***As I mentioned elsewhere on my blog, Squidoo – a site where I had previously published a number of articles – has gone the way of the dodo. (Or rather, they will in the very near future – I think they shut down on October 1.) That being the case, I’ve been transferring some of that content to my blog here, including this post. Disclaimer: this is several years old and has not been updated, but I don’t think much has changed.
Paranormal is the New Normal
Sandman Slim (The Sandman Slim Series)
Staked (The Void City Novels)
Eric Courtney is a vlad famously known for having blackouts and an extremely poor memory. He chalks it up to having been embalmed before arising as a vampire. He can’t even remember how he came to be undead in the first place, and no other vampire has ever stepped forward to declare himself Eric’s sire. His legendary blackouts are usually the result of someone making him angry, and whenever he comes out of it there’s usually a dead body (or several) nearby. In fact, the first novel opens with Eric shouting at someone as he comes out of a blackout, looking at the decomposing vampire body and wondering who he’s killed. Moreover, he soon finds himself framed for the murder of a werewolf, who just happens to be the son of the local pack leader. Now he just has to prove himself innocent, find out who set him up (and why), and – among other things – avoid the werewolf assassins that he knows will be coming after him. Not the easiest thing to do for a guy who typically can’t remember who he ate the night before.
Child of Fire (The Twenty Palaces Series)
Ray Lilly is a small-time crook and petty thief who serves as a driver for a member of the Twenty Palaces Society. Because he betrayed her once, his boss doesn’t trust him and wouldn’t mind seeing Ray in a pine box. (In fact, Ray is designated a “Wooden Man,” which essentially means that his job is to literally get himself killed if it helps his boss complete her mission.) When his employer gets hurt, Ray – with a single spell to his name and a few magical tattoos on his arms and chest – must go alone after an otherworldly monster capable of controlling not only people, but also time itself.
Dying Bites (The Bloodhound Files)
A serial killer is stalking and killing supernaturals in this new world Jace finds herself in. Because vampires, werewolves and golems don’t suffer from mental illness, the killer – presumably – is human. Moreover, the lack of mental illness means that the authorities have no skill in this area, thus the reason for “borrowing” Jace from her own reality. In tracking down the killer, Jace also has to adjust to a world where she’s suddenly part of a dwindling minority, and the supernaturals have cute little nicknames for normal people, like “O.R.” (which stands for “original recipe”). Not to mention the fact that, in many ways, she sympathizes more with the killer she’s chasing as opposed to his victims.
This series makes a nice departure from the typical paranormal stories, where all of the things that go bump in the night are kept under wraps and hidden from plain humans. Here, all of the supernatural beings are out in the open, and it’s Jace who has to masquerade as something else – a werewolf, courtesy of a specially formulated body spray – in order to avoid detection for what she truly is. All in all, it’s a good read with great supernatural elements, mystery and action. The novels in the Bloodhound Files are:
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