Here are words I like for their feel, especially when they describe fantasy: surprise; twist; subvert. I am generally a mild-mannered writer, but I do love the passing strange. By that I mean, twisty, not shocking. Surprising and intriguing, but grounded in a relatable story. A story with something wondrous and unexpected but also deeply human. I’ve written eighteen fantasy and science fiction novels, and each time, though I am creating a strange—hopefully wondrous, place—central in the story are people who desire, fear, love, and strive.
This story subverted many of my usual expectations, like the dark view of a few historical characters and the idea of a demon lover.
I like when a story is grounded in reality and then challenges me to see things differently in a persuasive way. Her skillful mash ups of the fantastic, gothic, historical, horror, and social commentary kept surprising me.
True, this is a harsh story, but I feel reading something like that clears the palate. My favorite bit: the demon’s bog kingdom, twisted in the Oates way.
This eerie tale of psychological horror sees the real inhabitants of turn-of-the-century Princeton fall under the influence of a supernatural power. New Jersey, 1905: soon-to-be commander-in-chief Woodrow Wilson is president of Princeton University. On a nearby farm, Socialist author Upton Sinclair, enjoying the success of his novel 'The Jungle', has taken up residence with his family. This is a quiet, bookish community - elite, intellectual and indisputably privileged. But when a savage lynching in a nearby town is hushed up, a horrifying chain of events is initiated - until it becomes apparent that the families of Princeton have been beset…
I love stories set in modern times, with the fae living—secretly—in the local woods. It reminds me of the uncanny in real life, and the possibility of adventure.
The pleasure of this rendition of the fae-next-door is that the human realm is brought fully to life and slowly entwines with the fantastical. Also: It gradually dawned on me that the human thread of the story is a fairy tale in its own right. That really twisted my expectations.
Imogen and her sister Marin escape their cruel mother to attend a prestigious artists' retreat, but soon learn that living in a fairy tale requires sacrifices, whether it be art or love in this critically acclaimed debut novel from "a remarkable young writer" (Neil Gaiman, American Gods).
Imogen has grown up reading fairy tales about mothers who die and make way for cruel stepmothers. As a child, she used to lie in bed wishing that her life would become one of these tragic fairy tales because she couldn't imagine how a stepmother could be worse than her mother now. As…
Romance, exotic settings, mystery. A summer read? Yes, but with great “extras.” Some surprises: The lovers are mature, even wise.
So much for the swept-away falling for the demon bad boy! Then, altering the usual clash-of-supernatural-beings fantasy trope, they possess complex histories singly and among themselves. I especially noted, and took away a keen perception, that if a story has an extremely powerful man (vampire), then for the romance to work, the woman must be equally strong.
A great challenge for authors like me who usually include a romantic interest.
In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont.
Set in 19th century England where vampires are a faction, not an underground coterie.
The alternate history sub-genre is a playground for subversion. I enjoy these stories if they’re strange enough. (Go big, because going small just makes the story seem Wrong.) Here, I loved the utter normality of vampires, the earliest book that latched on to this idea, I believe.
Also the (sometimes outrageous) twists to the Bram Stoker story, Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper, Queen Victoria, and many more literary and historical threads. To help smooth the path, there are, delightfully, characters to believe in and care about.
It is 1888 and Queen Victoria has remarried, taking as her new consort Vlad Tepes, the Wallachian Prince infamously known as Count Dracula. Peppered with familiar characters from Victorian history and fiction, the novel follows vampire Genevieve Dieudonne and Charles Beauregard of the Diogenes Club as they strive to solve the mystery of the Ripper murders.
Anno Dracula is a rich and panoramic tale, combining horror, politics, mystery and romance to create a unique and compelling alternate history. Acclaimed novelist Kim Newman explores the darkest depths of a reinvented Victorian London.
It is always a delight to come upon stories based in non-Western folklore like this tale with elements of Russian and Slavic fairy tales.
I easily I fell under the spell of myths that were mostly unfamiliar to me: spirits of the household and of the endless forest, spirits that guard or betray. I was surprised at how much I cared about the nature-spirits growing weaker and growing despised. And we view this world through the eyes Vasya, a young woman yearning to live by her own agency.
The milieu was surprising and, while not subverting, totally captivating. All in all, my favorite kind of story: a unique setting braided with universal human longing.
_____________________________ Beware the evil in the woods...
In a village at the edge of the wilderness of northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, an elderly servant tells stories of sorcery, folklore and the Winter King to the children of the family, tales of old magic frowned upon by the church.
But for the young, wild Vasya these are far more than just stories. She alone can see the house spirits that guard her home, and sense the growing forces of dark magic in the woods. . .
There are hidden worlds—real worlds—that arose from myth. These kingdoms, such as the realms of witches and elven, exist side-by-side with the modern world. Outsiders are forbidden to enter. Except for one person—a 21-century woman named Yevliesza—who is commanded to come.
Yevliesza obeys the summons, crossing over into a medieval world that witches fled to when driven from the earth by fear and prejudice. Here she will be tested by suspicion, cultural clashes, and an ill-advised love affair with a noble of the realm who is sworn to the queen of the witches. Books 1 & 2 now on sale; Book 3 on pre-order.
My book is fantastical historical fiction about two characters who're wrestling with the monstrosity of their grief.
It takes you into London high society, where Ambrose tries to forget about how much he misses Bennett and how much he dreads becoming as cold as their Grandfather. It takes you to the family's country manor house, where Mattie isolates and old ghosts start to come out of the woodwork.
It's a story about loss and depression; it's a story about friends who don't let you walk through the valley of death alone.
Ambrose Bancroft returns to London society with his younger sister, hoping they'll leave ghosts of memory behind. They have only each other left. While Ambrose attempts to draw Mattie out, dragging her to balls and threatening to seek suitors for her, his sister recoils from his meddling. Finally, when Ambrose compels her to attend art class before she's ready, Mattie paints something horrific enough to banish them from society in public disgrace.
At Linwood Manor, Mattie and Ambrose aren't as alone as they think. Taking advantage of Mattie's desperate need to find freedom, a vanishing room lures Ambrose's sister into…
