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Research is fun!
Jul. 10th, 2013 08:59 pmEspecially when it means I can justify an hour browsing Barnes and Noble to see what modern urban fantasy looks like.
It looks like a lot of vampires, werewolves and "Charmed" style witches running around solving murders. *sigh*
On the plus side, of the five books I picked out, all of which had strong female protagonists, written in first person, only one made me shut it in disgust, and that was strictly because said strong female protagonist was a "black" witch with a pixie herd of her very own trying to clear her name that spent way too much time screaming at her vampire roommate and Unknown Supernatural Unwilling Familiar That She Released For "The Sake of Her Own Skin" because of all the death following her around. I don't like scream-y females. They make my head hurt.
Modern day shamans and coyote skinwalkers (NOT were-coyote, TYVM) are much more interesting, as is the half Selkie, even if they too are all solving murders.
My story of a Wiccan twenty-something getting tangled up in yakuza turf wars, Shinto Witness Protection and a cute golden kitsune, with no special powers of her own except her unshakable faith will either fit in quite nicely or I'll be asked to power up my strong female protagonist, perhaps with some furry sex thrown in. She will NOT be solving a murder. She will be running for her life.
We shall see.
In the meantime, I'm going to read the one about the English Teacher in Hong Kong getting mixed up in Dragon politics and A Year At A Shinto Shrine, which should prove excellent resource material for my protection program.
It looks like a lot of vampires, werewolves and "Charmed" style witches running around solving murders. *sigh*
On the plus side, of the five books I picked out, all of which had strong female protagonists, written in first person, only one made me shut it in disgust, and that was strictly because said strong female protagonist was a "black" witch with a pixie herd of her very own trying to clear her name that spent way too much time screaming at her vampire roommate and Unknown Supernatural Unwilling Familiar That She Released For "The Sake of Her Own Skin" because of all the death following her around. I don't like scream-y females. They make my head hurt.
Modern day shamans and coyote skinwalkers (NOT were-coyote, TYVM) are much more interesting, as is the half Selkie, even if they too are all solving murders.
My story of a Wiccan twenty-something getting tangled up in yakuza turf wars, Shinto Witness Protection and a cute golden kitsune, with no special powers of her own except her unshakable faith will either fit in quite nicely or I'll be asked to power up my strong female protagonist, perhaps with some furry sex thrown in. She will NOT be solving a murder. She will be running for her life.
We shall see.
In the meantime, I'm going to read the one about the English Teacher in Hong Kong getting mixed up in Dragon politics and A Year At A Shinto Shrine, which should prove excellent resource material for my protection program.
