I've run up against this problem recently, searching for urban fantasy about Los Angeles. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of it, or if there is I haven't found the magic Google/Amazon keywords that will reveal it to me. I'm not sure why this is... if it's because it's so bright and sunshiny here; because the "unreality" of Hollywood makes it too obvious a choice; because LA is so indelibly associated with crime/noir thanks to authors like Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain and James Ellroy and movies like Chinatown and Sunset Blvd.; some combination of the above or something else entirely. This is unfortunate, because there's just as much fodder for non-crime, non-Hollywood-related stories in LA as there is anywhere else, and because I think the city gets a bad rap as superficial, lacking history, revolving solely around the movie business, etc. Not to knock the great noir writers (if you haven't read Cain's Mildred Pierce, I recommend doing so at your earliest convenience, and if you like your mystery just a tad lighter, Robert Crais's Elvis Cole series is a treasure), but I would love to see my favorite genre feature my favorite city a bit more often.
This is what I've turned up so far, in print and on film; if anyone out there knows of more, please comment, and I'll keep the list updated for anyone else on a similar quest.
Angel
This is the show that made me fall in love with the Whedonverse, and I think it helped that I started watching it very soon after I moved to LA. Whedon & Co. struck just the right tone when dealing with the city and maintained a nice balance of Hollywood-related and unrelated stories.
Barton Fink
Classic Coen Bros. weirdness about a struggling 1950s writer living in a run-down hotel. The Angel episode "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been" (a personal favorite) seems to have a bit of Barton Fink influence.
LA Story
A magical love story, and an affectionate satire of the city and its residents in all their quirky glory.
The Twilight Zone, "The 16mm Shrine"
Sunset Blvd. as reinterpreted by Rod Serling. One of the all-time greats, featuring the amazing Ida Lupino.
Death is a Lonely Business, A Graveyard for Lunatics, Let's All Kill Constance by Ray Bradbury
This trilogy would probably count as mystery/detective fiction as well, but with a liberal helping of Bradbury magic realism. They feature an unnamed protagonist based on Bradbury himself, and adventures inspired by his life in Venice (CA) and in Hollywood in the mid-20th Century. A Graveyard for Lunatics was the first one I read and is hands-down the best; its subtitle is "Another Tale of Two Cities", and it focuses on a mystery involving a very thinly veiled Paramount Studios and Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Still one of my favorite books of all time.
The Weetzie Bat series by Francesca Lia Block
YA magic realism, and, aside from Bradbury and LA Story, the closest I've come to finding "grown up" genre fiction about LA that doesn't veer towards noir.
The Neddiad by Daniel Pinkwater
A middle-grade book about the adventures of young Neddie and his family, who have just moved to LA. It's classic quirky Pinkwater, opens at the La Brea Tar Pits, and features midcentury details like the Brown Derby. There's also a sequel, The Yggyssey.
Cinema Spec: Tales of Hollywood and Fantasy, Karen A. Romanko, ed.
Found out about this yesterday and ordered it from Amazon right away; I'm looking forward to reading this collection of short fiction and poetry.
Works that I haven't seen/read myself:
Forever Knight
Another vampire detective.
Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow
Werewolves bent on taking over Los Angeles.
High Bloods by John Farris
A near-future involving a worldwide lycanthropy epidemic.
From the Internet hive mind:
Norse Code by Greg Van Eekhout
Expiration Date by Tim Powers
The Bible Repairman by Tim Powers
1 comments:
I used to love Forever Knight, the series. But they were all so Canadian. It was hard to take seriously. I did love them, though.
Angel is the best. Well, after Buffy.
Post a Comment