but where are the books about Trows, Domovoi, or the Bo Derrig? Siriusly. The under-Folks need to be represented as protagonists.
I've mentioned "Paranormal Romance" in my Vices. As an ivory tower soul, I list it with a pure (and flabbergasted) heart. (I could list Top Model, but shamelessness has its limits!). Right now, I am reading Swimming Without a Net, the second volume in the Fred the Mermaid series by MaryJanice Davidson (marine biologist who is secretly a Mermaid, and tied in a love triangle between a tall, dark, handsome (rich) marine biologist and Prince Artur of the Black Sea, a sexy redheaded merman). I'm all for this literary onanism, honestly. Yet still.....
I'm looking for something apart from the "usual" suspects -- such as the lovely and snarky sidhe, Merry Gentry, heir to the Unseelie Court -- how romantic. Laurell K., whom perhaps some of us know and love, does a fabulous job of interjecting many folkloric races and creatures; but not really. It's all about the sidhe. As for the Werachnids... there is a series with werachnids, for all those interested (or infected, as you prefer). Jennifer Scales, a weredragon, discovers her long-lost half-brother is a werachnid in Jennifer Scales and the Messenger of Light (yes, I read Young Adult books... the confessions stream...). Werachnids. How creative. How original. How unusual! How... completely invented. As are "were-dragons." Oh, my.
On to contestent #3. "Changeling" by Delia Sherman. This book is wonderful and I have nothing bad to say about it. It uses an underdog and creates a believable "other-realm" -- New York Between. Precisely like New York City, but applied to faerieland (the fae are immigrants who came to ellis island centuries ago, of course; they have European cousins, too) -- she portrays a faerie-dusted NYC right down to the greedy "Dragon of Wallstreet" -- whose "scales" (literal, Libra/Justice/money-balance scales) turn paper into gold. Lovely book! Tiny issue: it's from the point of view of a Human. A human changeling used as a pet for faeries in NYB, that is.
Terry Pratchett also does a fair job with some of his characters, but most of them are still Vampires, Werewolves, Dwarves, Trolls, etc.
Then there is Gaiman's Death. We all love Death. There are many wonderful People. Yet still...
Someone out there should write about the little fae that get overlooked or ignored. I loved "Gnome," actually -- but I suppose I should indicate that I mean a "novel" -- not an informational (if whimsical) book. A redcap, with a passion for painting, perhaps. Felipe the redcap, who ran away and disguised himself as a deformed hunchback who wore a mask to hide his face. Who painted grotesque scenes and garnered local fame... until his dark nature was revealed to the public. Gwammir, a trow with a small nose who gets poked fun at in his history class (since trows should have big noses, to be sure) until Dosene, the wise, older trow teacher from "OOH" (Out Of the Hill) tells everyone that he is secretly the reincarnation of Filibus Troulles, the great Trow legend who singlehandedly baked the largest dwarven pie in the history of their Trowish countryside (who they also happen to be studying). Then Gwammir has to learn to cook asap to prove his (fake) identity (with a little help from Dosene and the cute girl Trow in his class, Juli -- for Julipaniar, of course). Just some ideas. I might undertake this fight for the underdog, but other folks should too, of course.
Merrrrily,
Emma