Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

If the were-chupacabra hasn’t made it to print yet, that so needs to happen.

Were-fish? No, I’m being serious, there are some Hawaiian legends relating to sharks who can assume human form and wander on land. Give them the Rice-Meyer makeover,  and you have an interesting variant on your classic lycanthrope. Possibly one more prone to cruel detachment than the bestial rage of werewolves (and of course, overcoming it during the story), and with more room to establish interesting mythology and culture (any sort of hidden civilisation or monster could lie under the sea, after all).

I was going to say banshees but then I thought to myself, wait - aren’t those already in the Kresley Cole series?  That woman has everything!

Golems?  Doeppelgangers?  (no, those are in the MacAlister dragons books.)  Angels? No.  Fairies? Done to death.  Vampires? *gag*.  Werewolves? HA! 

Sirens?  Woman cursed to shipwreck ships until a hunky captain attempts to rescue her (but of course it ends with her rescuing him, preferably with a great deal of firepower).

I’m looking forward to seeing what other people say, because all my answers are too thoroughly tongue-in-cheek.  (Bigfoot!  Mummies!  Centaurs!  [C’mon, the “He’s hung like a horse” jokes write themselves.])

Honestly, my real list pretty much boils down to “any interesting piece of real-world folklore, if it’s used well.”  I don’t want to see any writer strip-mining Japan for kitsune without bothering to think about the cultural specifics of their inspiration, but done right, I would love just about anything off the (thoroughly-)beaten path of vampires et al.

I’d like more lesbians.  I like strong women, and urban fantasy tends to have those, but then they’re paired with or drawn to equally or more interesting men, and that’s a little disappointing.  I know my reading habits are very, very female-centric, but it seems that part of the characterization of a Kick-Ass Female Protagonist is that she has several Hot Studly Males around as status symbols.  If you eliminate the heteromance and replace it with gay romance, there’s less need to have a big male status symbol and a better chance of *two* Kick-Ass Females in the book.

In terms of actual weirdness, give me Russian folklore like banniks because I just like the words.  Give me Ursula Vernon, too—vampire squash, for example, would work in some urban fantasy.  And selkies because they are cool.

How about Scandinavian mythology? Odin, Thor, Giants and all sorts of cold-weather fun.

How about some urban fantasy that isn’t all dark and intense. Would it kill the authors to write something lighter? Still sexy, but more comedy and laughs than angst and fury?

Really, anything but vampires and werewolves would be peachy keen with me.

The Grey Man. Such a fascinating creature of Celtic mythos and he very rarely appears in stories. Sometimes referred to as fog, sometimes as a creeping dread, and other times as a physical representation. It’s difficult to say if he’s bad, good, or neutral. I’m voting on neutral.

What happened to the Kraken?  (Yes, I’ve obsessed on Krakens since an episode of The Wild, Wild West several years before you were born.  But still…)

Vampires and Werewolves are all blood-disease related; their resurgences in the Age of AIDS is understandable. Mummies and Zombies are out unless Leprosy becomes a major issue again.

Witches and Warlocks for the generation that is growing up on Wizards of Waverly Place, maybe.  Mermaids are probably out of style, and are just selkie knockoffs anyway.

Fairies are probably the way to go, with gamelins as the male equivalent.

Instead of your standard werewolf etc., how about the Indian equivalent: the Naga - Cobra-wers - very beautiful but cruel and cold-blooded - they do occasionally fall in love with beautiful princesses, but usually their cold nature betrays the relationship - or the Naga (or Nagi - sometimes she falls in love with a beautiful prince) is slain for the huge priceless pearl hidden inside their forehead.

And, continuing on the Indian folklore theme - how about an eastern version of a succubus: the Chureil - a supernaturally beautiful woman with long black hair and scarlet red lips, who can only be discerned by the fact that her feet are on backwards!

We could also see more Rusalkas, Pookas, and Kitsunes - and Loki or Anansi would make a nice change from Coyote.

You know, I think UF is lagging a little bit behind the erotica market.  They’re doing mermaids and genies and weresnakes and all this awesome stuff.

That said, I’m doing another vampire novel, so I don’t want to see everyone jumping on the “not vampires” train.  I have two kids who need to go to college some day, folks.

@Amanda from Baltimore:
Have you read the Betsy the Vampire Queen series by MaryJanice Davidson? They’re hilarious. The lead character herself doesn’t take this vampire stuff seriously.

The gargoyle as hero totally did me in.  Please, no more gargoyles.

I have to second were-sharks. Sharks get such a bad rep that it’d be nice to see them put into a good light for once. I’ve been toying with a shark shifter for years, but it’s never gotten far. Maybe I need to dust that baby off and try again.

Anyhow, definitely not enough shark stuff out there.

Underwear gnomes? 

1.  Steal underpants
2.  ????
3.  Profit!

Think of the fun we could have with those question marks.  Just sayin.’

I’m pretty much sick of were-anything, but I was never their audience to begin with. I just heard about the Dante’s Inferno-inspired video game coming out (thanks, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me) and I could imagine a whole trend cropping up around the Devil. Not a new theme, obviously, but if it means I ever get to read or see anything close to as awesome as Tim Curry in a honking-ass horn-headpiece again, I’m stoked.

I second the vote for sirens,but not in a nautical setting-it would be interesting to see what kind of damage a land locked version would do;car crashes,subways jumpers,etc. Has anyone written about goblins? I know they get a mention in those Merry Gentry books but maybe something along the lines of the Goblin King from Labyrinth would be worth exploring there.

From Canada, so exclude me from the thing.

What I would love to see is more folk mythology done right. I admit to having a soft spot for Celtic/British mythology, but not in the “fairies are good and light and fluffy” little wing’ed things, but all the dark and deadly ones, because damned if the Wild Hunt isn’t terrifying.

(Ran77 is my spamword, funny enough.)

I would love to see more well-done celtic mythology based ones. I saw one that said a celtic huntress made an agreement with artemis, and it jerked me right out of the story. Why would she? Artemis is a greek goddess.

Would love how to see how a lot of the faeries and old gods hadled the modern world, because their sheer anarchic wildness is very at odds with the ordered technology of the world now.

I would like to see more celtic gods and goddesses turn up, more of their faeries and demons and worships without falling into the ‘human sacrifice blah blah, evil, blah blah.’

I would love to see selkies and shapeshifters hiding in city rivers, more realisitc faeries, ceremonial and mystical tattoos.

Something I’ve never seen in urban fantasy and would like to is an awareness that gods and similar spirits tend to turn up out of human need. Why no technology spirits, or gods of the traffic lights?

My initial Tim Curry in a honking-as horn-headpiece link was too powerful, apparently. Take two.

For those who want more good Celtic folklore-based stories, Maggie Stiefvater’s Ballad and Lament kicked a dozen different kinds of ass. They’re more YA romances, but they’re damned engrossing—and this from a person who has very little patience for mediocre Celtic fantasy.

And Lady T: landlocked sirens is totally a book I would rush to read!

Ooh, I’d had my eye on this book just because the guy on the cover reminded me of Sawyer from Lost. To wit, yum. ;) But! Here’s what I’d like to see more of in urban fantasy, in no particular order:

1) More storylines that actually conclude. It’s getting harder and harder for me to sustain interest in series that go on and on and on and on and tell essentially the same stories over and over.

2) On a related note, fewer stories please in which the heroine goes through a successive line of love interests—when what I really want to see is her developing a relationship with one specific love interest. Or maybe two, if the book is poly-friendly. Really tired of series that have the heroine go through five or six guys, and in which every supernatural guy in the immediate vicinity falls for her.

3) Also, I am tired of books in which the primary interaction between the heroine and her love interest is pretty much how hormonally crazypants he makes her. Really don’t need that spelled out in detail. Also, would really prefer series that take their time developing the love interests as characters so you can see what sort of neat people they are. Kat Richardson scored BIG for me on this.

<3

3a) And if the heroine does happen to be driven hormonally crazypants by her love interest, can we back off of this being caused by supernatural influences rather than just good ol' fashioned hormones? It's like there's a trope in urban fantasy going on where it's okay if the heroine has a lot of sex if she's somehow supernaturally driven to it (e.g., if she's a succubus or something). Howsabout a heroine that just

appreciates having sex?

3b) Really though I’d like less emphasis on sex in urban fantasy in general. Ninety nine times out of a hundred I skim through every sex scene in a book anyway and would honestly prefer the page space to be spent on actual plot.

4) I’d like to second the vote for more lesbians in urban fantasy in general. Gay boys are showing up, but some lesbian girls would be nice too.

5) I’ll also second the vote for finding fantastic sources in modern-day life. That would be awesome.

I think that’ll do me. :)

I love any of the UF that is more humor than dark and so so serious(gotta save the world). I would especially like to see a series that involve the djinn. Also faeries and the fey are very interesting.

SB Sarah said about underwear gnomes:

Obviously, they are hung like flagpoles.

Obvs.  They’re growers, not show-ers. 

My debut release, UNDERBELLY (coming in 2011 from Sourcebooks), features a siren rock star and her reluctant incubus bodyguard.

Native Americans in the midwest region—Chippewa, Ojibway—have a shared religion and mythology about the Manitous or spirits.  Its a very spiritually rich culture with Mother Earth, Father Sun and lots of morality tales, a trickster figure, lots of supernatural and natural creatures.  I know only bits and pieces of it but it is rich in honor and redemption and all kinds of powerful themes.  I could easily see someone building a fantastic series around this culture which is not very wellknown generally.

The Four Horseman

>.<

I have noticed that the tween and young adult sections are busting with fantasy titles.  Ghosts, Fairy Tale retellings, Vampires, Children of the Gods.  I am inclined to think that the adult genre has become jaded. It has magic, but it lacks wonder.  If somehow that could be restored, well that would be great.

I am hoping for more Baba Yaga stories: kicking asses and eating babies! Shoe-shopping for a one giant bony leg! Flying Mortar as the most ecologically-friendly vehicle (that doesn’t require much parking space)

My debut release, UNDERBELLY (coming in 2011 from Sourcebooks), features a siren rock star and her reluctant incubus bodyguard.

Ok, now you’ve caught my interest. Will have to be on the lookout for that. Let’s hope I can remember it by then. :)

See, I KNEW I should’ve been a rockstar, only missing the talent and the looks and the nerve, but who’s counting? *grin*

I second the vote for a sense of wonder, but I don’t believe that relies on the choice of supernatural creature, but rather the storytelling choices made by the author. I pick up too many books in which the supernatural elements of the world are normalized from page one. The heroine already knows about the existence of vampires, were-clams, what have you. There is no discovery, and no sense of wonder. The writer takes no time to establish the mundane world, the character’s status quo. So there is no threshold to cross, no choice for the heroine to make to enter into the unknown. This usually has a ripple effect. The writer tries to jump start the action by plunging the heroine into danger and forcing her to rely on the supernaturally gifted hero for aid…and giving her a bad case of passive protagonist along the way. It’s tough to create a climactic event for a passive heroine (he saves her more harder from badder danger!) so this is usually where the heroine discovers that she has heretofore unknown supernatural powers of her own.

So I’ll have a tightly plotted were-clam with a side order of wonder. And fries. Please.

Crumbs or batter, DM?

I third, or is it forth now, Celtic mythology.  I would also totally read something if it had Jareth-like goblins (though really more than one might destroy the planet).

But what I’d really love to see is the Fir Fiach Dubh (Lit. raven people), they’re a portion of Irish mythology I’ve only seen once in a book (The Summer King by O.R. Melling). They’re guardians, hunters, and sometimes tricksters.

DM—part of the reason for that is that it saves the author from having to write Yet Another Discovery Scene.  While that can be a great moment of wonder, it’s also really, really hard to keep the wonder fresh, when it’s your seventeenth trip through the gateway of “omg you mean this stuff is REAL?”  If the heroine already knows about the supernatural, the writer has much more flexible options for how to handle the exposition, which makes cliche much easier to avoid.

(I had a profound moment of relief when I got to that point in Midnight Never Come—it occurred to me that, this being sixteenth-century England, the reaction would be much less “omg faeries are REAL?” and much more “omg faeries are UNDERNEATH LONDON?”  Which was far more interesting for me to write.)

I haven’t read all the entries yet but I really super liked Heather’s suggestion of Sirens saving the hunky sea captain from the mess she herself started.  I’m so picturing Sandra Hill doing this and it being part of her time traveling Viking series, of which I adore.

So, I definately think that the land-locked siren is a cool idea and I also like the different sorts of were-creatures, those could play out really interestingly.
I’ve always had a big yin for all the Greek, Roman, Celtic, etc. mythology and pretty much anything with that captures my attention. However, I think it would be way more fun if someone came up with an original set of gods instead of spinning off the existing ones.
I’m all for some extra lesbo action in UF novels, I haven’t really gotten my hand on any good ones.
Demons, knomes, dwarves, or fairies are not my cup of tea, I’ve never really liked them and don’t think I’ll be starting anytime soon.
That said, I’m always primed for a good vampire or werewolf book, although I think I’d rather just read a single of those instead of a longer series. I always wind up reading those out of order and give away the good stuff from the first books.

Always been a big Celt/British Isles folklore fan. I blame Charles DeLint.  For those in the thread who mentioned the Wild Hunt and wrapping the old folklore in a modern setting, I don’t think anyone does it better. Plus, he was the first one I remember doing this. Jack the Giant Killer was the first one I read and I was hooked. Jack, btw, is a chick.

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of vamps and werewolves. As long as I’m pulling for the protag and the storytelling is strong, I’m in.

@ Anna the Piper:

I really want to see is her developing a relationship with one specific love interest

Amen, sister. I have never been a fan of bed-hopping heroines. I start pulling for the fellow and presto! He’s gone in favor of the next guy. Sookie Stackhouse is the only protag that has ever successfully bait-and-switched me and I am still trying to figure out how Charlaine Harris pulled that off. I liked each and every one of her suitors and could have seen her commiting to any one of them. I don’t object to sex in the book as long as it’s part of something, like unfolding the relationship or exposing a vulnerability.

We make fun of the destined to be together trope but honestly, there must be a reason they do so well.

But what I’d really love to see is the Fir Fiach Dubh (Lit. raven people), they’re a portion of Irish mythology I’ve only seen once in a book (The Summer King by O.R. Melling). They’re guardians, hunters, and sometimes tricksters.

*Headdesk* In my search to find out more I actually found out the authoress made them up. . .GAH!

Also book recs for people who want well written faeries (though they are all YA): Holly Black’s Modern Faerie Tale trilogy, O.R. Melling’s books, and Melissa Marr.

Spam word: When44. . .when I’m 44 I’ll have forgotten all about this.

I’m writing a YA fantasy novel about selkies in Maine! (not urban, but hey)

I’m not big into Urban Fantasy.  In fact, I’m not sure I know what that means or who to read for it.  But I’m done with vampires and Celtic gods/goddesses/mythology.  But I’ve probably worn myself down with all the Nora Roberts reading so that’s my own fault. 

My wish list includes mermaids, shapeshifters, and Norse mythology.

Something that I find urgently needs to be done in UF, especially with all the shifting kind of mythologies, is that they get it on in their other form. It drives me nuts to see all these character being uberhorney due to their animalistic natures, but bham, when they are in their animal or whatever else form, all lust vanishes. WHY?
I always find this utterly unbelievable.
I can imagine it’s probably hard to write, and is probably prone to get yicky, but I do believe it can be quite interesting for character developement.

And as Anna the Piper said somewhere above, there’s nothing wrong with heroines who appreciate sex anyway, it doesn’t need to be due to the other nature.

Also, don’t enter me into the contest, since I’m very much not U.S.

I’d like to see Native American mythology incorporated into urban fantasy this year. I know the West Coast-Native mythologies the best, but I think Trickster or Raven would be interesting characters to introduce into a modern day setting. For instance, what type of insanity would either character get into while trying to woo a modern woman? Or what if they had daughters who were set loose on the (male or lesbian) population at large?

Although I think I’d also like to see more lesbians in urban fiction this year too. Perhaps a story about Pele wooing a lover? Goddess of fire…

Unicorns. It’s all Mia Farrow’s fault! Damn her and The Last Unicorn...

I could totally go for some revisions of mythology of the Greek/Roman kind… Specially harpies or sirens. Think of the noise! (Both physical noise and the emotional noise that comes from it.) The heroine could have a mess of a life until the hero learns to stuff his ears with wax to win her or buys her a good bottle of perfume. Whichever.

Yes yes yes on Celtic mythology!

For Fairies and Werewolves done brilliantly, originally, and hilariously up-to-date, I would recommend Martin Millar’s books: Lonely Werewolf Girl and The Good Fairies of New York. Maybe you’ve all read these already, but if not, get ye to a bookstore quick-like!

Lonely Werewolf Girl stars Kalix MacRinnalch, a laudanum-addicted, angst-ridden, anorexic teenage werewolf. Booklist says this:

This complex romp features scores of characters, multiple races, enchanting fashion trappings, business, family dynamics, music, sex, enduring love, romance, business, eating disorders, drug addiction, back-alley fights, epic battles, politics, and, most prominently, the contrary nature of werewolves, not to mention 236 (!) chapters.

For The Good Fairies of New York, Publisher’s Weekly says: “British author Millar offers fiercely funny (and often inebriated) Scottish fairies, a poignant love story as well as insights into the gravity of Crohn’s disease, cultural conflicts and the plight of the homeless in this fey urban fantasy. Due to the machinations of the obnoxious Tala, Cornwall’s fairy king, only a few humans can see the 18-inch-tall fairies who alight in Manhattan: Magenta, a homeless woman who thinks she’s the ancient Greek general Xenophon; Dinnie, an overweight slacker; and Kerry, a poor artist/musician who hopes her Ancient Celtic Flower Alphabet will win a local arts prize. Fairies Heather MacKintosh and Morag MacPherson scheme to put Dinnie and Kerry together, rescue fairy artifacts and prove that in love or war, music is essential.”

How about a shifter that shifts into a UFO/disc that floats in the sky? The villain could be a serial rapist (explains the “probes”), and the non-shifter in this couple could be the cop or journalist investigating who must team up with the shifter (who is a cop-of-shifters) to bring the bad guy down.

In reality, I actually really like the animal-shifter stories (esp m/m author Joely Skye), but do agree that I’m tired of some of the same stuff mentioned in the above comments.

You know, I am not “done” with any specific aspect of UF or “for” any specific aspect.

What I’m done with and would like to see far less of is sloppy writing and sloppy world-building. If you’re going to give me UF, please make it a convincing and real place to be. Unfortunately some of the ones I’ve read lately have been far from that. Now Ilona Andrews, she has an excellent sense of place. You can see and feel her Atlanta, she ties her mythologies together and makes it work. She is probably my current favorite UF writer.

I actually don’t want UF that’s more about sex and HEA than a good compelling story (and that world building again). I love a subtle sense of humor. I hate angsty anything, whether it’s angsty vampire or angsty underwear gnome.

I love series books, but characters should progress and grow and change, learn from their mistakes and continue to develop. Please less of the heroine being the Only One True Being That Can Save The World as well as the Ever Increasing Powers that turn her into Teflon Barbie.

I was a fan of werewolves, witches, and especially vampires way before it was cool.  In fact, it was my quest to find more and more vampire books that led me into romance novels.  More than anything, what I want is quality over quantity.  Too many have jumped on the vampire/shapeshifter/urban fantasy bandwagon, and it’s really hard to sift through it all to find the good stuff. 

I know this probably isn’t helpful, but this is what I really want to see from urban fantasy.  Don’t give me more; do more with less.

PS - Cara McKenna, you are totally right.  The Devil (and to some extent, Tim Curry) is totally sexy!

Kinda tired of vampires and changelings. Would like to see more demons and fallen angels.

But what I’d really love to see is the Fir Fiach Dubh

Something vaguely similar (a fraternity of “crow-mages” who are trickster figures and serve the Morrigan) appear in Caitlin Kittredge’s Black London series.  They’re straight urban fantasy rather than paranormal romance (the focus of the books is on the action/magic/mystery plot in each, rather than a romance plot) but there’s a nice, slow-building relationship between the hero and the heroine in the first two.  The hero is heavily influenced by Hellblazer’s John Constantine, which means he’s a flawed character in a ways a little different from the usual alpha male romantic lead (where the flaw is generally that he’s a domineering jerk), and it’s a refreshing change to have an urban fantasy romance that isn’t the standard relationship template, with a heroine who’s not an Anita Blake knock-off.

Personally, I can never see enough well done Celtic, Norse, or Slavic folklore and mythology—and I mean the darker, grittier side of Celtic myth, not the prettied-up, fluffbunny pagan version with “the Goddess” this and “the Goddess” that and heroines who all have emerald eyes and firey red hair, and the slightly weird fetishization/exotification of Ireland and Scotland that tend to go with that.

Lovecraft-inspired urban fantasy, and folktale/fairytale-inspired fantasy a la Bill Willingham’s Fables would also be fun—I just finished reading Willingham’s Peter & Max and really enjoyed it (it’s YA fantasy based on the story of the pied piper, not romance at all).  Melinda Lo’s Ash (YA retelling of Cinderella with e bisexual heroine) was awesome as well, but I’d really like to see fairytale retellings for somewhat less well known fairytales.  There are dozens of Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast retellings—I’d like to see some authors tackle less well-known ones, maybe ones that haven’t already been done by Disney (Edith Pattou’s East, for example, was wonderful).

And I realize I’ve been offering a lot of YA examples—I think I’m starting to get tired of the heavy focus so many paranormals have on sex/erotica, to the point that it often overwhelms the fantasy elements and even the romance elements (LKH’s Merry gentry series, for example, keeps tossing out worldbuilding concepts that are actually pretty interesting and atmospheric, and then abandoning them for another random ten-page sex scene that *still* isn’t Merry sleeping with the tentacle guy.  At this point, I’m keeping up with the series just to see at what point LKH finally steps over that last porn barrier and commits tentacle hentai, because I’ve given up on getting a real action plot, or even a real relationship/romance plot).

Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series is my current obsession.  I tend to be woman-centric in my fiction, but Harry’s such a great character that I can’t object.  Butcher does a great job of incorporating creatures we’ve seen a million times but keeping them fresh.  The faeries are my favorites - the billy goats gruff as assassination squad?  Yes, please.  And my favorite part is that Harry and the other characters in the series actually evolve naturally.

Maybe a unicorn shifter?  And the size of his horn . . . you get the drift.  LMAO!

How about a romance serial on the Travelocity traveling garden gnome??

Argh someone beat me to Baba Yaga and Nagis, I espically like the Naga idea being in love with them ever since they were a unit you could recruit in Heroes of Might and Magic. I would suggest that Persian Mythology is the only thing that hasn’t been done to death by now. I’m writing something which includes the Peris.

What I am really tired of, is when an author with a fantasy or supernatural flavoured series stops getting ideas for new and interesting books in a series I used to like. (S)he reuses an old plot and old characters, and just changes names and fiddles with details instead of adding anything genuinely new. And then tosses in a few “new” supernatural critters to try to distract the reader from the stale smell of a dead storyline.
It makes me want to look for a stake with which to kill of a series that should be dead - just to ensure that it _stays_ dead.
(The principle applies to other genres as well - like science fiction - though the parameters of the distractions is naturally somewhat different)
When it comes to Fantasy, IMO Celtic mythology is Done To Death. It doesn’t mean that if it is celtic-flavored, it is bad, but since there is so much “celtic” stuff out there, it is hard to find anything that is truly original.
The situation is almost as bad with Norse myths.
Part of the reason for this is probably because Celtic and Norse mythologies are easily accessible, familiar, and popular. Which means that we are in comfortable, well-charted environs, where few explanations (data-dumps) are necessary.
It would be interesting to see stories incorporating “non-mainline” mythologies, as long as it is well-researched and well written - no half-assed stuff, please!! Or at least the “old and tried” stuff used in a new way.

One “local” critter (I am from Norway) that I can’t remember seeing in contemporary books is a creature from Scandinavian folklore, the Huldre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huldra)
The Huldre is a lovely woman, usually with a hollow back, and also usually with a tail, typically a cow’s tail, though sometimes a fox tail. She will usually have strong sexual appetites, and may seek to assuage those with humans.
A male who encounters the Huldre, and notices her tail, and who politely and indirectly tells her that her tail is showing will be lucky in his profession thereafter.

Another common theme is a woman captured or enticed by the huldrefolk - analogous to the Celtic Sidhe - who may be permitted to return “home” for a visit. Some sort of taboo is usually transgressed upon in those stories, requiring her return Underhill - or else the return is strictly temporary.
The huldrefolk are usually described as being both beautiful and wealthy, so life “underhill” may not necessarily be a bad thing. Well, in the folklore it is assumed hat it has to be bad, since the huldrefolk would be assumed to be non-Christian, which would be sort of the standard definition of “bad”.

The huldrefolk are not necessarily “human”. One popular “huldre” is “nøkken”, a male water spirit who often appears as a horse (to entice young men, I presume)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Näcken

Still, the most important thing is good writing!!!!

food79: I am certain that an enterprising author will find at least 79 kinds of food for her ideas by merely following the links…

Oh, and I forgot to add:

I’d also love to see some more angels and demons that aren’t watered-down, non-denominational versions of the medieval Christian concepts of angels, demons, succubi, etc.  If an author doesn’t want the theological baggage of Christian demons, then instead of writing “generic” demons and angels that act exactly like the Christian versions but without the overt Christainity part, she could write about youkai, or oni, or about Islamic djinn and ifrit, which are still connected to the familiar Abrahamic angel concept but differ from Christian demons in some potentially interestng ways (djinn have free will, for one). (but I’d like to see any of those grounded in the cosmology it comes from—going from watered-down, non-denominational succubi to watered-down, generic oni or djinn wouldn’t be much of an improvement)

What I’d like to see:

Less with the angst and the “omg, but I don’t wanna be a _____ and/or save the world”, please.  Could we just have a were-something or a vamp that is actually happy to be what he or she is?  Oh, and one more “they must be together because some mystical what’s-it says it must be so” and I’ll barf.  It has become an instant wall-banger for me.  (I recently read a book that turned that on it’s head, Crux, by Moira Rogers. The heroine is on the run from a “deranged stalker”, who happens to be the were who was “destined” to be her mate.  I liked it, not just because of the spin on the trope, either.)

As for something different, you could really go Old School.

... and yes, Vampires and were-whatevers should _definitely_ be included in the “done-to-death” classification.

If I encounter “Vampire” or “were-whatever” somewhere in the description of a book, I am unlikely to buy it.

How about an alcoholic PI in a Memphis where Elvis didn’t die in 1977, he just crossed over to the Nightside by becoming a vampire? Where werewolves drive trollies and teach English lit. Where pixie street gangs are frequent targets of Sugar Anonymous propaganda. Where gremlins have abandoned LibertyLand for the riverboat casinos and zombies load trucks on President’s Island. Where a demonic stripclub called Hellzapoppin’ is the highlight of a trip down Beale Street, succubi hunt among the lost souls at City Mission and minotaurs must prove themselves in an all-centaur accounting department.
Add in one cousin with extreme luck (good or bad, no ordinary) and a Big Bad, and you have the one I’m plotting right now.

Oooh Tina C, I really liked Crux too!
And for the prehistorical fiction, as an archaeologist, I think I’d like that to be reïnvented by a talented author. So yay for that too!

More humor and variety of plots. What’s out there is great but it does tend to have a similar atmosphere. Heroine and hero don’t ALWAYS have to be the kickingest ass kickers. I like when UFs mix realism/slice of life and real people with the supernatural without being totally spoofy. I also like a kind of “magic realism” approach sometimes too.

Also, gnomes are evil. It’s all a plot to take over. When it gets bad, make sure you have rubber waders.

Kalevala-based urban fantasy would be cool, though if it’s in a U.S. city the author had better come up with a plausible explanation for what Lemminkäinen is doing there rather than in Helsinki.

Sometimes I’m in the mood for urban fantasy with a good dose of humor, and sometimes I want something that’s more sexy - BUT I don’t necessarily equate sex with sexy.  There’s been a little too much urban fantasy lately that’s got sex scenes that make me want to wash my brain (any recent book by Laurell K. Hamilton, Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland, etc.).

Maybe it’s the manga/anime lover in me, but, as one commenter said they’d like to see more lesbians, I’d like to see more gays - well, gay guys for a female audience.  I’m not sure if I’m describing it very well, although any fan of shonen ai would know exactly what I’m talking about.  It’s true, the guys in urban fantasy have a tendency to be very interesting, and I can’t help but wonder how much better it might be if there were two guys.  And, no, not two guys and a woman.  That potentially gets too close to the territory authors like Hamilton and others have traveled into, and I’m more than tired of that.

As for supernatural stuff, not that all this stuff is necessarily original, but: dragons, kitsune, werewolves (some may say they’ve been done to death, but I still love them), werecats (like weretigers, werepanthers, etc.), people with difficult to control supernatural powers (I’m mostly interested in the angst factor here).  When it comes to interesting, never-before-been-done stuff I’m…drawing a blank.  If it’s too new and unheard of, I’m worried that I’d spend most of my time just trying to catch up or adjusting to whatever the hero/heroine is supposed to be when I’m supposed to be enjoying the story.

@Castiron: There was a anime-type graphic novel a few years back that was Kalevala-based urban fantasy in Finnish, but it looks as though they never got around to translating it into English. I’m working through it, but the only thing more time-consuming than reading Finnish is reading Finnish slang.

The next hot thing is PLANTS.

That’s right. Triffids take NYC. Ents in San Francisco.  They walk, they talk, they SPORE, and they’re eco-nuts.

Enchanted rose trelisses.  Spidery spider plants.  Crabby crab grass. Venus flytraps and weeping willows.  The mind controlling daisys that appear VW bug commericals. The possibilities are endless.

Also shortly to come: the monsters of Popol Vuh in the barrio. East LA, most of texas, and Pilsen are just waiting for their quiche mayan heroine whose hot twin’s head is kept in the closet and gives fashion advice.  Needless to say, antagonist: reborn Incan gods running a local gang.  It points out that the calendar year 2012 is off by….X years and that in fact, the end of days is coming and only good tacos and better guns can hold off the apocalypse.  Hunky anglos welcome.

US only and yet they’re raping European mythology? Where’s the justice? (yes, tongue in cheek, where’s the symbol for that when you need it?)
Cleanse your palates:
http://tinyurl.com/cxjycd

I’d like to see some more humor, some writing with a lighter hand.  Where is it written that all urban fantasy has to be dark and heavy?  I remember ghost stories like Topper and Brief Candles, but don’t know of anyone writing anything similar today.  Whimsical and amusing, not heavy handed and glum.

Alicia—aw, damn!  No English translation?  Makes me wish I’d stuck with studying Finnish, just so I could read that.

Carolina—I would be ALL OVER Mesoamerican urban fantasy.  There are a few examples out there of secondary-world fantasy in that vein (Marella Sands, Aliette de Bodard’s recent book Servant of the Underworld, and a few of my own short stories), but there is a vast mountain of awesome waiting to be climbed with a Latina heroine tackling critters out of Aztec or Mayan mythology.

Sadly, I fear the non-user-friendly nature of Nahua names makes doing Aztec stuff hard.  “Loki” is a hell of a lot easier to say than “Huitzilopochtli.”  The Mayan languages are a bit easier, but not much.

I’m following Kytten’s lead (spooky, because I thought of it BEFORE reading comments). I’d like to see new mythology built around “the ghosts in the machine”, creations of modern-day technology. I’m thinking along the lines of the “mechs” in the Crimson City series, or works by Catherine Asaro, or sentient holographs or something. Truly urban and a new direction. Hmmmm…. I guess I should be paying attention to what I’m thinking out loud!

(Obviously, don’t enter me in the contest, please. :-)

Wow, so many great ideas here! I just wanted to thank everyone who’s commented. I love love love urban fantasy, reading it and writing it, and I just can’t bring myself to write vamps or weres, so this is giving me a lot of research fodder. *G*

I’m excited to be adding something (hopefully) new to the genre with this djinn series.

Thanks, Sarah, for this great post, and for letting me hear from your readers!

@Jan Oda-  There’s a weretiger/human scene in Marjorie M. Liu’s Tiger Eye.  I was floored, because up to that point it had been an entertaining, but pretty vanilla, paranormal romance.

I’m really enjoying the comments, and my TBR list is growing at an alarming rate. 

I still love fairies and werewolves, but the author has to really do something new and fresh to get me excited about vampires.  I’d love to see a story that uses Egyptian mythology.  I can only think of one, and I couldn’t get past the first chapter.  Ugh.

I would love to see UF were the vampires/weres/otherwise supernatural folks were not essentially flawless. I can’t be the only person to think that it is annoying when the hero is a 3000 year old vampire who is gorgeous, filthy rich, a major badass, and owns a castle. It really kills the whole thing for me. Why are they so dang angsty when their life is perfect? I suppose that the same could be said for many regular romance heroes, but UF seems to be the worst.

Oh please please can I get a story about Loki?  Especially if he looks like Nathan Fillion :)

I am certainly no authority on urban fantasy, but I think it would be kind of cool if someone did an astrology-themed series.  Perhaps tribes of each sign with each tribe possessing abilities pertaining to their sign or ruling planet.  TOTALLY sounds nerdy in concept, but if the writing was dark and sex-ay, could be kinda neat.

For a lighter take on vampires, I’ve really been enjoying the Biting Love Stories by Mary Hughes. Starts out with Bite my Fire, continues with Biting Nixie, followed by The Bite of Silence, (which I’m starting tonight) They are from samhain publishing, so expect some smut, but they are so laugh out loud funny, they remind me a bit of early Stephanie Plum, with all the crazy townspeople.

For those looking for light and funny UF, Angie Fox’s The Accidental Demon Slayer series is a riot.

I’m geographically disqualified - and I have three - maybe four - items in this thread (including this one). (The site apparently choked one one of my comments - too many links, I think)

I’d like to see urban nymphs. They could be associated with fountains, or fire hydrants, or streetlights. I think they could get up to a lot of trouble in a city.

More of anything from Ilona Andrews, Rob Thurman, Jeaniene Frost or Patricia Briggs…

Angelia Sparrow, I would be all over that book so please make sure we hear about it when the time comes.

Personally, I’m tired of save-the-world, nearly-fearless heroes and heroines and had been thinking about this before the topic came up here. I’m looking for unlikely urban heroes; in fact, Courage the Cowardly Dog is right up my alley. He’s funny, scared of everything and still protects his owners from ghosts, monsters, etc.

Any were anti-heroes out there?

Let’s see-one of my most favorite series currently featuring ifrit and djinn, along with a generally kick-ass premise, is the Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine. Lots of adventure, true love, characterization-you name it. And, the heroine and her love are 1) not the only heroic people, and 2) never assume they’re SUPPOSED to be. It’s pretty good. Also, wish Neil Gaiman had made his book “American Gods” a series, because oh-my-goodness is it freaking awesome. That thing has various traditional mythologies, the God of Television makes a brief cameo to tempt the hero, and a zombie as a major character. I heart that book.

As for things I wanna see-wouldn’t mind some stuff based on either Native-American or Egyptian mythology. Really like it when my heroine isn’t supernaturally beautiful and could give a crap, because how she looks doesn’t define her. She’s doing her thing, and people don’t have to reassure her/engage in an orgy to help her feel better about the fact that she’s short or something. Bleh.

good33-I’ll take 33 those, please.

I love urban fantasy; I haven’t finished the early adventures of Anita Blake yet. I’ve been pacing myself not wanting to end the affair yet.

I have never been a fan of bed-hopping heroines. I start pulling for the fellow and presto! He’s gone in favor of the next guy. Sookie Stackhouse is the only protag that has ever successfully bait-and-switched me and I am still trying to figure out how Charlaine Harris pulled that off.

I agree. I was hooked from book one; my favorite suitor is Eric because of his complete unabashedness & humor (he’s the only one that really seems to have one, maybe excepting Alcide). I keep plowing through even though the mystery element has been shoved to the back in favor of romance. I think the fact that the books are light and aren’t meant to be taken seriously that keeps me reading.

YA is where most of the good urban fantasy is at right now. There’s all the sex, drugs, and rock n roll a gal could want, but done very well. I second Holly Black’s Tithe series. I would add Diana Petrefund’s Rampant; two words: killer unicorns. It’s a really great book with romance and deals a lot with teenage girls and emerging sexuality and social expectations of women. Another one is Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and Anansi Boys; the latter is light, humorous, and has a romance in the end.

Something other than vampires and werewolves would be very refreshing (though I still harbor a love for both). I haven’t read too many dark faeries, so they’re high on my list. I’d be interested in mermaids or sirens. I’d wouldn’t mind a change from traditional Western European mythology in favor of Asian, Middle Eastern, Eastern European etc. What I’d really enjoy is a new Arthurian series focusing on the women but not in the Mists of Avalon style. I’m not exactly sure how it’d work in an urban setting, but I’m sure it could be done.

I would like to see more urban fantasy with the folklore of Africa, South America or Oceania. I am really tired of the same old same old Celtic and Roman/Greek mythos stuff. Seriously stay out of Europe! I might even say that I am tired of the Native American folklore. Its not really true—I think its more how its tiresome to go to New Age bookstore and all you see of Native American culture is dreamcatchers and Kokopelli. Thats not really Native American culture thats an extremely commodified and superficial version. So I would love to see other folkloric traditions that make it into urban fantasy.

Also I would like to see a more complex heroine who is not all ass kicking and prickly. Yes I want someone who can take of herself but not because she has a gun and a foul mouth but because she is intelligent, thoughtful, resourceful and emotionally available.

I want to read a book that combines the UF edgy-gritty-sexy tone with classic comic superheroes and supervillians.

I’d also like to put my vote in for the Hawaiian were-sharks of awesome. How has that idea flown under the radar for so long?

I think it would be kind of cool if someone did an astrology-themed series.

Noelle, House of Scorpio by Pat Wallace came out in the ‘70s. It’s out of print and I cherish my worn copy. Although a little cheesy, the astrology aspects of it were fascinating: water signs live in rainy climates, fire signs live in warm climates and so on. Six sisters, each a different sign, separated at birth. I loved this book.

I’m going to vote for a novel featuring the Crawfordsville Monster, a flying creature supposedly seen twice in 1891 in Crawfordsville, IN. It’s made it into the D20 Modern roleplaying system as a giant floating head-devouring amoeba.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crawfordsville_monster

Ya gotta admit it would be original. :)

I would love to see some Egyptian folklore and maybe some unicorns or something weird like Sphinxes. Hey I hardly read anything with a unicorn or sphinx like creatures these days. Maybe i’m just odd…

Oh please please can I get a story about Loki?  Especially if he looks like Nathan Fillion :)

Oh, God, yes.  You just made my mouth water.

By the way there is an awesome Loki in “American Gods” even though he’s not exactly a sex-symbol type.  Unfortunately.  But that whole book rules, even though the most memorable part comes in the first chapter, when a woman swallows a man with her vagina.  For reals.

What about incorporating some African mythology into the mix?  I’d also like to see some more Black heroines who are just plain every day women.

@darlynne Our first visit to the world is in a short story called “S is for Succubus,” in my collection Howl at the Mistletoe, which also gets you more stories on the werewolf who teaches English lit, as well as an incubus hunting Memphis, Rapunzel and Medusa in love, steampunk lesbian ranchers fighting zombies, a cemetary quilt and a trucker on a literal hell-run. (it’s all my previously published, out-of-contract shorts)

And no, I’m not writing Loki. He and I have a mixed enough relationship and writing him into something is a sure way to have my life turn into chaos.

My word is father67.  Yes, my dad did become a father in 67.

want to read a book that combines the UF edgy-gritty-sexy tone with classic comic superheroes and supervillians.

Wild Card Series is the one for you!  George R. R. Martin and Melinda Snodgrass are editors.

Ooh!  writing89.

Linda Winstead Jones had an interesting take on the Were-phenomenon in Last of the Ravens, (a Silhouette Nocturne) in which the hero turns into a flock of about 80 ravens. I have to say it gave me the shudders (and not in a good way), but it got me thinking: what about people who could turn into whirlwinds? They could be a special kind of djinn, harnessing the power of the whirling dervish. This could lead off into a whole host of weather related characters: rainclouds, desert loohs, snowstorms, lightning etc., where the weather is not a manifestation of the character’s wizard powers, but is the person’s other self.

I would love to see some Urban Fantasy that draws on modern-day “urban folklore”—you know, the Ghostly Hitchhiker, the Serial with the Hook, the prostitute who steals your kidneys and you wake up in the hotel bathtub filled with ice…

and *every* book would have two include two teenagers making out in a parked car.

I can never have enough of fairy tale inspired novels.  Especially our hero or heroine as a helpful (maybe talking?) animal (fox, hedgehog, horse!).  Not exactly inventive…but oh so good when done well.

I like fairies and witches. We see a lot more of vampires and werewolves these days. Not that I don’t like them because I do, it would be nice to see more magic.

To any burned out on the usual vamps vs. werewolves, I recommend the Dresden books by Jim Butcher.

Sure, there’s vampires and werewolves.

But there’s also…

-more than one kind of vampire

-“Faerie” courts—Seelie and Unseelie

-Ghouls, undead, very cool dogs

-Fallen angels

-And I forget what else.

Also, some cool romancin’ and ass-kickin’ and snarkin’ in enjoyable amounts.

No more Celtic mythology.

How about other otherworldly pantheons? Sumerian, or Egyptian, or Indian? I enjoy good stories where cosmic balance is an issue (i.e. when the gods have rules they have to follow too).

And, I’m not yet tired of good were- stories. There aren’t enough good ones of those.

Thanks katieM! I will definitely have to check that out.

I’m geographically disqualified too—no worries about that.  To reply to Elspeth’s comment on Black London:

Something vaguely similar (a fraternity of “crow-mages” who are trickster figures and serve the Morrigan) appear in Caitlin Kittredge’s Black London series.

Well, I couldn’t get past the brave attempts at local dialect. I lived in London til I was 10, and things like using “bugger all” (which means, ‘nothing’) instead of “bugger” (oh, lawks! Oh dear!) kept jarring me. So my vote is—if you’re not sure you can pull off a foreign dialect, get uber dedicated native-speaking beta readers, or ask yourself if it really can’t be set in your own country of origin :)

I just read Wraith by Phaedra Weldon, and for me, that kicked arse.  The world building (different planes, astral travelling) was consistent and fresh, if a bit handwaved at times. “I don’t know how this works! It just DOES!”. The character, while strongly interested in getting sex is frequently thwarted in this quest of hers.  The love interests are interesting.  I have to say it fell a bit into the trap by book 2 of the writer being bored with Mr Love Interest and moving on… so as a reader I had to lose interest in him too.

UF writers ... please! Write a hero that you can STAY INTERESTED IN, or clearly flag up that they’re disposable at book 1.

Ilona Andrews does this well with Curran, I think. Give us a hero who is as interesting and as strong as the heroine ... not a load of walk on walk off possibles that get auditioned, but don’t work out :)

I am so tired of the young person who suddenly finds they have magic powers/are the offspring of a mystical being. I mean, some do it well (Harry Potter, anyone?) but it’s getting old. I do enjoy some of the reworkings of old (very old) stories and would like to see more of that. American Gods, as mentioned above, is excellent. Some of the stuff reworking Christian mythology can also be good as can some of the stuff reworking Cthulu. Mostly, though, I am looking for good writing, realistic happenings that make sense in the “world” they take place in, and engaging characters who learn as they go. Part of my problem is that my grandfather’s family were, well, pagan for want of a better word and I feel uncomfortable is you get our mythology wrong. Not change it, that’s fine, but get it wrong is a problem.

Currently rereading Justine Musk in case you are interested.

Oooh, how about Detroit’s “Nain Rouge” (an evil red dwarf that predicts disasters - last seen before a blackout in 1976)?

You can’t get much more post-apocalyptic urban than Detroit these days.

Well, somebody beat me to huldre, so I’ll second that recommendation, and also the one for selkies, because I’ve been fascinated with them for years. I’d also love to see some creatures out of Mesopotamian mythology, like the Lilitu or maybe some of the gods (Ishtar/Inanna is my favorites).  And I like ghosts a lot—-two books in this genre I’ve recently enjoyed were Leanna Renee Hieber’s The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker and Laura Whitcomb’s A Certain Slant of Light.

BTW, I tell my grandson stories about Baba Yaga and about succouyants and about Freya in her cart and he loves them. I bet they could go into grown up stories, too. A house on chicken legs, seriously, how cool is that.

I’d love to see more gremlins in urban fantasy. Sure, there’s a gremlin as a secondary character in the Mercy Thompson books, but gremlins are one of the few mythological creatures that’ve become part of the social consciousness as a recent thing (WWII), instead of being from the ancient myths. Urban fantasy is all about the modern world, modern sensibilities and the like, but we get so many ancient creatures and “yeah, the myths are right!” that I’d love to see creatures that only came to be with the industrial revolution and actually *fit* with our world.

I see ferrets becoming a big deal. FERRETS, people. It’s the perfect were-animal. You would never think a cute little ferret would turn into a big-ass dude who would then proceed to choke you!

I’m telling ya - FERRETS.

Also, this might just be due to this video:http://tiny.cc/CGpHO [Cation: So sweet and adorable, it might make you puke. You’ve been warned.]

If there are more werewolf stories around the corner (and I’m sure there are), I’m seriously ready for the heroine to fall for one who is not the Alpha. I love the alpha males but when done badly, they leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

I’m up for any Faerie or fairy tale retellings.

Or really anything where the hero reminds me of David Bowie in Labyrinth. (Can we make goblins suave with tight pants that showcase their manstick? I feel as if this would be total copyright infringement but oh so sexy)

FWIW I’m an American who has never lived in London, but have read quite a few books by British authors,  (the UK editions not the Americanized ones) I am finding the Black London series dialogue way, way overdone and jarring. I wish Kittredge hadn’t even tried, or had used some moderation. It’s like every sentence has to have “bollocks” or “shagged” in it, so the author could point her finger and say “see! I used a local idiom!”

I’m trying to get through the first book now and the world building is pretty good, but then the characters open their mouths.

I’m pulling for Kate, the Bell Witch of Tennessee.  I grew up hearing stories of her and was absolutely terrified of her and probably will be forever.  I’d love to see a modern take on her chilling tale.

It’s a great, but confusing story, as accounts have varied for years.  There’s love, betrayal, a called off engagement.  Did the witch kill John Bell?  Who or what was the witch?  Will she return as she promised?

Whatever happens, I’m sure Kate will be terrifying children in the greater Tennessee area for years to come!

Wendy sez:

I see ferrets becoming a big deal. FERRETS, people.

Well, if you’re cool with m/m, you can’t get much more adorable sexy sweetness than Ann Somerville’s Fluffy Tale.

(yeah, she never calls the kem ferrets, but we know the truth)

I LOOOVE the Black London books. One of the best UF series out there, IMO; totally thrilling. I can’t wait for the third book!

*shrug* I lived in England when I read the first one and didn’t notice anything wrong about the dialect, and neither did my English friends who all loved it or the English people who read it pre-publication to advise on the language/idiom, so I guess it’s kind of like anything else; not everyone talks the same, everywhere? I know there was a big difference between the way people used certain words/phrases where I lived and the way they used them in London or Manchester.*

(*Yes, Caitlin is a good friend of mine. So you can ascribe whatever bias you like to my comments, if you’re so inclined. And I don’t mean that in a snotty way. :) )

BTW, please don’t enter me in the contest, since I intend to be first in line to buy Sonya’s book on release day no matter what. :-)

For those looking for inspiration in the myths and religions of different cultures, check out the Goddess Oracle Deck and other artwork by Thalia Took, here:
http://www.thaliatook.com/AMGG/goddesses.html
http://www.thaliatook.com/AMGG/goddessart.html

Sedna and Tlazolteotl in particular sound like they would be AMAZING deity characters in a fantasy novel. Maybe not as the main characters themselves, but as a foil to the main characters, definitely.

Dragons and basilisks could be the next wave—Have other people read Jo Walton’s Tooth and Claw? It’s like a Jane Austen novel—but with dragons instead of humans! Really fun.

I could see going places with kind of an “under the city” approach, like in Suzanne Collins’ Gregor the Overlander books, which have talking rats, spiders, bats, and so on that interact with the human characters.

One of my favorite fairy tales at the library where I work takes place in China involving a dragon whom can turn human. He ends up taking home the 7th and youngest daughter of a poor farmer and making her his wife. All her sisters except sister #3 are happy for her. Sister #3 who looks exactly like her takes her place but of course everything ends up happy.

I love, love, LOVE dragons and unicorns and don’t think they get enough work as heroes in books. If they are they’re usually just rides. Yes, I read one short story where there were basically weredragons, but you hardly ever see it and the heroine was a weredragon. I want to see heroes who are weredragons and wereunicorns. And werehares, werebadgers - just something different from the usual wearwolves, werebears, and weretigers.

I want to see the leader of the Wild Hunt get hit in the head by a human woman wielding an iron pipe and find himself so taken with her he no longer wants to lead the hunt.

I want heroines who are normal woman. I mean no special powers or anything.

And I want to see more FAT heroines. And by fat I don’t mean the usual “6 feet tall and size 16” I see. I want fat like me! I am 5’ 3” and 240 pounds. While I can fit into a size 22 dress, I prefer to wear a size 26. I wear a size 16 petite jeans and a size 26/28 aka 3X top. 6 1/2 wide width shoes. I want short and fat. I want heroines who have sexual hang ups because of their weight. I want heroines who HATE sex not because they were sexually assaulted but because they had a lot of medical procedures that made them think “If I’m touched down there it will hurt!”  I want heroines with polycystic ovary syndrome. I want heroines who read comic books, listen to Barry Manilow, watch Star Trek, and play Dungeons & Dragons. (Okay, that’s once again getting into my fantasy of being the inspiration behind a heroine. But dang it, I want to be the character in a romance novel!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I’ll settle for her being a Neil Diamond fan and playing computerized solitaire. *winks*

I want to see a fat chick kick bad guy butt, without having to knock him down and sit on him. (Though she can threaten it.)

I want to see vampires whom don’t want to become human again, but do want to do best by humanity. Hunting down pedophiles and rapists and other scum.

I want the Norse gods and goddesses. Most of them were married, yes, including Loki. But maybe they had kids? Maybe Freya gets a little tired of Aphrodite getting all the credit for love?

I want to see disbelievers finding themselves believing when either an angel or a demon falls in love with them. No religion need be named. Just that they believe in something bigger then themselves and realizing life has meaning.

I want more JEWISH heroes and heroines! Seems like they’re always either Catholic, Pagan, or some imaginary form of Islam. I’ve joked about it with Harlequin’s constant “The Sheik’s Virgin Whatever” titles. But I’m serious when I say I want “The Jewish Musician’s Sexually Repressed Bride”! There’s simply not enough Jewish heroes in romance novels. (Okay, so since this is suppose to be fantasy novels we could change Musician to Magician, I suppose.)

Why can’t The Golem find love? Outside of that episode of The Simpsons, that is.

Did I rant enough about what I want in urban fantasy enough for you? Or shall I throw a few more in there? LOL

UF with the Egyptian slant sounds very interesting.  I would love to see interesting witch fiction.  Loved BTVS, Willow, Tara.  Speaking of, I would love to see a lesbian heroine and some hot sex.  Or at least, some realistic lesbian secondary characters.  I hate for there to be a lesbian sidekick whose job is to tell the heroine she’s hot.  I second the person who doesn’t like the generic fallen angels and would like to have them belong to some other tradition, too.  I think Christian urban fantasy could also be really cool. I hate cutesy stuff and I always give up on a book where there’s too much talk about our heroine’s clothes.  Except for Kresley Cole in A Hinger Like No Other because she could pull it off.  I would love to see characters that are NOT gorgeous but who ARE sexy.  I would like the heroine to be gradually attracted to the hero because of who he is.  Um, as far as sex scenes with shifters in their animal form, I’m way too much a prude to handle that.  But I’m not that interested in shifters anyway.  I would love to see people who instead of being all cynical and jaded are earnest and would like to make the world better (incrementally—not just preventing the end of the world).  I tend to like the YA stuff a lot—it seems more earnest, well-written, less likely to have the so-called plot being moved along by curses and prophecies and a can’t-help-it-magic-makes-me-lusty sexfest.  I agree with the reader above, would ten million times rather the heroine just be lustful and enjoy her sex and feel fine about it.

Hate to plug myself here (and therefore, don’t enter me in the contest) but I saw a couple of mentions of Anansi, Egyptian mythology and a black heroine. My UF Shadow Blade, released this month, has all of that. The hero and heroine worship Isis and Ma’at respectively. Unfortunately they have some angst, but I think it’s justified, and Anansi did try to steal scenes a couple of times.

But I loved, LOVED American Gods and Anansi Boys, and you’ve got some other goods recs up there to add to my shopping list!

I am all over urban fantasy like white on rice. It is my crack.
I love the lighter-hearted stuff. Weird weres (bears, geese, bunnies?). I’d also love to see some kitsune or some of the crazier japanese folk tales.

Just to get back to Stacia K:

*shrug* I lived in England when I read the first one and didn’t notice anything wrong about the dialect, and neither did my English friends who all loved it or the English people who read it pre-publication to advise on the language/idiom, so I guess it’s kind of like anything else; not everyone talks the same, everywhere?

It’s good to see you presenting the other side, Stacia K.  It says a lot for Caitlin Kittredge’s writing that not only did I nom all the Nocturne city ones I could get my mitts on, with a great and ravenous nomming—even with my whining about the correct usage of bugger, I STILL FINISHED THE BOOK!

I will freely admit I am OCD about dialects in dialogue.  YMMV.

I am so tired of:
—Data dumps.  Here we are, with our leading characters in a cave, while a host of otherworldly beings are trying to kill them.  Now is not the time to give me the backstory on each separate type of being out there and why it has a grudge against our protaganists.  Especially don’t interrupt a fight scene or a love scene with a data dump.  Look at how some writers deal with showing the breadth of their worlds without scene-killing data dumps.
—MINE.  As in, hero says of heroine, MINE.  Though this is more a PNR flaw than a UF flaw, it has become worn out!  Often in these books, when the hero has known his MINE one day, he will muse how “She always made him smile” or some such, and I go “WTF??”  Always?  He has known her one damn day and ALWAYS?  More books are trying to play with this convention, having the heroine say “I belong to myself,” but in the end, they succomb.  I am okay with books wherein someone finds his/her true mate—but FOR GOD’S SAKE, MAKE THEM WIN THE PERSON OVER! 
—Please don’t just tell me “Noone knew why, when the werewolf morphed from the wolf to the human form, s/he was clothed again.”  This is YOUR WORLD.  You should know why.  Even if it is just “magic.” 
—Try not to throw a djinn in, say mid-series, who basically makes all the books I have read up to now invalid.  Build your worlds up.  Complicate them, but don’t undermine them in order to come up with a new book.  Instead, start a new series.
—Okay, I love Patricia B to death, and other authors who will remain nameless, but enough with the mechanics and hair stylists and waitresses in diners.  Where are the nurse’s aides, kindergarten teachers, daycare workers, the cashiers, the secretaries, the maids, the low level gov employees, the saleswomen…  Can we get more creative with blue collar women?
What I LOVE in UF:
Strong women. 
Complex interesting worlds. 
When someone does something new with the familiar.  Because of what I am reading now, will note Robin McKinley for vampires and Donna Boyd for werewolves.
What I would like to see in UF:
Slave folklore has such immense possibilities!  It is international (Atlantic) and you have the adaptation of African tales to a Norh American environment—and some places Native American as well as European influence.  Brer Rabbit tales—why could these not be were-tales? 
Surprise me!  A good story, with action, romance (or longing), complications, great characters I can identify with—who are imperfect but also sometimes soar above their imperfections,
good secondary characters, great world building, ignoring some conventions….

I like the idea of Wereravens. Or how about non-usual weres, like Werelynx, were-coyotes, werebears, Wereowls… or how about a wereswan? I know an early Anita Blake had one of those, but swans do mate for life, or so they say…

What about creatures from Voodoo? There’s an unused mythology. Or Pooka, for the unused faerie-creatures demographic. Satyrs, Nixies, Pixies, Naiads, Oreads, Nereids, Dryads… there are many unrealized concepts from the world of myth and legends.

Or look at eastern legends: Tanuki, Kitsune, Yokai, Oriental Dragons (which tend to be associated with rivers, clouds and water rather than the fire of Western Dragons). Or Japanese mythology- imagine someone who falls in love with Susano-no-Mikoto. Or the god, Monkey, Or one of the Bodhisatvas. Or Asuras?

What would not like to see any more: I will definitely put my vote on incompletely thought out world-building or books where it’s pretty much all sex, all the time. I’d like to see less of what has been done before, like Alpha male equalling barely this side of asshole. I like seeing stories where the author turns the usual on its head, like Patricia Briggs Alpha and Omega series, or her Mercy Thompson series. How about a Vampire who used to be rich but lost it all in the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and is still struggling to come back from that?

How about a vampire who was never rich? Used to be a bum, got snacked on and turned, which caused him to straighten up a bit, but life is still a struggle for him? How come we never see any vampires made in the middle ages with Smallpox scars? Or a vampire who used to be a werewolf, but because those two races hate each other, is shunned by both? How about we stop beating the European myths that have been over done, and do the ones that haven’t?

And for the lady who mentioned wanting books about Selkies, Virginia Kantra did that, a trilogy ending in a book called “Sea Lord”. It didn’t work too well for me, but YMMV.

I’m looking forward to someone like Cupid- a guy with wings who can shift into a Putti-like form and whose job it is to bring love to the world- and then he ends up falling in love- but he doesn’t want to shoot her with one of his arrows, he wants her to fall in love with him for him- heck there could be a whole race of putti-like beings, and their love destroying counterparts who get the arrows of lead that cause people to fall out of love or to hate each other. Imagine one of them falling in love with a mortal!

Spamword- across57. Across at least 57 cultures, all we can find to write about are Western Vampires, Western Werewolves and European myths and legends? Really?

Wen Spencer used the oni, kitsune, and elves in Tinker and Wolf Who Rules.  I hear she’s writing again after taking a break for a while, and I have my fingers crossed that there are more books in this series.

Kelley Armstrong had a kitsune in a recent short story about Jeremy, the head of the American werewolf pack in her Women of the Otherworld series.  And there have been strong hints that there will be more Japanese mythology and creatures to come.

JamieSings said:

I love, love, LOVE dragons and unicorns and don’t think they get enough work as heroes in books.

How about a virgin unicorn hero who is torn between his propensity to drool over similarly chaste blondes and his growing attraction to a sexually experienced, empowered, modern (urban) heroine?
Maybe he was a Russian prince cursed by Baba Yaga for being narrow-minded and unappreciative of female sexual power? Immigrated to NYC following the communist revolution? Fears kitsch yet is kitsch?

Please?

For Lan, who wanted Mermaids, and Jane, who wants the other-wordly creatures to have saomething to do with changing the world, you both need to pick up Judi Fennell’s first three books about Mer people. And the latest, Catch of a Lifetime, includes a relationship between a Mer woman who wants to form a joint commission with humans to bring awareness of their activities on the environment, and an environmentalist, who just wants a normal relationship. Fun and humorous and heart wrenching. And I’ve beta read the first in her next trilogy. Can you say djinn? And hot from the first page!

I know little about Urban Fantasy, but if you are looking for a strong women who takes no prisoners, consider Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire, lightning, dance, volcanoes and violence (no relation to Pele of Brazil).  Hawaiian mythology explains how the Polynesians came to settle the islands 2400 miles from anything but Pele stands out with her lovers’ quarrels, temper tandrums, and take-what-she wants attitude ... she happens to live in Kilaueua, one of the earth’s most active volcanoes (that continuously spews lava into the sea, thus enlarging her island of Hawaii).

Well, if you’re cool with m/m, you can’t get much more adorable sexy sweetness than Ann Somerville’s Fluffy Tale.

(yeah, she never calls the kem ferrets, but we know the truth)

Cool, thanks! I’ll totally check it out.

No wonder I love this site! Look at all the suggestions that have been posted! I don’t have anything to contribute as far as what I would like to see, everything posted sounds great!

Agree with all the ones mentioning Russian folklore. Or in that vein, what about the classic ballet stories? A lot of them deal with enough passion, betrayal and magic to be amazing.

Ah Lynne how I agree with you, also I love the Carthys and watersons :P “A Dark Light” and “Holy heathens and green man” are amazing!

I wanted to add a couple of things to my previous comment:
first, I am not in US, so not here for a contest.

second, though I stand by my Baba Yaga suggestion, urban fantasy doesn’t need to appropriate any old mythology to be awesome. Cities, urban settings can have great myths of their own. Statues that are coming alive, raccoons that have sinister plans, crazy cat ladies that rule magical underbelly of a city, buildings with misplaces time and space… I want more weird and whimsical in my urban fantasy, and less vampires.

If we’re going to do Urban Fantasy what about all those lonely crocodile people in the sewers?

I really love stories where mythologies clash - American Gods was not a romance, but the mixture of Norse and Egyptian mythology was fascinating. If you are in an urban setting, it is natural to see clash of cultures.

As an American, I would like to see more explorations of Native American mythology.  There are a diverse range of myths just in the American west.

I just finished the Dark Heavens trilogy by Kylie Chan, which combines Western (Aussie ex-pat in Hong Kong) and Eastern (god in human form) characters and cultures into a fabulous, richly textured combination of romance, action adventure, and exploration of Chinese culture and mythology. I particularly liked the obstacle preventing the hero (Xuan Wu, the Black Turtle) and heroine (Emma Donahue, nanny) from consumating their relationship. Another trilogy continues the story and is yet to be published but the writing and tension are so good I am looking forward to it rather than resenting being caught up in a longer series than I bargained for.
There are were-creatures (dragon, tiger, turtle), wholly non-Christian demons, gods and goddesses, and a pantheon of mythology I was totally unaware of until now.

Spam word: them37 - I would read every book in this series even if there were 37 of them!

I could see how Bigfoot could work [look at the ‘Sanctuary’ version]. How about making a female one?

An erotic take on the original Pygmalion.  Maybe with a male stature this time!

Tuath de Danaan.

Owain and the Wild hunt [that could be really dangerous and gothic].

Green Man [woman?]

Undercover superheroes/people with special abilities.

Spirits of place

Nyads and dryads

Ent-like creatures

Blodouedd [or other magically created beings]

Proper old fashioned wizards and similar.

Bards

Time travel

Alternative realities [maybe a hero/ine from one in which magic is real or similar]

Faye Gallant said:

How about a virgin unicorn hero who is torn between his propensity to drool over similarly chaste blondes and his growing attraction to a sexually experienced, empowered, modern (urban) heroine?
Maybe he was a Russian prince cursed by Baba Yaga for being narrow-minded and unappreciative of female sexual power? Immigrated to NYC following the communist revolution? Fears kitsch yet is kitsch?

Okay, you’re on. You write this and I’ll read it. At least one confirmed sale!

Spam word: anti38 - no, no, no - pro38 reasons I would read this theoretical book

(Live in London but also have a US addy so leave it to you whether or not to include me in the draw.)

I gotta say, I never get tired of vampires or weres or loads of sex or tons of hot guys.  I know they’re done to death.  Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.  I luuuuurves them.

But I’d love to see more UFs with angels, dragons and pantheons (Greek and Egyptian being particular faves.).  Alternative histories are always a HUGE fave of mine (Though technically scifi, Thomas Harlan’s answer to “What if the Aztec empire never fell?” totally rocked my socks.).  I also agree with @Lee about the clash of mythologies/cultures.  And I do love djinn… lol

For me it’s less about the “type” of being/magic, and more about the story and characters.  So if someone writes a rocking good story about a were-cockroach, I am SO there.  Ok, maybe not.

I think that mermaid stories fit the ‘were-fish’ category.  I think a lot more can be done with the were-Crow or were-Swan stories.

How about a vampire who was never rich?

A few years back Peter David had a funny reverse were-wolf story called “Howling Mad” that included an inpovershed vampire.  I’d love to see more stories where the romantic hero is also a loyal pet.

There’s simply not enough Jewish heroes in romance novels.

I’d love if there were more (some?) writers who would write about JEWISH folklore:  Golemim, dybbuks, nephilim, Giborim and Sheddim/She`irim.  (Just hate the term “Judeo-Christian”.  I’m not a prefix!)  There are traditional stories where each of them hit romantic tropes:
1/  The Golem is a being with a spirit but not a soul.  Some stories have the Golem earn a soul or be granted a soul through the Magic Hoo-Hoo.
2/  If the nasty dead wife isn’t enough of a distraction for the Hero what happens when she takes over the body of the Heroine?
3/  Nephilim= forbidden love children of Angels and human women.
4/  Goliath wasn’t the only giant.  Wouldn’t they call humans ‘little people’?
5/  Sheddim/She`irim.  Sometimes translated as Satyrs and sometimes translated as Djinni.  They live in the areas abandoned by humans.  How about a snotty Real Estate Agent trying to evict a squatter who turns out to have very hairy legs?

For Native American legends it would be nice if the people writing them would do more research.  (ie The Navajo don’t think that were-coyotes are nice.  The Windigo is not the guardian of the forest.  The West Coast Indians talk A LOT about a female Sasquatch, D’sonokwa.)

Thanks, Shaheen! I’ll see what I can do- I’m a little in love with the idea, myself. :)

I really enjoy the stories about shape-shifters, but some days I think I’d be nice to have an alternative to the dominating, hela-crazy sex driven, alpha males. How about an animal that most people think of as cute and cuddly but that can be suprisingly fierce - like bunnies. Ever hear a bunny growl? Been charged or biten by an angry bunny? They can be scary - trust me!

@ Janie:

UF with the Egyptian slant sounds very interesting.

Oh, yeah. I always figured there was some gloriously and tragically romantic reason Set went from the hero who defeated
Apep to the bad boy of the pantheon. (Then again, considering the ‘cost’ of the battle, I’m not sure how that would work out, romance-wise.)

For all the jokes about mummies as heroes, Anne Rice actually did a book like that, with the hero being a solar-powered immortal, rather than a bandaged shambler. Imhotep from the first two “Mummy” movies is another example.

A variant on a mage or witch hero where they actually integrate the modern world into their magic somewhat would be nice to see. Something like a “reality hacker”, someone who can talk to the spirits in tenement buildings or call up a plastic elemental, for example. The usual struggle between magic & technology feels a bit stale by now, plus the theme of “everything was better and more wonderful before the Industrial Revolution” is a bit preachy and unrealistic. Personally, I kind of like the Internet, vaccines and sewer systems, and it’s a bit funny to see mages disdain the scientific method, and then use their codified, reliable magic formulae.

I’m outside the US, so this and my other post, the second one, can’t be entered—should have mentioned that before, oops.

How about an animal that most people think of as cute and cuddly but that can be suprisingly fierce - like bunnies. Ever hear a bunny growl? Been charged or biten by an angry bunny? They can be scary - trust me!

I would totally read the werebunny as long as the author doesn’t go the obvious playboy route.

Now its angels instead of vampires.

how about series about succubi and incubi, and repositioned every mythological heroine/ hero in a modern citry

Sumerian mythology has potential. Or relocate Greek mythological hero/ines in a modern urban fantasy setting

How about a nice, shape-shifting Hunky Punk?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunky_Punk

Tennin - they’re like angel’s/fairies/swan maidens/selkies all in one! Legend-wise if you steal they’re kimonos they can’t return to Heaven. The versions I’ve heard always start with a man who comes upon one (or a group) while they’re bathing. In one the man steals and hides the kimono and when the tennin asks for it back he demands she marry him (eventually she finds it and returns to Heaven leaving behind him and their children). In another one the man wanted to keep the kimono, as a reminder of her beauty, but when he realizes she needs it, gives it back and gets a wish in return.

See, you could do like a group of them who got stuck on earth. Or flip it around to male tennin. Or (as in the case of Ayashi no Ceres) you could have her be murderously incarnated.

I’m all for a hot Loki full of chaos and passion.
He should wear tweed somewhere in it. I don’t know why…

Lane—that was funny, good point!
Philippa—have you read The Owl Service by Alan Garner?  It was so good (about Blodeuedd)

I second the person who would like to see a wider range of blue-collar jobs too. 

How would it work to go about bringing Egyptian pantheon characters into, say, a city in the U.S., or Vancouver or whatever? 

Could there be some sexy secret Afro-Brazilian brotherhood of Capoeira dudes who travel the world fighting injustice and saving people from entrenched systems of domination?  Or maybe they could fight the other secret Brotherhood that mindmelds with politicians and causes them to transfer huge amounts of taxpayer money into banks and whatnot.  Or, they could just fight demons.

I think sometimes bringing a pantheon of gods into UF might not quite work well.  Gods would be different, have an inhuman take on things.  Maybe our heroes or heroines could be drawn from regular people from that time—say an evil Pharaoh who thinks his reanimated human servant is going to help him work evil upon the world but our hero is trying to take him down, or get revenge for buddies who died building the pyramids or whatever. 

Hindu mythology would be neat.

I’ve long been fascinated by non-Western mythologies, but afraid to tackle them in writing because I worry about 1. getting it right or 2. causing offense (either by seeming to trivialize it, or by getting it wrong). 

And so as much as I’m curious about mythological elements and would love to read several (many, many, omg you have just expanded my wish list into a huge, many-tentacled (Kraken?) thing it will take years to get thru), what I really want is to read UF written by people of different cultures.  Where the plot line reflects their values and worldviews and isn’t just a standard American/Brit. narrative with Nagas instead of vampires or shinigami swapped in for werewolves.

So what I guess I want is foreign UF, in translation, which may be a mythical creature itself.

Damn it, I forgot to say, and now I’m way up there. Am in the UK so no contest for me.

And I will use this to say one thing that has often bothered me about most fiction with female protagonists. This is more a general rant.
The writer usually goes to great pains to show how the woman goes to no real effort with their appearance, and it’s spposed to make them ‘better’ then all the vain girls who do.

I can see that a lot of authors can find this necessary as a reaction to the ‘naturally perfect’ type, but what on earth is wrong with showing the woman enjyoing dressing up and pampering!

I recently started reading a series by Vicki Pettersson called Signs of the Zodiac and its about superheroes.  I personally love that idea, that superheroes can be made normal and more than just super with their weaknesses to loves from before they became super.  I would love to see more like that.

I want to see a series with Death as a matchmaker.  Who else, metaphorically speaking, knows us better?

What I crave in urban fantasy is heroes (and heroines, though I think this is less of a problem with female characters) who are genuine outsiders. I’m sick of hunky alpha males whining about how they are so, so alone in the world. I want men who live on a different wavelength, healers and scholars and bards who don’t embody the hyper-masculine ideal of American manhood. Sensitive, creative, wounded but strong, and slightly sexually ambiguous all a plus.

I guess I was spoiled, because my introduction to urban fantasy came before this barrage of leather clad demon hunters and supernatural mating rituals. War For The Oaks by Emma Bull, my favorite UF novel in the history of forever, is full of awesome characters that are more than gender stereotypes. Cal and Nico from Rob Thurman’s books come to mind as well. I guess only chicks can write decent male characters?

Caitlin:

I guess only chicks can write decent male characters?

Not fair! Jim Butcher continues to excel with Harry Dresden, who remains, hands down, my current favorite male hero of an urban fantasy series. The Dresden Files come to mind again and again as an excellent example of a long-running series in which the lead character develops and grows as a result of all the stuff that happens to him. The Harry of the current books is definitely not the same Harry we got in the early ones.

Connor Grey in Mark Del Franco’s series is pretty decent as well, and there’s also a series by John Levitt featuring a decidedly non-alpha male main character, a guy who’s a jazz musician with a small dog-like companion, an Ifrit, as his magical familiar.

Anna:

I of course meant no offense to the incredible Mr. Butcher. I actually like him for the opposite reason: he writes manly characters so well that I love them as much as my preferred brand of artsy pretty boys ;)

I’ll definitely check out the recommendations. Jazz musician fantasy heroes? Sounds like just my style. Non-alphas need more love.

Caitlin:

*grin* Gotcha! And yeah, the jazz musician hero is not half-bad at all. Book 1, Dog Days, is a bit unpolished, I think, and re-reading my Goodreads review post of it, I see that my primary beef with it was that the hero, Mason, gets a lot of grief from his fellow practitioners about what a slacker he is, magically speaking. I’m reading Book 2 (New Tricks) now and it’s more polished, so I’m liking that.

It’s clear to me that the author is also a musician, from how he describes Mason’s playing. Which I really like, as an amateur musician myself. :) And Mason being a bit of a slacker actually very much works for me and ties in with the whole anti-alpha thing.

Also, his little dog familiar is totally cute.

I like the John Levitt books, at least partly because his Ifrit is obviously a Miniature Pinscher in looks and temperament.

By the way Zal, in the Justina Robson books, is far from a leather covered alpha male with legs like tree trunks. He’s a thin and elf-pretty rock musician with various addictions and more than a few issues.

Yay for book recs!

I guess I find that non-alpha heroes crop up now and then, but never in the role of the romantic interest. Even my beloved Rob Thurman falls into this trap. She writes great male characters from a male POV, but as soon as she switched to a female POV, all the potential love interests were brooding and hunky. Not all women have identical taste in men, you know?

And while I’m at it, why are there so few romance heroes who are musicians? This seems to me like a basic make-women-collapse-in-swooning-piles-of-lust thing, just as much as men who play sports or kick demon ass.

So many great suggestions and comments! It’s hard for me to think of what I could really add but…

For all of you Neil Gaiman lovers and for those of you looking for Urban Fantasy that is really really urban may I suggest Neverwhere.  (I hope I did that link right!)  It was a BBC televesion mini-series as well.  The show is very 80s in a great way, I think, but the book is timelessly urban. And it has a sweet romance as well.

I guess my wish list would be tight world building as well as a fresh perspective from the hero/heroine.  I guess real flesh and blood people who live in these worlds, deal with them, etc is what I’m looking for. That of course is just good writing and can be found, I know.  I, too, am a huge fan of Patricia Briggs and her contemporaries who do this well, but also fall into that category of readers who came to PNR because I ran out of Charles de Lint and Emma Bull.  So yeah, world building and smart, realistic characters are huge for me.

Speaking of Emma Bull, I highly recommend the Bordertown stories.  Terri Windling got the ball rolling on this great world and there are several books by several different authors including Bull.  Some of it is hard to come by but it’s worth the the effort to track it down.

The mythos, legends, or magic from which the UF draws doesn’t matter so much to me.  I’ll read anything well done.  I’m a little tired of half-assed rehashing of the same old same old.  If the vampire has to be so freaking broody and emo about everything at least give me a good reason for it not another melodramatic, unbelievably over the top “X was mean to me” scenario.

For Caitlin, who said:

And while I’m at it, why are there so few romance heroes who are musicians…

Look for author Olivia Cunning, coming this fall from Sourcebooks. The first in a series of erotic romance will be released then, about the members of a rock band called Sinners (the first book is called Backstage Pass). At least one of the band members is into voyerism, one is bisexual, etc. Five members of the band, five books in the series. I’ve beta read the first one. Seriously HOT!

I’m cheating a bit, since my suggestion isn’t UF, but Colleen Houck’s Tiger series (Tiger’s Curse, Tiger’s Quest) combines quasi-were-tigers with Indian mythology in an awesome way.  The books are YA, but I’m well above the YA target age group and I still loved the books.  Plus, an added bonus was that the hero definitely wasn’t an alpha-jerk and actually copped to hobbies and interests outside of the stereotypical hero.

Kat:

I confess, I don’t really read erotic romance (I’m a young undergrad, and never had the balls to bring something like that into my parents’ house). But what you just described? Hits nearly every one of my major kinks. I may have to check it out.

@LoveMeSomeBooks

What I would like to see in UF:
Slave folklore has such immense possibilities!  It is international (Atlantic) and you have the adaptation of African tales to a Norh American environment—and some places Native American as well as European influence.

Sorry to tell you but we are not slaves! Its the 21st fucking century darling. WTH? You might mean African American folklore, Haitian folklore, Bahamian folklore, Jamaican folklore or other West Indian folklore that is a mix of African, European and Native American traditions.

For those of you who havent read Nalo Hopkinson check her out. She is not urban fantasy but writes rather interesting fantasy with West Indian folklore. Check out Brown Girl in the Ring to start

Also check out Tanarive Due who has a series about immortals that works in African mythos. Its shelved in horror but its not very bloody. The first book is called My Soul to Keep.  In this book immortal named Dawit who keeps a secret so that he can marry his wife. Dawit was born 500 years ago but he is tired of running and wants to settle down and does so with Jessica. But Dawit’s past comes back to haunt him. Great riff on the vampire story. The story continues in The Living Blood and finishes out ( Oh noes!) in the Blood Colony.

@David
Convent of the Pure, by Sara M. Harvey, deals in Nephilim. Steampunk lesbian half-angel demon-hunters, one of whom is dead.

There are some in Exodus Gate by Stephen Zimmer as well.

I write the occasional Jewish character: heroine, mentor, love interest.

Caitlin, Backstage Pass comes out in October. You can find it now for pre-order by looking up Olivia Cunning on Amazon. And it has more kinks than you can possibly imagine! And serious romance. Sourcebooks is launching a new line of erotic romance, and Olivia is going to be the keystone author for that launch.

For those who want Norse Mythology, try Greg Van Eekhout’s Norse Code.  It is all kinds of awesome!  The book is a tale of Ragnarok, Valkyries and the search for a missing sister. 

And this is just perfect considering the book I just mentioned: plane62

@Trumystique: Yes, I know slavery is over!  I am an historian and teach courses that deal with slave folklore—I wish authors would use these poignant and rich tales in their novels.  I am also totally up for West Indian or African American or Afro-Brazilian (the list could go on) folklore more broadly, but I thought there might be an interesting historical angle.  I shouldn’t have used the present tense—it WAS international, shoulda said.  Meant no offense—I find the tales passed on in slavery really moving and thought they should be known outside my narrow field.

@Diatryma: If you have not read J. Carrey’s Saint Olivia, you might wish to. Supernatural coming of age story well told, with a heroine who just happens to fall in love with a woman. Less a romance than a well told story with a romantic element.

@Lovemesomebooks: You might enjoy The Edge series by Ilona Andrews. The first book introduced us to a well built/thought out world, a heroine who starts the book out as a cleaning woman, and from what I have seen of the series, will have individual HEA’s with some reappearances of the characters in later books as secondary characters.

Now what I am tired of? Stories that are unimaginative, and have no cohesive world building. I wish authors would :think these things through before you publish the first book, make a series bible you keep at your desk when you write, and realize that if you solve all the problems in the first book, then darn what are you going to do in book two, three or fifteen? I like Bujold’s idea of causing drama, “What is the worse thing that can happen to this character?” And have the character deal with it.

To the person who did not like “MINE” being said by a male protagonist, Yeah that can make me flinch at times. I have to remind myself that these are fantasy books, and that the hero is not a stalker. But there are times when a book deals with it in a good way. (Anne Bishop did a whole subplot with a male character being bothered that he thought that way in The Shadow Queen).

What I want to see? More books like Singh’s, Andrews’, Brigg’s,  where the world building is solid. The charactizations are well written, and the story does not rely on the HEA, but instead on drawing the reader in and making us care about the characters. A good story is a good story, whether the hero/heroine is a were, a vampire, or just a divorced person with two kids. Make the world believable in a good way and I am happy.

I’d like a hero or heroine who, for once came from a happy home. Biological parents, single parents, adoptive parents, gay or lesbian parents, extended family etc. I don’t really care, I just want it to be a home where the adults or whoever is doing the raising love their children for who they are and raise them to the best of their abilities.

I’d also like to know what the fairies do with the babies they are always abducting. Are they taking them to be raised by childless couples or do they have a more sinister plan for them?

Lucifer was the most beautiful angel there was, he was called The Morningstar after all. So why are there so many books out there where he and his demons are ugly without a better reason than “evil is ugly” therefore the demons and the devil are [physicall] ugly.

And it goes without saying, I’d love a hero or heroine who is fairly comfortable in their own skin. Be it human, vampire, werewolf or wereclam. They don’t have to be in love with who and what they are all the time, but who is? I am tired of the vampire who only wants to be human again and who broods about it. The human woman/girl who thinks that she’s the most unattractive person in the world (but really is drop dead gorgeous to everybody surrounding her) etc ad naseum.

needs52: Yes I do need 52 more original plot ideas

how about the gorgons? they get no love and those snakes-for-hair as penetrating possibilities XD

@Kat:
Consider it on the list. And please, please tell me it’s chock full of hot musician goodness? I know I’m not the only woman who prefers Keith Richards to Hugh Jackman.

I’m a huge Dresden Files addict - I have Thomas’ book in my TBR pile.

Tanya Huff’s Keeper Chronicle series is fun and light - not as ha ha funny as Katie MacAlister or Mary Janice Davidson, but not at all dark, either. And in one of the books, I remember half the Norse pantheon checking into a hotel the heroine was stuck running for the summer.

I’ve only read Katie MacAlister’s Guardian series but they are fun, fun, fun - great sex, silly jokes and she manages to keep you guessing until the end.

Also - like Sarah was discussing in another post - in the Guardian series we follow a couple through more than one book.  Aisling and Drake get three books and now the doppleganger and the silver dragon get their own set.

I like books in which the supernatural folks are already out of the closet. When I started building my world, I liked the idea of writing about werewolves whose two natures are fully integrated - half human, half werewolf, which means they aren’t borderline socipaths forever on the edge of bloody mayhem. They have jobs and families and difficulties finding reliable childcare, and they have to function in a world where humans outnumber nonhumans.

I find as I get older that angsty heroes annoy me much more than they used to. I still prefer alpha heroes - I can’t think of any romances I’ve read featuring beta male heroes, and I don’t think I can write one. And I have a sneaking fondness for alphole heroes, just not angsty ones. If he’s going to be an asshole, he’d better not be a whiny one.

I really loved the world that LKH constructed for the Merry Gentry series. Really loved it - a good mix of paranormal archetypes, a believably modern world in which all the supernaturals are out, compelling plots and characters - but all the damned sex just ruined it. I like hot sex in books, I’m not put off by polyamory or a heroine who changes up the batting rotation on a regular basis - it’s just, there was so much of it, and it was so relentlessly and for-the-sake-of-it outre. I read two or three and then gave up. I’ve tried to read the first one several times since, and I just can’t stay interested. It really frustrates me.

Miss29 - I don’t, actually. I do kinda miss 39.

I would like to see nature spirits who have had their realms usurped by the urban fight back or adapt or both, depending on what type of creature they are.  Fitting that into a story that talks about the environmental issues that we are facing might be really interesting.

I totally love @Elemental’s suggestion of magic and technology working together.  I love me some techno-mage!

I also love me some geeks, so I second whoever it was who suggested heroes that weren’t head-on alpha males.  I don’t think I’d like a complete beta type, but somewhere in the middle, I guess.  A guy who definitely had a strong geeky side.

Caitlin,

the musicians in Olivia’s books are members of a metal band. Check out the web site for more info: http://www.oliviacunning.com/sinnersontour.html

BTW. “Brian’s Muse” is the one now renamed Backstage Pass.

Don’t know if someone else suggested this already (I didn’t read all 174 comments, sorry):

I think I’d like to see more urban symbiosis going on—creatures who evolved with or found a niche in the urban environment and thrive there.  Not just gargoyles or sewer creatures, but the building version of dryads, maybe, or a Naiad that can only live in polluted water (and perhaps processes it into clean).  Or creatures that are attracted to emotions, negative and postive, keeping things from blowing up altogether in disaster scenarios . . . 

How would they feel about the human citizens?  What would they do if something or someone threatened their city, politically or environmentally?

Hi, Caitlin-
Kat let me know that there’s a fellow musician-lover over here on this post.  I wondered why there weren’t many musician heroes out there either.  I mean, what could possibly be sexier than a guitarist?  A singer, maybe?  Or a bassist?  A drummer?  So I decided to write a novel for each.  They are sexually explicit in content, but at their heart they’re all romances and about finding true, lasting love.  Love stories with a lot of heat.

The first novel is about the lead guitarist, Brian.  He’s the romantic type.  Very tender with the heroine.  He’s ready for a commited relationship, but she takes some convincing.
The second is about the lead singer, Sed.  Alpha male extroidinare.  His one weakness?  His heroine.  She doesn’t let his ego get totally out of control.  That’s why she’s so perfect for him.
The third is about the bassist, Jace.  He’s the quiet type.  Except in the bedroom.  Watch out.
The fourth is about the drummer, Eric. He’s the comedian of the group.  Always ready with a joke.
The final book is about the rhythm guitarist, Trey.  He’s the bisexual, party boy.  Never a dull moment with this guy in the room.

I love writing this series.  And I am a huge music fan.  I think it shows in the enthusiasm of the prose.

Thanks for your interest.

And thanks to Kat for talking me up!

I’d be interested in anything that SEAMLESSLY integrates both worlds.  None of this “Hide the fay!” or “Isolate the humans!”  But a world where co-existance is a must.  Where the politics are problematic and the protagonist really DOES root for both sides.  I’m so tired of the smug voices of protagonists convinced that their side (usually the ‘cooler’ magical one) is right and humans are bigoted assholes.  That is OLD and TIRED.  Stop hating your own species!

I also DETEST making the monsters pretty.  I’m tired of pretty vampires.  Where are the average Jane and Joes?  Where are the explanations of “Magic makes them SEXIER!”?  I find it way hard to believe that there are all these hot people wandering around Sookie Stackhouse’s tiny little corner of the world.  Where are the overweight vampires?  Why isn’t there a Weight Watchers for vampires?  Or some Nads or Nair for werewolves?  (that one was touched on recently with an author who did a fairly good job at it until…. SHE MADE HER PROTAGONIST AN ALPHA JUST BECAUSE…. um hello alpha’s require a personality to fit.  Your gal is way more interested in shopping.)

Bring back some of the fun that can be had by the two worlds colliding.  Too much sexxin’ and saving the day gets tired.  I feel like I’ve read it before.  I’m STILL waiting (eagerly, practically hopping off my seat for May!) for some kind of resolution to the Kate Daniels and Curran affair.  But I’m HAPPILY waiting because the REASONS for the wait make sense.  Not just “Oh I’m not sure his penis loves me enough.”

Oh, and can we have some TRUE alphas please?

I’ve worked with and trained dogs for 25+ years. It’s my passion and my hobby. I show dogs in agility and rally obedience and have had several Nationally ranked dogs (my intact male Min Pin is the #5 agility pin in the country right now and let me tell you, that’s a challenge!). I teach classes, where it’s really important to be able to read and understand the dogs, or someone could be bitten.

Dogs are not wolves, but they share a lot of traits including pack traits. And in dogs and wolves (whether were- or not) in humans and vampires and whatever, the one who is growling and posturing and bullying the others, the one always up on his/her toes, the one who is throwing his/her weight around is NOT the alpha. (hint to Jenna Black, Adam, way not alpha!)

A true alpha is very rare. They don’t have to prove anything. They just are. They are almost always quiet and are very comfortable in their skins. It takes a lot to rouse them to anger. They are secure and settled. You know them when they walk in a room. You feel the power.

I have only owned one alpha dog in my life, in this case an alpha bitch. She would walk into a room and just stand there kind of mildly looking around, and known aggressive dogs would suddenly find something else to do. They wouldn’t even look at her. She was dog friendly and people friendly.

So I am really tired of Alpha being confused with Aggressive. All that posturing and bullying stuff is done by the wanna bes. The real thing almost never needs to demonstrate his or her power.

Mermaids. Not Disney mermaids but vicious, bloodsucking mermaids. You know they have to be extreme to survive with sharks and other sea predators floating around. As a matter of fact, a book set under the ocean (or other body of water) would be pretty interesting all by itself.

Olivia,

Wow! My second time posting on SBTB, and I’ve attracted the attention of an actual author ;) I liked the excerpt from Brian’s Muse. I like my kinky with a good dose of complex characterization, and this sounds like my kind of thing.

As someone who has had a huge girlie boner for musicians since the age of thirteen, let me tell you that you are doing a fantastic service to women everywhere. Stop letting the cowboys and billionaires have all the fun!

What I want, in general, is stories where the heroine doesn’t have to utterly abandon civilization to be with her love interest.  I mean, I’ll read a story where she drops her job and moves to the middle of nowhere to be with the hot dude, but am left feeling that, within a month, she’ll be going stir crazy with the need to have something to do other than have sex—want to check her email and head to a bookstore and walk through a crowd without being aware that every single person there could rip out her throat in a second if they felt like it.

Several people have mentioned they’d like more lesbian fiction.  I have seen bunches of mm and mmf fiction, but not much lesbian stuff, and in fact, it seems that many of the female protagonist who have no problem with multiple male partners, get pretty freaked out by the thought of adding in an icky girl.  Anyone have a link to a good list of fun lesbian romance/erotica?

I mean, I like reading a mm sex romance as much as the next kinky girl out there, but women are just…well, their bodies are just prettier.  Like I said, have not read much in this kink, and was thinking out expanding.

I didn’t see anyone recommend Robin McKinley’s Sunshine, one of my favorite books ever. The heroine, Rae, is a baker in a family coffee shop in a post-Voodoo Wars world. The world building is phenomenal.

A true alpha is very rare. They don’t have to prove anything. They just are. They are almost always quiet and are very comfortable in their skins. It takes a lot to rouse them to anger. They are secure and settled. You know them when they walk in a room. You feel the power.

Amen and thanks.

I’m glad to hear more people want humor and something different, but the problem is selling it to NYC. I’ve been shopping a Tunder Fairy/Angel story, that’s hip, (the Vampires are all Super-models—think about it…), but I’ve been told the “tone” is too light.

Maybe I’m just ahead of the curve, but in the book business that’s a hard place to be.

I’ve been hoping for a kraken romance ever since Maggie Stiefvater made her video entitled “Kraken are the new vampires.”

Usually whenever gods or goddesses are used in tomances they’re the greek/roman pantheon or maybe norse (Thor, or Loki)
How about using a few from some that are lesser known?
For instance I’d love to see someone use Uzume, the Japanese goddess of merriment in a modern-day romance.  Since she’s considered by some to be the patron goddess of strippers she fit in well in Vegas or somewhere.  Definitely a good-time, fun-loving woman.  Good company on a road-trip I bet.

Robinjn: I’m so glad to read that. I submitted my first full length novel to my editor this month - I worried the whole time I was writing it that my alpha hero wasn’t alpha-y enough - he’s very laid back and believes that violence is always to be used in a calm and deliberate manner as a last resort because if you have to threaten people to do as you say, then you shouldn’t be the Pack Alpha to begin with.  When he’s defied, his first reaction is to raise an eyebrow.

I wasn’t really thinking of alpha dogs in nature - I was thinking that if werewolves had evolved alongside humans, and had managed to keep hide their natures from their human cousins for thousands of years - as my worldbuilding has it—then they couldn’t have all been hair trigger sociopaths who were constantly killing each other for dominance because that sort of shit attracts attention. Every time I read a book where the vamps or wolves or fairies or demons or whatever are supposed to be unknown to humanity at large, I keep hearing Marisa Tomei’s voice in my head: “Oh yeah, you blend.”

On a diff subject, speaking of the Norse gods….waaay back in the late 60s there was a comic book featuring Thor in the present age. Under circumstances I don’t recall, he was running around America in disguise and he was in love with an American nurse - of course his love had to be Unspoken because he could Never Reveal The Truth of His Identity - and I want to say Loki used to show up and fuck with him. Anyone else remember this comic book?

Personally I like:
1) Demons but of the non-Christian tradition. I like bad but not evil. Mainly it’s all about the horns…yum…
2) Elves/Fairies/Sirens, etc but not in a Lord of the Rings way. I liked how they were incorporated into the Sookie Stackhouse books
3) Agreed with the Norse mythology fans. Especially more valkyrie a la the Immortals After Dark series. You know you want to live in that house.
4) I don’t mind werewolves but I don’t like them in urban settings. It starts to get too similar really fast

Okay the “HaBO: Pert Breasts or Toupee Tape?” comments reminded me of something else I want to see when it comes to heroines. Droopy boobies! Come on, even when they are fat in romance novels her boobs are big but perky! Well, I want to see saggy ones. I want the heroine to smack a sarcasstic elf in the face with a big old swinging boob. I want to see a fae male get all excited because he finds them easier to manipulate then perky boobies and can get both nipples into his mouth at once.

I guess I’m saying that even though I want fairies and gods and vampires and angels and demons and werecreatures - I want women with realistic bodies as well. After all, who says fat chicks can’t kick zombie butt?

I worried the whole time I was writing it that my
alpha hero wasn’t alpha-y enough - he’s very laid back and believes that violence is always to be used in a calm and deliberate manner as a last resort because if you have to threaten people to do as you say, then you shouldn’t be the Pack Alpha to begin with.

Bingo. All that throwing the weight around and threatening everybody? It’s like short-man’s syndrome. Bluster because of fears of inadequacy. In dogs/wolves by the way, hackling up (raising the hairs on the back of the neck) isn’t so much a sign of aggression as it is of uncertainty/fear. When dogs hackle up, it’s because they feel threatened and are quite literally trying to make themselves look bigger. It’s a defensive mechanism. Not to say a dog won’t hackle then attack; fear arousal accounts for a lot more attacks than dominance aggression, and real alphas rarely ever attack at all because they hold the pack by the power of their personality.

Sorry, know that gets off topic, but it does relate to my earliest post about how I really don’t care what creatures/characters are in the novel, as long as it’s well-written and the world-building is convincing.

Speakin of gods and werewolves…right now we’re watching Thor: Hammer of the Gods, a SyFy movie from last year. Vikings find new land populated by werewolves.

Ye Gods, is it bad. Cheesy ass special effects and Paris Hilton-level acting. Starring one of the kids from Home Improvement, all grown up. He’s not that bad, but he’s surrounded by cardboard.

Faye Gallant said on…
02.08.10 at 11:27 PM
JamieSings said:

I love, love, LOVE dragons and unicorns and don’t think they get enough work as heroes in books.

How about a virgin unicorn hero who is torn between his propensity to drool over similarly chaste blondes and his growing attraction to a sexually experienced, empowered, modern (urban) heroine?
Maybe he was a Russian prince cursed by Baba Yaga for being narrow-minded and unappreciative of female sexual power? Immigrated to NYC following the communist revolution? Fears kitsch yet is kitsch?

Please?

Agreed!

And please make him Jewish! I’m tired of the typical Christian or Pagan UF hero. There are other religions out there besides Christianity and Pagan. Heck, Christianaity wouldn’t even exist if the Jews hadn’t come first. Or did we forget that if Jesus Christ was alive today he would NOT be at McDonald’s scarfing down bacon cheeseburgers?

@Techie

I’d also like to know what the fairies do with the babies they are always abducting. Are they taking them to be raised by childless couples or do they have a more sinister plan for them?

According to most of the stories I read they raise them themselves because the fae are for the most part sterile. They sometimes do have children with other fae, but they’re always very sickly, ugly, and die soon after birth. (This is where “Changlings” come from - they’re fae children.)

Now after centuries of kidnapping human children and taking human adults as mates, you’d think the fae bloodlines would be watered down do to breeding with humans. I always wondered how they could survive - other then the fact pure blooded fae are suppose to be immortal - if they bred so much with human beings.

Onto other subjects - various mer-creature lore - I was doing some studying on it because someone was asking about mermen. Apparently unlike mermaids they’re suppose to have two tails and be extremely ugly, which is why mermaids kidnap humen men to have sex with. They’re shallow bitches who can’t stand to be touched by their own kind. I also read that male selkies will come to shore and take to mate a human woman who’s cried seven tears into the ocean. Would be interesting to see a woman who’s cried into the ocean being chased by a male seklie. Especially if she’s someone like me who cries when she sees herself in a bathing suit! LOL (I have to laugh or I will scream. Sorry.)

Sorry, ladies, Loki was married. When he was finally trapped in that cave where the snake constantly drips venom on his head his wife sits by him and collects it in a cup. (He was responsible for the death of the most beloved of the Norse gods.) Earthquakes come when she has to empty the cup and venom gets on his head. So you’d have to settle for Loki’s previously unknown hot son, ladies.

More women in granny panties. You couldn’t get me to wear a thong if you offered me a billion dollars. Honestly, show that granny panties can be sexy and empowering. Besides, when you’re kicking butt thongs can ride up into unwanted areas. At least granny panties you don’t have to pick out of your crack in the middle of fighting off a horde of angry goblins.

Some fetishes would be nice. Like leprechauns are suppose to be shoe makers for all fae creatures. So what if all leprechauns had foot fetishes? What if to get aroused they have to tickle the feet of the women they love?

I’m weird, don’t mind me.

Speaking of - I’m sick and tired of muscled heros. I, frankly, get hot in the pants for men built like Barry Manilow. Over 6 feet tall, between 144 to 165 pounds, with big noses. I like big noses and I cannot lie. I like my men tall and scrawny with big honkers. Please, a man does not have to have big muscles to be an alpha or to be sexy or to be straight. (Honestly, most of the guys I’ve known with big muscles have been gay. Most of the scrawny men I’ve known are straight. Not all, just most.) So more scrawny heros too, please!

I want to see:

1. Deer Women
2. Banshees
3. Anthropomorphic personifications  (These show up sometimes in other urban fantasy, but not romance…)
4. Avatars (not James Cameron’s)
5. Ghouls
6. The werewolves of Hebrides

Uh, apperently I have a lot of wishes.

1.Yes, I’ve read Alan Garner :-).

A lot of those Celtic legends are ripe for an adult/romantic and possibly contemporary retelling. Taliesin the cauldron born, for one.

2. Death as matchmaker? I DID THAT ALREADY AND SIR TERRY PRATCHETT WROTE IT UP IN ‘MORT’ [ggg].

3. Egyptian Gods? Pick them very carefully. Isis is actually not a nice person, for a start. Her husband was eventually resurrected missing a certain..ahem..vital part [go, look it up!].

Oh, I just thought of something else today.

There’s lots of Greek myths where Aphrodite gets ticked off at someone, usually another woman, and punishes them by setting them up with their True Love. (I guess, from what I’ve read, the Greeks were actually afraid of love. So falling in love was seen as a punishment.) But I’ve never seen that done in a romance novel.

With The Most Depressing Day Of The Year AKA Valentine’s Day coming this weekend I started thinking about how I’d like to punch Aphrodite in the jaw. Which is what made me remember all those myths.

It would be nice to see her do that in the modern day. Some woman who no longer believes in True Love for whatever reason. Maybe she’s like me and just been told too many times by too many guys that she’s “A nice person but too fat to be seen in public with.” Maybe she’s had too many bad relationships. Maybe the last guy abused her. Whatever the reason she declares True Love doesn’t exist and she’s going to be celibate for the rest of her life. Maybe she even spits on a statue of Aphrodite or one of the Aphrodite action figures for Xena: Warrior Princess - or even a DVD of the movie staring Vana White. However she does it she ticks off the Greek Goddess Of Love and Aphrodite decides to get even by having this woman be pursued by her True Love. (And maybe said True Love could be a supernatural creature himself. Like a god from another pantheon, a fae, a werecreature, a merman, etc) so she not only has to deal with True Love actually existing but so do those annoying vampires!

Amphibians, like the tv series that stared Patrick Dempsy, Who later went on to to be on Dallas with JR.. This would be neat.

I want to propose a new UF trope:

Fate-rape.

Where fate, mystical pheromones and supernaturally endowed studliness combine to create constant erections and sopping panties and inevitably culminate in cataclysmically orgasmic hot monkey sex.

Just say no to supernatural rohypnol.

I want to see heroines and heroes really working for their love! I want heroes and heroines who treat each other with respect! I want lusty heroines who say “I like you so refrain from behaving like a Neanderthal he-man asshat, treat me with respect and I’ll be totally jonesing for you to slip me the bone, ‘cause riding your man-parts like a cowgirl just plain feels good.”

Honestly, there’s more than one way to skin a cat and if you need to rely on Fate to serve you pussy on a platter then you’re a L O S E R.

Enough of the furry porn and vampires already. The were scene is worn out. Frayed like that old rug that’s been flogged unto death. It’s like we’re overcompensating for the fact that Chewbacca was always left to stroke his own Wookiee.

There is a whole world of mythology and whole worlds as yet uninvented, all waiting to put out at the drop of an asshat.

Say yes to happy heroes, the whole gamut of sexuality, embrace plots that are more than scantily clad vehicles on the road to shag.

Down with the literary bang-bus.

Let’s stir the dough more and use better ingredients before we get to the bit where we toss our cookies.

So I am really tired of Alpha being confused with Aggressive. All that posturing and bullying stuff is done by the wanna bes. The real thing almost never needs to demonstrate his or her power.

I’d say Jeremy of Kelley Armstrong’s series qualifies though so far I’ve only read 3 books and he’s been a secondary character but he’s the alpha and Clayton is the one who acts like the usual aggressive werewolf. I’ll have to see if he sticks to the proper kind of alpha male when he shows up more prominently in one of the future books. (now sitting on my end table :-)  )