One of the things I’ve been working on recently is the curation of a fantastic Magic Noir bundle, in collaboration with the fine folks at storybundle.com. There are lots of awesome books and an incredible bundle price. Check it out!
The Magic Noir bundle is available from today until April 2nd. You choose how much you want to pay for these awesome books. If your purchase price is $25 or more, you get 11 more books, for a total of 14 fantastic magic noir works. Find out more here.
What happens when the bad guy that lurks in the shadows of the street actually is one of the shadows?
Welcome to a collection of works that fall under the magic noir umbrella: gritty worlds full of supernatural danger and mystery. And rain. Quite a bit of rain. These are stories about investigators solving mysteries, uncovering dark truths and facing impossible odds. Here you’ll find worlds where magic works, but where it isn’t always the sparkly, easy sort of sorcery that sets everything conveniently right. You’ll find fascinating, twisted worlds aplenty – such as the gloriously dark and gritty Mushroom Blues with its unique and cool world-building.
Quite a few of these books contain cynical and world-weary magic-wielders, or investigators who fear the very powers they wield. They’re cynical or wisecracking characters, battling demons that are sometimes in their heads – but which are sometimes, you know, demons. For them, magic can be as destructive to the spell-worker as its target. You’ll find characters who operate in the grey areas between right and wrong – and whose idea of right and wrong may itself be debatable. Quite often, like Mennik Thorn in Shadow of a Dead God, our hero has a heart of gold, but somehow things never seem to work out as intended.
Some of the worlds these characters inhabit will be familiar, because they’re our world: the towns we live in, or familiar cities set in different times, places whose history isn’t at all what we thought it was – for example in Resurrection Men, set in 19th century Glasgow, or New York Minute set in an alternate vision of that city. Some books involve present-day supernatural investigative organisations – such as those found in The Dark Elf Dynasty or The Eye Collectors.
Other books, meanwhile, are set firmly in a fantasy world, where the rules of magic might be different, and the world may be full of wonder, but where the challenges and dangers the characters face are just as terrifying. Maybe more terrifying. And some of the books are set in worlds that may or may not be our own, where everything we thought we understood turns out to be misguided delusion – such as the deliciously dark Madame Antic’s Hotel Grotesque.
We have grimdark works – The Hallows or Legacy of Brightwash – and steampunk worlds, such as those found in Dexter and Sinister: Detecting Agents – but there are glimmers of light in the darkness, too, for example with the more light-hearted Duckett & Dyer: Dicks for Hire.
Whatever your tastes, you’re sure to find something to relish and intrigue in this fantastic collection of magic noir.
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