Urban fantasy that flips the gender stuff around? [Archive]

Jeivar

2018-12-16, 02:20 PM

Otomodachi

2018-12-16, 02:27 PM

Is there anything out there?

You MIGHT try the Magicians (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magicians_(U.S._TV_series)). It doesn't involve vampires... at all, that I remember. But you might dig it. It definitely has a gamut of characters of all kinds of sexualities, and the "main" character is a dude who is virtually useless as a rule. He is definitely not the best at anything except his nerdish obsession with a certain fantasy series.

It's not exactly what you're talking about, but it IS urban fantasy and it's definitely not the kind of thing you're tired of, from your post.

EDIT: P.S. also be warned that if you're anything remotely like me, you're going to fall in love with this guy.

https://nyoobserver.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/eliot.jpg?quality=80&w=357

Ramza00

2018-12-16, 02:35 PM

*Listens* for I enjoy the subjectivity of this thread (even though only 2 people) so far have exchanged. I am enjoying the subjectivity for I get to be different people for a moment, a form of people watching.

I wonder how much peoples own gender, and their sexual attraction figure into this? Will peoples opinions be different if their ar a straight man vs straight woman, vs gay man, and so on?

Like I said this stuff is subjective there is no right or wrong answer here, it is a matter of preferences, of tastes.

----

I am talking too much now :smallbiggrin::smallsmile: *Goes back to reading / listening.*

Otomodachi

2018-12-16, 02:38 PM

I wonder how much peoples own gender, and their sexual attraction figure into this? Will peoples opinions be different if their ar a straight man vs straight woman, vs gay man, and so on?

:) Probably a lot! I mean that's why there's such a push these days for more realistic, equal representation in media. It's not that you CAN'T enjoy a story about a main character that's very different from you, and sometimes it's even fun to realize you can identify with that character despite the differences.

But SOMETIMES it's also nice to read or watch something and think "Holy crap! They're just like me! That's so cool!".

Mando Knight

2018-12-16, 03:02 PM

comicshorse

2018-12-16, 03:07 PM

'Neverwhere' by Neil Gaiman kinda fits this as the protagonist is a perfectly ordinary guy who encounters a girl with weird abilities. And its just a fun book in its own right

Brother Oni

2018-12-16, 03:08 PM

The Harry Dreseden series is close and Harry is even a private investigator but he's also a wizard.

The original Hellblazer series, with John Constantine, who gets out of scrapes by luck, deception and sacrificing his friends than clever planning and sheer power.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman fits the bill perfectly, as the protagonist is a complete normal man who gets dragged into the alternate fantasy world.

Edit: Gah, comicshorse'd by a minute. :smallfrown:

Jeivar

2018-12-16, 03:47 PM

I'm pretty sure this is the plot of a dozen or so harem-comedy anime/manga series.

Well, most anime/manga makes me want to poke my eyes out.

Yora

2018-12-16, 03:50 PM

Makes me think of Buffy.

Ibrinar

2018-12-16, 03:55 PM

Yeah there sadly is no clear line between paranormal romance and urban fantasy hence plenty of the hot vampire stuff. (Can't stand the vamps and can't stand most werewolves with their toxic "alphaness" and pack hierarchy stuff.)

Hmm one with a male MC where the male MC is weak, how is that the formula flipped around plenty female MCs are badass? (though in the worse paranormal romance stuff they might turn braindead when confronted with their love interest.) If you just mean human not necessarily weak. Hmm remember some books aimed at teenagers with vampire girlfriends and stuff but can't be bothered to look up the names, one name I remember https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13101795-zero-sum I think she might have been something like a vampire at least she is the more powerful one and he is the newbie in the supernatural world though he has magic and well it focuses on the supernatural so not mysterious. Oh while I liked it the third book will never be written so if that bother you better not start. (Author is apparently alive just seems to have stopped writing.)

Hmm lets go through series I remember: Harry dresden is a human mage but doesn't really have a long term relationship with a supernatural being. /
The Iron druid hooks up with another druid. /
In Alex Verus he is a human mage but eventually gets together with another mage and while theoretically she is the more dangerous fighter she isn't some supernatural being./
In Pax arcana he hooks up with a powerful valkyrie but he isn't pure human but werewolf which is why his old anti supernatural sect is trying to hunt him down. / Here https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12099838-the-demon-s-apprentice iirc he is a human caster that was in a disadvantageous deal with a demon made by his father and hooks up with a werewolf. / Oh I remember one where he is a mundane and gets together with an angel and a demon but that has erotica elements so I won't post that here / In Sixty-One Nails: Courts of the Feyre he gets together with someone supernatural and at least at the beginning appears mundane. / Oh Felix Castor he is just an exorcist so somewhat magical, now romance isn't clear up to the point I read (haven't finished book 2 yet) but seems to be going in the dangerous supernat girlfriend direction.

Hmm honestly if you have no objection to teen literature go looking in urban fantasy with male MCs written for a younger audience. I remember there being plenty that get supernatural girlfriends. Though MC tends to get powerful after a while.

Also about the magicians, I consider the first book plain bad and haven't bothered with the rest. Some people obviously like them and maybe the tv series is better but I felt I should add a warning.

Otomodachi

2018-12-16, 04:15 PM

Makes me think of Buffy.

Holy POOP yes. Not sure how I let that one slip past me. Buffy is amazing, and almost perfectly fits what the OP is talking about IMO.

Also about the magicians, I consider the first book plain bad and haven't bothered with the rest. Some people obviously like them and maybe the tv series is better but I felt I should add a warning.

Possibly just not your cup of tea, but yeah I do feel the TV show is better than the books, and that is what I was specifically talking about. Penny's character, for one, I am pretty sure the author is on record saying was handled better in the TV show- he's still basically a **** but there's a lot more consistency than there was in the books.

Well, most anime/manga makes me want to poke my eyes out.

Neon Genesis: Evangelion is very specifically about a fairly average boy trying to deal with a broody, dark mysterious girl for a lot of it. I also personally find it to be Actual Quality. OTOH, it's very much not urban fantasy and I dunno if it steers far enough from basic anime stuff that you'd like it. Taste is what it is!

Iruka

2018-12-16, 04:18 PM

I have a rather stormy relationship with the urban fantasy genre.

On the one hand I feel it definitely has potential: The otherworldly and horrific in mundane, recognisable circumstances. On the other hand I feel I rarely see it done well. I also prefer the supernatural to be mysterious and rare. So if a city has a large enough population of vampires, werewolves, elves, demons and what-have-you to form different subcultures... and yet somehow stay hidden from the humans... well, I feel something has been lost.

The genre also seems to be overrun with stories about female magic users being stalked by smarmy vampire bad boys whose personality is summed up in the blurb as "dark and sexy". I probably shouldn't be as resentful as I am, but for years these kinds of books were just about the only fantasy novels my local bookstore had available.

I started thinking about stories that flip things around: A normal-ish human male protagonist who is an investigator or whatever, and gets into a relationship with a female vampire or other supernatural. I think there might be fertile ground for storytelling about a dude with a girlfriend who is much more powerful than him, and also just issues with inter-species relationships.

Is there anything out there?

The Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch might be for you. The titular police constable stumbles into the world of the super natural and is transferred to the approbriate police unit to learn magic from the last officially sanctioned wizard in England. He later gets into a relationship with a river godess.

Not a perfect fit for your first paragraph, since various kinds of spirits inhabit London but otherwise Peter is a pretty normal guy, who approaches magic with interest and enthusiastic scientific experiments to gauge how good he is at blowing up stuff. Features also a lot of jazz, architecture and pop culture references, because Constable Grant is quite the nerd.

Ramza00

2018-12-16, 04:19 PM

:) Probably a lot! I mean that's why there's such a push these days for more realistic, equal representation in media. It's not that you CAN'T enjoy a story about a main character that's very different from you, and sometimes it's even fun to realize you can identify with that character despite the differences.

But SOMETIMES it's also nice to read or watch something and think "Holy crap! They're just like me! That's so cool!".

Nods in many ways Urban Fantasy1 has more in common with Cyberpunk2 and Superhero Fantasy3 of the Mutant Genre than Urban Fantasy has in common with LOTR. These 3 sub-genres are about discovering aspects of yourself (your inner self) in the external world and vice versa where the external world deepens your already existing inner traits via experience. You are changed by the experience. It is the mixture of both the mudane and the otherworldly / new worldly into an existing self. All 3 of these sub-genres are so much about "discovery" and also other words here.

Lvl 2 Expert

2018-12-16, 04:29 PM

You could look into the Night Watch books/movies. I've only read book 3 out of 4 and saw both the movies, but what I picked up from it goes in several directions as to the stuff you describe in the opening post. Both the leading male and female are pretty new at this I think, and wizards, vampires and weres of both genders are kind of mixed in throughout the story. It even has some decent worldbuilding. It's not Harry Potter maybe, but the magic system of the world had some thought put into it.

EDIT: Oh, and the first movie in particular actually kind of rocks. It does not make complete sense maybe, but it's pretty friggin cool.

Otomodachi

2018-12-16, 04:39 PM

Nods in many ways Urban Fantasy1 has more in common with Cyberpunk2 and Superhero Fantasy3 of the Mutant Genre than Urban Fantasy has in common with LOTR. These 3 sub-genres are about discovering aspects of yourself (your inner self) in the external world and vice versa where the external world deepens your already existing inner traits via experience. You are changed by the experience. It is the mixture of both the mudane and the otherworldly / new worldly into an existing self. All 3 of these sub-genres are so much about "discovery" and also other words here.

I don't know how that relates to what I said, but I'm glad you wrote it. Very well put!

Ramza00

2018-12-16, 05:09 PM

I don't know how that relates to what I said, but I'm glad you wrote it. Very well put!

I have more thoughts on what you wrote, and I want to share them, but they are a jumbled mess :smalltongue: , not because they are confusing inherrently, I just do not know how to explain it with words without being long winded. To say it in 3 sentences instead of 30 or 300. To say it well.

So I skipped explaining how your words inspired me and my words which I have not shared yet, I want to say something yet I can't figure out how to be effective at explaining it. What is the best way. But yeah I agree with what you said, I also have more opinions, but I can't figure out how to say it, say it WELL. :smallwink: :smallbiggrin:

lunaticfringe

2018-12-16, 05:09 PM

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story features a kinda dopey young guy who's first real girlfriend is a vampire. There is some investigation & Scooby adventures but he stocks groceries overnight, he's not a manly man of Action type.

Saph

2018-12-16, 05:40 PM

I started thinking about stories that flip things around: A normal-ish human male protagonist who is an investigator or whatever, and gets into a relationship with a female vampire or other supernatural. I think there might be fertile ground for storytelling about a dude with a girlfriend who is much more powerful than him, and also just issues with inter-species relationships.

Is there anything out there?

Sure, there are lots! Urban fantasy literature was very popular around the late 2000s, and for a while there was a new series cropping up every month. To begin with, most of them were heavily influenced by Anita Blake, but it wasn't long before people started wanting to put their own spin on it, and you got supernatural and non-supernatural protagonists of both sexes and with every level of power. And there was a definite handful of those series that decided to go with a weak male protagonist.

Trouble was, pretty much all of them were failures. Their sales were mediocre, the publishers ended up dropping them, and nowadays you won't see them on shelves. You can still order them off Amazon or whatever, but since pretty much no-one's heard of them, hardly anyone does.

The urban fantasy series that were successful generally fell into one of two types:

• Female UF: Female protagonist with some sort of connection to the supernatural, either by blood or by 'marrying in'. They range from moderately romance-focused to heavily romance-focused, enough so that the line between this type of UF and paranormal romance is pretty much impossible to draw. Power level of the protagonist varies widely, and their personal power usually isn't the main focus anyway – the stories tend to revolve more around the heroine's relationships with the various supernaturals. Authors include Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, Kim Harrison, and Charlaine Harris. If you want to go more towards the YA end there's Stephanie Meyer and Christine Feehan.

• Male UF: Male protagonist whose connection to the supernatural is more likely to be through training than birth. Some romance, but much less on average. Power level of the protagonist varies from medium to high, but it doesn't go below a certain minimum. Biggest author by a mile here is Jim Butcher, with Kevin Hearne and Ben Aaronovitch following up a way behind. Quite a lot less common than female UF, but they definitely do have a presence.

Now explaining why these ones were successful when the others weren't is where I personally think it gets interesting – you get into some quite deep-seated stuff about social expectations. But that's why you have few if any UF series that match your description currently being published.

JoshL

2018-12-16, 06:16 PM

Whenever anyone asks about urban fantasy, my brain automatically goes to Charles de Lint's Newford books. Since there are so many stories, and he's followed many characters around for years and years, there's plenty of romance between supernatural and human characters. Geordie and Christy Riddel have had some interesting ones in particular. Spirits In The Wires explores a few different sides of that, though might not be the best book to jump into with. Dreams Underfoot is a good place to start, and has a couple stories that might fit your interest. It introduces you to many of the reoccurring characters well enough that you could jump ahead if you wanted it (and if you like his style of writing, of course).

Traab

2018-12-16, 07:20 PM

Monster Hunter International. Its not precisely what you are looking for. The main character is a former cpa who gets attacked by his boss, who happens to be a werewolf. Well, the main character is actually kind of a badass so he kills his boss, getting badly wounded in the process and gets invited to join a monster hunting company while he is in the hospital. Turns out the supernatural is all real, and the monsters have government bounties on their heads to those crazy enough to hunt them but its all kept secret. Vampires are involved, but not precisely the way you are asking. Its a really good series, and this is coming from someone whose only real urban fantasy experience is dresden and the diana tregarde series that im pretty sure is exactly what you hate most. (Im not that fond myself) I normally prefer straight up sword and board style fantasy, but this was a pretty darn good series.

thorgrim29

2018-12-16, 08:13 PM

Kind of out of subject but I find it pretty interesting that we now see urban fantasy as the newcomer and Tolkien-esque stuff as classic fantasy since when the fantasy genre appeared in the 1800s (as a mostly french offshoot of the english gothic horror novel) it was about a normal person (almost universally a wealthy french or englishman of course but... 1800s ) encountering the fantastic and being changed by the experience. There's actually a distinction in French between fantastique (intrusion of weird stuff in normal life) and merveilleux (magic or whatever is a fact of life) and the two can overlap. I'm not sure if there's an official distinction in english though.

Other than that don't have a lot to add to the subject other than that the Peter Grant books sound fun, I should look them up. I should also get a few more of Saph's books, I read the first one a while ago and it was a bit messy but overall a promising start. Oh and the White Trash Zombie books are a very fun read, not exactly what you're looking for but worth checking out.

Pex

2018-12-16, 08:46 PM

The genre is basically a chick flick in tv form. It's repetitive because it works. It will focus on the relationship. The supernatural stuff is secondary. The protagonist has to be female for the female viewer to relate. For the male to be the protagonist he can't be ordinary to draw in male viewers. There can be relationship mushy stuff, but there needs to be action for the male protagonist to be a hero. That's where Flash and Arrow come in and modern superhero movies in general. They used to be all action for the boys in the past, but they wanted to bring girls in to expand the customer base so they added in relationships and romance and icky mushy stuff cooties plus a shirtless scene.

I know. I'm saying it childishly, but you get the point.

chainer1216

2018-12-17, 02:33 AM

Cheesegear

2018-12-17, 02:46 AM

• Male UF: Male protagonist whose connection to the supernatural is more likely to be through training than birth. Some romance, but much less on average. Power level of the protagonist varies from medium to high, but it doesn't go below a certain minimum.

What gets me is that generally speaking, the protagonists start off as weak, and they get stronger and stronger as they fight villains who are much stronger than them, pick up various power ups - or they take trinkets from the villains they defeat - along the way, or eventually they stop trying to pull their punches and they go from 'No Killing' to 'Use Lethal Force as neccessary', and start using their gifts/powers to their full potential. And that it turns out, under the right circumstances, they're theoretically invincible so long as they're not surprised/ambushed.

However, what I've also found is that generally there's a mentor, or tutor, or 'guy who shows up every now and then' who is very powerful, and shows what the protag could be/do, given enough time and/or training. Then it gets to like...Book 8 or so, and the protag surpasses the mentor and the stakes are generally for the world.

Ibrinar

2018-12-17, 04:26 AM

• Female UF: Female protagonist with some sort of connection to the supernatural, either by blood or by 'marrying in'. They range from moderately romance-focused to heavily romance-focused, enough so that the line between this type of UF and paranormal romance is pretty much impossible to draw. Power level of the protagonist varies widely, and their personal power usually isn't the main focus anyway – the stories tend to revolve more around the heroine's relationships with the various supernaturals. Authors include Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, Kim Harrison, and Charlaine Harris. If you want to go more towards the YA end there's Stephanie Meyer and Christine Feehan.

Hmm since you list Ilona Andrews under examples I don't really think your description fits her longest series, her Kate Daniels series, very well. The relationship with the guy matters, sure, but her personal power is certainly a main focus both because fighting stuff is her main conflict resolution tool and because coming into her inherited powers is kinda important to the story. (Sure you said usually but since it was part of a small example list I felt like commenting.)

Saph

2018-12-17, 05:01 AM

Hmm since you list Ilona Andrews under examples I don't really think your description fits her longest series, her Kate Daniels series, very well. The relationship with the guy matters, sure, but her personal power is certainly a main focus both because fighting stuff is her main conflict resolution tool and because coming into her inherited powers is kinda important to the story. (Sure you said usually but since it was part of a small example list I felt like commenting.)

Yup, and following on from that, what I think is really interesting is that 'Ilona Andrews' is a pen name for two writers, one male and one female. It's probably not a coincidence that out of all the big-name female UF authors, the Ilona Andrews books have the most in common with the male UF ones.

Wraith

2018-12-17, 06:52 AM

'Neverwhere' by Neil Gaiman kinda fits this as the protagonist is a perfectly ordinary guy who encounters a girl with weird abilities. And its just a fun book in its own right

Gaiman does this a lot. Neverwhere, American Gods, Stardust and Anansi Boys all start out in the same theme - a normal human male is pulled into a world of supernatural characters and finds a way to fit in among gods, monsters and worse - although the latter two are not really "urban fantasy", so much as they are just fantasy that takes place in an urban setting. American Gods is by far my favourite, if that counts for anything.

I know that you said you dislike anime/manga; how do you feel about western comics like DC and Marvel? Pretty much everything you suggest sounds like a plot from Hellblazer, with protagonist John Constantine being significantly more rough around the edges than traditional heroes. Tends to be as much biblical/lovecraftian horror as it is urban fantasy, but the classic 90's run is VERY good.

I'd also recommend Hot Lead, Cold Iron by Ari Marmell as something at least very close to what you're looking for.
It's not quite the "normal human sucked into a strange world" that you asked for, since the main character is a Shakespearean Faerie who is living in prohibition-era Chicago and working as a Private Detective, but he is certainly normal in comparison to the sort of beings he usually deals with and what he has to fight against. Might be worth a look, if you can tolerate the persistent use of nigh-impenetrable 1920's slang - it's the only fantasy novel I've read that has a glossary of terms in the back. :smalltongue:

Eldan

2018-12-17, 07:12 AM

Gaiman does this a lot. Neverwhere, American Gods, Stardust and Anansi Boys all start out in the same theme - a normal human male is pulled into a world of supernatural characters and finds a way to fit in among gods, monsters and worse - although the latter two are not really "urban fantasy", so much as they are just fantasy that takes place in an urban setting. American Gods is by far my favourite, if that counts for anything.

I know that you said you dislike anime/manga; how do you feel about western comics like DC and Marvel? Pretty much everything you suggest sounds like a plot from Hellblazer, with protagonist John Constantine being significantly more rough around the edges than traditional heroes. Tends to be as much biblical/lovecraftian horror as it is urban fantasy, but the classic 90's run is VERY good.

I'd also recommend Hot Lead, Cold Iron by Ari Marmell as something at least very close to what you're looking for.
It's not quite the "normal human sucked into a strange world" that you asked for, since the main character is a Shakespearean Faerie who is living in prohibition-era Chicago and working as a Private Detective, but he is certainly normal in comparison to the sort of beings he usually deals with and what he has to fight against. Might be worth a look, if you can tolerate the persistent use of nigh-impenetrable 1920's slang - it's the only fantasy novel I've read that has a glossary of terms in the back. :smalltongue:

That sounds like somethign I'd really want to read. I mean, you had me at Shakespearean Faerie, but then you added 1920s and gangster slang.

hamishspence

2018-12-17, 07:41 AM

Might be worth a look, if you can tolerate the persistent use of nigh-impenetrable 1920's slang - it's the only fantasy novel I've read that has a glossary of terms in the back. :smalltongue:

The Beka Cooper "Provost's Dog" series by Tamora Pierce might qualify as medieval urban fantasy - the setting's medieval and urban - the fantasy element is the presence of magic, and the geography not being Earth - the protagonist is a cop - and it has a glossary of terms in the back, too.

Durkoala

2018-12-17, 08:55 AM

Ehh, I haven't really got anything on the romance front. For some reason, I tended to turn away from any Urban fantasy series that marketed itself primarily as a romance. However:

As said above, Neverwhere fits the bill magnificantly, with a dull, out-of-water everyman trying his best to survive in a strange world alongside a mysterious native girl.

Rivers of London is excellent, with a police nerd as the protagonist stumbling through various monsters, genius loci, renegade wizards and attractive girls (until he settles in with one later in the series). It's got great characters and punchy London humour, as well as many, many nerd references. ('I called it the voight-kampf test. Only Dr. Walid got it, and he later admitted he'd had to look it up on google')

China Mieville's Kraken doesn't have any real romantic plots in it, but is otherwise a brilliantly trippy adventure through a bizarre hidden magic London. It's hard to describe, but it's a completely compelling, surreal tale of an impending apocalyse and the tensions and growing war between many cults that want to make sure it's their vision of the end of the world that comes to pass.

Also, while it's not urban fantasy, I'm not going to miss a chance to recommend Mortal Engines, first of the Predator Cities series, since I've loved it since I first discovered it in my early teens. Set in a post-post-apocalyptic world where cities and towns have become mobile and taken to hunting each other for dwindling resources, a young London museum worker's life is turned upside down when a scarred girl tries to kill his idol and he falls out of the city with her. It definitely inverts the typical setup of bad boy, good girl and the journey they go on is amazing. A movie recently came out, but it looks like it's lost a lot of the book's nuance, even if the sets and CGI look fantastic.

Sapphire Guard

2018-12-17, 08:59 AM

Ibrinar

2018-12-17, 10:02 AM

Funny... this feels like something there should be loads of examples of, but it's hard to think of specific ones (outside of anime)

I read up to book 5 of Ilona Andrews, but it seems like the Curran relationship exactly what the OP doesn't want.

It has the rare distinction that while he is a shape**** alpha love interest I don't dislike him, most are just so annoying. Anyway don't think it was meant as rec just part of a list which the current big ones in UF are.

Talking about that list, about Kim Harrison I liked her first book(s) quite a bit but towards the end of her big series… suffice to say I won't be reading anything else from her unless it is finished and reviews tell me it didn't go to **** at the end.

Traab

2018-12-17, 12:13 PM

I should add that monster hunters does have romance, its just not with a vampire.

Pex

2018-12-17, 01:25 PM

What you are describing is Paranormal Romance, not Urban Fantasy, the mistake is common though because theres a lot of overlap.

I don't see there is a difference. I would even say Harry Potter is Urban Fantasy. The hero is himself a wizard of power, though. While there is some mushy stuff it's not the focus. When the romance is the focus the protagonist will be female. There can of course be female protagonists where it's not about the romance, but for normal male supernatural female, it will be rare to have the romance be the focus unless she's an evil monster the hero has to defeat eventually.

gomipile

2018-12-17, 06:30 PM

A good urban fantasy / paranormal romance series I like and that addresses some of the OP's points is the Georgina Kincaid series by Richelle Mead, starting with the novel Succubus Blues.

The protagonist is a succubus who does supernatural work for the demons of Hell and also has a day job. The male love interest is a geeky guy who happens to be a bestselling author but is otherwise fairly ordinary with a well-developed personality. The supernatural aren't over-running the city and stick together because they are fairly few in number and can relate to each other.

It's not the best series I've ever read, but it's alright.

Bohandas

2018-12-17, 09:10 PM

Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore

druid91

2018-12-17, 09:13 PM

Pact: Devils and Details by Wildbow.

2D8HP

2018-12-18, 08:30 AM

The 1953 novel Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber which was expanded from a 1943 story fits the bill, which has been made into a movie (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-conjure/fourth-time-is-the-charm-for-conjure-wife-movie-idUSTRE4BH14L20081218) a few times.

Speaking of movies the 1958 film Bell, Book & Candle (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nDBbmP2TctE) also fits.

Sapphire Guard

2018-12-20, 05:36 PM

Stretching the definition a bit, the Cast in Shadow series by Michelle Sagara might qualify. The female lead has crazy magical powers, while her love interest is merely a very competent assassin.

Brother Oni

2018-12-21, 02:43 AM

Speaking of movies the 1958 film Bell, Book & Candle (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nDBbmP2TctE) also fits.

Hmmm, by that yardstick, does the old Bewitched TV series count? How about both incarnations of Sabrina (Sabrina the Teenaged Witch and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina)?

Mith

2018-12-21, 12:14 PM

Ilona Andrews to me is a good "mindless" read. I like elements of the world building, but things are added later that I think should be worked into the story earlier.

However it does do the Alpha hierarchy of shape shifters trope, with the lead male character being the Alphaest of Alphas that ever Alph'ed. And in my opinion is a weakness of the series in my opinion.

2D8HP

2018-12-21, 01:48 PM

Hmmm, by that yardstick, does the old Bewitched TV series count? How about both incarnations of Sabrina (Sabrina the Teenaged Witch and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina)?

Why would they not?

Brother Oni

2018-12-21, 05:55 PM

Why would they not?

Because Jeivar was asking about settings featuring regular male protagonists with a supernatural love interest and since both Bewitched/Sabrina have supernatural female protagonists with normal love interests, don't quite meet the criteria.

Lvl 2 Expert

2018-12-23, 04:34 AM

I just noticed a thing in my Netflix that made me think of this thread. It's a movie called Beautiful Creatures, the blurb is (translated back into English, I get the Dutch version): "He's a mortal, she's not... A poetic teenager is attracted to a mysterious girl." It's 2 hours long, so there'a fair chance it was based on a book, and it has a 12 rating, the rough equivalent of PG13, so it's not a horror story. The scene you get on mouseover is a classroom, so it's modern/urban.

I don't now anything else about it, but it sounds like pretty much what you were looking for.

Bohandas

2018-12-27, 05:14 PM

Hmmm, by that yardstick, does the old Bewitched TV series count?

Also I Dream of Jeannie

How about both incarnations of Sabrina (Sabrina the Teenaged Witch and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina)?

IIRC there was also an animated series in between

Lamech

2018-12-27, 06:37 PM

Book Seven of the laundry files I think counts. MC=Vampire, but he's fairly geeky and suchwhat. Love interest=elven princess. But its laundry files so its not as stereotypical as it sounds.

Pact: Devils and Details by Wildbow.

This is actually cosmic horror, but otherwise this def fits the bill.

Bohandas

2018-12-27, 11:20 PM

It's not urban fantasy, but there's several fairy tales like this, most notably The Little Mermaid, Princess Kaguya, and The Swan Maidens

EDIT:
Also the opera Gotterdamerung

EDIT:
and also the backstory from Steven Universe

TeChameleon

2018-12-30, 04:32 AM

I'll Nth the Dresden Files, with one minor caveat; the Male protagonist is still the supernatural heavy-hitter... but the main Female lead is several orders of magnitude more badass. Harry Dresden, the lead character, is a high-powered wizard (who also happens to have the good sense to carry a gun) and a solid, competent Private Investigator. Karrin 'Murph' Murphy, the most prominent female character and frequent love interest, is a Sergeant in the Chicago PD who has the thankless job of 'spinning' the various supernatural crimes and threats into something that the higher-ups will believe, while also making sure that they don't get... out-of-hand. She's also got enough black belts that she has trouble keeping track and could break Dresden in half with both hands tied behind her back.

Over the course of the series, she's been the only character to so much as slow down a giant rampaging werewolf Incredible Hulk-alike, took a chainsaw to an ogre's knee, then used that same chainsaw to rip apart a giant plant monster that had flattened Dresden, played chicken with a speeding car on her motorcycle (and won, courtesy of some spellwork from her passenger that flipped the car clean over both their heads...), helped wipe out an intelligently-set-up vampire nest (complete with flamethrower-wielding ghouls and claymore mines) without a scratch, been the physical host of an archangel while wielding a close equivalent to Excalibur, and eventually decided not to bother with said magic sword because she was enough of a badass without it, been accepted as an honorary einherjaren by way of pretty much whooping them on the regular, and... yeah. Oh, and she's consistently described as looking like somebody's cute blonde kid sister, at 5-foot-nothin'.

... and for the record, even the moments on that list that are spoilers... most likely you're not gonna see 'em coming, heh.

lord_khaine

2018-12-30, 06:01 AM

The Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch might be for you. The titular police constable stumbles into the world of the super natural and is transferred to the approbriate police unit to learn magic from the last officially sanctioned wizard in England. He later gets into a relationship with a river godess.

Not a perfect fit for your first paragraph, since various kinds of spirits inhabit London but otherwise Peter is a pretty normal guy, who approaches magic with interest and enthusiastic scientific experiments to gauge how good he is at blowing up stuff. Features also a lot of jazz, architecture and pop culture references, because Constable Grant is quite the nerd.

I will second this recomendation. The Peter Grant series really feels like a breath of fresh air in the genre at times.
And its amusingly written as well. I am impatiently waiting for the next book myself.

I'll Nth the Dresden Files, with one minor caveat; the Male protagonist is still the supernatural heavy-hitter... but the main Female lead is several orders of magnitude more badass. Harry Dresden, the lead character, is a high-powered wizard (who also happens to have the good sense to carry a gun) and a solid, competent Private Investigator. Karrin 'Murph' Murphy, the most prominent female character and frequent love interest, is a Sergeant in the Chicago PD who has the thankless job of 'spinning' the various supernatural crimes and threats into something that the higher-ups will believe, while also making sure that they don't get... out-of-hand. She's also got enough black belts that she has trouble keeping track and could break Dresden in half with both hands tied behind her back.

Ehmm.. thats not entirely correct. Well.. unless with badass refer to the rather impressive amount of courage Karin displays.
When she gets into the way of god knows what different sort of supernatural critters, armed with only a handgun. Though it also repeatedly puts her in above her head.
Because at the end of the day. She is still only human. And a lot of supernatural things just get annoyed by bullets. Actually i though she were horribly annoying in the first couple books. But again, just about everyone agree on those being the weakest in whats generally seen as a great serie.

What is amusing though, is that over a decade, her description changes from kid sister, to sister, to favorite aunt.

TeChameleon

2018-12-30, 06:05 PM

Ehmm.. thats not entirely correct. Well.. unless with badass refer to the rather impressive amount of courage Karin displays.
When she gets into the way of god knows what different sort of supernatural critters, armed with only a handgun. Though it also repeatedly puts her in above her head.
Because at the end of the day. She is still only human. And a lot of supernatural things just get annoyed by bullets. Actually i though she were horribly annoying in the first couple books. But again, just about everyone agree on those being the weakest in whats generally seen as a great series.

What is amusing though, is that over a decade, her description changes from kid sister, to sister, to favorite aunt.

Ehh... a lot of the characters were pretty annoying in the first few books. Spent a lot of them wishing someone would smack Bob, as an example. And while Murph has a habit of getting in so far over her head that the fish have lights on their noses, so does pretty much everyone else in the series :smallconfused:

Honestly, I'd probably put her in as the Fighter (with later cross-classing into Paladin :smalltongue:) of the group- she can't handle a lot of the big supernatural nasties, but there's more than a few times that she keeps the spellslingers from getting their heads caved in by mundane threats.

danzibr

2019-01-02, 05:15 PM

Makes me think of Scott Pilgrim v The World.

Prime32

2019-01-03, 11:15 PM

I'm pretty sure this is the plot of a dozen or so harem-comedy anime/manga series.Much more than harem. Light novels had an urban fantasy boom years ago (before the "battle highschool" and "transported to another world with cheat powers" booms).

One of the most famous examples from that era was Shakugan no Shana (Shana of the Burning Eyes) - a 26-book series published from 2002-2012. Male viewpoint character who starts off with no special abilities other than monsters wanting to kill him, though later he gets a power boost which lets him fight back a little. Female monster hunter with a sword and fire powers who slowly starts to fall for him. There's a three-season anime adaptation (which adds a bunch of filler to the middle) plus a movie based on the first book, though IIRC the novels themselves are still in limbo (fan translations were shut down when the official translation came out, but it was cancelled after two books).

As for

On the one hand I feel it definitely has potential: The otherworldly and horrific in mundane, recognisable circumstances. On the other hand I feel I rarely see it done well. I also prefer the supernatural to be mysterious and rare. So if a city has a large enough population of vampires, werewolves, elves, demons and what-have-you to form different subcultures... and yet somehow stay hidden from the humans... well, I feel something has been lost.
Supernatural entities are spread pretty thin across the world, and they have a number of unusual and effective ways of keeping things hidden.

Traab

2019-01-04, 07:50 AM

Quote Originally Posted by Jeivar View Post
On the one hand I feel it definitely has potential: The otherworldly and horrific in mundane, recognisable circumstances. On the other hand I feel I rarely see it done well. I also prefer the supernatural to be mysterious and rare. So if a city has a large enough population of vampires, werewolves, elves, demons and what-have-you to form different subcultures... and yet somehow stay hidden from the humans... well, I feel something has been lost.

Heh, In the monster hunter series I mentioned, there are some communities though small ones. Mostly on the outskirts of society too be fair. My favorite is in book 2 when they go talk to a gang of garden gnomes. Im talking every stereotypical thug lyfe gangsta hardcore yo homie type of behavior you can think of. Its hilarious. But dont laugh at them or they will beat you down. They may be knee high but they are strong all out of proportion to that size.