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Only four people besides myself, who visit this lj, appear to be reading the Kim Harrison novels. Not overly surprised. They are odd books. With a rather grey heroine at the center. And Harrison melds science fiction and urban gothic fantasy together. Also she's not quite as deft a stylist in her phrasing as Jim Butcher, who of the urban fantasy writers that I've read to date - seems to have the least number of typos and the richest vocabulary, not to mention the best dialogue. Possibly because he was an English Lit major? Harrison's dialogue comes rather close to Butcher's and she also navigates a dark urban universe, noirish, with grey characters, the heroine feeling at times like an anti-hero (even though Harrison's fan board seems to be remarkably oblivious of this aspect). And let's be honest, sci-fantasy, specifically urban gothic - is not everyone's cup of tea. I don't tell anyone outside of this lj and maybe Harrison's board that I read these books. And when I do, I am a bit embarrassed. Marcel Proust and Octavia Butler they aren't. I may have eclectic taste, but this does not mean I'm not a snob. You can't get a BA in English Lit and not be a bit of snob.
Harrison fascinates me as a writer though - because she melds her bio-engineering background into her stories. She doesn't come from the traditional English Lit/Lawyer/Classical Lit Academic backgrounds so many writers hail from. Instead she comes from the world of science, business, and engineering. My father used to say that what annoyed him most about a lot of writers out there - was he felt like he was reading the same books - some guy or gal in a musty university writing about what it is like to be at a musty university or worse some occupation they've thoroughly researched but never quite lived (which may explain why John Le Carre, Grahaem Green, and Ian Spelling's spy novels feel a bit more real than say David Baldacci, John Maxim, or Robert Ludlum). It is true, to a degree, that old adage, we write what we know best of all. Jim Butcher is a martial arts student, a English Lit major, and a bunch of other weird jobs - so we see that to a degree reflected in his stories. Patricia Cornwell was a foresenic scientist. John Grisham - a lawyer. We meld our experience into our tales. The characters that populate them live inside our, the writer's, minds, we are their universe, and we are their god. When we write the stories down - they fill others minds and become part of their personal canon and verse. Taking on a new and different life.
In Harrison's Rachel Morgan series (I haven't tried anything else she's written and I don't like short stories so tend to avoid them), she creates a wide range of characters and species. Unlike Butcher and other's - Harrison is interested in biological differences and the ethics of power in all its forms - notably science and magic. Her magic has a chemistry element to it. It's a magical world designed by a bio-engineer. Her witches aren't human, nor are her elves, pixies. Weres (werewolves and others are human, cursed with a virus), Vampires are also human - but have a virus that changes them. But Witches in Harrison's world are stunted demons. Demon's who have been changed by bio-engineering elves, who felt the need to weaken the demon who had become all powerful and was trying to destroy them.
( a synopsis meta review of the Rachel Morgan Books - meant to explain why I like them to people who have and have not read them. )
Okay that's my latest cultural obsession. Don't worry it won't last long. The next book isn't due out until next Feb, and my attention span isn't that long. Plus there's no good fanfic out there for the books. And the fandom, sigh, is a little too invested in the romances. So, I'll mosey on soon.
Harrison fascinates me as a writer though - because she melds her bio-engineering background into her stories. She doesn't come from the traditional English Lit/Lawyer/Classical Lit Academic backgrounds so many writers hail from. Instead she comes from the world of science, business, and engineering. My father used to say that what annoyed him most about a lot of writers out there - was he felt like he was reading the same books - some guy or gal in a musty university writing about what it is like to be at a musty university or worse some occupation they've thoroughly researched but never quite lived (which may explain why John Le Carre, Grahaem Green, and Ian Spelling's spy novels feel a bit more real than say David Baldacci, John Maxim, or Robert Ludlum). It is true, to a degree, that old adage, we write what we know best of all. Jim Butcher is a martial arts student, a English Lit major, and a bunch of other weird jobs - so we see that to a degree reflected in his stories. Patricia Cornwell was a foresenic scientist. John Grisham - a lawyer. We meld our experience into our tales. The characters that populate them live inside our, the writer's, minds, we are their universe, and we are their god. When we write the stories down - they fill others minds and become part of their personal canon and verse. Taking on a new and different life.
In Harrison's Rachel Morgan series (I haven't tried anything else she's written and I don't like short stories so tend to avoid them), she creates a wide range of characters and species. Unlike Butcher and other's - Harrison is interested in biological differences and the ethics of power in all its forms - notably science and magic. Her magic has a chemistry element to it. It's a magical world designed by a bio-engineer. Her witches aren't human, nor are her elves, pixies. Weres (werewolves and others are human, cursed with a virus), Vampires are also human - but have a virus that changes them. But Witches in Harrison's world are stunted demons. Demon's who have been changed by bio-engineering elves, who felt the need to weaken the demon who had become all powerful and was trying to destroy them.
( a synopsis meta review of the Rachel Morgan Books - meant to explain why I like them to people who have and have not read them. )
Okay that's my latest cultural obsession. Don't worry it won't last long. The next book isn't due out until next Feb, and my attention span isn't that long. Plus there's no good fanfic out there for the books. And the fandom, sigh, is a little too invested in the romances. So, I'll mosey on soon.
