Urban Shaman!

[annathepiper]

Okay, I'm done with it! Picoreview: well, that was fun, and yeah, I'm ready for the next one now.

A big chunk of my brain is now rather more loudly lamenting, "But, but, but, Luna already HAS an urban fantasy set in Seattle, and it's a good one, so how can they possibly also want my urban fantasy set in Seattle?" Grf! I have more than a bit of sympathy for Plucky And Tall Heroine Joanne, lamenting about the marvelousness of Cute Little Blonde Marie. ;)

Definitely liked Joanne. Very butch and very sympathetic, and I liked the whole cars thing she has going on. It lent a very earthy feel to how she approaches her rising powers. I was also genuinely surprised by the Deep Dark Secret that eventually comes out about her, which was an added layer of depth I hadn't expecting.

I was charmed seven ways from Sunday by Gary. I mean, geez, how can you not giggle at a sidekick who's an old ex-linebacker-turned-cabby, and who is firmly lodged into your brain as Ernest Borgnine?

And the rest of the characters are equally colorful and likeable: Billy Holiday, cross-dressing detective; Henrietta Potter, who lent more amusing Character Actor/Actress mileage to the cast by bearing (IC, even) a striking resemblance to Katherine Hepburn; Jen; Morrison. Yeah, I liked Morrison. I liked the description of him as "good-looking, in a superhero-going-to-seed kind of way"--very evocative, Kit! And I loved all the arguments he had with Joanne, interspersed with Gary's periodic sideline commentary of "He likes you." Snicker.

A bunch of familiar tropes in the story, but hell, that's hardly a bad thing when the story's fun--and I used a great number of these tropes in my own story, which is why I'm now lamenting my chances of Luna wanting mine. ;)

And that isn't stopping me from having enjoyed this read immensely. Congratulations, tribesmate! It was fabulous seeing your prose again--and this time, in print!

Comments

[starsongky.livejournal.com]

I liked the description of him as "good-looking, in a superhero-going-to-seed kind of way"

Now I wanna go watch Incredibles again!

[annathepiper]

*giggle* Quite! Though as Morrison is a police chief rather than an insurance agent, I envision him as somewhat less gone-to-seed than Mr. Incredible. ;)

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I maintain that the mere fact that Luna *asked* for your book means that you have really done one hell of a bang-up job on it, Anna, because it's not like they don't know they've got an urban fantasy series set in Seattle. The whole point is that you did such a good job with yours that they're willing to look beyond the superficial similarities to see if it might work for them. No matter what happens with it, you done *good*.

*laugh*! Ernest Borgnine, huh? I hadn't come up with that name myself, but it's a *very* good one for Gary. Hee hee hee!

*beam* I'm really glad you liked it. :)

[annathepiper]

*snugs a Kit!* Oh yeah, I know--I'm actually very happy at having had the manuscript requested in the first place, just because this is much farther than I expected to get so quickly. I mean, I've got this vaguely defined goal of 'it'd be nice to sell a book by the time I'm forty'. I genuinely expected to spend a few more years before I got any kind of interesting responses to any of my submissions at all! So even if Luna tells me no, I'll be feeling pretty damned good about this. :)

And I could have sworn you actually mentioned Ernest Borgnine somewhere in the text--which is why he got into my head in the first place! Clearly I will have to doublecheck. ;)

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I can tell you most assuredly that I did not, but it's still a great choice for Gary. :)

[annathepiper]

Hee! Okay, I'll just chalk this up to one of the many mysteries that is my brain. ;) Glad you approve!

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Ernest *Hemingway* is the Ernest mentioned in reference to Gary. I realized that about 2 in the morning and never remembered to tell you. :)

[annathepiper]

*giggle!* Ah, okay! Thanks for clearing that up! :)

[spazzkat.livejournal.com]

Now you guys need to write a crossover novel.

^_^

[annathepiper]

*chortle* This had, actually, occurred to me! Having now read Kit's book on the tail end of editing mine, my brain started trying to figure out if it would in fact be possible to do a crossover novel--it might be doable, since the paranormal stuff Kit's played with thus far in this book doesn't break anything in mine. ;)