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 :)