Tanya Huff’s SMOKE AND ASHES

I love cover flats. Well, who doesn’t like having nice things? And for those of you in the biz, they’re great promotional tools, because I know when someone gives me a gift I like them more…you know, because I’m superficial that way Today I give thanks to Jeri Smith-Ready. While I don’t know if her Aspect of Crow books count as urban fantasy, I can tell you that the start of a new series, beginning with Wicked Game (13 May 2008), is UF - get pre-ordering!

Note to Dorchester/Shomi Staff: I really want a cover flat of Marianne Mancusi’s Razor Girl. If you have any to spare at any time, please contact me. kthxbai

In case you’re interested in my reading schedule, right now I’m working on the second last library book I have, then I’ll be reading 4 ARCS (hopefully before the books are officially released - thank you to the authors for gifting me, and for being so patient; aye luffs yoo). After that I’ll be reading about 30 books that I own but haven’t got around to reading yet. But if you (or your author) is interested in jumping the queue: my Reading Wishlist is here. About 30 titles I already have. However, if you’re in the mood for donation and are willing to post to Australia, contact me at TezMillerOz at gmail dot com

Tanya Huff’s Smoke and Ashes
This is book three in a trilogy, and before this I’d read book one, Smoke and Shadows. However, the second book, Smoke and Mirrors is not in my library system. But I really enjoyed the two books that I did manage to get my dirty paws on. First, they’re set in Canada; Vancouver, to be specific. (Note: Word on the street is that Vancouver and my city of Melbourne are similar. If you Vancouverines are looking for a home away from home, you know where to go ) Most of the books I read happen to be set in the U.S., so it’s always nice to read something set elsewhere.

Second, Tony Foster is totally comfortable with being gay, but he’s not camp. If you’re unfamiliar with the terminology, “camp” refers to those who are obsessed with fashion and grooming, generally play the agony aunt role to straight women, and have a certain manner of speaking. By all means, I’m not against these people; I think they’re really friendly. But there are other types of gay people who don’t feature so much in books, films and TV. This is probably one of the many reasons why the film Brokeback Mountain struck such a cord with its viewers (me included). Ennis and Jack weren’t camp, and somehow that made them more real, more believable as characters. It was absolutely heartbreaking when a certain character died, and how.

Third, the books are funny. I don’t use that term lightly; a lot of books are marketed as humorous, but it really all depends on your brand of humor. In an anthology I once read, two of the four authors seemed to have written supposedly funny stories, but they just didn’t make me chuckle, or even smile. And my humor varies from social commentary, witticisms, cock jokes, cringe comedy and even the occasional bit of slapstick. But most importantly, Ms Huff’s humor doesn’t seem forced; it comes across as very natural.

I love the crew of Darkest Night, the television series Tony works on. Not so much the cast; Lee Nicholas seems too confused. Another character I don’t quite agree with is Henry Fitzroy, Tony’s lover. He’s a romance writer, and a vampire, and unfortunately he fits the vampiric stereotype: he’s emo. Don’t get me wrong; vampires have every right to be emo. But I personally wouldn’t want to hang around them if they’re moping all the time.

And before you ask: no, I haven’t got my hands on Ms Huff’s Vicki Nelson series yet. I hope too, though. Even though they feature Emo Henry However, I’m unlikely to try the author’s traditional fantasy novels, because I’m not much of a traditional fantasy fan.

Why not? I like my fiction to be as believable as possible. So why read urban fantasy at all? Because I want authors to make me believe. I want to be so emerged in a story that I forget I’m reading a book. I know I’m aware of reading a book when I’m checking the page number, how many pages until the next chapter, checking the clock to see how much time I left to read before I need to do something else, etc. I also have the bad habit of reading in front of the TV, and it does take away some concentration from the book, even if the TV volume is low.

I’m quite particular when it comes to characters and plotting. I reckon our protag should not rely on magic or their paranormal abilities to get his/herself out of trouble. Because otherwise the paranormalcy just feels like a plot device, somewhat of a cop-out perhaps. I also reckon our protag also shouldn’t rely on others for help: if you’re a true kick-arse heroine, you don’t need (or want) other people defending your honor; you’re independent, you fight your own fights. Likewise I think climaxes should be protag vs antag, with no group situation; just one-on-one. These are the kind of things that make me respect characters, maybe even like them. Another important element: characters must be flawed. e.g. Your protag is a superhero, so maybe they use their powers at inopportune times. Your protag has magical abilities, but maybe they’re not good at controlling them, and the powers cause more harm than good. I’m not interested in Mary Sues and Gary Stus.

Put simply, every book I finish reading (without skim-reading) is guaranteed three stars. There’s no point me reading something in full if I’m not enjoying it, and because I have so much to read I can usually tell if I’m liking a story or not, and I quit if it’s not working for me. “But, Tezzy, you’re not giving the writers a fair chance.” Perhaps not, but when it comes to reading, what I want comes first.

*Three stars = in the words of Lurr from Omicron Persei VIII: “Okay, not great.” That’s what he calls a C+; I agree. I don’t read much of these, though.
*Four stars = enjoyable read, but didn’t wow me. Most of the books I read fit into this bracket.
*Five stars = enjoyable, wowed me, maybe even shocked me, definitely worth recommending.

But I don’t just read urban fantasy. After Smoke and Ashes, I read a tremendously great thriller: Erica Spindler’s Dead Run. Because it’s not UF I won’t go into detail, but I gave it five stars.

On Tuesday I realized I had four days to read Jim Butcher’s Proven Guilty before it’s due back at the library. I thought I’d give it a go - circa 102 pages a day. I only did about 84 pages on Tuesday. Wednesday morning I realized that I simply couldn’t get the book finished in time, so it’ll be going back to the library on Saturday, incomplete. It would’ve been better if I hadn’t started it, because now I’ve wasted a day of reading.

Sorry about the long post, readers; I promise to have much shorter entries in the future.

Have a lovely day!

Tez Miller

~ by Tez Miller on February 7, 2008.