Urban fantasy and paranormal romance (whether for adults or teens) have taken on a lot of baggage post-Twilight: attractive monsters, love triangles, power hierarchies, destined mates, curiously irresistible protagonists and wildly improbable happily-ever-afters. A generation ago, a romance with the monster would have been teased, but now, dear reader, she has married him.
Blood Oranges has taken that baggage and run. The other way. When Siobhan Quinn accidentally falls into the role of monster hunter, she finds herself part of an old grudge match between two powerful players. Her mentor, Mean Mr. B, disappears suddenly and leaves Quinn to walk the thin line between hunter and monster, dual roles she is unlikely to survive.
In the world of Siobhan Quinn, monsters are grotesque (though not always unattractive) and becoming a vampire/werewolf doesn't make you a special snowflake; it makes you a killer. All of the players are amoral, at best, and no one is out to save anyone else.
I enjoyed Quinn's voice in this book, her unreliability and constant need to question everything. The plot, such as it was, was less interesting than the world-building and Tierney's constant interrogation of genre tropes.
Funnily, the notion of getting back to the basics of horror tropes (our vampires are scary, not sparkly!) is a well-established trope in itself. The retreat to a darker plot and tone is a well-worn device; when it comes to monsters, attractive and otherwise, the pendulum swings back and forth. I would love to see more explorations of these tropes, in both their fantasy and horror aspects.
Showing posts with label sff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sff. Show all posts
Monday, February 11, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Quote
"If a man walks in dressed like a hick, and acting as if he owned the place, he's a spaceman."
Lorenzo Smythe
Double Star
by Robert A. Heinlein
1956
Lorenzo Smythe
Double Star
by Robert A. Heinlein
1956
Monday, December 5, 2011
Quote
"Pardon me, by why is Lieutenant Barclay being referred to clandestinely as a vegetable?"
Data
Star Trek: The Next Generation
"Hollow Pursuits"
Data
Star Trek: The Next Generation
"Hollow Pursuits"
Friday, November 25, 2011
Sad
Anne McCaffrey 1926-2011
Anne McCaffrey was without doubt one of the five writers who most influenced my reading of science fiction and fantasy. Where many people see Pern as fantasy dressed up as science fiction, (with an implicit sneer, as if that's a bad thing) I see fantasy transformed into the science fiction idiom, with all the necessary rigor that entails.
This is particularly true in the earliest Pern stories and books, which feature not only science, but sophisticated politics and characters who need cunning, not magic, to save themselves. If you start with the The Dragonriders of Pern, you find yourself plunked into a medieval society sorely in need of scientific advancement and, dare we say, enlightenment. Just look at how poor Menolly is treated at the beginning of the Harper Hall trilogy.
Along with the Pern books, I most fondly remember Crystal Singer and Killashandra, two lovely and original science fiction romances.
She will live on in the pantheon of the greats.
Anne McCaffrey was without doubt one of the five writers who most influenced my reading of science fiction and fantasy. Where many people see Pern as fantasy dressed up as science fiction, (with an implicit sneer, as if that's a bad thing) I see fantasy transformed into the science fiction idiom, with all the necessary rigor that entails.
This is particularly true in the earliest Pern stories and books, which feature not only science, but sophisticated politics and characters who need cunning, not magic, to save themselves. If you start with the The Dragonriders of Pern, you find yourself plunked into a medieval society sorely in need of scientific advancement and, dare we say, enlightenment. Just look at how poor Menolly is treated at the beginning of the Harper Hall trilogy.
Along with the Pern books, I most fondly remember Crystal Singer and Killashandra, two lovely and original science fiction romances.
She will live on in the pantheon of the greats.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Quote
"Fantasy, unlike science fiction, relies on a moral universe: it is less an argument with the universe than a sermon on the way things should be..."
Rhetorics of Fantasy
by Farah Mendlesohn
2008
Rhetorics of Fantasy
by Farah Mendlesohn
2008
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Hestia's Geek Bucket List #1
1. Say goodbye to a first love/long-lost love/short-lived infatuation in the transporter room before he transports away to save a planet/make a scientific breakthrough/sacrifice himself to restore the space-time continuum.
Look, I'm not picky, as long as it involves love, a goodbye, and a transporter pad.
Look, I'm not picky, as long as it involves love, a goodbye, and a transporter pad.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Quote
"Because the only thing I hate more than hippy, neo-liberal fascist anarchists are the hypocrite fat cat suits they eventually grow up to become."
Casey
Chuck
"Chuck vs. the Beard"
hippy, neo-liberal fascist anarchists!
Casey
Chuck
"Chuck vs. the Beard"
hippy, neo-liberal fascist anarchists!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Quote
"I think of it as a sort of Questynge Beste: it hath a head like literary fiction, feet like a graphic novel, a body like somebody's diary and a tail like a text message, and maketh a noise like a cafeteria full of twelve- to eighteen-year-olds."
-- A description of young adult literature by Sofia Samatar
Strange Horizons web magazine
-- A description of young adult literature by Sofia Samatar
Strange Horizons web magazine
from a review of Margo Lanagan's collection Yellowcake
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Quote
"She tricked my son with her carnal manipulations and he fell right into her vagenda."
Walter Bishop
Fringe
"Entrada"
2010
New favorite word!
New favorite word!
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Book note
Briarpatch
by Tim Pratt
2011
Briarpatch is my favorite kind of urban fantasy: an original stand-alone novel where the characters are not overwhelmed by greater powers and do battle with wits instead of physical skill or luck. The main characters are two sad souls wandering through the world, often feeling like the deck is stacked against them -- which, in fact, it is.
Darren and Orville, the main characters, are troubled young men who discover, in the aftermath of tragic events, a world that exists alongside our own. The Briarpatch, as others have labeled it, exists in a state of improbability, and few can see it, much less navigate it.
Briarpatch is an enjoyable read filled with genuine wonders and horrors. I liked Orville a bit more than Darren, for whatever reason, so I would have liked more from his perspective. But I would love to read more urban fantasy like this.
by Tim Pratt
2011
Briarpatch is my favorite kind of urban fantasy: an original stand-alone novel where the characters are not overwhelmed by greater powers and do battle with wits instead of physical skill or luck. The main characters are two sad souls wandering through the world, often feeling like the deck is stacked against them -- which, in fact, it is.
Darren and Orville, the main characters, are troubled young men who discover, in the aftermath of tragic events, a world that exists alongside our own. The Briarpatch, as others have labeled it, exists in a state of improbability, and few can see it, much less navigate it.
Briarpatch is an enjoyable read filled with genuine wonders and horrors. I liked Orville a bit more than Darren, for whatever reason, so I would have liked more from his perspective. But I would love to read more urban fantasy like this.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Quote
"One is my name. The other is not."
Lieutenant Commander Data
1988
Lieutenant Commander Data
Star Trek: The Next Generation
"The Child"1988
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Quote
"The human fascination with 'fun' has led to many tragedies in your short but violent history. One wonders how your race has survived having so much 'fun.'"
Tuvok
Star Trek: Voyager
"Flashback"
To which my husband adds, "This is what we sound like to the Vulcans: 'Hey, Bubba, watch this!'"
Tuvok
Star Trek: Voyager
"Flashback"
To which my husband adds, "This is what we sound like to the Vulcans: 'Hey, Bubba, watch this!'"
Monday, August 29, 2011
Book note
The City and the City
by China Mieville
2009
The City and the City is an absorbing mystery, both on the mystery-mystery level and the what-the-hell-are-these-cities mystery level. Like stories of its type, it solves the superficial mystery, gives you a good sense of the background, but you know all the while that there is much Borlu doesn't tell you -- or possibly doesn't realize himself. And you know this is coming, because it's that kind of book.
Like Avice, Borlu has truck-sized blind spots. Like Avice, he gets some better, though of course it comes with a price.
by China Mieville
2009
The City and the City is an absorbing mystery, both on the mystery-mystery level and the what-the-hell-are-these-cities mystery level. Like stories of its type, it solves the superficial mystery, gives you a good sense of the background, but you know all the while that there is much Borlu doesn't tell you -- or possibly doesn't realize himself. And you know this is coming, because it's that kind of book.
Like Avice, Borlu has truck-sized blind spots. Like Avice, he gets some better, though of course it comes with a price.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Quote
"He walked with equipoise, possibly in either city. Schrödinger's pedestrian."
The City and the City
by China Mieville
2009
The City and the City
by China Mieville
2009
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
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