Today we welcome Pati Nagle who writes the BLOOD OF THE KINDRED (here’s my review of The Betrayal) and the IMMORTAL series. Pati wants to talk about cool fantasy creatures. One commenter wins an ebook copy of Pati’s latest novel Dead Man’s Hand, which was released a couple of weeks ago, and a print copy of her latest YA fantasy novel, Eternal.

Pati NagleI hear a lot of grumbling these days about sparkly vampires, and I wonder if readers are getting tired of vampires in general, lately. Twilight has generated a lot of imitators, and the fantasy market’s kind of vampire-heavy. Lots of witches, wizards, and dueling magicians too, left over from the HARRY POTTER craze. For myself, I’m a little weary of zombies. But fear not! There are plenty of other interesting fantasy creatures out there.

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Carrie Vaughn’s KITTY series is a great take on werewolves. She has vampires, too (non-sparkly) and guest appearances by other magical beings such as djinn. I’ve noticed quite a few books about demons in recent years, and the young adult crowd seems to be fond of fairies and the darker side of the fey, as in Melissa Marr’s WICKED LOVELY series. Mythological gods are currently popular, probably thanks to Rick Riordan’s PERCY JACKSON series. Dragons — perennial favorites — don’t really grab me although I’m fond of Anne McCaffrey’s DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN series (science fiction, really, though fun for fantasy readers, too).

My personal favorites have always been elves — not cute Santa’s elves, but the tall, graceful, and often melancholy Tolkeinesque elves. The problems of immortality fascinate me, and I’ve spent some time exploring them in my own stories about the ælven (my take on elves). I like ghosts, too, although certain kinds of ghost stories are well-worn and, at the moment, they don’t seem to be all that popular.

fantasy book reviews science fiction book reviewsA less common critter I’d like to see more of is the gargoyle. A friend of mine wrote a great story with a gargoyle hero years ago. I haven’t come across any novels starring gargoyles that caught my interest, so there’s room for more there.

What are your favorite stories about magical beings, and what fantastic creatures would you like to read more about?

Readers, comment below for a chance to win Dead Man’s Hand and Eternal.

Author

  • Kelly Lasiter

    KELLY LASITER, with us since July 2008, is a mild-mannered academic administrative assistant by day, but at night she rules over a private empire of tottering bookshelves. Kelly is most fond of fantasy set in a historical setting (a la Jo Graham) or in a setting that echoes a real historical period (a la George RR Martin and Jacqueline Carey). She also enjoys urban fantasy and its close cousin, paranormal romance, though she believes these subgenres’ recent burst in popularity has resulted in an excess of dreck. She is a sucker for pretty prose (she majored in English, after all) and mythological themes.