the gambler's guide to urban faerie

[hth]

Some of these books I've read, some I'm still getting to. Some of them are good, some are terrible. This is not a rec list! This is the list I've put together to read or re-read while I'm writing my novel, figuring you can learn as much from a failed attempt as a successful one, and that the most important thing is to be aware of what else has been written in this subgenre.

Most of these books take place in a modern setting, our Earth or the near equivalent, and involve faeries interacting with humans. I included adult, YA, and some kids' books. I also made a couple of alterations to the usual theme -- a couple of these are about humans-meet-faeries in a historical Earth setting rather than a modern one, and a couple are just significant examples of urban fantasy, sans faeries. I also threw in a couple of short story collections. In the case of series, I'm only including the first one (or the relevant one for my purposes), although it's possible I'll keep reading if the first one is particularly good. (Exception: the Bordertown series, which I know I'm going to read all of, because it was essentially my formative influence, and I still love it.)

I think it would be fun to review some or all of these, too, but I don't know if I'll actually have the time or energy to do so.



Poul Anderson, The Broken Sword
Poul Anderson, A Midsummer Tempest
Clive Barker, Weaveworld
Gael Baudino, Strands of Starlight
Elizabeth Bear, Blood and Iron
Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi, The Spiderwick Chronicles
Holly Black, Tithe
Francesca Lia Block, Dangerous Angels
Francesca Lia Block, I Was A Teenage Fairy
Paul Brandon, The Wild Reel
Herbie Brennan, Faerie Wars
Steven Brust & Megan Lindholm, The Gypsy
Emma Bull, Finder
Emma Bull, War for the Oaks
Jim Butcher, Summer Knight
Orson Scott Card, Magic Street
Michael Chabon, Summerland
CJ Cherryh, The Dreaming Tree
M. Lucie Chin, The Fairy of Ku-She
Marian Cockrell, Shadow Castle
Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl
John Crowley, Little, Big
Kara Dalkey, Steel Rose
Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling eds., The Faery Reel
Pamela Dean, Tam Lin
Charles DeLint, Jack of Kinrowan
Charles DeLint, The Little Country
Charles DeLint, The Wild Wood
Keith Donohue, The Stolen Child
Diane Duane, Stealing the Elf-King's Roses
Rosemary Edghill, Sword of Maiden's Tears
Alice Thomas Ellis, Fairy Tale
Minister Faust, The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad
Raymond Feist, Faerie Tale
John M. Ford, The Last Hot Time
Michael Jan Friedman, The Glove of Maiden's Hair
Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere
Neil Gaiman, Stardust
Lisa Goldstein, Dark Cities Underground
Lisa Goldstein, Strange Devices of the Sun and Moon
Simon P. Green, Something From the Nightside
Ellen Guon, Bedlam Boyz
Linda Halderman, The Lastborn of Elvinwood
Laurell K. Hamilton, A Kiss of Shadows
Sarah A. Hoyt, Ill Met By Moonlight
Dahlov Ipcar, A Dark Horn Blowing
Melanie Jackson, Traveler
Diana Wynne Jones, Fire and Hemlock
Frewin Jones, The Faerie Path
Graham Joyce, The Tooth Fairy
Marvin Kaye ed., The Fair Folk
Ellen Kushner, Thomas the Rhymer
Mercedes Lackey, Bedlam's Bard
Rebecca Lickiss, Eccentric Circles
Megan Lindholm, Wizard of the Pigeons
Jane Lindskold, Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls
Geraldine McCaughrean, The Stones Are Hatching
Patricia McKillip, Something Rich and Strange
Melisa Michaels, Cold Iron
China Mieville, King Rat
Manuel Mujica Lainez, Wandering Unicorn
Pat O'Shea, The Hounds of the Morrigan
Elizabeth Marie Pope, Perilous Gard
Michael Reeves, Street Magic
Delia Sherman, Changeling
Josepha Sherman, Son of Darkness
Will Shetterly, Elsewhere
Will Shetterly, Nevernever
Sarah Singleton, The Crow Maiden
Midori Snyder, The Flight of Michael McBride
Midori Snyder, Hannah's Garden
Wen Spencer, Tinker
Lisa Tuttle, The Mysteries
Sylvia Townsend Warner, Kingdoms of Elfin
Christine Warren, She's No Faerie Princess
Kim Wilkins, The Autumn Castle
Kim Wilkins, Giants of the Frost
Tad Williams, The War of the Flowers
Terri Windling, Borderland
Terri Windling, Borderland 2
Terri Windling, Bordertown
Terri Windling, Life on the Border
Terri Windling, The Wood Wife
Terri Windling & Delia Sherman eds., The Essential Bordertown
Chris Wooding, Poison
Jane Yolen, The Faery Flag
Jane Yolen, Pay the Piper

Comments

[darksybarite.livejournal.com]

Woo! Someone else on the planet has actually read Hounds of the Morrigan! I stumbled upon that book in a Munich public library as a child and have loved it ever since... I was so excited when I found it on Amazon recently :)

*scans your list for future reads*

So, are there any recs you would make, from this list (besides Bordertown)?

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know that I would rec anything unequivocally yet, but with a few minor quibbles, I'd say that I really liked The Mysteries, Blood & Iron, and The Sword of Maiden's Tears. Books I haven't read for a long time but remember liking pretty well are both the Will Shetterly novels, both the Neil Gaiman novels, King Rat, The Last Hot Time, Dark Cities Underground, Thomas the Rhymer, and War for the Oaks. Bedlam's Bard is an omnibus edition of two older novels, the first of which (Knight of Ghosts and Shadows) is actually quite good, the second (Summoned to Tourney) not so much, and not even just because she totally pussies out on the queer and polyamorous content of Ghosts & Shadows. On the subject of kids' books, Artemis Fowl and the Spiderwick Chronicles are great fun, and of course The Perilous Gard, which won the Newberry the year before I was born, is a classic.

[myalexandria.livejournal.com]

huh, does Thomas the Rhymer count? Not that you shouldn't read it, because obviously it's terrific. But.

Also, you should add:

Guy Gavriel Kay, The Summer Tree

(followed by two direct sequels, which are very good, and one indirect sequel that just came out, Ysabel, which is actually even more urban fantasy than the others, since there's no other-fairyland the characters go to, but which fails fairly spectacularly, so it might be educational.)

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

I think Thomas the Rhymer counts, under my temporary exemption for historical settings. *g* I wanted to reread it for this purpose because I think it's one of the best things I've ever read for dealing with what relationships might be like between humans and faeries -- the different ways they think, the different emotional worlds they come from as well as physical. A lot of books pay lip-service to the "from two different worlds" sort of business, and then immediately go, la-la, but they'll work it out. I want it to be a legitimate concern in my book, not a cheap way to drum up false obstacles to the Inevitable Happy Ending, and Thomas the Rhymer is one of the things I keep going back to in my mind for illustrating that kind of dynamic.

And I love GGK, but I don't think of the Fionavar Tapestry as the same kind of thing. Yeah, there are elves and dwarves in Fionavar, but it's really more just HighFantasyLand than it is Faerie, I think -- and Regular People Go to HighFantasyLand is a whole separate subgenre.

I'm sorry to hear you thought Ysabel failed; I've been looking forward to having a chance at it. I admit I haven't liked his last several books as well as the earlier stuff -- Song for Arbonne and Lions of Al-Rassan and Fionavar Tapestry. And Tigana is arguably my favorite book of all time -- I don't know, I hate to commit to statements like that, but it tends to spring first to mind when people ask what my favorite book is.

[myalexandria.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was *really* disappointed by Ysabel. He goes for hip and colloquial, and misses. I mean, there are some good parts. But it's no Tigana, that's for sure.

[lomedet.livejournal.com]

hmmm...
it's a fascinating list to read, both for what I've read *and* for what I haven't. thank you for sharing it!

also - have you/are you planning to read DeLint's collections of Newford short stories or the novels set in Newford? He's created this incredibly intricate, interconnected world, and (mostly) does a good job of balancing the people-I-care-about and the nifty!fairy!stuff!

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

No problem!

I've never card for DeLint's Newford stuff. I know I'm supposed to -- everyone tells me how brilliant it is -- but I've read half a dozen of them, and I couldn't actually tell you what any of them are about. They just feel to me like all setup and no payoff. I probably should tackle them again, but I felt like I could honorably discharge my duty to Charles DeLint with the other three I picked.

[lomedet.livejournal.com]

If you've read half a dozen of the Newford stories, and the three novels from the list, I'd say you've *more* than honorably done your duty by Mr. DeLint.

I love most of his stuff, but I imprinted pretty early, so at this point for me reading the Newford stories and books is a lot more like catching up on the gossip about old friends than anything else. If wasn't so besotted, I could probably be brought to admit that it can all be just a little twee.

good luck with your research, and with the novel!

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you're interested in graphic novels in this genre, but Vertigo just put out a great one: "God Save the Queen." It's about a mortal girl getting caught up in a Civil War between Mab and Titania, but with lots of drug use. OK, that's a crap description. I just got back from comic con, I'm tired.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

That sounds pretty cool, actually. I may have to add that on -- thanks!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I'd love to know what you thought of any of those, even if it was just a line or two. I've only read about fifteen of them myself, which is odd, because I too am writing urban fantasy.

[hth-the-first.livejournal.com]

I'll kick the ones that are worth the effort your way!

Also, I am beyond thrilled to hear that yet another of fandom's best has an original project going. Can't wait to see what you have for us.