This week I want to talk about one of my favorite authors: Charles de Lint.

In my opinion, Charles de Lint is a master of the short story. Some of my favorite books are his short story collections, and if someone wants to start reading, that’s the direction I recommend them.

Many, if not most, of his stories are set in Newford, which is a small city that may be in Canada, but may be in the northern US instead. Not that it matters, because the important border of Newford is the border with the magical realm–the world where coyote and the moon walk and talk. Newford is a city where fairies and crow girls can live and interact with us mere mortals. Newford is the place where I’d love to live, even if I couldn’t see into the magical realm that is so close there.

His world is also a place full of music and beauty, where many of the characters are artists and musicians and writers. But don’t the wrong impression, it is most definitely not all sweetness and light. His characters are runaways, recovered junkies, and abused kids. Most of the characters are damaged or outsiders, but throughout the stories there is hope. Not ‘wish upon a star’ hope, but the hope that comes from hard work and effort.

Although Charles de Lint writes many short stories, most of those stories are set in Newford, and they tend to have a recurring cast of characters: Jilly Coppercorn, Geordie, Christie Riddell , Sophie Etiole and all the others I’ve come to love. Each short story is a vignette into the lives of the people who live in Newford, and you can read any story without having read any other story before it.

He has also written several novels set in Newford (and also some novels set elsewhere as well). Although you can read any of the Newford novels at any point in time, I personally think they’re more enjoyable if you have the background of the different characters and know their histories.

If you wanted to start with a short story collection, I would highly recommend Dreams Underfoot. Moonlight and Vines is probably my second favorite collection, and you could easily pick up either collection and start reading and delve into the characters.

If you’d like to start with a novel, you may want to start with Jack of Kinrowan (which is a reissue of Jack the Giant Killer and Drink Down the Moon. The stories are not set in Newford and contain none of the usual characters, but the feel is the same–of magic just around the corner, or glimpsed out of the corner of your eye.

His books also contain a great deal of folklore and folktales. There are fairies and goblins, but also coyotes and crows and other trickster figures, who act as you would expect trickster figures to act. The earthy coyote of folklore of drinks and steals and takes advantage of women when he can. These are the characters from folklore–not the characters from the cleaned up fairy tales.

Charles de Lint also writes excellent young adult fiction. And by young adult I mean very good fantasy that has teenage characters. (I have to say that some of the young adult fantasy out there is better than much of what you find on the shelves in the SFF section of the bookstore.)

If you have even a passing interest in folk lore and folk tales, then you would almost certainly love Charles de Lint’s books. If you enjoy short stories, then you will also want to read his short story collections and then get pulled into his novels based on the characters in those short stories. ANd if you enjoy good writing and would like to see how you feel about urban fantasy, you should check out Charles de Lint. I’ll admit he’s not for everyone–Michael has never been able to get into his books and stories–but if he is your thing, you’ll end up loving him.

Wolf Moon (1988), The Harp of the Gray Rose, The Dreaming Place (1990), The Little Country (1991), Dreams Underfoot (1993), Into the Green (1993), Memory & Dream (1994), The Ivory and the Horn (1995), Moonlight & Vines (1999), Jack of Kinrowan (1999), Tapping the Dream Tree (2002), The Onion Girl (2002), Waifs and Strays (2002), Spirits in the Wires (2003), The Blue Girl (2004), Widdershins (2006), Promises to Keep (2007)

Since I know not everyone reads my book blog, I thought I’d mention that I recently finished the Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan and enjoyed it.

It’s a very good book that you really should read. Though I think Fast Food Nation was better. (I really enjoyed Eric Schlosser’s talk when he came here several years ago.)

OK, so I read this series awhile ago, but it’s still one of my favorite, and since this is my series I can do as I please. So this week I’m recommending the Julian Kestrel series by Kate Ross.

Kate Ross died in 1998, after writing four books in her Julian Kestrel series. I’ve loaned the series to both my grandmother and mother, who both were crushed when they discovered there would never be any more books in this series.

Julian Kestrel lives in Regency England. (Not that it was called that at the time.) He’s worked hard to gain a reputation in society and to make something of himself, even if it’s not quite clear just what that is. He’s a dandy known for his clothing and being a gentleman, and even if he isn’t truly of the set–or truly a gentleman–he can pass as one, and that’s good enough for the Ton. At least for now.

What do I love about these books? Pretty much everything. The mysteries were sharp, the characters were engaging and the dialog was lovely. And Julian is simply fabulous. Here’s a snippet of dialog, with Julian talking with the young sister of the man he has befriended:

“If everyone who died with unpunished sins on his conscience came back as a ghost, the living would be crowded out of every home in England.”
“You’re cynical. I thought you would be. Can you sneer?”
“With terrifying effect.”
“Oh, do it, please! I want to see it!”
“I’m afraid you’re much too young to withstand it. I should be accused of stunting your growth–perhaps even sending you into a decline.”
“I wouldn’t go into a decline. I’m robust. My governess says so.”

“I’m robust. My governess says so,” just makes me giggle.

That bit of dialog makes the characters crystal clear in my mind. She’s a young girl with a crush on her older brother’s friend. He recognizes her crush for what it is, and strives to treat her like a sister, without making her feel like a child or in any way ridiculous.

The books are filled with such dialog, as well as wonderful storytelling and vivid characters. Essentially, they’re everything I want in a Regency/Victorian mystery: witty dialog, interesting clothing and manners, and a sharp mystery.

As I said, there are only four books, so I recommend you find all four, then read them slowly, in order, savoring them, as they are all we will every have from this talented writer.

Cut to the Quick (1993), A Broken Vessel (1994), Whom the Gods Love (1995), The Devil in Music (1997)

And today we’ll swing back to fantasy.

One series I’ve been following and enjoying is Liz William‘s Detective Inspector Chen series.

Chen lives in Singapore Three, in a world like but quite unlike our own, where technology and magic coexist (even if not everyone believes in the magic), the dead can make phone calls, and a demon from Hell is a visiting detective working with Chen.

The feel of Singapore Three–and Hell when they visit–is quite unlike any other world I’ve read about. Singapore Three is obviously a future version of our world–assuming it is our world, which I’m not 100% certain about. There is technology that does not exist in our world, however, the focus is upon Hell and Detective Inspector Chen’s cases which involve Hell and the after world.

And the secondary characters are fantastic as well, especially Zhu Irzh and the Badger. I’m still not clear about the Badger, and I still haven’t figured out why the Badger rings so familiar to me, as if I’d read about it in Chinese or Japanese folklore. I always mean to look it up, but never do. (And so I just looked it up. Much of the familiar folklore regarding the badger comes from Japanese folklore, not Chinese, although the badger does make an appearance in Chinese folklore.)

Of course I also quite like Chen. He’s a good man, in a job that no one else wants. He believes he’s on the outs with his goddess, but continues to worship her despite this believe–after all, any problems were of course his fault. He is also extremely moral and ethical, in a time and place where it would be quite easy to be other. And the fact that he eventually partners up with a demon without difficulty makes him even more complex.

If you like supernatural fantasy and worlds that are both familiar and strange, I highly recommend you check out Liz Williams. The only caveat I have is that there have been frequent delays in the publishing of her books–I’ve been waiting a year I think for her newest book to come out (date according to Night Shade books is the end of this month. But I’m not sure if I truly believe that. But there are already three books out in print that you should be able to find, to get your sucked into the world of Detective Inspector Chen and Singapore Three.

The Banquet of the Lords of Night & Other Stories (2004), Snake Agent (2005), The Demon and the City (2006), Precious Dragon (2007)

Night Shade Books

Switching back to mysteries, another series I’ve thoroughly enjoyed recently is Donna Leon‘s Commissario Guido Brunetti series. The books are set in Venice, where Brunetti lives with his wife and two children, and is a vice-Commissario of the Venice police.

First of all, Brunetti loves Venice, so we get lots of descriptions of the city, from someone who recognizes the many flaws of his home, but loves it anyway.

Second of all, Brunetti loves to eat, so we got lots of descriptions of meals and food.

Third, Italy is a very different place from the US, and corruption that would astonish Americans is par for the course. Bribes are the way to get things done, and who you know is often far more important than what you know and what your abilities are. As such, these stories are often quite different from American mysteries, in that we may learn who the criminal was, but it is rare that true justice is served.

This is not, however, as depressing as it sounds. Brunetti is a good father, a good husband, and a good man. He recognizes that he lives and works in an imperfect state, but does his job anyway. Additionally, Donna Leon writes with a light touch, and subjects that could become overwhelmingly depressing are lightened up to a small degree by Brunetti’s love for his city (and for his family).

And of course the mysteries are good. In the first book in the series, the murder occurs at La Fenice, the world famous opera house in Venice. (This setting became even more interesting after reading John Berendt‘s City of Falling Angels, which looks in some detail at the fire that burned down La Fenice and the reconstruction afterward.

But one of the best things in the stories is Brunetti’s relationship with Paola. Despite having teenage children, Guildo and his wife remain in love with each other. Not to say they don’t have their ups and downs, but it’s nice to read a mystery where the marriage is one of the strengths of the books, even while that relationship is not idealized. (Both Paola and Brunetti can be difficult and irritate each other, but it never lasts.) And I think that relationship makes the resolution (or lack there of) of the mysteries easier to take.

Commissario Guido Brunetti: Death at La Fenice (1992), Death in a Strange Country (1993), Dressed for Death (1994), Death and Judgment (1995), Acqua Alta (1996), Quietly in Their Sleep (1997), Friends in High Places (2000), Uniform Justice (2003), Doctored Evidence (2004), Blood from a Stone (2005), Through a Glass, Darkly (2006), Suffer the Little Children (2007)

Last week I talked about one of the mystery series I’ve been reading, this week I want to talk about a supernatural fantasy series. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been reading a lot of supernatural fantasy recently. Some just so-so, but much of it has been very good.

One series I am especially enjoying is Ilona Andrews‘ Kate Daniels series.

Kate lives in a world that used to be ours, but at some point magic surged and now magic and technology battle for predominance, so sometimes phones work while sometimes hexes work, and you never know from one day to the next what will work at any given time.

Kate is a mercenary who is both trained a trained fighter and a born magic user–however her skills as a fighter usually serve her in better stead than her quirky magic skills. And as this is a world in which both vampires and shape shifters are fighting for predominance, her physical skills are used quite frequently.

What I like most about this series is we learn now just about Kate as the series continues, but also about the world in which she lives, and how it came to be the way it is. It’s a fascinating idea that Ilona Andrews does a very good job of slowly unfolding. She also does a very good job with Kate. Sometimes in supernatural fantasy series, the heroines are a little too good, and things come a little too easy to them. Kate is very good at what she does, but it is made quite clear that she has gotten where she is through very hard work (this is further emphasized in the third book where she describes her childhood and her training).

There is a romance that is slowly developing over the course of the series, however this is in no way the focus of the series, which I believe some people find off putting about supernatural / urban / paranormal fantasy, so if you’re not certain about this type of fantasy, this may be a good series to put your toe in the water and see how it feels.

The nice thing about supernatural is it takes our world and twists it in some manner–supernatural creatures have come out of the closet and the world has changed because if it; supernatural creatures exist but are still in hiding; something changed the world and after that change magic and supernatural creatures became common. So the world is familiar, and yet very strange at the same time.

Although the story arc is complete within each individual book, Kate’s character develops further in each book, and in each book we learn a little more about her past and why she has been hiding. So although you could start the book at any point in time, the world is somewhat complex and takes a bit of getting used to, and you learn new things about Kate in each book, so I think one might prefer to start at the beginning and work their way forward.

Magic Bites (2007), Magic Burns (2008), Magic Strikes (2009)

It was in some ways a painfully long weekend, and in other ways the weekend was entirely too short.

I’m still having issues with my depression. Destroying my cell phone on Saturday didn’t help matters, not did having to plunk down $400 to replace it. But. That’s why we have savings–so when things break (for whatever reason) they can be replaced. So it’s just no new computer for me anytime soon.

The depression was incredibly frustrating. Just one of those days where I can’t stand being inside my own skin, and nothing I did really allowed me to escape myself, although I did managed to distract myself.

I kept busy by doing a fair amount of web design over the weekend, rebuilding the WordPress template for my book blog and then recreating the same style for the book pages of my website. I’m overdue a rebuild of my main page, but I don’t have a clue what I want to do with it, and abandoning the color scheme means having to create a new set of images. Since I’ve got probably 30 or so images that randomly appear, that idea is rather unappealing right now.

Speaking of images, I test drove Adobe Elements over the weekend. I have Photoshop at work, but there is no way I am going to pay that much money for a software package, and I’m one of those weirdos that refuses to pirate software or music, to Elements seemed the logical choice.

Having played with it, it seems precisely what I need, so at some point I’m going to have to cough up the money for that. But it’ll be worth it, because it’ll be nice to do image work at home (and goodbye to Corel Photopaint 10).

The predicted storms never came, so Saturday afternoon was sunny, as was today, so I got to get out and enjoy the flowers, just a little bit. And posted the requisite Sunday Flower Pr0n.

I also finally finished my review for A Short History of Myth.

Here’s to hoping this week goes smoothly.

I’ve been working on the graphics for my book blog, and also added the new design to the rest of the books portion of my site (which is not WordPress).

So there should be a mostly seamless transition between the WordPress portion of the site and the pages I created. The only issue is that there is a small margin/padding issue I cannot for the life of me work out, so the side border is just a teeny bit off. Humph.

ADDENDUM the First:
I also changed the color schemes to match the images.

ADDENDUM the Second:
And IE 6 or lower doens’t render png images correctly, so the header image will look wonky. Too bad. It works fine in all my other browsers, so you’ll just have to live with it.

I finally got around to creating a new theme for my book blog, Random Reading.

I’m still tweaking a few things, but most of the heavy lifting is finished.

So wha’da’ya think?

I’ve read a lot of very good books over the past year, so I think I’ll try and start an irregular series of posts on some of the good books I’ve been reading.

Let’s start with Andrea Camilleri‘s Inspector Salvo Montalbano series (translated by Stephen Sartarelli).

The first book was The Shape of Water, and to be honest, I wasn’t 100% certain I was going to continue the series. Inspector Montalbano is–to be blunt–an asshole. However, despite being an asshole, he’s actually a good person who feels very strongly about his work–being a police inspector in Vigata in Sicily and keeping order in the town he loves.

Because the series is set in Sicily, there are mentions of organized crime, though it is more the background to his work, rather than the focus of most of his stories. He has to deal with it, but doing so is a reality in his life, and he does so on his terms and a way that allows him to live with himself and his ethics.

Besides solving crime, the other thing that Montalbano does is eat. He loves food and there are descriptions of not just the means he gets at restaurants, but of the meals his housekeeper leaves for him. The only thing he takes more seriously than food is solving the crimes that happen in Vigata.

These books are translated from Italian, and so the first book especially was a bit of a culture shock–which is why I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep reading the series or not. But I discovered that I was thinking about the story long after I finished the book, and so decided I’d try the second book in the series, The Terra Cotta Dog. That was the book that sucked me into the series.

I realized that Montalbano was a jerk, but he wasn’t capricious or cruel, and I eventually discovered that he actually liked Catarella, despite all his (justified) complaining.

But I fully admit I cannot for the life of my understand why Montalbano and Liva remain together.

If you like mysteries and are looking for a series that’s different from what you normally read, I highly recommend Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano series. Just be aware going on that Salvo is an earthy, foul mouthed, and sometimes obnoxious character. If you can get past that, then I think you’ll love the series as much as I do.

The Shape of Water (1994), The Terra Cotta Dog (1996), The Snack Thief (1996), Voice of the Violin (1997), Excursion to Tindari (2000), The Smell of the Night (2001), Rounding the Mark (2003), The Patience of the Spider (2004), The Paper Moon (2005), August Heat (2005)

If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed that I love to read. And even that understates my relationships with books.

I started reading at the age of four (apparently because I’d memorized “Green Eggs and Ham”). I don’t remember a time when I couldn’t read. I don’t even remember being read to–but I have plenty of memories of being stretched out with a book in my hands.

I love mysteries from an early age: Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon, and then I received “The Complete Sherlock Holmes” and WHAM, I wanted more. Soon after, I caught part of “A Caribbean Mystery” (this was 1983, so I would have been 13). I initially noticed the show because Jameson Parker was in it, and I loved Simon & Simon. But I quickly shifted my attention to Helen Hayes playing Miss Marple. What a marvelous character! What a marvelous actress!

And then I was off, devouring every single Agatha Christie I could get my hands on. But Miss Marple is still my favorite, and “A Caribbean Mystery” still holds a special place for me.

In junior high school I started reading through my parent’s bookshelves, going primarily for the action/adventure/mystery. I loved “The Odessa File” and sought out more Frederick Forsyth at the library. (I read “Roots” during this time, as well as all the James Baldwin on my parents shelves, but my it was mysteries I sought out.

But let’s not forget fantasy. I read “The Hobbit” when I was in elementary school, and up through my thirties tended to re-read it every year. I also read “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” when I was junior high, as well as the book adaptations of the Star Wars books.

Then I got my driver’s license, and gained the ability to escape the house and although I still read, I stopped devouring books, as I much preferred to be out of the house to home and reading.

Fast forward to my second year in college. I was given a copy of David Eddings‘ Belgariad, and suddenly I snatching up fantasy left and right. Two books at this point became favorites: Marion Zimmer Bradley‘s “The Mists of Avalon” and Mercedes Lackey‘s “By the Sword.” I adored reading books with strong female characters, and that’s been my penchant ever since. (I would say about half my fantasy books have main characters that are strong women.)

On the recommendation of friends, I quickly branched out to Guy Gavriel Kay and then Sean Russell.

Then at some point in there I discovered Robert B Parker‘s Spenser series, and then JA Jance.

Then several years ago I found my book Nirvana: they started combining fantasy and mystery. The first was Steven Brust‘s Vlad series. Simon R. Green remains a favorite. But soon followed Jim Butcher and quite soon I discovered Paula Briggs and remembered Tanya Huff. Fantasy and mystery with strong female characters? Awesome!

I could go on and on, but that’s a post for another day. Here’s some of my reading history, over the next couple weeks perhaps I’ll discuss some of the things I’m reading now that I absolutely love.

Well, I didn’t bake much, but I have finished seven books.

And the night is still young. I could still bake or read something yet this evening!

As you may have noted over the past couple months, I’ve been writing a fair amount of php code. Although this was partially to learn a new language, it was also so I could make my book database do what I wanted.

Although I’m not entirely there, I’m getting close.

Yes, a lot of work I did was on the back end, that you can’t see. Too bad. But I’ve also done so work on the front end, especially implementing some of the stuff I did on the back end.

So what I’m asking is for you to go poke around the database, and see if you have any suggestions for making it better. I’m considering making an author search that only brings up names, instead of every book written by every author with a similar name, but I’m not sure if that’d be useful.

Please note: not all books have been linked to their reviews, but many have, so if there’s a book lacking a review, there’s a 50% chances I haven’t read that book. Additionally, about 25% of author pages link to pages elsewhere on my site. The other 75% jump back to the current page. I’m trying to figure out how to fix this. And the status is available for books I’ve gotten rid of. I’ll get to that bit later as well.

So please, go visit my book database, poke around, and tell me how I could make improvements.

And while you’re there, if you think there’s an author or book I should own or should have read, feel free to let me know.

Yesterday, I meant to write about urban fantasy versus supernatural fantasy, but instead went off on a tangent about why I stopped reading epic fantasy. (I also think it’s interesting that both Erin and I have made a similar shift in reading.)

So as I’ve said, I’ve been reading much more supernatural and urban fantasy, but–for me at least–there is a distinction between the two.

When I think of urban fantasy I think first and foremost of Charles de Lint and then Nina Kiriki Hoffman. In most of his writing, there is magic in the world, and it has always been there, but most people remain unaware of the magical world, or unable to sense/interact with the magical world. And sometimes even those who do see magic don’t always believe what they’re seeing.

Supernatural fantasy (at least for my classification), tends to focus on magical creatures or individuals with magical talents living in the modern world. That world may or may not be aware of these supernatural beings, but those beings have a strong influence on the world. A big theme seems to be either supernatural beings coming out of the closet or the world at large changed by supernatural beings.

It also tends to be more open to genre bending and combining. I love mysteries, and supernatural fantasy has a lot of series that are both fantasy and mystery. (Simon R. Green, Jim Butcher, and Kat Richardson all do this extremely well.) This combination expands the traditional mystery, not only because the detective or investigator has extra abilities, but because you then get to look at the idea of what constitutes a crime when the victim is undead, or when the battle for pack leader involves a fight to the death?

However, supernatural fantasy also tends to have a fair amount of boinking. There is often a strong romantic and/or sexual element. These supernatural or magical creatures are either super sexy or use their magical powers to make themselves super sexy. That’s my least favorite part of supernatural fantasy. I just don’t care to learn the details of supernatural noogie and how much hawter it is than regular human to human boinking.

I’m not saying they’re badly written sex scenes, I’m just saying I’d rather have more world building than boinking.

And that is one thing the good supernatural fantasy books tend to do very well, they have excellent world building, and have taken our world and twisted it just enough that it’s close to our world, but not quite the same, but those small differences are very well done.

But both types of fantasy are very good, and I’ve been enjoying reading both kinds, although supernatural fantasy is way more common right now. Will you find these distinctions in a book store? Unlikely. I’ve seen the term paranormal fantasy bandied about, but it seems to be used primarily for fantasy books with a lot of boinking. What if you want one and not the other? My recommendation is to check the covers. Sexy women (or men) on the cover tend to designate a fair amount of boinking. But it’s not a hard and fast rule (Charlaine Harris‘ Sookie Stackhouse books are an exception, although I’ve noticed that the reissues are going for the sexy covers).

And you can always check my reviews. I do try to note if there is a large amount of boinking in a book.