Ocean liner on a seaweed breeze

[sovay]

We have now reached the point in our life with cats where spatch will leave the room before blowing his nose in order not to startle Hestia out of the paper bag nest she has made beside his computer. I feel fairly confident there is at least one folktale on this pattern.

Last night I finished reading Vivian Shaw's Strange Practice (2017), my Christmas present from my cousins. It stars Dr. Greta Helsing, whose family dropped the van on their way out of the Netherlands ahead of World War II, and it is very much like Kim Newman's Anno Dracula (1992) and sequels if Newman were really interested in characters, prose, and plot beyond the immediate exigencies of fitting as many fictional vampires on the same page as possible. I suspect it is slightly more sweary and violent than the strict definition of a cozy mystery, but it is definitely the kind of mystery that is less a puzzle for the reader than a well-constructed excuse to hang out with a bunch of peculiar and appealing characters for the length of a novel; I recognized it belatedly from yhlee's post about latte art and kindness and it lives up to both. My sole reservation in recommending it is the default Christian theology common to so much urban fantasy, though Shaw's take is at least more in the style of Good Omens than The Dresden Files and I happen to like the main demon in the cast. (He has a racking cough and works as an accountant and keeps being described as looking like Edward R. Murrow, right down to the mid-'50's suits. I recognized the monster he is named after only because Tolkien appropriated it for Middle-Earth.) I like the entire cast, actually, which is ideal but never guaranteed in this kind of ensemble narrative. Greta is never washed out by the less human characters around her and considering that two of those are Sir Francis Varney and Lord Ruthven—the latter of whom takes his retail therapy very seriously—I am impressed. On a thoroughly idiosyncratic note, coming off a run of romance novels, I really enjoyed that no one in Strange Practice actually has a romance with anyone else. There are strong indications in the epilogue, but mostly just a lot of people caring for one another regardless of chemistry, species, or deadness. I plan to read the sequel. The art on the paperback endpapers is very sweet.

Tonight I am going to finish Barbara Hambly's Murder in July (2017), which came from my parents. I would like to be writing, but at least reading is good for me. Also, you know, fun.

Comments

[strange_complex]

Thanks for drawing Vivian Shaw's book to my attention. People are constantly telling me I would like the Anno Dracula books, but actually I don't think I would - they sound altogether too Flashman-esque for my tastes. Strange Practice sounds considerably more promising.

[sovay]

People are constantly telling me I would like the Anno Dracula books, but actually I don't think I would - they sound altogether too Flashman-esque for my tastes. Strange Practice sounds considerably more promising.

I don't want to oversell the book, but I really enjoyed it. I admire Anno Dracula more than I actually like it, especially as the series goes on and increasingly resembles a name-checked list of pop-cultural vampires and other fictional characters of the relevant decade. (The conceit of the first book is very clever; I can't say the same for the next two and I tapped out before Johnny Alucard.) The author of Strange Practice got her start in fanfic—she's the first professionally published author I've seen include her AO3 handle in her official bio—and is clearly a character-first writer and since I like what she does with her characters, it works for me.

[asakiyume]

It sounds charming! And somehow the main demon, with his cough, dovetails in my mind with spatch going out of the room to blow his nose.

[sovay]

It sounds charming! And somehow the main demon, with his cough, dovetails in my mind with spatch going out of the room to blow his nose.

Hee. I can see spatch playing an accountant demon, too.

It's a really nice book, meaning it in the most active and positive sense as opposed to faint praise. Sometimes you just want or need that.

[asakiyume]

I know exactly what you mean. Yes: sometimes that's exactly what you want to read.

[kore]

Oh, this sounds pretty neat.

[sovay]

Oh, this sounds pretty neat.

I recommend it! It has people being funny and kind and weird and competent, all at or for one another. The protagonist is a thoroughly decent human being (as opposed to anything else) of a doctor who is good at her job. I am interested in seeing what these characters do next.

[davidgillon]

Kindle sample downloaded to remind me to tak a look at this!

[sovay]

Kindle sample downloaded to remind me to tak a look at this!

Enjoy!

[davidgillon]

Devoured the sample in the middle of the night (which seems appropriate), just about to purchase the full book!

[sillylilly_bird]

I quite liked it and am also looking forward to the sequel.

[sovay]

I quite liked it and am also looking forward to the sequel.

How did you hear of it? The author in both her professional and fannish incarnations was totally off my radar until the book was put into my hands.

[sillylilly_bird]

It was in Scalzi's Big Idea series last summer.

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2017/07/26/the-big-idea-vivian-shaw/

[sovay]

It was in Scalzi's Big Idea series last summer.

Cool!

[negothick]

Your description of the Shaw book captures the distinction between "urban fantasy" and "paranormal romance," an ever-moving line or (better) fuzzy set.
Another Venn diagram could be drawn for readers of cozy mysteries, fantasy, urban fantasy, and paranormal romance. The members of my book club, "The Usual Suspects," range from "never touch fantasy" to "reads all of the above." Then there are the ones who will accept ONE bit of the fantastic, such as a skeleton as a main character, but no other fantasy.

[sovay]

Your description of the Shaw book captures the distinction between "urban fantasy" and "paranormal romance," an ever-moving line or (better) fuzzy set.

I want to say that the amount of sex is a dividing line, but really I suspect it's marketing.

Then there are the ones who will accept ONE bit of the fantastic, such as a skeleton as a main character, but no other fantasy.

Are you thinking of a specific book with a skeleton as a main character? I got stuck thinking of Max Gladstone's Three Parts Dead (2012) and sequels, which have a lot more than just a skeleton.

[negothick]

Yes, I was thinking of Toni Kelner's (as Leigh Perry) Skeleton in the Family, which has become "The Family Skeleton Series." It's marketed as a cozy.

[selidor]

This book hits a very nice point (as you say: it's nice!) between Good Omens and Rivers of London. I read it adjacent to Seanan McGuire's Down Among the Sticks and Bones, and it was well worth the juxtaposition.

[sovay]

This book hits a very nice point (as you say: it's nice!) between Good Omens and Rivers of London.

Yes! I also thought of Aaronovitch while reading, although I forgot him in this post. I wonder if the crossover already exists.

I read it adjacent to Seanan McGuire's Down Among the Sticks and Bones, and it was well worth the juxtaposition.

How so? I don't know the McGuire.

[selidor]

I remain hopeful that Aaronovitch will get a TV series any day now, since that series (including its graphic novels) are very clearly angling for TV interpretation. I can see a Dr Helsing cameo in there!

The McGuire is a pretty recent release, a sequel to her meta-portal fantasy Every Heart a Doorway (2016), and narrows in on the backstory of two main characters from that book. I read them in order and I think that did help, though they would standalone pretty well too. Sticks and Bones deals with people whose best home is in a Gothic landscape, whether as mad scientist or as vampire. It does some interesting things with the meaning of actions as evil, and the whole meta-portal fantasy aspects are better developed than in the previous book. (There's also some competently handled breaking of imposed gender roles, the best I've seen on this from McGuire so far, which is a nice step up from her).

[sovay]

I remain hopeful that Aaronovitch will get a TV series any day now, since that series (including its graphic novels) are very clearly angling for TV interpretation. I can see a Dr Helsing cameo in there!

I would approve!

How are the graphic novels? I've read only the books.

(There's also some competently handled breaking of imposed gender roles, the best I've seen on this from McGuire so far, which is a nice step up from her).

I am glad to hear it. I have tended to bounce really hard off her writing despite her consistently choosing themes or subjects that would interest me, but I'm happy even from a distance when writers get better.

[selidor]

The graphic novels are well up to the standard of the books, perhaps even better. He handles vignettes better in the graphic novel format; there's a running set of one-page stories in the back of each graphic novel which are hilarious. (This is one of those times where I wish I could just hand you our set. Sigh, oceans.).

[sovay]

(This is one of those times where I wish I could just hand you our set. Sigh, oceans.).

I resent the perpetual absence of cheap and safe teleportation from my life.

[thomasyan]

blowing his nose [would] startle Hestia out of the paper bag nest she has made beside his computer

I'm a bad person. I would like to see video of this, as long as nothing more than dignity is injured....

[grammarwoman]

I picked up Strange Practice a couple months back (I think from a rec by ladybusiness or one of its contributors), and I agree that it's a lovely supernatural, cozy-ish book. My only complaint with it would be that I wished we had more ladies with a major role; Helsing is rather surrounded by gents. Maybe in the next book we'll get to spend some quality time with the women in her clinic, because I'd love to hear more about them.

[sovay]

Maybe in the next book we'll get to spend some quality time with the women in her clinic, because I'd love to hear more about them.

Agreed. They were sketched enough in Strange Practice that I would definitely like to see more.