelher #all systems red martha wells #sweep of the heart innkeeper chronicles ilona andrews #percy jackon and the olympians #rick riordan #the lightning thief #the sea of monsters #circe madeline miller #the widows of malabar hills #sujata massey #percy jackson

[lessthanthreepress]

HAVE YOU PICKED UP YOUR COPY OF FIRE AND INK BY K.L. NOONE?

Fire and Ink by K.L. Noone is a paranormal/urban fantasy gay/pansexual romance from LT3 Press, Book 2 of the Kitten and Witch series.

Three months ago David Stanton rescued a runaway kitten in the rain. Now he's got a scandalous feline shapeshifter living in his house, helping with his white-witch business, and making him smile. David is falling in love fast, but there's still the problem of Colin's past—and the secrets he's obviously keeping...

Pick it up at LT3, Amazon, Kobo, B&N, iTunes, Bookstrand, Smashwords, or request it at your local library!

#Pick it up #Gay/Pansexual Romance #LGBT #Urban Fanasy #K. L. Noone #Fire and Ink #Kitten and Witch series #Paranormal

[abaddonofficial]

Releasing Monday, December 13th!

#ya fantasy #ya fiction #urban fantasy #quote #original work #adobe spark #adventure #demons #friendship #writing community #fantasy lovers #fanasy readers

[uclaradio]

Alina Baraz @ El Rey (4/4/17) // Show Review

Written By: Brianna Klipp

Post Date: 4/10/17

Photo by Alex McDonell

I wonder if Jessica Rabbit ever dressed up for Halloween. Some children had “the talk” at young ages at some procrastinated time before the pot roast was ready. They squirmed in their seats and fidgeted uncontrollably at the thought of private parts. But It wasn’t until seeing the voluptuous curves of the red satin dress on Ms. Jessica that they could conceptualize the birds and the bees. Upon first sight, Jessica Rabbit gave rise to their first epiphany - children’s first lusts and dirty imaginations. Jessica Rabbit embodied everything that men wanted to conquer, and what women wanted to be. Mysterious. Hair flips. She glistens in my memory. Of course she didn’t dress up for Halloween.

I wonder if Jessica Rabbit would be proud to know that she came alive on the stage of the El Rey on April 4. The crowd lined up to see the personified version of Jessica Rabbit in the human form of Alina Baraz an hour early. The energy was anxious for a Tuesday, and even the solo guys whose dates had abandoned them at the bar seemed content with themselves. The merch line was longer than the bathroom and bar line combined. “I don’t even like this jean jacket… but if I spend the $200 on it, I can meet Alina after the show!” a girl squealed to her friend.

Baraz’s fan base, a surprisingly diverse crowd of tweens and mid 30-something aged ladies with Yeezys, soul, and no regard to a curfew swayed to the opener. The top 40 music DJ pumped up the crowd, and as the room filled with more people, it became clear: this Tuesday night show had been marked on the calendars of every person west of the 405 for months.

The lights on the stage appeared slowly. Dimly lit in gold fluorescents, Baraz’s shadowy figure came to center stage. Like waking from a dream, her full figure took shape on stage in a blurry motion of disbelief and awe. Baraz’s perfect pitch filled the room and the crowd stood still for a minute. Playing songs from the Urban Flora EP, Baraz didn’t talk to the audience between any breaks as she played “Show Me,” “Make you Feel,” and “Maybe.” I closed my eyes and wondered how she had gotten to this point. Her voice has the right tone to be played in a fancy airport lounge or the winding-down hours of a wedding reception. As the rest of her show went on, it became apparent that she wasn’t accustomed to vocal strain, and in certain parts, found her higher notes to be cut short with deeper breaths.

Photo by Alex McDonell

Midway through the set, Baraz smiled at the crowd. “I have a new song that I’ve never played before. Do you guys want to hear?” The remaining 20 minutes were the best of the show, keeping the crowd on the dance floor and away from the bathroom line. “I want to introduce you to someone… one of my great friends.” Khalid took to the stage and they both jumped in to their song together, “Electric,” singing, “Darker than the ocean, deeper than the sea/You've got everything, you got what I need/Touch me, you're electric, babe.”

Baraz and Khalid exemplified seventh grade chemistry, where crushes developed in the notes passed between sweaty fingers and puppy love dreams. They turned and sang to each other, holding each other's hands as they harmonized and created a moment. It felt awkwardly invasive to be in the crowd watching them together as they locked eyes and sang lusty sweet-nothings to each other.

Photo by Andrew Gomez

Khalid gave a slight bow to the audience as the song ended, and Baraz transitioned seamlessly into two more songs. The crowd, hot and bothered by now, reflected the image of Roger Rabbit's tongue hitting the ground with eyes shooting like daggers towards the stage. If we had tails, they would have wagged. As she brought our repressed notions of lust to life, Baraz read the audience and saved the best song for last, playing the popular “Fantasy” - the one fantasy we’d been hoping for.  No DJ could remix the fantasy Baraz could conjure, and no Jessica Rabbit would ever compare.

#fanasy #alina baraz #khalid #el rey theatre #urban flora ep #ucla radio #uclaradio.com #ucla #college radio #electric

[bookwhats-blog]

New Post has been published on Books What

New Post has been published on http://bookswhat.com/archives/57029

Legend

That is the fourth and remaining ebook within the Order of the Spirit Realm Collection. If you have not learn the primary, Bait, you need to begin there. As warfare with the Spirit Realm monsters attracts nearer, Bay-Lee turns into determined to maintain Nick...

#fantasy urban #Monsters #paranormal fantasy #paranormal romance #supernatural #urban fanasy

[bomberqueen17]

welp i woke up circa 5am from an anxiety dream in which there was a food crisis in the us and we were all anxiously trying to figure out how not to starve to death, and then i lay in bed wide-eyed and thought about the way morgan stanley has forced Tops grocery stores into bankruptcy to strip-mine their assets for shareholder dividends and that’s going to leave massive holes in the food distribution system and create a lot of food deserts (even in this cradle of wegmans culture there are a lot of low-income neighborhoods only served by a Tops, and then the nice suburb has a whole foods and a trader joe’s too, how unexpected). And then I started thinking about the gun control debate and how the Good Guy With A Gun fantasy, which basically everyone acknowledges is a fanasy, is distracting anyone from ever exploring the far more widespread in my experience, far harder to quantify Totemic Protective effect that most gun owners I know rely on-- the basic rural assumption that everyone is armed is a plausible deterrent to home invasion and is often the only feasible security for a remote, sprawling, 19th-century farmhouse that has six ground-floor entrances and none of them have the kind of latches you can lock. But I don’t know how to write that up compellingly, and trying to think of ways to do so while lying in bed trying to fall back asleep is, uh.

Counterproductive, I think.

(But it did make me think about a friend who was a reporter in an urban area, and a group of neighborhood kids once showed her their gun. They had a gun, you see. They didn’t know what kind it was or how to operate it; it was some kind of handgun they’d found, or something. They kept it hidden near a playground, and it kept them safe, they believed, because, well, it was a gun, and she gradually realized that they thought it was like. A magic totem. It would keep them safe, no one would hurt them, because they had it. That’s at play just as much as the Good Guy With A Gun fantasy, and they’re both fantasies, but only one of them is getting any social media attention. It’s not that the Magical Gun Of Protection is any more logical, but it is a little more sympathetic, and it’s far closer to my lifelong experience of proximity to gun ownership.)

oh my gosh don’t reblog this, I’m not remotely prepared to Argue For It. I’m just saying, people are complicated and there’s a lot of fear in all of this, and the But Conservatives Love Cops head-scratching contradiction is kind of because Conservatism Isn’t A Monolith, and a lot of us in those red-voting rural areas grew up basically never having seen a cop and not really having any opinions on them and our entire game plan for home invasions never actually involved trying to call them. 9-1-1 wasn’t a thing in my neighborhood until I was in junior high and even then, who’d show up if you dialed it was never very well understood. But I knew where the rifles were kept.

Oh and then I started fixating on what I’d really do if there was a famine so that wasn’t super helpful. (I was thinking about how I spend the summers sleeping in a canvas tent on a farm, right next to the main food production field, and I refused to take a shotgun out with me so I’ve got a hatchet and a baseball bat that stay out there with me. Hm.)

Anyway there’s no way I’m falling back asleep after all that.

#don't r/b #personal #insomnia #well not really it's morning after all #but #anxiety #guns #i totally understand the people who want to ban all guns #i sort of understand the people who are afraid of gun bans #i really don't understand the people who are frothily convinced we must ban NO guns #because that's an incredibly recent stance that has no basis in like anything #and also is completely unsustainable #but a lot of us use guns as tools and do have legitimate purposes #and of course there's a mythological role for them too #it's just not all cowboy fantasies #also those statistics about guns for personal protection? #the reason something like 90% of gun owners use the same phrase is that it's the only acceptable way to answer the question #on the pistol permit survey you need to fill out #if you write personal protection you get it #if you write literally anything else they turn you down because you're a nut #that's just actually how it works #so #i don't know how you'd collect stats on the Totemic Protection Myth #or the concrete Everyone Is Armed Out Here deterrent effect #i've been present for armed confrontations more than once in which no authorities were involved and no stats were collected let's just say #because nobody got shot because ideally that's how it works out #but i got no real basis to analyze that #and don't want to #i wish there were other things to preoccupy me at now 6 in the morning #but there you go

[afieldofheather]

I read mainly for escapism.  Can you tell? I read a lot of genre fiction: science fiction, fanasy, mystery and thriller, historical fiction, romance. The point of a good book is to tell a story. I like to like the characters in that story. The world can be dark and characters can have their Dark Night of the Soul moments, but I like when the characters are mainly good people and there is hope they will triumph.

Some of my favorite books are: The Martian, The Immoralists, The Night Circus, The Poisonwood Bible, Station Eleven, The Gospel of Loki, Burial Rites, American Gods, Sad Cypress (Hercule Poirot), The Winternight triology, The Simple Wild, Uprooted, The Expanse series.

You can take the test here.

Form Axis: The level of simplicity or complexity. Minimalism: Subtle prose with an economic use of words. Maximalism: Elaborate and complex prose.

Ontological Axis: The nature of reality. Fantasy: Imaginary worlds beyond material reality. Reality: The real and empirical world.

Tone Axis: The pervading mood and feeling. Dark: Grim and pessimistic. Celebratory: Triumphant and optimistic.

Setting Axis: The setting of the story. Urban: Set in cities and industrial regions. Rural: Set in organic regions and the countryside.

Ethical Axis: The approach to moral questions as well as the certainty of the story's message. Moralistic: Strong message and virtues espoused. Satirical: Lack of certainty, more irony.

Accessibility Axis: The overall coherence of style and story. Abstract: Esoteric and experimental. Concrete: Straightforward and conventional.

Perspective Axis: The perspective supplied by the author with regard to the purpose of the story. Philosophical: Based around questions and pontification. Cozy: Based mainly around the story.

#mine: text

[cloudtales]

Magic. A Rough Guide. - If you’re an urban fantasy fan you’ll love this.

Ever wondered how Government, Corporations and Religion would react if people could bypass laws, money and prayer? Magic is a terrorist offence. Creative power in the hands of ordinary people was never going to go down well with those used to being in control. Lizzy Frances has always been a fighter, like her parents. Hiding Lizzy from the authorities got them executed and Lizzy locked up when she was five years old. That was thirteen years ago. She just escaped. “British Urban Fantasy at its anarchic best” .

#urbanfantasy #urbanfantasy magic urban fanasy #magic anarchists urban fantasy

[hanjipandesigns]

If you like Dresden Files, Urban Fantasy or RPGs in general you might like this Sheffield based RPG podcast we have started! There two episodes so far, the next will be out next Friday!

If you have any feedback let me me know! It’s early days so still learning but it’s fun! ☺️

http://www.toomanydice.co.uk/2016/08/city-of-steel-episode-01-thompson.html?m=1

#RPG #Urban Fanasy #Fantasy RPG #Dresden Files #Sheffield #Role playing #Game #Gaming

[misgivingwriter]

Laburnum Falls - plot synopsis

I'm in the process of writing up a more indepth one, but this is so everyone knows what the basics of the story is.

　

There are two ultimate truths in Laburnum Falls.

1. Always trust the Council. 2. Never trust the Council.

It is only by following these rules that peace can be brought, to human and monster alike. The Council is the only reason that Laburnum Falls still exists.

They are the only reason that monsters still exist. Your life is important to them - but the livelihood of their community is vastly more of a priority.

This is the story of three young girls as they learn to walk the fine line between peace and war. The only truth in their reality is that everyone is lying; the only truth in their reality is that nothing can be changed.

Laburnum Falls is a small city that rests between the ocean and a wall of sheer rock. It is the last remaining place of residence where monsters and humans live in harmony - though there aren't many who are aware of this face. The Council works tirelessly to keep peace among the two races, quietly, quickly, and away from the knowledge of the general public.

Among that population resides Calcitrite, Ametrine, and Reddick. These three monsters are a part of the Golden Generations: monsters formed after the Joker Act was put into effect. They know nothing about the outside world save what they were told by the Council, and it's all lies, lies, lies.

The three young girls struggle with life in their town, with figuring out how their powers work, powers that they aren't supposed to have; they find and lose love, family, and friends; they discover darkness lurking in marble hallways and realize that their creation may not have been accidental after all.

Calcitrite, you see, is the Council's greatest secret. She isn't just one monster, but a gateway, a projector, and they have plans on using her. Plans that are upset when Marqui, a joker, returns home without authorization. She brings with her a monster from the outside world named Elidon, whose physical form has been fractured, and she brings with her the revealation that, outside of the natural made walls of Laburnum Falls, human-kind is using the joker act to ensure that all monsters will bow down before them, as nothing more then pets, servants, and signs of a higher status.

In an effort to keep this information from spreading, the Council lists Marqui and Elidon as dangerous criminals. They shatter Marqui and attack Elidon, who retreats into his corporeal state. Calcitrite finds him and takes him home, unsure of what she's going to do but certain that nothing isn't an option.

And this is when her life changes. There is no protection for a monster who disobeys the Council, no matter the circumstances.

As tension rises, Calcitrite must comes to terms with the fact that she does have worth - and it's not just in the form of serving someone else.

#urban fantasy month #urban fanasy #monsters #laburnum falls

[fangsforthefantasy-blog]

The Hugo Awards, Vox Day and Apologetics for Bigotry

This year the Hugo nominations had many wonderful and talented authors on the slate, including a few who have included marginalised people in their work or are marginalised themselves.

And it also included a novelette by Vox Day.

For those who don’t know, Vox Day is a bigot. It’s not really worth parsing down what kind of bigot he is, because the answer is “yes”. If someone is not straight, cis, white and male, Vox Day will spew his venom on them. He thinks gay people are a “birth defect.” He thinks Black people are inherently less intelligent (and called N. K. Jemisin not fully civilised for “historical reasons”) and, of course, that he thinks there’s no such thing as marital rape. This isn’t an exhaustive list, not even close, but there’s a limit to how nauseous we’re willing to get to write this post and googling Vox Day is going to give us heartburn. Honestly, there are no words to accurately sum up what a terrible human being this man is.

A lot of people have spoken about this and, to a degree, we felt there was no need to add to the discussion - but then the reaction itself, the commentary we’ve seen, including in several social-justice spaces have added to our already churning stomachs. So let’s tackle this.

First of all, why is Vox Day getting this nomination a problem? Ultimately, not everyone can be nominated for a Hugo. It takes a level of support - I know there have been a lot of allegations of vote rigging, internet campaigns et al on behalf of Vox Day and others - but none of these would have worked if there weren’t a sufficient number of people who decided to champion Vox Day. In fact, gaming the system would require active champions of Vox Day and his hateful campaigns because the merely indifferent would not help him get a nomination.

Him being nominated at all sends the message that there is a not-insignificant number of people in the SFF “community” who support the hatred he espouses - and many more who are indifferent or do not consider it important.

That is a toxic message - and a message we have seen reinforced by some of the commentary - even supposedly supportive commentary - on the issue. The amount of dismissal or insulting priorities we’ve seen really add to the message that there are a whole lot of those indifferent people.

Predictably, as we’ve seen with previous bigots on parade, there has been a vocal demand to focus on the quality of the work an author produces. We’ve heard the same for Orson Scott Card, Frank Herbert - in fact, just about any vile person out there. We’re supposed to ignore the author, consider the author’s actions irrelevant and take their work in a vacuum.

Jim C Hines, who is usually much better on these issues, has written a post on the subject that included a section on “separating the authors from their work” and these lines:

“Some authors are assholes. That doesn’t mean they don’t have fans who genuinely like their stuff.”

and he has tweeted:

read more

#urban fanasy #hugo awards #sexism #homophobia #misogyny #fandom #racism #vox day