Guest Post: Stuart Sharp

Hi, I’m Stuart Sharp. Amongst other things, I’m the author of the urban fantasy book Searching, and Jodie has kindly agreed to let me post here as part of my promotion for it. No, please don’t run off. I promise I’m not going to spend all my time going on about how great the book is (well, maybe briefly). Instead, this being a blog dedicated to reading, what I thought I’d do was talk briefly about what I was reading as I wrote Searching, and the influence those books had on me at the time.

Jodie has also suggested that I might like to mention a few of my current favourite authors, so I’ve picked five of each. First though, it occurs to me that I’d probably better tell you something about this novel that you’ve never heard of. Time for a blurb, I think:

Searching tells the story of Stephen Neilson, a shape-shifter and one of those who police the supernatural world that exists hidden from most people. He’s grown to worry that he is becoming nothing more than a killer, and that belief is tested to the limit when a young woman shows up on his doorstep asking for help to find her sister. The problem: her sister is Amy Winter, and she definitely is a killer. Worse, she’s one who specialises in the supernatural.

Neilson’s search takes him to York, where he runs into egotistical vampires, bad tempered witches, and werewolves who seem to have violence in mind. Pretty soon, he finds himself embroiled in a plot that threatens the whole supernatural world with revelation, and war. Somewhere in this, Neilson must work out who to trust, save a woman who would normally want him dead, and maybe just save himself.

It’s an odd sort of book in its way. I won’t pretend otherwise. There are some very dark moments in it, coupled with what is generally quite a light tone. There’s a lot of action, but I’d like to think that the moments that matter in it are the ones that hinge on the more human elements. I’d like to think that it’s a combination of elements that adds up to a good book. I definitely think that it’s a combination of elements that makes a lot more sense once you see whose work I was reading at the time. Obviously, since this was a couple of years ago, there’s a chance I might have misremembered, but by and large I think this list is right.

1- Kelly Armstrong: In particular those books featuring the Stonehaven werewolves- Bitten, Stolen, and Broken. I think it was those that convinced me that if I was going to try urban fantasy, I should try to steer clear of werewolves for the main characters, since they had already been done so brilliantly. It didn’t stop a few creeping into Searching, lying down, and declaring that they weren’t going to move, though. I think Kelly Armstrong’s work was also vital in convincing me both that the characters were more important than simple plot, and that the darker elements of urban fantasy weren’t something to shy away from.

2- Kim Harrison: That said, I much prefer the fantasy I read to have a lighter thread running through it, and when it comes to urban fantasy, Kim Harrison probably does that the best. I was briefly put off by the film puns titles of her early novels, but I’m very glad I got over it, because she’s now probably the urban fantasy author I still read most. The Hollows has got to be the most inventive urban fantasy world going, and the whole series is great fun.

3- Jim Butcher: Talking of great fun, the Harry Dresden series probably had a huge influence at the time. It certainly seems to be the closest in tone to the sort of thing I tried to do with Searching, and I must admit that the sight of a male author and main character succeeding in the largely female-dominated genre was a considerable encouragement.

4- Douglas Adams. The last two choices veer away from urban fantasy a little, if only to make the point that I was also reading other things. I’ve read the more comedic end of the fantasy and sci-fi spectrum for as long as I can remember, but it is probably important that I happened to read Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency at just the point where Searching began. It convinced me that I would never be able to “do” funny quite that well, and so sent me more down the track of “serious” fantasy.

5- Assorted medievalists. David Crouch’s William Marshall is a surprisingly good read, as is the book Fullford: The Forgotten Battle of 1066. But I suppose the point I’m making here is not about the books so much as what I was doing, which was a PhD in medieval history. Writing Searching was as much a means of procrastination from that as anything, and some small influences seem to have crept in. The medieval minster of York makes a quick appearance, thanks to the research, as indeed does the city. I wanted somewhere with a sense of history lurking in the background, without it being too obtrusive, and York just happened to be perfect. It was that or Hull, really.

If we contrast that with what I’m reading now, the differences should become apparent pretty quickly:

1- Neil Gaiman: Probably my favourite author. I suppose what he does connects vaguely to urban fantasy, in the sense that his work integrates the modern with the fantastic. Then again, by that definition, the Harry Potter series fits. My standard advice here is that if you haven’t read everything he’s ever written, you should do so at once. In particular, those people who only know him from Coraline or The Graveyard Book should read one of his novels aimed at adults with all due speed. I’d recommend starting with Neverwhere, though Anansi Boys is also a great place to begin. Stardust possibly bridges the gap best of all, even if it perhaps lacks that little bit of edge and depth that the others have. American Gods is my favourite, but I know better than to recommend beginning with it. It’s one of those “marmite” books (that you either love or hate). Actually, given Gaiman’s general popularity, I suspect you already know this.

2- Tom Holt, on the other hand, never seems to attract as much attention as you’d think he should. A friend of mine tried to explain her refusal to read his work by suggesting that he does nothing Pratchett doesn’t, but what sort of argument is that? Surely you can have Soul Music in one hand and > May Contain Traces of Magic in the other? (and possibly, eventually, my comic fantasy novel Court of Dreams in the… no, hang on, that won’t work, will it? I don’t suppose anyone fancies running round quickly and giving everyone an extra hand, do they?)

3- Jasper Fforde: Despite the mess that is First Among Sequels, I’m still a huge fan. Just read The Fourth Bear instead.

4- Rachel Green: Who I really must credit indirectly with most of this list, since it was getting hold of her marvellous debut An Ungodly Child that turned me back onto the funny stuff. Yes, as she freely admits, it probably needed another round of copy-editing. Yes, the ending is a bit odd. But it’s an amazingly fun, and indeed funny, book that deserves to be read.

5- Richelle Mead: Just to make the point that I haven’t stopped reading this genre entirely. I’d recommend most of her books, and especially enjoy the humour and wit of her Georgina Kincaid series.

Right, I think I’ve probably kept you reading long enough (you are still reading aren’t you? If you’ve wandered off to make a cup of tea, I’d quite like one too, just pour it in the vents). I suppose the point I’m making here is that while my general reading tastes have stayed the same, they’ve also changed quite a bit in the tone. In that, I think they’ve reflected a change in my writing, from the serious-ish fantasy of Searching to the unmitigated silliness of my current work. In that, I suspect I’m trying to suggest that with both reading and writing, the choices you make reflect you at a particular moment. I’d like to think that Searching does a pretty good job of reflecting me a couple of years ago.

I’d like to thank Jodie again for hosting this post, and if anyone wants to leave any questions or thoughts in the comments I’ll try to keep up with them.

Thanks so much to Stuart for dropping by, if you want to keep up with what he's doing you can rock up at his blog.