#Urban Fanstasy

[dargeereads]

The Monster King by Eve Langlais

5 stars

audiobook

That was wild! So many twists, every time one thing is revealed, things veer off into another unexpected direction. No wonder poor Ruby is so confused about what is what. It wasn’t complicated, it just had many layers to uncover, and most revealed things you didn’t see coming. Extremely happy with the way things wrapped up, and loved that little hint of what was going on with that loose end <3

[ludiliane]

There are a lot of things mixed up here : I had in mind the Urban Fanstasy theme with a Retro and a bit of Dark / Light Academia Aesthetics. So we can imagine them in a Magical Campus of the past century ? And I gave them matching outfits !

Oh, and, fun fact : When I first imagined Blen, he had a slender build like in this pic. And no horns (He grew up so fast, my Big, Bulky one !).

1. Let's Start ! From Liane and Blen ... 2. ... To Lamia and Baylen 3. Good Morning 4. Oh deer ... 5. Mushrooms 6. Lantern 7. Lost In The Mist 8. Dryad 9. Flowers 10. Cold Wind 11. Hot Drinks 12. Cuddling 13. Pokemon AU 14. Flying 15. Human AU 16. Cozy time 17. Rainy Day 18. Retro Urban Fantasy thingie

[mapswithoutwyoming]

Urban fanstasy character concept

Guy who has schizophrenia and can see & hear magical creatures invisible to most mortals. These facts are unrelated.

[himluv]

May was a weird month, yo. It started out with this mad dash to get the book done, and then screeched to a crawl as I relaxed and struggled to find my writing legs again in the aftermath.

May Goals

Finish Tavi rough draft

Continue short story submissions

Read a short story each week

Keep reading!

How’d I do?

Finish Tavi rough draft

YES!!!!!!! It took a concerted effort to get it done on schedule, but I did!

Continue short story submissions

Yep. I received a few rejections this month, but everything is back out and waiting for evaluation.

Read a short story each week

Not quite. I read four short stories, but there was an extra week in May and I didn’t squeeze one in during that week.

Keep reading!

Yes! Since I finished Tavi I’ve read/listened to 10 titles! Keep an eye out for the forthcoming Reading Round Up to learn more.

Monthly Word Count: 20,205

The last leg of writing Tavi was… exhausting. I was a woman possessed, the final chapters gripping me by the collar and dragging me along with them. Words came faster than I could rightly keep up, until the very last few scenes, where they slowed and demanded I pay strict attention to what came before so I could shore up any loose ends. I haven’t gone back to read it yet, but I felt really good about everything came together at the end. If you want to read more about the whole “writing a book” thing, I have a post for that.

Short story submissions continue to continue. This month was a little bit tough because I had a story out for 120 days and received a form rejection on it. I raged a bit at that and I’m still salty whenever I think about it. I’m not convinced I’ll submit to that market again, especially since I bought an issue of their magazine and wasn’t super impressed with what they were publishing. But, I also know that if I have a story that fits their call for submission, I won’t self-reject or hold that story back just because I’m a bit miffed at the magazine. That’s just childish.

I’m (still) waiting to hear back about my story that was held for further consideration. There was a bit of movement at that market recently, with a slew of rejections and a couple of acceptances, but mine is still waiting. I’m trying not to get my hopes up which I’m obviously failing at since I’m talking about it here. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I’m slowly finishing up Transcendent, with only three short stories left to read. I should have read one more this month, but I just didn’t get it in. Probably because my hike utterly destroyed me this weekend.

Lava Tube Cave, 20 minutes south of Bend, Oregon

Speaking of, I did a lot of hiking this month! A trip out to Central Oregon, an extremely muddy (and fun) hike at Cape Falcon, and then a long, sunny hike to the picturesque Marion Lake made May a wonderful, surprisingly outdoorsy month. I hiked a total of 15.7 miles this month! Ok, Marion Lake was technically June, but whatever. It was gorgeous and I have lots of pictures to share.

I’m also beginning to see the effects of these weekly hikes. Calf muscles are making themselves known, my thighs are getting slimmer, and my cardio is already greatly improved. There’s also the sunburns turning to tans and a remarkable mental clarity and reduced migraine intensity I hadn’t anticipated. Aside from the sunburns, all good things.

June Goals

Finish In Great Need of Ghosts

Continue short story submissions

Read one short story a week

Keep reading!

Right now, I’m not so sure the new short story will be done by the end of the month. It’s been very slow going, and I don’t know if it’s because my brain hasn’t quite recovered from finishing Tavi or if this story’s challenging prose is slowing me down. It’s one of the most craft-forward stories I’ve ever tried to tell, and I’m loving every minute of it. It’s just

Marion Lake, Willamette National Forest

very very slow so far.

As usual, submissions will continue and continue and continue until something sticks.

I still love reading short stories and have no desire to cut them from my reading. I’ve got a handful of collections checked out from the library right now, so I should be able to get this one done no problem.

I also have a huge TBR stack from the library on my entryway table so there should be plenty of reading and reviews this month. When I’m not reading or writing, I’ll be outdoors. I’m pretty much living for my Saturday hikes, so expect more pictures in the weeks to come.

Sorry this post was a little late, but the good news for you is that you get double the posts from me today! I’ll be back real soon with my weekly goals summary!

  BZ

  The Recap – May 2019 May was a weird month, yo. It started out with this mad dash to get the book done, and then screeched to a crawl as I relaxed and struggled to find my writing legs again in the aftermath.

[listeningstories]

Check out this post… "The Last Magician - Lisa Maxwell".

[jynxeddraca]

Shout out to that one time I had a coworker send me a PDF of a book with the intent of us mocking it together.  I had no idea that was her intent and I was overjoyed at the book.  After I binge read the hell out of it I thanked her for sending it to me because it was a favorite of mine during high school and she just surprised pikachu face’d at me.

[charlythelee]

Thank you for the tag~ Please tell me more about/show me more of How not to be an immortal 101 with Oikawa Tooru! It sounds super fun! ^o^

ahshs okay, so I need to see that I don't start rambling about that one XD It's an IwaOi spin-off to my TsukkiYama Urban Fanstasy University AU. Also mini TW for gore and death to be safe.

Essentially Oikawa was born during the Copper Age, though his tribe is betrayed and he gets murdered on his wedding night by his own fiancé. But because Oikawa is Oikawa he refuses to accept his death and resurrects himself out of sheer pettiness, ending up as an undead spirit of vengeance who feeds on the hearts of the living. Queue to Oikawa just... stumbling through history and finding himself in all kinds of places until he meets a half-dragon hatchling (Iwa) and due to a lack of alternatives decides to start life over (again).

Result: Oikawa Tooru, accidentally immortal, Mayan deity, bane of the Roman Empire, inventor of the great pyramids and parttime Oracle of Delphi, follows his boyfriend to university to study architecture and discovers that his entire life experience of ~8k years is practically useless. Because none of it could have prepared him for dealing with a creative slump on his design assignment, Ushijima following him around campus and pestering him to join Shiratorizawa fraternity and Hanamaki continuously stealing his glasses because he's too lazy to go buy his own pair.

So long things short ~ lots of uni shenanigans and Seijoh 4 being dorks, with a good pinch of yee old angst and relationship drama + some urban fantasy magic and mystery spice 👀

[sshannonauthor]

Hi again, it's the anon that asked for book recommendations! I'm looking fantasy/high fanstasy/sci-fi sort of stuff, but I'm open to everything!

Sci-fi

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Echo Boy by Matt Haig

False Hearts by Laura Lam

Hold Back the Stars by Katie Khan

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 

Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill 

Way Down Dark by J. P. Smythe

Urban & historical fantasy 

The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín

The Circle by Sara B. Elfgren and Mats Strandberg

The City’s Son by Tom Pollock

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

The Graces by Laure Eve

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson

High fantasy

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

A Shiver of Snow and Sky by Lisa Lueddecke

A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson

Barefoot on the Wind by Zoë Marriott

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

The Potion Diaries by Amy Alward

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Riverkeep by Martin Stewart

Sabriel by Garth Nix

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

The Seafarer’s Kiss by Julia Ember

The Sin Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury

Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi 

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon

This Savage Song by V. E. Schwab

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski 

[aledethanlast]

7 writing tips to keep in mind for science fiction and fantasy

1. We can get to the plot right after I run some errands

“We must defeat Voldemort, save the wizarding world, and finish our homework.” -The plot of every single Harry Potter book

In general, the main plot of the story will not be the sole focus of your characters’ attention. They have relationships to maintain, personal goals to achieve, and sometimes just plain rest. Most of the tension in the story will likely evolve from moments where the characters must address both plot problems and personal probblems at the same time. This is doubly important if the characters are trying to keep the facade of normalcy.

There needs to be a certain level of balance. Too much plot, and we don’t get a good sense of character. Too much routine and the plot feels forced.

When designing a character, be mindful of what their lives looked like before the story, how that life would be disrupted by the story, and what would the character do with their life after the story (assuming they live).

2. Murphy’s law of obstacles: If it’s not your enemies on purpose, then it’s your friends by accident.

Character: Frodo Baggins. Objective: Get the ring to mordor. Superficial obstacles: Sauron’s dark army, giant spiders, various douchebags he meets along the way. Actual obstacles: The ring is corrupting Frodo’s mind, gollum is trying to screw them all over at every turn, Gandalf is a cryptic piece of shit, Aragorn needs to help them raise an army to distract Sauron, which is hard enough becuase the guy isn’t even sure if he wants to be king, Saruman is acting like your cousin who took a political science course last semester and now thinks he’s fucking Machiavelli, etcetera, etcetera.

Adventures are complicated because there’s always multiple things going on at once. This quest would be simple, except this supporting character has a completely different goal and has no issue with screwing everybody over. This friendship would be awesome, except their mutual crush just died violently and each of them blames the other. This character could leave the town, if only the war he thought of as far away hadn’t come right to his doorstep.

This is how good plot twists happen. Storylines that have up until now run separate meet in the worst/best way possible. This is often combined with the infamous what could possibly go wrong.

3. Inflation of the competence economy.

“Because he’s Batman” -Fake nerds everywhere

You have your characters. They’re badasses, the best in the business, absolutely unstoppable, every single one of them. They’ve so far beaten everyone who’s tried to stand in their way. Yet somehow they’re also the underdog.

Your problem is simple: you have no frame of reference of what is within or outside of your heroes’ capabilities, and since their gains are more frequent than their losses, the reader will just assume that the protagonist is going to pull the victory out of their ass like they always seemingly do.

Coming back to the Batman example: Batman follows this rule very closely, closer than many other comic heroes, but he appears to be invincible because he’s tirelessly worked to build that reputation. Batman get the shit beaten out of him all the time, but he’s known in pop culture to be unstoppable because he does his job so well that it often seems effortless.

The solution, naturally, is to give your characters limitations. Scenes where they’re expected to preform some amazing feat but instead take one look and say “Not happening.” Scenes where they underpreform at what they’re supposedly good at. You can stretch the boundaries of what is possible, but don’t break them.

4.  Limitations > Powers

“We’ll use the force!” “That’s not how the force works!” -The Force Awakens

The title of this one is actually Brandon Sanderson’s second law of magic, and he explains it much better than I can, but I’m summarizing anyway.

This is where a lot of writers trap themselves by creating a scenario that’s meant to be dramatic or a major obstacle, but the tools at the character’s disposal make the obstacle trivial, and so there’s no tension. Some try to solve this by pretending that the tool doesn’t exist, but that only serves to make your character look like an idiot.

The formula above can be applied in multiple ways. Lets say character A is in scenario Z, and has the use of ability X. Character A may not want to use ability X becuase:

Using ability X would be a temporary measure, and scenario Z could become something even worse.

Using ability X would go against character A’s code of ethics.

Ability X has limited uses, and scenario Z is just not imporant enough to bother.

Ability X is volatile and unpredictable, and the risk of doing more harm than good is too high to be ignored.

Ability X is useless in scenario Z and using it would at best do nothing and at worst expend precious resources.

These kind of situations force your characters to come up with more creative (and more interesting) solutions to their problem.

5. The internal consistency test

Hogwarts has moving staircases, living pieces of art, and a telepathic hat that makes judgemental comments about little kids? Fine.

The Ministry has access to time machines and has no problem giving one to a 13 year old girl, but don’t use it to punch out Voldemort? The fuck.

Readers won’t care if your explanation boils down to a handwave and “It’s magic” or some sciency jargon, but they will absolutely care if you contradict yourself, or if your rules leave giant holes in them.

A good way to check yourself with this is to ask “would a knowledgeable and competent character find this decision/explanation/occurance to be reasonable or absolute bullshit.”

That said, if you leave out the context that would explain this seeming plot hole because you want it to be a big reveal later, then you need to lampshade the plot hole. You have to promise your reader that yes, I am aware this doesn’t make sense, but bear with me here.

6. Genre is a suggestion.

Lasers + spaceships + aliens + exotic planets = classic Sci Fi

Magic powers + wise old mentor + princess rescue + ancient order of mythical knights = classic fantasy

Lasers + spaceships + aliens + exotic planets + Magic powers + wise old mentor + princess rescue + ancient order of mythical knights = Star Wars

This one is the core principle of AU fanfiction and retellings. Taking a bunch of different elements from unrelated sources and letting them interact to create something new.

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer is sci-fi fairy tales. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is a fantasy heist novel. This Savage Song by VE Schwab is an urban fantasy/crime noir story. The possibilities are endless.

But in terms of actively writing, remember this one when you feel pressured to add or remove a certain element from the story because of the genre. Not every space story needs laser guns. Not every high fanstasy needs a monarchy. Elements can be played with as you wish.

7. Originality = fun > logic

"Why?” “Becuase that would be fucking awesome.”

This is primarily a world building tip, but it can easily work for plot too. As a writer, you’re looking for something that is unique and entertaining. Creating something unique is pretty challenging, but something entertaining? So much easier.

Forest scene feels bland? The trees can now scream in pain. Which they do. Constantly. Let’s see your characters have a boring old conversation when their chairs are begging for death.

Another example: Stabby the space roomba. It’s literally just a vacuum cleaner with a knife duct taped onto it that goes around stabbing people. Why is so popular? Becuase it’s ridiculous.

Logic is still important, naturally. These awesome things need to make sense. But that’s dependant on context. That screaming forest? Just establish beforehand that it’s a thing that exists. Stabby the roomba? I mean people are posting pictures of their actual real-life roombas to which they taped knives, so yeah, context allows for Stabby. 

From a plot standpoint, the trick lies in creating context for a moment of pure awesome which would make zero sense otherwise. Example: this page of Ms Marvel. How in hell does any character land themselves in a situation like that? Well if you read the comic you’d know.

It’s good to keep in mind that while this is a good way to generate ideas, the “awesome” things that you start out with won’t necessarily stick around as the world and story evolves. You may realize that your “awesome” doesn’t gel in with the rest of the story, or it can be improved upon, or that you only needed it as inspiration for a different awesome moent that you do use. But don’t ride or die for all of these ideas, it will only hold you back.

[lilbreck]

Do you have any fanstasy book recs? I mean my TBR pile is huge already, but why not add more, right? Also, I've been meaning to start Lost Girl because I saw you talk about it, is it good?

I absolutely loved Lost Girl (except the last season).

I’m not really into strictly fantasy books, tbh. The only series I read that could be considered that would be The Dark Tower series by Stephen King and A Song of Ice and Fire by GRR Martin.

Mostly, I’m into horror and urban fantasy, sometimes Sci-Fi. A nice horror/fantasy/sci-fi series would be the Necroscope series by Brian Lumley. The vampires in that are truely horrific, none of this sex on a stick shit (that I still eat up). I used to enjoy The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, but it got a bit repetitive and the female characters became less multi-dementional and less like real people, IMO. Basically, if you’re going to read that, I can only recommend the first... 12 books.

[manlethotline]

the only thing worse than having a jackass ex who won't leave you alone is a jackass ex trying to become a 'vampire slayer' just cus you got kidnapped one time @dropthedrawing urban fanstasy prompts day 13- the slayer

[xavierman54-blog]

Demon-Hearted - Urban Fanstasy Penuh Potensi tapi kering kerontang

Demon-Hearted – Urban Fanstasy Penuh Potensi tapi kering kerontang

Lucian, lulusan sarjana seni yang menjadi pencuri benda seni bersejarah. Pekerjaan terakhirnya membawa dia untuk mencuri benda unik di suatu rumah yang ternyata adalah sedang dihuni kelompok penyihir. Ketahuan, dia dihajar sampai hampir mati.  Lucia diselamatkan oleh kelompok misterius. Kelompok misterius tersebut mengganti jantung Lucian dengan jantung Iblis (mantan malaikat). Dia pun menjadi…

[fullybookedreviews]

Fabulous urban fantasy. Ilona Andrews can do no wrong. Seriously - this is the third UF series I'm reading from them, and the authors have still managed to create yet another magical world that still feels fresh and new. Full of fabulous banter and snark, plotty intrigue, and well drawn characters who are all a little mad, bad, and dangerous to know - I have come to expect nothing less from this fabulous duo. [I HAVE USED THE WORD FABULOUS FOUR TIMES ALREADY. THIS SHOULD GIVE YOU AN INDICATION OF MY GLEE AND JOY.] One thing that stands out for me is how many of Ilona Andrews' characters are really family focused - whether their biological family or one they've formed with people who care about them - they will go to the ends of the earth to protect the ones they love. I also love the depiction of strong women - while Kate Daniels is an ass-kicking force of nature, our protagonist, Nevada Baylor, is perfectly capable of defending herself, but killing is something that does not come easy to her.  "There is a big hole inside me, like something has been violently ripped out. I was brushing my teeth today, and I thought of those two men and the women. They will never brush their teeth. They'll never go to breakfast They'll never say hello to their mother. They won't get to do any of those simple things. I caused that. I squeezed the trigger. I realise that they were trying to do the same to me, but I feel guilty and I mourn for them and for me."  Our duo of Nevada and Mad Rogan is delightful to watch. Kind of like a slow-motion car crash at times, but entertaining nevertheless. And oh, the unresolved sexual tension. Le sighhhhhhhhhh. *fans self* "The chatter on the House groupie forums says he was horrible disfigured in the war." "Yes, and he's just waiting for the right woman to come and love him as he is."  & "You killed Peaches." I stepped over the gap in the bridge. "Of course I killed him." I opened my mouth and closed it. "Okay," Mad Rogan said. "This is distracting you, and I need you to function, so let's fix this. Which part of what happened is upsetting?"  & "Thank you for not killing the squirrel." "You're welcome, although now I want to go back and strangle it."  & "For example, if you're terrified of snakes, repeated handling of them will cure it." Aha. "I'm not handling your snake." He grinned. "Baby, you couldn't handle my snake."  & "I see you liked the flowers." I got a sudden urge to set the carnations on fire. "They are gorgeous. It's not their fault you bought them."  Are you chuckling yet? Nevada is a tough, smart cookie, and no matter what her heart and/or ladyparts want, she's not about to get herself into yet another potentially emotionally damaging situation. Mad Rogan was off limits. He was from a different world, he had different standards, and he promised to make me an orphan if my mother threatened him again.  All in all, a super start to a new UF series with a great supporting cast, a duo you can't help but root for, and plenty of action and mystery.

[listeningstories]

House of earth and blood- Sarah J Maas

Book 1 Crescent City

Narrated by Elizabeth Evans

Length 27 hours 50 min  

A new series by Sarah j Maas read by Elizabeth Evans This is an amazing book of urban fantasy. Think fae with cell phones. Sarah blends the fantasy world so well into the modern landscape, social media, cell phones and magic. A society of fae, angels, shifters, humans and more, its magic vs science that sometimes needs to work together. The story it's self was unpredictable and engaging, I couldn't stop listening and have listened to it quite a few times (4) Elizabeth Evans is a wonderful narrator for this series, her delivery is excellent, bring each character to life. The next book in the series House of sky and breath is due out January 25 2022. When I'm asked for a recommendation (hi my name is Kat and I'm addicted to books) it's my first go to.