Hey there. Want to help?

You see, I'll be writing a book, and I want to read novels that have a similar vibe. That vibe is portrayed by two songs, that are Destroyer of Worlds by Coyote Kid and Weight of the World by Shayfer James. My book is to include absurd ideas, some humour, action, a looming dark mystery, and mystical elements. So, things most similar to that would be greatest.

Thanks.

If a necromancer-for-hire was a witch-dark fairy hybrid was raised on a farm full of lampades (underworld nymphs), what languages would be beneficial for her? She currently lives in Chicago as a resurrection specialist (a necromancer-for-hire who can resurrect the dead) and a healer.

Hey, guys! I'm looking for books that showcase gods and divinity in the contemporary urban world. Books like The Magicians by Lev Grossman, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, or the entire corpus of Rick Riordan.

Hopefully, books written in the 21st century. The closer to the current year, the better. Mostly showing the se gods navigating the current society, and fighting with humans.

Thanks a ton!

I know I read this somewhere, in the end the beliefs of the worshippers in what their god/dess could do actually prevented the god/dess from acting in a way contrary to their beliefs.

I just can’t remember where I read it.

I spend a lot of time driving and burn through series pretty quick. If you have any recommendations based on my likes, please let me know.

Jim Butcher: Dresden Files - what’s not to love about a modern noir, Wizard Detective. My favorite series of all time in this genre. James Marsters is a brilliant narrator. Unorthodox Chronicles - enjoyed both books so far.

Kevin Hearne: Iron Druid and Ink and Sigil Series. Completed both. I enjoyed this series a lot. I like the imaginative way the author weaves mythology into his own universe. Loved all the characters and character development. Weakest parts of the series was some of the cheesy virtue signaling and cringey female dialogue. Luke Daniels is a very talented voice/narrator.

Alex Verus series - Benedict Jacka - currently paused on book 7. I really like the series, characters, universe and immersive story. I’m taking a break on this because Verus making one bad decision after another reminds me of addicts I’ve had to deal with in my life.

Eric Carter series - Stephen Blackmoore (dramatized adaptations) - this series has just gotten better. I mean, Eric Carter is an asshole, but his enemies are bigger assholes. I plan to go back a read each book. The full graphic audio is produced so well and the voice talent in the series has been wonderful to listen to.

Wizards’ Butler - Nathan Lowell, brilliantly narrated by Tom Taylorson. This book is so charmingly, routine and uneventful, you won’t be able to stop listening.

Time Marked Warlock - Shami Stoval - can’t wait to see where this series goes. Absolutely loved this first book.

Mark of the Fool - J.M. Clark. - 12 hours of learning how to cast two spells - interrupted by two short monster fights. Not Urban Fantasy but I probably won’t continue the series.

Halfway to the Grave - Jeaniene Frost - Graphic Adaptation. Voice Actors are good, plot is good, the romance and romantic dialogue lacks authenticity. Probably won’t finish.

I was thinking of giving Dungeon Crawler Carl a go, but I’m not sure where I sit on LITRPG. If it’s anything like Mark of the Fool, please warn me now.

Also, I’m not opposed to romance in a story. I just need authenticity and a believable foundation for it, bodice ripping for the sake of bodice ripping just isn’t my thing.

Thanks for any recommendations.

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Hello everyone,

I just recently published this guy on December 12th. This is my first book so hopefully, it piques some of your interests. The book is an urban fantasy mystery following our investigative duo Kai and Zed. The world is set in Myelv. After the old world went through a massive calamity, magical beast from legends and folklore have come out of the woodwork to play. The book is available on Amazon and the ebook is available on other platforms as well. Thanks to the subreddit for allowing this post. Also thanks to anyone who gives my story a chance.

Blurb:

The old world is dead! Vive et vivere sine. Creatures, magic, legends—this is the new world, the world of Myelv. The world has become a melting pot of magical creatures, humans, and who knows what else. Our detective duo Kai and Zed make it their job to take on any crooks or odd jobs the authorities can’t. Rogue Vampires in a feeding frenzy? Check. A coven of Witches terrorizing a town? No problem. Retrieving a book of spells that could unleash Armageddon? They got you covered.

Sadly, business is slow. With the holidays approaching, the crime rate has hit a surprising low, giving our detectives time off. When they receive a mysterious invite to a Christmas party, Kai and Zed are eager to jump at the chance and solve the mystery. But at this party, nothing is ever what it seems. Mysterious invite, strangers at every corner, threatening letters, family secrets— and a partridge in a pear tree. Don't you just love the holidays?

Oh, and welcome to Myelv.

#Spoiler if you haven’t read the latest Innkeeper book

Is there a book about Sophie and George? Did I miss it? I hear about the wedding in the last Innkeeper but not much else.

I’m wondering what people’s favorite competent normal characters are. By this I mean a character who has no fantastic powers, no access to incredible weaponry or relics, no deal with Eldritch beings, and still manages to hold their own in an urban fantasy setting?

The classic example (who might I point out, is by no means a badass in the text in which he first appears, Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, but is really just a guy who knows a lot about vampires) is Abraham Van Helsing. You could make a case, though, that aside from Mina Harker the whole anti-Dracula crew in that book fall into this category, and Dracula isn’t typical urban fantasy. It’s more a proto-urban fantasy.

Karrin Murphy from the Dresden Files comes to mind, going toe to toe with the supernatural with nothing but a gun and good instincts. Marcone, from the same series as well >!until the most recent book.!<

Giles from Buffy also, though he occasionally used magic. I want to include Xander in this same example, but I hesitate to call him “Competent”, at least until very late in the series.

Any other examples?

My non-kissy urban fantasy mystery Ghost Stations went live two days ago, and I'm celebrating by giving away Rites of Passage for free on Amazon (it actually was #1 in Urban Fantasy yesterday). Both are standalone mysteries influenced by Vertigo era comics, Buffy, The Venture Brothers, and a healthy heaping of Vampire: The Masquerade.

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Rites of Passage (FREE through Dec 13th):

Corbin James has never been so lost. Able to dowse since a kid, he’s adept at finding missing things. But after weeks on the run from the FBI, the teen’s luck has finally run dry.

Enter the enigmatic Mister with a tempting offer: find an enchanter who has disappeared inside the mysterious Harmon House. Recruited into a reluctant crew of motley magicians, Corbin only has days to navigate their shifting loyalties to earn his freedom by entering the Inner Circle.

Lucky for him he’s got his trusty dowsing rod, a defaced 50-cent piece, and enchanted iPod.

Ghost Stations (a dollar off through the 13th):

Every memory leaves a mark.

Corbin James hates NYC. What dowsing detective doesn’t? So, of course his first case, investigating a mysterious new drug targeting fellow magicians, drags him straight there. If that weren't bad enough, he's now facing an invisible assassin, warring wizard factions, and a shadowy magic library.

Desperate to prove himself, Corbin leans on Kirin and her crew of scenesters to guide him through the City, from the heights of Inner Circle society to the depths of the abandoned tunnels beneath their feet.

But Kirin's got secrets of her own, secrets she will do anything to keep buried.

Armed with an expired subway token, an arcane ID, and an oversized teddy bear, Corbin and Kirin are in a race against the clock to unearth every lead before they vanish like ghosts.

Set a few generations in the future when everyone has self-driving cars, the oceans have washed away Florida, and there's some sort of big dark war going on in eastern Europe that involved a nuke. I swear to God I wrote this before the shit hit the fan. Royal Road Link https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/100250/hunt-for-the-maji-the-blue-guitar) and Wattpad Link https://www.wattpad.com/story/386231645-hunt-for-the-maji-the-blue-guitar).

short blurb:

It's the eve of an election. America is broken and the world is on the brink. A small-town shrink encounters a mysterious boy with an incredible gift. A last-chance lawyer tries to hold on to love. A group of teens in a dystopian city search for the only one who can save them from their nightmares. And a beautiful but troubled sheriff's deputy finds herself pursued by the law and something much more horrifying. Together, their fates are intertwined as they become part of the hunt for the Maji.

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I had great fun making the cover. It's composite photographs from pexels.com arranged in Gimp then run through a filter with Van Gogh influence tweaked all to hell, then brought back into gimp and massaged for hours and hours. The title font is from dafont.com one of their free ones. Inspired by the old pinball and arcade games from the 80s/90s with those huge montage murals on the sides.

After getting some critiques for my V1 blurb (which I'll post below), the general consensus was "good, but needs fleshing out", but now I'm worried that I've gone too far in the other direction.

First, the new blurb:

-----

Parker's favourite villain has stepped into the real world, and it's her job to rehabilitate him.

Fiction was just fiction, until it wasn’t.

15 years ago, reality tore, heralded by the underdog of cheap kaiju: Meon, the Lord of Fire, a dragon not so easily defeated when there were no magic knights on motorbikes to save the day.

San Francisco burned, with tens of thousands dying in the flame and rubble.

Meon was the first, and for better and worse, far from the last.

With Fictionals arriving every week, if not every day, the Acclimation Team has been established to help integrate them into society - from helping orcs get driver's licences, to making sure superheroes follow airspace regulations.

Parker, working in the Team's less-than-prestigious Satellite Office 19, processes paperwork and requests for those who didn’t arrive on Earth with a dedicated wiki page - and who, therefore, get less of the Team’s time, money and resources.

A week ago, the utopian-future-starship Commitment left for Proxima Centauri, taking Parker’s girlfriend Wren along as part of the Earthborn crew on humanity’s first trip outside of the solar system. A bright spot of what joy and progress Fictionals can bring, especially after some recent tragedies - including a narrowly-avoided zombie apocalypse.

During Parker’s quarterly check-in with every 90s kid’s favourite troublemaking kid, Zack Chase, a circle of stars and night appears in the clear blue sky and brings with it her favourite magic-wielding, erudite villain: Pellion of The Courts Cosmic.

19 only has one Adjustment Officer, so it’s not an opportunity she passes up - even while arguing that he really should be transferred to somewhere with more resources, more befitting his status as a blockbuster villain.

Playing attendant to someone whose every fanfic she’s read is, at first, a dream come true, but less so when he fails to even try the “adjustment” and “acclimation” parts of the Team’s hope for all Fictionals.

Not all villains get to live happily ever after, but even unequipped and out of her depth, Parker is going to try to avoid the other common outcome for villains: the Team’s very-secret, not-so-secret prison in an undisclosed location that offers no second chances.

---

I feel like it's fulsome...if a little much?

I could possibly leave out the paragraph about the starship, but I did have some feedback that they assumed it was a villain romance, so this establishes Parker's relationship status (as well as immediately weeding out anyone who doesn't want queer content).

I'm also hoping to convey that it's kind of a slice-of-life tone? This is the kind of book where there's conversations like "oh, okay, I am going to write and laminate instructions on how to use the washer and dryer" and "I really don't want to know if metal made of magic arcs in the microwave".

Additionally, I'm hoping to use the few italicised paragraphs at the top as a kind of consistent top-half-of-blurb across the series, as it's largely going to be a series of standalone books.

(Animorphs fans, think of it like that little box on the back of every book with the same "we can't tell you who we are" spiel before the blurb starts).

Now, V1 for comparison:

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Parker's favourite villain has stepped into the real world, and it's her job to rehabilitate him.

15 years ago, Meon the Lord of Fire, a dragon from a beloved series of B-movies, stepped out of fiction and burned San Francisco to the ground.

Meon was the first, and for better and worse, far from the last.

Parker works in Satellite Office 19 for the Acclimation Team, processing paperwork for lower-tier Fictionals who didn't arrive on Earth with a dedicated wiki page.

A patch of stars at noon heralds the arrival of Pellion, her favourite scenery-chewing megalomaniac. As the closest Adjustment Officer, she's thrilled to accept the job of getting him used to the real world - even if that means a few dangerous spells thrown in her direction.

---

Any opinions would be appreciated (and I am also taking early interest in ARC readers - at the moment, it's planned those will be released in April 2025 for a July book release).

I used to see it on some live channel on Prime Video (I think it was Showcase) but I want to know where it's available to stream on demand in Canada these days.

I wonder if anyone on here gets free paperbacks, hardbacks, or book PR boxes to review. How do authors find you? On what platforms do you review?

I've noticed lately all my UF reads have been recommended by friends in person. I'd like to diversify and move away from that.

How and where do you discover new urban fantasy books?

Is it here on Reddit? Online lists? Word-of-mouth? Newsletters? Other authors recommendations? Tiktok?

Where is a useful place for me to check for good UF recs?

Come by and check out Under Her Stone 1 and Under Her Stone 2 on Royal Road by Me!

Under Her Stone 1: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/86315/under-her-stone

Trapped since birth, Emilia wishes for nothing more than to escape the clutches of her guardian. Her rising powers might give her the chance she needs. 

Trapped in a body of stone, Cary wishes for anything to relieve the boredom and repetition of her eternal life. An accidental summoning offers her escape from her life as statuary. 

The two must reach out to each other to find the freedom they both seek. 

Under Her Stone 2: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/89219/under-her-stone-2

Cary and Emilia fly to Armenia to escape those who might pursue them and for Emilia to learn how to control her nascent magic.

In a hidden school filled with ancient fae and hostile demons, will the girls manage to thrive or succumb to the pressure of their lives?

If you do check them out, I am very interested in follows, ratings, and especially reviews.

Hello! This is my first post on this subreddit :D

JR Lightfoot creates a fantastic world where God has given superpowers to monks, Fallen angels roam the earth and Demons in disguise rule kingdoms. A great twist of biblical and traditional monsters. Available on Amazon

The title really says it all. Modern setting, 'elves' and other sups have a hidden world from humans. It was a fun flick.

As the title says, I've just recently found out RR and I was wondering if there were any magical girl stories that would be considered good?