Why am I passionate about this?
I've lived in Brooklyn for over 30 years now. I've always had a weakness for fun, snarky urban fantasy where the city is always a supporting character—and sometimes a major one. One day I decided to write a short story in the style of Simon R. Green's Nightside books, only instead of London, it'd feature New York City. And thus, the Conradverse was born. I tend to combine action, humor, real Brooklyn and NYC locations and history, and copious pop culture references when writing in this setting, and I seek out other books that do a great job at handling some or all of these elements.
Alex's book list on funny and snarky fantasy set in New York City
Why did Alex love this book?
Mike Resnick is a master of writing humor, and Hex collects all of his Harry the Book stories, a Damon-Runyon style tales of a down-on-his-luck bookie and his oddball crew, operating out of a booth in a Manhattan bar. I love this noir-ish version of NYC with zombies, werewolves, and even dragons mixing with human New Yorkers who are even more colorful.
If you love this book, Resnick's Hunting the Unicorn (and sequels) take place in the same setting.
1 author picked The Hex Is In as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
From boxing matches to dragon races to elections, there's no wager Harry won't cover—so long as the odds are right.
Harry the Book operates out of a Manhattan bar booth, with his personal wizard and his zombie bodyguard close at hand. He'll dope out the odds on any sort of contest, even if that gets him into a heap of trouble.
Be it conniving gamblers, lovelorn wizards, or flea-bitten werewolves, when it comes to the misadventures of Harry and his crew one thing is certain: the hex is always in.
This book contains fifteen tales of Harry the Book—the complete…