Isn't It Necromantic? - A Dark Urban Fantasy

[C.I.Bond]

Hi,
There was a thread on Dark Urban Fantasy but when I tried to post to it I was told the start a new one because it was old. That made me sad.

I personally love Dark Urban and I tend to stay away from the cute stuff – Kim Harrison is my exception but it is more YA than “fluffy.”

I would recommend a new series written by Stacia Kane: Unholy Ghosts, Unholy Magic, and City of Ghosts.

(Not a spoiler – you get this in the first 5 pages of the first book)
The sex is minimal. The main character is a serious drug addict looking for her next fix and doesn’t have a whole lot of moral issues. The world is one in which the soul energy that a person leave when they die doesn’t go away – it turns into a rage-fueled psychopath that torments the living. The setting, something like 27 years after 1/3 of the world population was killed by the rise of the “hungry ghosts” – Haunted Week. Good dark fun. I really like these.

[SidneyW]

I've been enjoying Sandman Slim, first in a series, I believe. I got it as a freebie, but I'll probably get the next one. It's hard boiled urban fantasy noir.

[deadgloves]

I'm a fan of Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniel's series.

[brecklundin]

neat a genre I haven't heard about before...I looked at the info about Sandman Slim and it sounds like it would be a neat read. Closest I ever came to this sort of writting was more of an early cyberpunk/pulp crossover sort of thing by Alec Effinger called When Gravity Fails but it lacks the fantasy aspect so I added a few titles to my reading list. thanks!

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by C.I.Bond

Hi,
There was a thread on Dark Urban Fantasy but when I tried to post to it I was told the start a new one because it was old. That made me sad.

When it comes to threads on book types, like Dark Urban Fantasy, feel free to reactivate old threads if you have something new to add to it. The Old thread warning does allow for that possibility.

Old Thread Warning

This thread is quite old and may contain outdated information. We recommend that you begin a new discussion if you like to talk about a similar topic. Of course, you may also proceed and reply here.

Now if you are asking for help on version 2.0 of a software package and you reactivate a thread from version 0.5 then people might get irritated because that doesn't make any sense.

[altworld]

Would this depend on what you class as dark urban fantasy? Its a fairly large brush and can cover a host of urban stories.

[SidneyW]

Another series I like that's kind of in the same style is Simon R. Green's Nightside series about a netherworld deep inside London.

[Penforhire]

I wanted to like L.A. Banks' Vampire Huntress series. It had a lot going for it, a unique combination maybe. But the characters are a little too, um, ambivalent. Sometimes too passive, causing a dragging sensation. Also a bit too much romance for my taste. But definitely dark urban fantasy.

[altworld]

What defines a dark urban fantasy for you?

[Penforhire]

Reasonable question.

Urban means, to me, placed in the 1900's or later and in cosmopolitan settings that a traveller would recognize, at least in tone if not in specifics (fictional cities work). It seems most common to overlay the plot onto actual, real, regions.

I know that isn't the "correct" definition, which allows much earlier settings. To me those move the genre toward other labels like historical or Roman.

Dark means, to me, a tendency toward seriousness, despair, or drama with less comic relief and more examination of what we think of as sinful or unethical behavior. To use a punch line, "less Disney, more real life." It doesn't have to strictly be horror but it tends to be a struggle with something horrible, evil, immoral, or seamy. The good guys can still triumph without defining it as Disney but they should get some dirt on them.

In combination with fantasy, it doesn't have to involve demons or any other sort of mythical creature. It could be, for example, a psychic person, from serial killer to abused child.

[dworth]

I'd heartily recommend China Meiville's books. Many of them are set in a dark, steampunk fantasy world, centred around the vast sprawling metropolis of New Crobuzon. They're quite surreal but beautifully written.

Also, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's 'The Difference Engine'. A book which pretty much invented steam punk single handedly and is set in an alternative history of the mid nineteenth century where Charles Babbage's analytical engine was a great success and now Britain is run by mechanical computers.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by altworld

What defines a dark urban fantasy for you?

Perhaps something like The Boston Strangler, Jack the Ripper novels are pretty dark with an urban background. Those were what came to my mind when I read the phrase.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by dworth

I'd heartily recommend China Meiville's books. Many of them are set in a dark, steampunk fantasy world, centred around the vast sprawling metropolis of New Crobuzon. They're quite surreal but beautifully written.

Also, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's 'The Difference Engine'. A book which pretty much invented steam punk single handedly and is set in an alternative history of the mid nineteenth century where Charles Babbage's analytical engine was a great success and now Britain is run by mechanical computers.

China Meiville's books I would agree would be good examples of dark urban fantasy for sure, sometimes too dark for me though. Not sure about William Gibson as being necessarily dark but rather more adventure with a tech bent, so Cyberpunk...though I've only read two of his books that I can recall...Snow Crash and Diamond Age.

It's not an ebook and I am not certain it qualifies as urban or not, but George Alec Effinger's Budayeen series of stories and books are fun. The settings could be considered urban and stories are somewhat dark in theme but I feel they might more crossover stuff but written before there were such genre definitions. My favorite of the series is When Gravity Fails.

[C.I.Bond]

Urban Fantasy requires world creation. Just like traditional fantasy. It doesn’t take place on Middle Earth but rather in a modern city with a slight twist. It can be hidden like Neverwhere, where the ‘others’ just aren’t seen by normal people and live in the subway tunnels. You can have a parallel history like Dead Witch Walking, where 1/3 of the world’s population died off and all the vampires and werewolves came out of the closet. It can be our world but focus on the society of the vampires and were-creatures like the Anita Blake and Harry Dresdin novels. The same modern science and technology applies but there is definitely a different social order involved. The reason that it is Fantasy is because of the alternate reality, something that takes place within our world without that different world aspect would probably be considered “paranormal” or “horror” depending on the story.

[Penforhire]

Breck, I agree on the cyberpunk genre tending to be dark and gritty but note the titles you mention are Neal Stephenson not Gibson. Definitely try Gibson if you like cyberpunk, though not everyone likes even that old master. Stephenson has way more intentional humor and writer's ego in his books. He has the sort of phrases that editors normally cull but Neal somehow gets away with them (and mostly pulls it off).