I really needed another fiction author to follow, right? But I’ve seen this series of books about a werewolf named Kitty, and I finally got a chance to read them. I finished the first, Kitty and the Midnight Hour, today and jumped right into Kitty Goes to Washington. I have Kitty Takes a Holiday all lined up and ready to go, but I’m already wishing that I had the next volume, Kitty and the Silver Bullet. And that, my dears, is a sign of a fine author spinning a very good yarn, considering all the other books waiting and ready on my shelf.
The library has the books labeled as horror, but I’d put them in the paranormal romance/dark fantasy category. Happily, the “romance” part isn’t the most significant one and doesn’t get in the way of a good plot. There was a moment today when I wondered if Vaughn and Kim Harrison had shared a brain to a small extent, but they’ve dealt with a superficially similar issue in very different ways.
If it weren’t for the fact that I just finally got done with my school assignments for the week, and must get up when Sam does in the morning, I’d probably be sitting up reading!
Now I really need to find a source for these short stories, though. Any of you have the relevant magazine issues?
- “Kitty Loses Her Faith” Weird Tales, #333, Fall 2003
- “Kitty and the Mosh Pit of the Damned” Weird Tales #338, Jan-Feb 2006
- “Looking After Family” Realms of Fantasy, February 2007
- “Kitty’s Zombie New Year” Weird Tales #345
Yeah, Carrie Vaughn is one of my new favorites. Of all of the “badass chick who’s really a werewolf/ vampire/ vampire-hunter/ witch/ shaman/ whatever” authors, she’s by far the best, IMHO.
New authors? Have you tried Storm Constantine? Catherynne Valente? Jacquline Cary? Robert Holdstock? Francesca Lia Block? George R.R. Martin? James Reese? If you’ve missed any of the above, check ’em out, and enjoy!
You temptress you! I don’t need any more books to read. Really. I don’t.
Hi, Satyr! I like Kitty much better than, say, Betsy in the “Undead” series (another blonde, though Vaughn said she couldn’t think of any blonde heroes other than Buffy). She calls herself whiny, but she isn’t nearly as annoying as Anita Blake when she’s off on one of her guilt trips. The fact that her courage is personal, rather than coming from her added abilities as a werewolf, makes her more of a hero in my mind.
I think I may have read a short story by Constantine at some point, but I’m fairly sure I haven’t read any novels. Which do you suggest? I’ve never heard of Valente, Holdstock, or Reese before, but I’ll look them up.
I read the first two of Carey’s Kushiel novels, but Sam said the third isn’t Cyn-safe. He offered to mark off the parts I shouldn’t read, but I really can’t trust myself to stop even though I know I should. I HATE missing anything, but I’ve got way too much real-life nightmare fodder, and seriously can’t handle anything that graphically describes child abuse.
I’ve read several of Block’s novels, and I think my daughter owns almost all of them. I enjoyed the Weetzie Bat books, but just can’t get into Violet and Clare for some reason.
I starting reading the Wild Card books back when they first started, but found them terribly dark and just not satisfying, for some reason. I’m not a big superhero fan, and I cannot stand having heroes die. I thought they’d gone away, ’til reading something on Vaughn’s web site about her reading for a new anthology. That’s all that comes to mind right off when I think about Martin.
Thanks for the recommendations!