UFI welcomes Margo Bond Collins Author of Waking Up Dead. Thanks for Joining us!!
Author’s Book Picks and What’s in My Library
Like most novelists, I am a voracious reader in my
field, which means that I read all kinds of urban fantasy and paranormal
fiction. But in addition to being an urban fantasy writer, I am a college
English professor with a Ph.D. in eighteenth-century British literature. This
means that any time anyone wants to talk books, I have more than my share to
say!
It also means that my personal library is eclectic,
to say the least. I have shelves full of books from getting my degrees—fiction
as well as literary criticism. I also write articles about television shows, so
I have a number of academic books about popular culture, too!
In early British literature, I love the classics—but
especially the stories with heroes and monsters: Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight, The Knight’s Tale.
I love Shakespeare’s plays, but my favorites to teach are Hamlet and A Midsummer
Night’s Dream because each is such a great example of its genre. Hamlet’s tragedy seems virtually unavoidable,
and Midsummer’s comedy hits all the
high (and low!) points.
In my own sub-specialty of eighteenth-century
British literature, I love the early novels written by some of the first women
to make a living writing in England, such as Aphra Behn, Eliza Haywood, and
Delarivier Manley. Behn’s 1688 novel Oroonoko
tells the story of a king who became a slave and found the woman he loved in
the process, only to kill her and their unborn child to save them from slavery.
In Haywood’s Fantomina (1724), a young
noblewoman sets off on a sexual adventure full of disguises and intrigue. And
in Manley’s The Wife’s Resentment
(1720), a young woman takes revenge against her unfaithful husband with a
gruesome murder. These early novels influenced later gothic tales, with
virtuous damsels in distress and monstrous villains out to destroy them.
I think these various loves in more traditional
literature—monsters, heroes, strong women, and gothic settings—are all parts of
what have influenced my love of urban fantasy and horror. I love seeing many of
the same tropes and ideas in more recent publications that influenced earlier
works, as well.
So with that, here is a list of five of my favorite
urban fantasy and horror reads, along with a few thoughts about each of them.
Enjoy!
Perdido
Street Station
by China Mieville. When I think of “urban fantasy,” I
tend to think of vampires, werewolves, and the like. But Perdido Street Station
epitomizes another kind of urban fantasy—also gritty, dark, and full of
half-human creatures moving through a landscape that is alien and bizarre.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.
What better setting for urban fantasy than the London Underground? When Richard
Mayhew stops to help a young girl on the street, he is pulled into a world
below and will never be the same. This was probably the first true “urban
fantasy” novel I read a number of years ago—and wow! What an introduction!
Sunshine by Robin McKinley.
I re-read this book about once every twelve to eighteen months. McKinley does a
beautiful job of setting up a world that is almost, but not exactly, like our
own. The eponymous protagonist almost seems to ramble sometimes, but the voice
is perfectly her own and the things she reveals about herself are beautifully
woven back into the plot. Also, the vampires are creepy as all get-out!
Nightlife (Cal Leandros #1) by Rob Thurman.
What I love about this novel is the way in which the narrative shifts perspective
in such a lovely and horrific manner. The story draws the reader into
complicity with horrific evil. It’s a great move that left me breathless. In
fact, for that same kind of twist, I would recommend Thurman’s Trick of the Light, too.
House
of Leaves
by Mark Danielewski.
Okay. This isn’t really “urban fantasy.” But it is horror at its
stomach-churning best. It left me with chills. It’s a smart read and, like
Nightlife, makes the reader a part of the horror it induces. It’s a haunting
vision of a house that can’t contain the horror within.
A
few urban fantasy series faves, too (because I find I can’t ignore these!):
The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs
The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead
The Kate Daniels Magic series by Ilona Andrews
The Stray series by Rachel Vincent
Kitty the Werewolf series by Carrie Vaughn
The Spider’s Web series by Jennifer Estep
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Margo Bond Collins lives in Texas with her husband, their
daughter, several spoiled cats, and a ridiculous turtle. She teaches
college-level English courses online, though writing fiction is her first love.
She enjoys reading urban fantasy and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends
most of her free time daydreaming about vampires, ghosts, zombies, werewolves,
and other monsters. Waking Up Dead is
her first published novel. Her second novel, Legally Undead, is an urban fantasy, forthcoming in 2014 from World
Weaver Press.
Find Margo and her books
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Waking Up DeadCallie Taylor #1
When Dallas resident Callie Taylor died young, she expected to go to Heaven, or maybe Hell. Instead, she met her fate early thanks to a creep with a knife and a mommy complex. Now she's witnessed another murder, and she's not about to let this one go. She's determined to help solve it before an innocent man goes to prison. And to answer the biggest question of all: why the hell did she wake up in Alabama?
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