I love all the books I have read by Anne Bishop so far. All the books in The Landscapes of Ephemera and The Realms of the Blood are amazing. I have yet to read her other series. What you have to know going into the Realm books is she has taken a very traditional storyline and set it in a world that many consider the dark side of fantasy. The characters are often demon or occasionally even demon-dead. One of the main characters is named Saetan and he is the high lord of Hayll (yeah, it kind of slaps you with the similarities to the dark side of Christianity). However, she is not glorifying evil. She is showing the triumph of morality over evil. These books suck you in and EVERYTHING else gets ignored while you are reading them.
I absolutely adore Christine Feehan's journeys into the paranormal. Her Dark series are some of the best vampire tales around (and they get better and better as you progress through the series). Her Drake Sisters novels feature an amazing and unusual group of sisters.
Lori Handeland's Night Creature novels are wonderful. There is a lot of imagination and quite a few new twists to the traditional werewolf lore.
MaryJanice Davidson writes the Queen Betsy/Undead series, the Wyndham Werewolf series, and the Gorgeous series (plus a few others that I haven't read). Her books are light, fluffy, and a hell of a lot of fun!
Kathy Love has a series of 4 werewolf/vampire books that are a lot of fun.
Shanna Swendson has a 4 book series revolving around a magical company lead by the infamous Merlin and its set in modern day New York. They are really good books and not nearly as light as you would think they would be.
CT Adams and Cathy Clamp write an amazing series about were-beings. I have devoured all of them.
Charlaine Harris writes the books the HBO series Trueblood is based on. .I love her character Sookie Stackhouse and am quite disappointed to hear her roll has been seriously reduced in the series.
I also highly recommend Prince Ombra by Roderick MacLeish. It is an unusual fantasy novel and I have frequently wished he wrote more.
I also recently discovered Kerrelyn Sparks' Love At Stake Series and its been fun so far. I also had a lot of fun with Single White Vampire by Lynsay Sands and want to reed the other books in her Argeneau series.
I have to admit that I haven't read the Twilight series yet. I know, I know...some Vampire love I am.
Do you have any other recommendations for me?
Great article on Vampire fiction at Salon.com...thanks Cecily.
9 comments:
Some of these sound wonderful! I never liked science fiction/fantasy until: 1. I read Tolkien, 2. I played WoW 3. I read The Mists of Avalon
Not sure if any of these qualify, but I'm ready to branch out even more!
I heard JK Rowling is pretty good...oh...wait... What about that Anne Rice? ;-)
No? Ok. I'll shaddap now.
Where is Sherilyn Kenyon on that book list?!!!
I have not read straight up supernatural fiction... but lately I've been devouring paranormal romance. :) If you are in the mood for some vampire lovin' -- for my money, it doesn't get better than Kresley Cole. The world she creates is so compelling, and the sexual tension just SIZZLES! Also enjoying Gena Showalter. On my nightstand next is J.R. Ward, I've heard good things.
Sunshine by Robin McKinley...ahhh
Great recommendations! I love Charlaine Harris. I've thought about trying Christine Freehan quite a few times. Just haven't gotten there yet.
I just read the first in a fairy series. It's called Tithe. I liked it. It kept me interested. I wasn't in love with it, but I'm intrigued. I'm eager to see where the next book goes.
Not in the realm of paranormal fiction but other great writers I enjoy:
Robin McKinley (fantasy)
Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game will always be my favorite - sci fi)
Peter S. Beagle (of the Last Unicorn fame)
Almost forgot! I love The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. And you may like the Linda Lael Miller Vampire/Romance series. It's an older one.
Using this post as my 8/24 Bingo entry...
I wonder where they draw the line between paranormal fiction, fantasy, and SciFi. I've heard a lot of what you're describing as paranormal described as fantasy, and there's a lot of overlap between fantasy and SciFi, and I bet there's some paranormal/SciFi overlap, so what's the difference? Some SciFi is definitely not paranormal, for sure, and vice versa, but what doesn't count as fantasy?
I could ask a friend who is a published SciFi author but I'm afraid that he really would have an answer for me, and that it would be a looong one.
I have read the Twilight series - I enjoyed it and hated it all at the same time. I don't know that I've read much other supernatural fiction, though.
Found you through Blogger Bingo. :)
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