SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
Recommendations and Lost Books
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Looking for one-shot fantasy with gods or unique magic systems
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How about Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire? Urban fantasy, totally weird in spots (Aeslin mice!) And much fun.
Have you read books by Emma Bull and Charles DeLint? Their books pretty much brought Urban Fantasy into being.
You might try The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden. I also just started Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi, which seems promising so far.
Deathless is one of the prettiest folklore retellings I've ever read. It's the story of Koschei the Deathless. Really fascinating.
Sunshine is probably my favorite vampire story. Maybe a little on the young side? I haven't read it in about fifteen years. I recall it being dark and bittersweet.
And then I second Trike's suggestions. Both Bull and de Lint have several books, and some are even in the same world as previous books, but they're largely standalone. I've read Memory and Dream, and it was masterfully told, but I'd recommend checking my review if you have any topics you like to be warned about before reading. And War for the Oaks is coming up on my list. I've read a book by her and Steven Brust and it was extremely well done, so I have high hopes.
Sunshine is probably my favorite vampire story. Maybe a little on the young side? I haven't read it in about fifteen years. I recall it being dark and bittersweet.
And then I second Trike's suggestions. Both Bull and de Lint have several books, and some are even in the same world as previous books, but they're largely standalone. I've read Memory and Dream, and it was masterfully told, but I'd recommend checking my review if you have any topics you like to be warned about before reading. And War for the Oaks is coming up on my list. I've read a book by her and Steven Brust and it was extremely well done, so I have high hopes.
Hi Sakuko. I can recommend to you the one I'm reading at the moment: Bernie and the Wizards. It's a quality fantasy story about a community of gods who create worlds, exotic species and other structures, then troubleshoot problems with them. I don't like the cover much or the title particularly, but found the actual story inside to be pretty imaginative and entertaining. Rip the covers off, let them blow away out of your window and you'll like it.
Allison wrote: "Deathless is one of the prettiest folklore retellings I've ever read. It's the story of Koschei the Deathless. Really fascinating."I second Deathless.
When I think of gods and fantasy I always think of Divine Misfortune by A. Lee Martinez. It's definitely way more on the humor side of the fantasy scale but great fun to read.
John M Ford's DRAGON WAITING and THE LAST, HOT TIME. Very different fantasies--one is early Renaissance; the other, post apocalypse US.
Books mentioned in this topic
Divine Misfortune (other topics)Deathless (other topics)
Deathless (other topics)
Sunshine (other topics)
Memory and Dream (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
A. Lee Martinez (other topics)Charles Stross (other topics)
Nicky Drayden (other topics)
Tochi Onyebuchi (other topics)
Seanan McGuire (other topics)






I'd like some shorter (~ 300 pages) one shot books that feature either an unusually or unique magical systems or mystical creatures and gods (the more unusual the pantheon the better).
I general gravitate towards urban fantasy, but I also read unique words, I just don't really like the classic tolkienesque settings.
Books that I liked include The Paper Magician Series, Harry Dresden, the Iron Druid, Alex Verus, Peter Grant, the Emergent Earth series as well as most stuff by Gaiman, Pratchett and Mieville.