Frankly and honestly, I'm sick to death of the endless trite Urban Fantasy novels that plague the bookshelves "Weres and Vamps" are the biggest sinners of this lot, although there are others.

There are plenty of good Urban Fantasy novels (and some of them are written by your clients!) but there is, IMO, a glut on the market of them.

Edited at 2009-01-20 09:10 pm (UTC)

I'd like something meaty, characters that I can get to know and sink my teeth into as it were. I can read fairly fast, so a novel might be something I finish is a day or a weekend. I always find myself wanting to know more, what happened next? What about their kids? What problems came up? How did they get solved?

At the same time, if I can be contrary, I hate novels that go on too long or have lengthy periods of unresolved tension. I'm an adult and I want things to reach their logical conclusion, whether that means two characters getting in bed together or a character dying. (Yes, I'm talking about you, Janet Evanovich, and you, Stephenie Meyer.)

I put in my vote for space opera.

Walking into a bookstore these days, the selection is weighted toward the F side of F&SF, and while as a fantasy author that's nice, as a reader I'd like more variety. That's why I was so happy to see Laura Reeves' debut novel Peacekeeper on the shelves last month.

I too will say that I'm a little tired of Urban Fantasy, although in fairness, I will also say that Urban Fantasy was never a big hit for me in the first place. And by "urban fantasy" I suppose I mean the "tough chick battling her inner demons while wrestling with outer monsters" shtick. (I was never a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer either, although I love Joss Whedon with all my heart.) Urban fantasy in the vein of Charles de Lint's The Onion Girl is always welcome though. (Can that be labelled urban fantasy?)

Personally, I love fantasy with an intriguing and different world, one similar to ours but different in significant ways. I would also prefer to see fantasy books without supernatural beings/creatures in the vein of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series. (You can see I don't shy away from enormous volumes. I like them a lot.) I also like heavy political intrigue and fantasy books about war rather than fantasy books about relationships (although relationships DO matter, thank you!).

I'm getting a bit burned out on urban fantasy in general, myself. What I really, really want is... Well, what I wrote and want to write, but without having to write it and edit it and get it published. Or... Something that I can read that will drown out the characters in my head in a good way. Something as interesting, or more-so, to what I can imagine.

I would like to see more merging of romance-fantasy/SF, but with the Fantasy/SF tropes more to the fore than the romance ones. (Or at least the romance ones I've read.) A bit more edge on whether the couple really will get together or not. (Bujold's The Sharing Knife series does pretty well in everything but that last edge.)

Mysteries lapping over would also be interesting, but I can't point to any one thing and say, "That. Like that."

Less Generic Medieval Europe in fantasies. More cool alien SF viewpoints. (I've always loved the non-human viewpoints...) For that matter, more non-human viewpoints in fantasy; give me a centaur or two, instead of the usual elf/vampire/werewolf.

Personally, if I like a book and author, fatter is better. Barbara Hambly's name is on the spine? Bujold's? Om nom nom! I like a long vacation somewhere. (On the other hand, plot that goes somewhere is also useful; I'm losing track of where Laurel K. Hamilton's fairie smut series is next. Though if I miss a book, I suppose I won't have skipped much plot.)

I think... Low, intricate fantasy -- not "gritty," but earth-shaking magic isn't making the earth shake for me so much. On the other hand, ultra-technology SF is light on the ground, and when I picked up a Lee-Miller book (I think it was) the other day, it made me happy to see gadgets. Tricky to straddle the line between "magic in tech's clothing" and "sense-of-wundar tech," but the latter's what I'm looking for, I think.

Religion-as-magic -- the Kushiel series, Bujold's Curse of Chalion and sequels -- doesn't get enough play.

Something I haven't seen hardly any of, and not done straight, is magic-as-technology. D&D had the Spelljammer stuff, which sort-of approaches the matter, and IIRC Toxic Spell Dump did it for humor... But magic-powered starships, blindfolded seer navigators... Yes, it might be earth-shaking magic, but it's leashed and harnessed like the lightning that powers the city...

However, as always for me, Character is King. If I want a Cool Setting, I'll go buy a roleplaying game module, or write it myself. The setting needs a tour guide, and at least enough of a plot not to wonder why this is in the SF&F section of the bookstore and not the RPG section.

I want more intelligent supernatural stories - especially thoughtful ghost stories. Genuinely creepy books (but not gore-fests), without misogyny masquerading as humor, and without a Mary Sue protagonist, please. (Sooooo tired of the Buffy clones.)

I'd also like some humorous and light-hearted books, heavy on the supernatural. Dark humor is acceptable, as well. (A. Lee Martinez is the king of light-hearted, well-written books of this type, especially A Nameless Witch and The Automatic Detective.)

Scary vampire novels (see also: Sunshine by R. McKinley) as opposed to vampire romance. I'm not opposed to a little sexiness, but please, no more 650 page porn novels with 0.05% plot and repulsive sexual politics (if you know what series I mean, and I think you do.)

Alternate history is a favorite of mine, as well. I loved "Court of the Air", and I'm quite enjoying "His Majesty's Dragon".

In conclusion: Supernatural, spooky, intelligent, humorous.

i want what every publisher and agent would wet themselves over:

the next harry potter or the next twilight... not just more stories about vampires or magical boarding schools (on the contrary... *Gag*)... i want the next book [series] that really expounds upon and gives a new twist to classic "mythology" and fairy tales with new characters to get a chance to delve into and learn more about...

This is not only unorganized but possibly a bit nonsensical.

I'm remarkably addicted to a good urban fantasy. Keyword being good. The market is flooded with some seriously awful stuff right now. I'm just touching my toes into romance after writing my first one on contract. I've noticed that I hate most of it, but I've become fond of Megan Hart. As for epic fantasy, Sarah Monette. In fact, nevermind, just Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear in general. That's where I'm seeing the wave of the future in SFF.

I want more equal representation of sexual identities and more female characters with purposes other than being the walking rape-object or damsel to be rescued. I also want those things in a story that moves and draws me in instead of just preaching the themes at me, or turning into someone's slash fantasies, though I do enjoy a good sex scene when it's necessary and properly used.

I want less of the same bland, boring narration about vampire hunters and demon slayers and all of that crap. I am tired of red-headed, green eyed firey courtesans. I am v. v. tired of vampires in general actually, and that was BEFORE the Twilight fiasco.

I guess I'm saying what all agents say: I'll know it when I see it.

There is no one idea that I want to see so bad I'd buy a bad book. I'm for good writing that draws me in above all else. Of course I also recognize that rejections mean I need to go back to the edit board and fix whatever is wrong with the story, especially when the agent says "I love your writing but your worldbuilding sucks." *g*

(Favorite book of last year, or maybe the year before, I forget when it came out: "The Bone Key" by Sarah Monette. I don't want to see more of these style books persay, I just want to see more of HER books in this style.)

Personally, I'm sick of the books where the cover art, copy, etc., all but say "This book is just like every other book in the genre." Similarly, I'm sick of any book with a gay character being filed under "gay/lesbian" and any book with an ethnic minority as the lead being filed under "ethnic studies/ethnic fiction" etc.

What I want to see is a book that sells itself as a fresh take on something comfortable and familiar. Space opera that grapples with issues space opera heretofore hasn't. Mystery that brings us characters that go beyond the stock mystery "types."

In short, I like to see something that is both familiar and new. I'm not going to pick up something wildly experimental, nor am I going to bother if it's just another Sue Grafton wannabe. And it's vital that the cover tell me what's different about this one, while reassuring me that if I like the genre/author/etc. I will still likely enjoy this particular book.

Enought with the vamps, zombies, and futuristic "abilities." They were fun for a while, but I'm done.

I want more stuff that does NOT fit into a genre. Surprise me! Invent a new genre! Suck me into a world or a way of looking at the world that isn't "a new twist on" (fill in the blank) but comes out of the writer's devious lizard brain. Please?

I suppose one reason I write what I write is that I have to. If anybody else is, then it's not getting published.

I think I became a writer because even as a little kid I was an avid reader, and to get what I wanted to read I saw that I would probably have to write it myself.

I'd love, love, love to see urban fantasy that draws on traditional myths and legends for it's main focus. I'd also like to see urban fantasy with a heroine who's a little bit weak, at least at first. Kick butt heroines are all well and good... the first twenty times around.

I'm SO SICK of vampires, werewolves, and, again, kick butt heroines. I like girls who can stand up for themselves and fight as necessary, but I'm tired of leather, tattoos, and knives all over the place. =P

What I'd like to read is more utopian SF coming into conflict with dystopian SF. I have a guess this really isn't a huge money-making idea though.

A couple of months ago, I looked unsuccessfully for a book set in a boarding school -- I wanted something with the readability of Prep and the mood of The Thirteenth Tale or Dead Poets' Society. M. E. Kerr for grownups. Something like Roald Dahl's Boy, with lots of details about the traditions of the place. English or American -- didn't matter. Boys or girls -- didn't matter. It could be a YA book, but I'd want a good meaty one. I haven't found anything yet that made me happy. I'm sure it must be out there, and if I found it in a bookstore, I'd buy it.

I'm another reader who's tired of BAD urban fantasy. I'm tired of the Anita Blake clones. I'm tired of reading the SAME book which meanders through a paper thin plot which isn't so much a plot as a weird ramble through fights and sex scenes. I'm tired of these plotless wonders being narrated by a "snarky" woman (who manages never once to be witty, profound, or even that likeable) with powers or something who somehow always manages to mention that she's wearing leather pants or thigh high boots even as she's running for her life or fighting some big nasty.

And just for reference, I think using Buffy as the object of frustration is wrong. Joss Whedon got Buffy, as a character and as a show, mostly right. It's those people who thought that adding a dose of chick-lit to the urban fantasy genre who are to blame. If they'd actually studied what made the show so successful and wonderful, we'd have a different discussion going on.

I'd like it if there were urban fantasy narrated or at least inhabited by heroines who are a bit more like me and other people I know. More heroines of color, heroines who are lesbian, bi, or even trans. Heroines who maybe are of size. Or aren't supermodel beautiful or always complaining about their looks.

It's not the vampires and werewolves that are my issue. After all the bad books, I'm still fascinated with them. It's the bad writing I'm tired of. I'm tired of agents and publishing houses who keep putting out the same old crap and then saying "well, that's what sells". It sells because it's all that's there sometimes.

I'd really love an urban fantasy novel narrated by a heroine with a voice that doesn't grate on my nerves. Most do, because they attempt to be very hip and colloquial and "snarky" without being at all amusing or interesting. I want a heroine that doesn't read like a Mary Sue. That actually tells a story instead of winding through related events all while giving irrelevant details as though every little thing about her life is important.

I'd love it if there were urban fantasy novels that understood consequences and weaknesses and real flaws, not just the made up ones.

I'd also love it if the surroundings in said novels were not there just because the author thought they'd look cool.

Honestly, I want to see someone do for Urban Fantasy what Watchmen by Alan Moore did for comics and the very tired trite superheroes tropes. I'd like to see someone really sink in and apply intelligent and thoughtfulness and humanity.

I'd like an urban fantasy with a heroine that reads like AN ACTUAL HUMAN BEING. Or at least written by an author who knows what the hell they're doing with the first person narration, because most really don't.

If I saw something with a really compelling, unique voice that did away with the "Well, there I was in my Gucci boots fighting this vampire who was really sexy" type stories, I'd buy it.

Also, I'd really love to see high/epic fantasy that isn't based around Saving The Kingdom With Mages and European Medieval Settings. I'd really love some fantasy based in other cultures, preferably written by people FROM those cultures. I think Liz William's Detective Inspector Chen series was really wonderful, but it's hard to find. I wish a big publisher or big name agent or something would find more books like that.

I'd love science fiction that I can enjoy as much as I do fantasy. I'd love character driven, uniquely plotted science fiction that I can feel like I really relate to. Even better, I'd love it if the covers of said science fiction novels didn't all look really laughable. I'd love science fiction that is written by authors of color and women. Because honestly? I started reading the speculative fiction genres when I was younger, but got tired of it almost always being written for, by, and about white men.

Like everyone else, I'm really tired of the Urban Fantasy. There are about three authors I still read that do Urban Fantasy because they do it well. I'm also really tired of a lot Urban Fantasy focusing on sex and forgetting that plot is essential for a good book. It's irritating.

I don't think I really have a prefrence in a type of writing I'd like to see...I'd just like to find something that's addicting. Where I actually care about the characters and they have a hint of reality to them. A new twist on a plot, or something that mixes writing styles. Tough gals are awesome, but when every book has one, it gets old and even starts to seem really unrealistic. Even in Fantasy, there has to be a belivability. I think some of that is being forgotten as of late.

As stated above, a SF/F-romance which is as much of one as the other. With well-drawn characters, a compelling story and a decent length...perhaps even a series.

I will limit my suggestions and comments to the spec-fic genre, because that's what I read most of. For all I know, the folks in crime fic are doing wonderful things that I'm missing.


Books I'm tired of:

1. Anything with a leather-clad hottie on the cover (my continuing enjoyment of Kim Harrison's series notwithstanding, of course!)

2. Anything with a partial face (female) and mist on the camera lens.

Oh, you mean contentwise? ;-)

3. Melodramatic retellings of fairy tales or old legends. (Playing them for laughs is fine.)

4. No elves, dwarves, dragon-people, cat-people, genetically enhanced chimeras, rebellious androids, or other creatures inspired by a combination of Tolkien, Heinlein, and auctorial wish-fulfillment.

5. Books where literary style is more important than a rollicking good story. I like a good turn of phrase, but too many authors are running at a level I just don't want to deal with. I read to relax. Standard, straightforward English, please.

6. Books where the main character is all emo. Angst and inner conflict is good, but not when the character lies down and wallows in it. Inner conflict should spur the protagonist to protag.


Stuff I want more of:

1. Better characters. Give me people who are interesting and clever--they do not necessarily have to be likable. They should be subtly and surprisingly complex, and should NOT be (a) slaves to the plot, nor (b) marionettes to act out some larger statement that the writer is trying to make.

(This is why Clever Thieves are still entertaining to me, despite being stock characters. They rarely kowtow to the author.)

2. Better worldbuilding. I love a world that is unlike others I've read about, and yet isn't full of weird crap the author can't quite describe and I can't quite picture. I want the world to be complex--show me multiple consequences of each aspect of worldbuilding, and at least hint that there is much more that we simply don't have time to include, because the story doesn't take place there.

3. Multiple layers of plot. I want threads to be hinted at in chapter three, and then reappear in chapter ten, and perhaps make a big difference to the ending. I want the consequences of a character's actions to dog him all through the book until and unless he does something to change it.

3.a. Political intrigue. Yummy, yummy plotting and scheming is much more interesting to me than Saving the World or Saving Our Love. But it has to be clever. "How do we put the boy king on the throne" is not as entertaining to me as "How do we put the boy king on the throne while tricking the Grand Vizier into getting himself killed?"

3.b. Caper stories. I loves me some caper stories. This is why I love the Miles Vorkosigan books: at heart, they are all caper stories.

4. Shorter wordcounts via tighter writing. Books are getting longer, but the plots aren't any more complex nor the characters any more interesting. Nine Princes in Amber is 75,000 words of very complex story, characters, and worldbuilding! If someone set out to write that today, they would make it two bloated books of 150K each.

Yes, for me it all boils down to the quality of the writing. I want concise and interesting, in a straightforward style that digs at the gut, not the intellect (teasing the intellect is a very nice add-on, but should not be the main point). I can read anything if it's written like that.

Edited at 2009-01-20 10:31 pm (UTC)

Look for a movement in black/African American literature.

It's coming....I'm just sayin'.

Outside of literature... my question is what is the next step in the evolution of the paranormal romance/urban fantasy sub-genre. The canon of PR/UF has started to solidify and authors/agents/publishers should be looking for the next...

Anything with media cross-over potential. Options, options, and...more contract options. But you didn't need me to tell you that.

I would love to see steampunk (gearpunk/ clockpunk...whatevers...) solidify in the market and take off. For my own personal love I'd kill to see Weird West or western/fantasy crossovers. But that's just me being selfish.

Look for hard horror and strict paranormal (ghost tales) and grab anything about a paranormal investigative team (in Rome, in London, in Outer Space...wherever).

Watch for these movements to trickle over into the YA/MG crowd. Especially PR/UF --- as it is doing, as we speak...

I am not a publishing industry professional though I am sometimes allowed to pretend I am one on other people's blogs. O.o

(Also, I question where Military Sci-Fi and Hard^tm Sci-Fi are doing in the market... )

I'm a huge fan of the Twilight saga, but when I was browsing through Amazon's top teen books, many of the other 50 were a variation of vampire. I sort of grimaced and said, "Do people read anything else?" We've had a great wizard series, a great vamp series, and now it's time to move on with both...

I agree with a few other posters who have said they want more myth/legend-based works. In YA, I've read historical, vampire, Potter, and just plain old fiction about day-to-day life, but never anything that involves a setting from an actual myth. In my opinion, anything in El Dorado or Lemuria or Avalon could be epic. I've talked to my friends about it, too, and many of them feel likewise.

And being 18, I'm torn between what section to go to when I want to buy a book. I'm not old enough to appreciate proper adult fiction (honestly, the plots are oftentimes too dull for teenagers, and I can rarely relate.) At the same, when I go to YA, I pick up a book and sometimes feel like I should be in 8th grade again. The writing is so simple. I don't like reading it. I feel my IQ drop... What I am DYING for is an amazing YA plot with slightly more advanced writing. I speak on behalf of most Honors and AP students when I request this.

Genre distinction is killing good literature. Harry Potter is not good writing, and it is not good story telling, and it isn't literature, it is the latest craze like a video game or a radio talk show or reality television. The unfortunate thing about publishing is that it's all about the money.

I'm not bitter, I'm sad. I want more Vonnegut, more Saroyan, more Bukowski, and more Mark Twain. I want writers. Bradbury is a writer. I don't want to hear about science-fiction as his genre, it's just a vehicle he uses to carry his stories. Drop the importance of genre.

I want to walk into a bookstore and see two sections: Fiction and non-fiction. And I want the books to be well-written. All of them.

For your survey, I am a writer who reads.

Less cookie-cutter genre explorations and instead more new ways of looking at genre -- including mash-ups of existing genres (China Mieville's "New Weird", for example -- not quite SF, or Fantasy or Horror, but something neither fish nor fowl....).

I love con artists and caper stories -- Miles Vorkosigan and Locke Lamora are favorites -- and would love to find some more SFnal stories along those lines. A space opera caper would really grab me. (I still miss Firefly and Farscape like whoa.)

Romantic comedy banter gets me every time, no matter the setting. Heyer, Crusie, Bujold, Loretta Chase... give me a snarky couple and I will give you my wallet. Other than Bujold and Lee/Miller, though, I don't see many SF writers doing this well.

I also really enjoy Jacqueline Carey's books and have not been thrilled with the stories that seem to be marketed as similar works. I think those authors are ignoring the rich pseudo-historical context, complete with the cast of thousands and the political intrigues, in favor of a lot of explicit sex. I grant you the sex is probably what sold Carey's books, but it was the political threads that kept me reading.

I'm not sure I can articulate what made me enjoy Elizabeth Bear's and Emma Bull's alternate histories so much even though I hate most of that subgenre. Maybe it's that the stories had more to do with the characters embedded in those settings rather than with some big technological idea. At any rate, I'd love to see more of it.

I'm amused by the person upthread who suggested "just Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear in general." I'd be good with that. ;)

Like a few other commenters, I'm pretty much done with urban fantasy. I'm sticking with a couple of favorites and chucking the rest.

Brilliantly written short adventure fantasy without misogynistic undertones.

Romance that's about realistic people working through realistic obstacles to grow a worthwhile relationship.

Above all, shorter and better-written books.

Tired unto death of: Men abusing children and women. Dead or dying people. Cancer. Women healers.

mpe

I have just read several good novels recently after not being able to get through the first 50 pages of everything I read for a long time, so the question of exactly what it is I am looking for is a fresh one for me.

The general answer is that I'd like to read YA contemporary fantasy (or adult) with a main character I wouldn't love to hate. Kick-ass heroines are awesome. Sexy heroes are even more so. However, they are becoming a little tedious, IMO. I'd like heroines who aren't kick-ass, but who stand up and do what they need to do; and heroes who are ordinary -- or even sexy without appearing over-the-top sexy -- and who have their own quirks that make them different from all other heroes out there. I'd like to read a fantasy novel that's heavy with intrigue rather than action, and soft, underlying romance rather than passionate sexual tensions that result in sex.

Also novels about beings other than vampires and werewolves in urban fantasy. Vampires and werewolves are nice (and if done well, wonderful), but I'd like to see other supernatural beings well explored, especially ghosts.

One thing that might have been overdone, but that which I always crave, however, is good fairy tales re-tellings. Emphasis on good. It doesn't need to be exceedingly original, although a new twist or two is nice, but it should at least presents believable and well-developed heroine and hero with a catching plot. Bonus points if set in a contemporary setting.

It's the characters who "make" every novel for me, however. If I like the characters, I'll probably like the novel no matter what. If the novel is chock-full of characters that are just cardboard cutouts of every other character ever written, the plot has got to be very very interesting to keep me going.

Edited at 2009-01-20 10:54 pm (UTC)

I'd love to see more YA books with male protagonists who are "normal." It's so hard to find a book that will interest teen boys where the protagonist is not a drug-addicted, sex-addicted, parent-hating, anti-social freak. Doesn't the success of Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, Percy Jackson, etc., (though these books might be viewed as middle grade, most teen boys I know are reading them) show us that the market is desperate for them?