(no subject)

[darchildre]

One of the things that I have wanted for a long time is a certain kind of urban fantasy. I will be the first to admit that I am not the best versed in the urban fantasy genre, so the kind of thing I want may be out there, but I haven't found it. Urban fantasy seems to me to be mostly Established Fantasy Creatures In A Modern Urban Setting. There's nothing wrong with that, but I what I want is Fantasy Creatures That Grow Out Of A Modern Urban Setting, if that makes sense. I want to read about the magic that cities themselves possess and how that magic affects the people who live in them.

I get a little of that in Neverwhere and China Mieville's King Rat. It's not quite enough, though, and what I really want is a story like that that's rooted in the US - not just a story set in America but an American story.

I'm not a writer. If I was, I'd try to write what I want myself. I am, however, occasionally good at putting together fan soundtracks. So I've made one for the book that I want to read. Here it is.


Here's where the story's set. You may notice a certain tendency toward bleakness. I tend to imagine the city in darkness, with the light of streetlamp reflecting off wet pavements.

• Matthew Good - Suburbia
  

  Someday, this place is gonna burn. Is your whole life in there waiting?

  
  
• Indigo Girls - Welcome Me
  

  Where's the heart, where's the bullet for breaking? Who's gonna give me a weapon, a pacifying weapon?

  
  
• Common Rotation - Offstage Lines
  

  We don't solve your problems here. We just work our way around.

This is lead character #1. I tend to think that lead character #1 is a woman. (In fact, her first song is pretty much my Olivia Dunham song so, essentially, lead character #1 is a little bit Olivia Dunham.)

• Florence + the Machine - Blinding
  

  No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone

  
  
• +4db - Rook
  

  On the wings of night I fly too, above field and stream. My head bursting with knowledge till I wake from the dream.

  
  
• Indigo Girls - Hand Me Downs
  

  Give me hope, give me hope that emptiness brings fullness and loss of love brings wholeness to us all

  
  
• Neko Case - Furnace Room Lullaby
  

  I'm wrapped in the depths of these deeds that have made me. I can't bring a sound from my head though I try.

And here's lead character #2. I'm not as definite on gender with this one - could be male, could be female, whatever. Definitely the supporting lead, though.

• The Gaslight Anthem - Orphans
  

  I have given you the fire of my youth and the triumph of my enemies

  
  
• The Mountain Goats - Home Again Garden Grove
  

  Wipe down the windshields and roll down the windows. Let's go where the jackals are breeding.

And there's the villain. Or villains. Could go either way.

• Matthew Good - On Nights Like Tonight
  

  On nights like tonight when no one's around I sit in the dark on my hands on the ground and I smile like the devil smiles, unseen but proud.

  
  
• Dave Carter and Tracy Grammar - Red (Elegy)
  

  Sweet Maria, she's a pretty little 9, kicks like a mule but she barks just fine. I ain't cleaned her in a mighty long time - taking her out tonight.

  
  
• REM - First We Take Manhattan
  

  They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom for trying to change the system from with. I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them...

And of course, there's some sort of fantastical, magical thing going on.

• Bruce Springsteen - Magic
  

  Now there's a fire down below but it's coming up here. So leave everything you know - carry only what you fear. On the road, the sun is sinking low, bodies hanging in the trees. This is what will be.

  
  
• Bob Schneider - Version Mary
  

  Version Mary, snake pit gravy. Only you know how to save me.

There's probably a love story:

• Bruce Springsteen - Lift Me Up
  

  Your skin, your hand upon my neck. This skin, your fingers on my skin. This kiss, this heartbeat, this breath. This heart, this heart, this wilderness.

There might also be an (evil) alternate love interest:

• Poe - Hey Pretty
  

  Well, I've got a mind full of wicked designs. I got a non-stop hole-in-my-head imagination.

  
  
• Okkervil River - For Real
  

  And I miss what really did exist when I held your throat so tight.

There are probably some action/fight scenes. (No lyrics for these. Fight scene music is like dancing music - the lyrics are less important than the sound.)

• Bloc Party - Like Eating Glass (Ladytron Zapatista Mix)
  
• Ladytron - High Rise

Someone might die, or other similarly terrible things might happen:

• Bruce Springsteen - Point Blank
  

  You were standing in the doorway out of the rain. You didn't answer when I called out your name. You just turned and then you looked away, like just another stranger, waiting to get blown away.

  
  
• The Mountain Goats - Maybe Sprout Wings
  

  I thought of old friends, the one's who'd gone missing. Said all their names three times. Phantoms in the early dark - canaries in the mines.

Then there's probably a climax of some kind:

• The Mountain Goats - Psalm 40:2
  

  He has fixed his sign in the sky. He has raised me from the pit and he will set me high.

  
  
• Tom McRae - The Boy With the Bubblegun
  

  I'm the boy with the bubblegun, with work to do. If songs could kill, this one's for you.

Maybe we win in the end.

• The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
  

  And here's where we died that time last year, and where the angels and devils meet. And you can dance with the queen if you need, and she will always keep your cards close to her heart.

Maybe we don't.

• A Perfect Circle - Imagine
  

  (You know the words. In this version, though, it's clear that the utopian vision imagined comes about solely because everyone is dead. So.)

Not that the kind of straightforward plot where one wins is necessary. Maybe we just keep going.

• Muse - Sing for Absolution
  

  Sing for absolution: I will be singing and falling from your grace.

  
  
• Shriekback - Faded Flowers
  

  These eyes are blind. This is a pure thing.

If you want to listen to the music, you can download it here.


Maybe you have read this story and can tell me where to find it? Or maybe you want to write it?

Comments

[teigh_corvus]

I'm not sure if I've read this story, but I really want to, rather desperately.