- Stroppy One: still sickly. And it has been pointed out to me that my continuing exhaustion, wooziness, and occasional chest-rattling cough might be, oh, signs of walking pneumonia. YES, I am making an appointment with my doctor.

- Work got busy. Argh!

- OH MY GOD I AM SO BEHIND ON WRITING.

What better time to ask for book requests? I am craving vaguely Victorian-ish AU or paranormal stuff. The books I find myself thinking of re-reading right now are [livejournal.com profile] gailcarriager's Parasol Protectorate series, Kim Newman's splendid Anno Dracula, or Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy. (I also love the Sorcery and Cecila books by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer, and the College of Magic books by Caroline Stevermer.)

So! Victorian-ish paranormal books. Any suggestions?
Tags:

From: [identity profile] arabwel.livejournal.com


Have you read the Sarah Waters book Affinity? http://www.sarahwaters.com/library.php?t=affinity I havent read it myself but it is on my pile of to-read, as I love everything from her I have read thus far.

From: [identity profile] charmingmonstrs.livejournal.com


How do you feel about dragons and the early 1900s? I've been quite enjoying Naomi Novik's Temeraire series lately: http://www.temeraire.org/

From: [identity profile] cupcake-goth.livejournal.com


Oh, I love the Temeraire series! I also got the StuntHusband hooked on them.

From: [identity profile] pocketbearwa.livejournal.com


It might be slightly left of your intended field of interest, but SM Stirling's "The Peshawar Lancers" is an alternate-history story of the British Raj: comet smacks Europe and the Atlantic in the 1860s, obliterating the New World's animal population and shutting off the Gulf Stream - freezing Europe, widespread famine, mass death. Disraeli evacuates Victoria, the royals, the military, and as many of the citizens of London as possible - to Delhi. That's where the Empire is capitalled now.

Flash-forward to the 1960s (or 1980s, I can't recall) - and the world is still recovering. Steam-only, Russia is a huge human-farming cannibal state, etc.

I love eet. There's a bit of the supernatural in the future-seeing secret police of the Russian state.

From: [identity profile] cupcake-goth.livejournal.com


You got me to read The Peshawar Lancers ages ago, silly! (Well, either you or Dad did.) It was a fantastic book.

From: [identity profile] shana.livejournal.com


Caroline Stevermer's "Magic Below Stairs" came out last week.

From: [identity profile] marc17.livejournal.com


It's ghosts and not vampires, but I will put forth Leanna Heiber's Strangely Beautiful series. Victorian ghost chasers secretly working for the government in London in a gothic literature tradition.

http://www.leannareneehieber.com/

From: [identity profile] weaselmom.livejournal.com


Agh! I was just going to post this from Scalzi's Big Ideas page. It is just possible that Jilli and Leanna were separated at birth. We should ask her mom.

Thusly: Clicky link! (http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/06/15/the-big-idea-leanna-renee-hieber/)
Edited Date: 2010-06-15 07:45 pm (UTC)

From: [identity profile] cupcake-goth.livejournal.com


I have the first book for that sitting in my to-be-read pile! Okay, it just got bumped to the top.

From: [identity profile] dravvie.livejournal.com


Have you read The Warrior/Wizard and Dragon Heir? Not Victorian-ish, but I enjoyed them, and the author wrote another novel called the Demon King that's actually quite good. Or, if you're craving mind candy any of the Wetzie Bat Books.

(And I loved Sorcery and Cecila! The letter game style actually inspired me and my partner to get writing on our own book. 53,000ish words as of today.)

From: [identity profile] dravvie.livejournal.com


I think I misread your request on the paranormal-ish. Hur. Talking on the phone and typing. WTB edit button. The Demon king is a more Renaissance then Victorian, but beautifully written, and an interesting escape.

From: [identity profile] cherry-faery.livejournal.com


Recommendations for you! (Though seriously,I would be surprised if you don't know of or own all of these)

The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen. (This is the same guy who wrote the novel version of the 1992 Dracula movie along with the man who wrote the screenplay.)

Quincey Morris, Vampire by P.N. Elrod

Dracula's Heir by Sam Stall. (Okay so this is admittedly fluff and if you're not drunk, you know the ending by the second chapter but it's more of an interactive sort of mystery book with fun things you can open for your "investigation". I had fun reading this thing and figuring out the mystery one time during Earth hour by candlelight.)

Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore. (Okay so it's sort of the opposite of Victorian vampire novels but this one was just damn funny. If you've never read it before, it might be a fun change of pace and it's kind of interesting. It's also got a sequel called You Suck which I haven't read yet but if it's as funny, it should be great.)

Happy reading!

From: [identity profile] smu.livejournal.com


P.N. Elrod is one of my favorite vamp writers. I love the Vampire Files novels.

From: [identity profile] smu.livejournal.com


Oddly enough, I just got this today. Sounds similar to Gail's stuff. Moonshine by Alaya Johnson. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312648065/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-6&pf_rd_r=0C7RRRMTFAX6X7YDEJR9&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938731&pf_rd_i=507846)

It has a review here (http://io9.com/5558974/jazz-age-new-york-is-full-of-vampires-in-alaya-johnsons-moonshine) on io9's website.

I think you may like it!

From: [identity profile] gaaneden.livejournal.com


I'm looking forward to my friend's book, Mozart's Blood, coming out soon.

From: [identity profile] cupcakegothmom.livejournal.com


Have him go to the doctor too. It sounds like you have what I had.

From: [identity profile] elfstar18.livejournal.com


Have you read Diana Wynne Jones' "Howl's Moving Castle" and its sequel? They're both excellent, though the book is completely different from Hayao Miyazaki's film.

From: [identity profile] ms-kilian.livejournal.com


I assume you've read The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, and the other stories that are compiled with it by Penguin (?not sure of the publisher actually)?
Not really paranormal, but I really enjoyed Bleak House - it;'s quite bleak and engrossing with a few mysteries. And not everyone gets a happy ending.

From: [identity profile] attictroll.livejournal.com


Guh. I didn't sort out my walking pneumonia until I was coughing blood.

From: [identity profile] silverhawthorn.livejournal.com


Have you read The Somnambulist (http://www.harpercollins.com/books/The-Somnambulist-Jonathan-Barnes/?isbn=9780061375385) by Jonathan Barnes? Late-Victorian, about a stage magician/crimesolver and the very strange circumstances of his last case. I read it a few months ago and enjoyed it immensely.

From: [identity profile] mistress-infy.livejournal.com


I just finished up Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter--it was enjoyable, not a lot of emotional or mental investment but still good for a chuckle.

P&P&Z Dawn of the Dreadfuls was also pretty good, not the right time period but still awesome because HELLO, Regency England and zombies, yes please. It wasn't quite as Austin-y as the first book, but a little more humorous and vicious.

From: [identity profile] morseren.livejournal.com


"New Amsterdam" by Elizabeth Bear is about a forensic sorceress for The Crown. Abigail Irene Garrett has a vampire lover and many adventures. It is alternate American history, if we had not won the revolutionary war. Fun read.

Rebecca W.
.

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