Urban Fantasy discussion

Time to start nominating titles for April...

The rules for submitting a book title:
1) One submission per UF member
2) Please submit the title and author
3) UF titles are preferred, but supernatural, sci-fi, and fantasy are okay too.
4) It must be the first book in a series or a stand-alone title
NOTE = If the title is in a series, but can be read without previous knowledge of the earlier books, feel free to submit it.
5) If we have already read and discussed the first book in the series as a group, the second title can be submitted.

Let's go to a total of 10 nominations or an end date of Thursday, March 19th - whichever comes first.

For voting, we're going to use the Polls option again instead of submitting votes in the topic.

Please start nominating titles... and newcomers, please don't be shy - we would love to hear from you!

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1. Ill Wind by Rachel Caine
2. Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland
3. Unclean Spirits Book One of the Black Sun's Daughter by M.L.N. Hanover
4. The Nymphos of Rocky Flats A Novel by Mario Acevado
5. Stolen by Kelley Armstrong
6. Dracula by Bram Stoker
7. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
8. Those Who Hunt the Night by by Barbara Hambly
9. Night Watch A Novel by Sergei Lukyanenko
10. Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy

I would like to recommend Ill Wind by Rachel Caine. It's the first book in her Weather Warden series.

The main characters are a Weather Warden (kinda like a witch that can control the weather) and a Djinn (genie). Completely different from anything I've read before.

I have not read this yet (it is on my TBR) and I would like to recommend it is Unclean Spirits: Book One of the Black Sun's Daughter by M.L.N. Hanover

I've noticed that I've been collecting books by several male authors that I have yet to read, so I'd like to offer up for consideration:

The Nymphos of Rocky Flats by Mario Acevado

I mean, come on - what a brilliant title! ;)

Dark Heart that is a great title! And I think it is on my TBR list. Anyway as a heads up it is a harpers collins book so you can read the first few chapters online.

http://browseinside.harpercollins.com...

"Stolen" Kelley Armstrong (since I see that the group has read "Bitten".

Hey Tabatha - Each member can only suggest one book for the group reads. You'll probably want to pick out which on you REALLY want to read so you're sure it ends on the list.

Sorry! New to the group and clearly didn't read the dirrections that good! I deleated 2 of them.

I'm gonna nominate Dracula by Bram Stoker - a classic that I never got around to...

American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

Those Who Hunt the Night by by Barbara Hambly

Theresa wrote: "Those Who Hunt the Night by by Barbara Hambly "

A really nice book. Though quite different from most current urban fantasy novels. Ysidro is still one of my favourite vampires. But isn't the book out of print?

I bought it on Amazon for $0.01....?

I am going to take a chance and suggest Night Watch A Novel. I plan on reading this series in April. Supposedly, it straddles different genres but enough people consider it to be urban fantasy that I think it would work.

I'd like to nominate Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy.

From Amazon.com: Joanne Walker has three days to learn to use her shamanic powers and save the world from the unleashed Wild Hunt.

No worries. No pressure. Nevermind the lack of sleep, the perplexing new talent for healing from fatal wounds, or the cryptic, talking coyote who appears in her dreams.

And if all that's not bad enough, in the three years Joanne's been a cop, she's never seen a dead body -- but she's just come across her second in three days.

It's been a bitch of a week. And it isn't over yet.

Urban Shaman didn't agree with me, I really hated that book... Sorry, but I felt like I should warn you.

Summary of each of the titles submitted for the April Group Read... 1-5 (Summaries from Amazon.com):

1. Ill Wind by Rachel Caine
Joanne Baldwin is a weather warden, who can control the weather and keep it from being more chaotic and destructive than it already is. She is on the run, though, for she is accused of killing a senior warden, which she did, sort of: a thread of corruption runs through some of the most powerful wardens, one of which put a Demon Mark on her and then died.

2. Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland
Psychic ex-cop Elizabeth Phoenix reluctantly takes the case after her foster mother, Ruthie, is murdered by monsters. Soon she's pointing out demons to her ex-boyfriend Jimmy, a half-vampire battling an army of Nephilim who plan to enslave and destroy humanity. They fight their way from Wisconsin to the southwest, where Jimmy leaves Elizabeth with Sawyer, a powerful Navajo shape-changer who awakens her libido as well as her psychic powers.

3. Unclean Spirits Book One of the Black Sun's Daughter by M.L.N. Hanover
When her uncle Eric is murdered, Jayné travels to Denver to settle his estate, only to learn that it's all hers -- and vaster than she ever imagined. And along with properties across the world and an inexhaustible fortune, Eric left her a legacy of a different kind: his unfinished business with a cabal of wizards known as the Invisible College.

4. The Nymphos of Rocky Flats A Novel by Mario Acevado
PI Felix Gomez, an ex-soldier who became a vampire while serving in Iraq, uses his supernatural powers to solve mysteries that befuddle mere mortals. When a friend in the Department of Energy asks him to look into an outbreak of nymphomania among female guards at a plutonium processing plant in Colorado, things get really weird...

5. Stolen by Kelley Armstrong
While investigating a suspicious notice advertising information for sale about werewolves, Elena meets witches Paige and Ruth Winterbourne-and, to her misfortune, a team of mortal and supernatural commandos who abduct Elena and Ruth to a remote underground bunker in the wilds of Maine. There Ty Winsloe, "billionaire and computer geek extraordinaire," is collecting a menagerie representing all the supernatural species that coexist anonymously with humanity (vampires, werewolves, witches, etc.).

Summary of each of the titles submitted for the April Group Read... 6-10 (summaries are from Amazon.com):

6. Dracula by Bram Stoker
A true masterwork of storytelling, Dracula has transcended generation, language, and culture to become one of the most popular novels ever written. It is a quintessential tale of suspense and horror, boasting one of the most terrifying characters ever born in literature: Count Dracula, a tragic, night-dwelling specter who feeds upon the blood of the living, and whose diabolical passions prey upon the innocent, the helpless, and the beautiful.

7. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears. In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and they whirl through a psycho-spiritual storm that becomes all too real in its manifestations.

8. Those Who Hunt the Night by by Barbara Hambly
Oxford professor James Ahser, once an agent for the British government, is forced to help the vampires of Edwardian London, who are being destroyed one by one through exposure to sunlight as they lie sleeping in their coffins. If she does not oblige, his young wife, Lydia, will perish as have many other vampire victims over the years. Asher comes to suspect that the killer is a vampire, an unusual one who can live in the light of day, and Lydia develops a reasonable physiology that would account for the ability.

9. Night Watch A Novel by Sergei Lukyanenko
Philosophical Anton Gorodetsky, an earnest Night Watch agent, falls in love with 24-year-old Svetlana Nazarova, a troubled young doctor under a Dark Magician's curse. While Anton endeavors to undo the curse, he discovers Egor, a gifted boy unwilling to choose between his Light or Dark abilities. As humankind's fate hangs in the balance, Anton is forced to re-examine his allegiance...

10. Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy
Joanne Walker has three days to learn to use her shamanic powers and save the world from the unleashed Wild Hunt. No worries. No pressure. Nevermind the lack of sleep, the perplexing new talent for healing from fatal wounds, or the cryptic, talking coyote who appears in her dreams. And if all that's not bad enough, in the three years Joanne's been a cop, she's never seen a dead body -- but she's just come across her second in three days.

Wow, thanks Theresa, that's really convenient.

=D

Do we know what we are reading yet?

1. Bitten-Kelley Armstrong.
I have to back that particular suggestion.

2. Kitty and the Midnight Hour-Carrie Vaugn

Hi, I have been reading this board for a while, but have never posted.

I wanted to recommend a book I really love.

MAGIC TO THE BONE by Devon Monk

It is the first novel she has published and it came out in november. Her second in the series is going to be release May this year.

Here is the discription from amazon, I hope it is not too long.
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Product Description
Devon monk is casting a spell on the fantasy world...

Using magic means it uses you back, and every spell exacts a price from its user. But some people get out of it by Offloading the cost of magic onto an innocent. Then it’s Allison Beckstrom’s job to identify the spell-caster. Allie would rather live a hand-to-mouth existence than accept the family fortune—and the strings that come with it. But when she finds a boy dying from a magical Offload that has her father’s signature all over it, Allie is thrown back into his world of black magic. And the forces she calls on in her quest for the truth will make her capable of things that some will do anything to control...
***
She also got a starred review from publishers weekly.

Anyway, that would be my suggestion.

Dejsha

Elena wrote: "Do we know what we are reading yet? "

I couldn't say for sure, but looking at the poll Ill Wind beat out Urban Shaman 14 to 12, so I'm guessing it's Rachel Caine. I've heard great things about her Weather Warden series, so if it's anywhere near as good as her Morganville series - I'm in.

I've read Ill Wind. I thought it was merely O.K., which is much better than hating it.

The poll says the "The Voting Ended" so new votes can't be placed & existing votes can't be changed. I'd bet you're good to assume Ill Wind won. It was a close one though.

I had posted the question if we knew what we are reading as I am ready to place a book order. I am new to the group so I don't know how it is announced.

Jennifer, I believe the poll ended today so here you go...

The winner for April's Group Read is Ill Wind by Rachel Caine.

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Dejsha, please feel free to nominate that title next month for May's Group Read... we usually start nominating titles around the middle of the month so keep an eye out around the 15th or so of April.

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Since the voting on how to proceed with the Group Read topics was split fairly even down the middle: like we have in months prior to April or how we had a discussion leader (thank you, Jason, for a wonderful job!) with questions and split up chapters, I suppose will go with a combo.

In order to do so, we are going to need someone to nominate their self as a discussion leader for Ill Wind. You don't need to have read the book prior to being the leader, but it would probably be helpful if you are a quick reader so you can post questions for other members.

I'll go ahead and set up the regular topics of SPOILERS and NO SPOILERS now and once we have a discussion leader, they can get started on how to split up the book in to Parts, Pages, or by Chapter.

First person to nominate themself will be the discussion leader...

We still need a discussion leader if the group wants to utilize that method this month...