I was thinking about dragons, and while a SHOCKING number of my dragony books are still in tubs in my Dad's basement in Alaska, I do have a few dragony books on my shelves at the moment and I wanted to share them, who their dragons are, and why I love them.
A Natural History of Dragons follows Isabella Camehurst (the future Lady Isabella Trent) as she works to build the field of draconic studies. The dragons here skew more animalistic than intelligent, but they're very cool, and the exploration of both the natural history of dragons and Isabella absolutely obliterating pseudo-Victorian gender roles in the name of science is extremely fun.
Heart of Stone features the draconic mob boss Janx, who fully has all the energy of "class clown who grew up to use his powers for evil" and simultaneously is himself a dragon. Between his phenomenal chemistry with Margrit and his on-again off-again tempestuous relationship with Daisani, Janx is never not fun.
Guards! Guards! features the absolutely darling Errol, who frankly is a miracle of nature and everyone's sad panda dragon. I get very Tad Cooper vibes from Errol, and between him and the great dragon summoned to eat Lady Sybil, the dragon shenanagins in this book are a solid 10/10. But then, it's Terry Pratchett, what else would we expect?
Ok, full disclosure: Calling on Dragons is the third book in the Dealings with Dragons quartet, but my copies of the first, second, and fourth books are in Alaska, so we are sneaking this one in. This particular book is lighter on the actual dragons than the first book, but Kazul just going full on Quincy P. Morris on a group of wizards never gets old, and Wrede's voice is, quite simply, incomparable.
Last but never, ever least (Naomi Novik has never written a bad book in her life and the JEALOUSY and ADMIRATION I feel are intense) is His Majsesty's Dragon. Temeraire, baby, you keep doing you and dragging Lawrence to the light side because you might be young and inexperienced but you're RIGHT. And just utterly charming. Not to mention the fact that his entire formation are a treat--I would hug on Maximus forever, we really need more gentle giant himbo dragons in the word (Maximus disagrees when he meets Kulingile, but we're just going to ignore that).
I've been having a think, and here's what I've been thinking.
I've got an artist for the next TAKE A CHANCE story arc. I need to be able to pay him, tho.
If I can get my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/ce_murphy) up to 250 patrons, at the average of $5/m that people are paying, I could afford to pay him for 4 pages a month. 300 patrons? 8 pages a month.
(I can't afford to pay him very WELL, but I could at least pay him. :))
It'd be a sneak peek/early, probably B&W, one-to-2-page-a-week release of what would PRRRRRRRROBABLY be a graphic novel eventually published by Markosia, as the first GN was.
I mean, if the Patreon really went all-out, and Alek had the time to work around the rest of his schedule, there *could* be a graphic novel ready in time for Worldcon in Dublin 2019. But for 22 pages a month(ish) I'd need literally hundreds of more patrons to support that. (like, about 250. it's not...*impossible*. I've got about 400 followers here, and since this isn’t a main spot for me I’d be surprised if more than 1% of them are Patreon supporters. 10% would make a HUGE difference.)
(I mean, the plus side of that would be that we could in theory just, like, KEEP GOING with Chance, at that point. I have a 60 issue story arc planned out! Wouldn't that be AMAZING? Plus...well. I mean. I have a whole world's worth of stories there, lads.)
Anyway, so it's a thought and I'm noodling with it, and heck, if you want to see more Chance and also the other fic & bits I do for my patrons, you can do that at Patreon!
I have been WAITING to get the hardcopies of the re-releases of this fabulous series to do individual reviews of each book, because this series is my ultimate comfort series. This series hits a ton of my favorite points. It is urban fantasy, does some amazing things with both Irish and Native American lore, has a fabulous slow burn romance, has GARRISON MATTHEW MULDOON, and a protagonist with attitude. It also has one of the strongest writer voices ever. Literally every CE Murphy book SOUNDS like a CE Murphy book, but without compromising the voice of the protagonist. That is a skill that is a hella rare delight. So let me introduce you to Joanne Walker--nee Siobhan Walkingstick--as we talk Urban Shaman.
This is you SPOILER WARNING because this book is too damn good and I want to talk all about it. This is also a CONTENT WARNING for anyone sensitive to novels focusing on cops, because while this series is not entirely uncritical of them, we do spend a lot of time with and around them, and Morrison in particular has idealized being a cop. The book was originally published in 2005, so a LOT has happened since then. Your mileage may vary.
So this series has a bit of a story to it, and if you've been hanging out around my bookshelf for a while, you've seen me mention this series before. It was originally published traditionally starting in 2005. The author had to make a couple of concessions for the series (including relegating a novella to "book 1.5" rather than making it book 2 and a title that she SUPER did not like), but the series did well and its fans love it deeply. I picked it up in...like 2010? Ish? It was early in my undergrad, because I made a dear friend who did not stop talking about this series. So I picked it up, read it, loved it. Fast forward to the 2020s and I believe it was sometime during the pandemic that Murphy got the rights back to this series and decided to rerelease them with new covers, a new order that includes book 1.5 as book 2, and a title change for book 4/5. I tend to be a practical reader; it's rare I collect for titles or special editions. This time though? I made an exception. I want these beauties on my shelf and I want to support this indie rerelease. Also I haven't done a reread of the series in a few years, so this is going to be just a sheer delight for me.
Ok, context having been contextualized, let's jump right into this book.
Joanne Walker is a hot mess. On page one of book one, she is in her mid-twenties, is estranged from a messy relationship with her father and her Cherokee heritage, met her very Irish mother four months ago and buried her days ago, is estranged from her Irish heritage, has lost her job because she overextended her bereavement leave, and is carrying around a metric ton of trauma related to getting pregnant with twins at fifteen and losing one baby shortly after giving birth and giving the other up for adoption shortly after that. And that's literally square one.
I honestly don't know how well I would handle getting fatally stabbed by the god of the Wild Hunt after not sleeping for over 24 hours, but for Joanne, this is just the start of tracking and catching a serial murderer who is killing people who are powerful in or connected to "another plane of existence." It's also the beginning of a new journey for Joanne, because she has power--specifically healing power--and the cost of not dying on a fae blade is learning to use it. She gets help from Marie D'Ambra--who Joanne spots from a plane and briefly rescues from Cernnunous--Coyote, Billy Holliday (a coworker and family friend), and Garrison Matthew Muldoon (Gary; cab driver extraordinaire and kickass septuagenarian sidekick). However, baby shaman (or gwyld, depending on which language you want to use) Joanne is super caught on her back foot and just barely manages to stay ahead of Hearne and Cernunnos long enough to stay alive and keep the Wild Hunt bound into its endless cycle.
The fact that before she met her mother Joanne was also a hardcore realist and pragmatist doesn't help either; she has to not only change her worldview, but she has to get out of her own damn way to do it. And she has to do it while changing jobs. She was a police mechanic who went to the academy on the recommendation (and pressure) from a previous boss. So when her current boss, Captain Morrison, is told by HIS superior that he is not allowed to fire the half-Cherokee woman in his department whose only crime was overextending her bereavement leave, he ends up "promoting" her to foot patrol. Admittedly this was on the expectation that Joanne would leave on her own, because this woman doesn't want to be a cop. This would have worked with lots of other people, but Joanne and Morrison are the most awkward of ducks, and she is too stubborn to quit.
There's also the small matter that when Morrison and Joanne first met, she didn't know he was the new boss and she mocked him MERCILESSLY for misidentifying her muscle car, Petite. And they never really recovered from that little incident, but Morrison is damn good at his job, so when Joanne can produce actual results, he grinds his teeth and coaches her in her new position to be the best she can be, help people, and get the job done. And he manages to be the best grouchy boss with a heart of gold even in this first book where he isn't the most sympathetic and I don't think is MEANT to be the most sympathetic. But when Joanne wipes out on concrete stairs, he's the one there with the smelling salts until it's clear she's ok. When Joanne has to deal with the death of a witness to a school stabbing who was under police protection and Joanne feels guilty for putting a target on her back, it's Morrison who is there going "It's not your fault. But you can do something about it."
Guys, I ship Joanne and Morrison so hard, even in this first book. They're honestly a really interesting and solid couple. I don't want to derail this with Morrison, but I do want to just highlight my favorite interaction between Morrison and Joanne in this entire book. This is Joanne being deeply sleep deprived and filterless, and while Morrison manages to stay pretty much professional, he's HONEST with her:
"Why do I bug you so much?" This was probably not the time to get into it, but I was suddenly incredibly curious. Morrison arched his eyebrows. "No, really," I said." I mean, I know we got off to a bad start, although I still can't believe you didn't know a Mustang from a Corvette--"
"I was never into cars."
"Obviously. What were you into?"
Morrison stared at me over the edge of his coffee cup, then put it back down. "Being a cop."
"What, when you were like nine? Fifteen? You wanted to be a cop, not to drive fast cars and pick up girls?" I took an incredulous bite of the apple fritter.
"Yeah. I never wanted to be anything but a cop. And that, Walker, is why you irritate me." Morrison looked like he was at war with his own body language, trying to force himself to relax back into his seat while the intense low pitch of his voice drove him to lean forward, speaking to me sharply.
"You fell into a job I spent my whole life working for. You irritate me because I think being a police officer is a calling and a solemn occupation and you're carrying a badge without it meaning a damn thing to you. You hang out with my officers in your off time, being just that damned cool, an attractive woman who talks cars and drinks beer and arm wrestles. None of them give a damn that you were in the top third of your class at the academy and that you're wasting your skills in the Motor Pool playing with engines. But it bugs the hell out of me. That is why you irritate me."
Literally I think this is my favorite exchange of theirs in this book, but it cannot be said that this is comfortable or amicable. It's tense and frustrated and I kinda love that.
Now, Morrison is amazing, but even Morrison does not hold a candle to Gary. Gary picks Joanne up from the airport and then spends three days tagging along and snarking as she figures out her powers and gets entangled in murders and goes on a self-directed crash course in healing magic. Gary is HERE for an interesting time with a lifetime of diverse experience, an open mind, and honestly a big squishy center. We are gonna spend like the next six books with people accusing Joanne of dating him and it is the best thing ever because she makes herself an easy target about it and Gary is deeply entertained by it. I've talked about Gary's backstory in detail here, so I won't go too much into it here. But Garrison Matthew Muldoon is the best person in the series, end of conversation. We love him so much.
We can mostly skip over the other cops, but we should address Billy. Because aside from being aware of other planes of existence, Billy is pretty awesome and will become a pretty important secondary character in further books. The poor man leans into his name as best he can, he's a wonderful dad and a decent detective. We also adore Billy.
We also need to address Cernunnos and Suzy. Because despite a fairly antagonist relationship in this book, Joanne and Cernunnos sort of settle into the friends who have sheer animal magnetism and a snarktastic dynamic who nonetheless have each other's backs. We get a lot more of Cernunnos and he is kind of the first touchpoint for the Irish half of Joanne's heritage and powers as Coyote is for the Cherokee half. (We'll address Coyote later; for now he's just cute and furry but that's gonna change.)
Suzy shows up again in book 4/5, and she kind of represents Joanne's first save. Because until Suzanne Quinley at the end of this book, Joanne can't save ANYONE. Hearne's body count is like seven shamans, Suzanne's adoptive parents, a 60-something schoolteacher, and four high school kids in this book before he heads for his biological daughter to sacrifice her to unbind the Hunt. Joanne can't save any of them, and it eats her. She DOES save Suzy though, and Suzy is really the person who proves to Joanne that she really can make a go of the shaman thing and she really can make a difference in people's lives.
This is the book I recommend to people who tell me they like the Dresden Files, because the vibes are similar without the paternalism, chauvanism and dickheaded machismo. Also, where Dresden Files make me FURIOUS, Joanne makes me cry good tears, especially in later books. Her story is about healing and finding humanity and community when you think you've lost them forever. I adore these books, and we'll definitely be talking more about them as the the rereleases keep coming.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a person who is raised in Alaska must eventually develop either a deep soft spot or deep hatred for Alaskana in all its forms. I was raised in Alaska and I'm literally writing a blog post about how much I adore these Alaska-themed paranormal shifter romances, so you do the math on that one while I talk the Alaskan Totem Shifters books.
There are probably spoilers below the break, so just a heads up!
For those of you who follow this blog pretty closely, this series is set in the same universe as the Gladiator Shifter books, but without the gladiatorial backstory and localized to small-town Alaska. The vibes are on point, which is only to be expected since Murphy Lawless lived in Alaska for a while. (True Story: I once ran into her at a Barnes and Noble on a random day when I was buying Urban Shama, and she was absolutely lovely and signed my book. I was a speechless mess.) These books scratched an itch for home that pops up for me every once in a while; there really and truly is nowhere quite like Alaska on this earth.
Raven Heart follows Elena Peratrovitch as she works with her community, the government, and a bunch of billionaires to maintain conservation of the land versus exploitation and developement. This is somewhat complicated by small town dynamics, Alaska small town dynamics, and Richard freaking Yale, billionare Raven Shifter. Elena and Richard are basically fated mates, although I actually don't think the book uses that term.
Beyond the romance and the Alaska small-town vibes, the book also has a legitimately interesting contrast between Richard and his fellow shifter (albeit grizzly bear, not raven) and billionaire developer Derek Crown. Richard is all about sustainable, conservationist development, whereas Crown is all "drill, baby, drill" up in here, and he is very much not above kidnapping and murdering the opposition to get it done.
I was not expecting a shifter battle at the end of the book, but I was absolutely not mad about it either.
Overall, Raven Heart's 2016 publication date (four years before Gladiator Bear and a whopping seven years before Polar Heart) means that it doesn't slot terribly neatly into the shifterverse that Lawless would develop later, but it's not so far off from it that it's not clearly related, and Polar Heart is a really excellent bridge between the Gladiator Shifters and Raven Heart, so everything has a nice continuity and shared shifterverse.
Polar Heart follows Davinda Jackson (Elena's college bestie) and Isiah Moses during Shkalnik's mayoral election. Davinda is a wildlife photographer, which fully endears her to the shifter community when she offers to do portraits of them AND their shifted forms in what is one of the sweetest, most community-driven scenes I have ever read in any book ever, end of sentence. Where Elena and Richard felt very isolated, Davinda and Isiah are deeply embedded in the shifter and Shkalnik communities in a way that felt so Alaska. So honestly, this book is cozy in a way that Raven Heart wasn't, and actually manages to have a cozier community focus than the Gladiator Shifter books, which are all about the shifter worlds and communities.
On top of that, if Garius Beren (of Gladiator Bear fame) was the most bear a person could be, Isaiah is EVEN MORE BEAR. He is literally a giant polar teddy bear of a man, and his house also looks like a polar bear, which is just adorable. It even has EARS.
In addition to the sheer cozy adorableness, this book ends on just THE most epic takedown of a literal Outsider Karen politician who is trying to expose shifters to the world. This takedown is epic, utterly gratifying, and quite frankly the best thing I've read in a WHILE.
Overall, I very much hope we see more entries in the Alaska Totem Shifters series because both these books have been incredible in their own ways, and I would happily read more.
You Have My Attention: Gladiator Shifters's First Lines
When the world is quite literally on fire and everything sucks, sometimes a girl wants nothing more than a bunch of very buff descendents of gladiators who can shift into predators to waltz in and get romantic. Murphy Lawless's Gladiator Shifters series absolutely scratched that itch, and were an absolute delight along the way. But how does each book catch a reader? That's what we're here to find out!
"Dr. Anna Liffey had been up unexplored rivers and down dormant volcanoes, but she'd honestly never been anywhere like the gala hall where the people who funded her work got together."
-- Gladiator Bear
"Shannon Kavanaugh's hip hurt, and probably always would. That's what the doctors had told her, anyway, along with the news that she'd never be able to compete at international levels again."
-- Gladiator Cheetah
"Susan Connolly had known about shapeshifters forever. Practically, forever, anyway. Since before her son was born, anyway."
-- Gladiator Hawk
"The smell of sweat and beer mingled with the roar of laughter and cheers from the stadium seating. There were thousands--tens of thousands--of people crowded into the seats."
-- Gladiator Wolf
"Elissa's phone rang with a number she didn't know, and like an idiot, she answered it."
