Ever since the very beginning, paranormal fantasy has had an unwarranted stigma attached to it, a prejudice that it’s somehow inferior to other genre fiction categories. If I tell a group of friends who are longtime science fiction readers that I’m reviewing the new Laurell K. Hamilton or Kim Harrison, I inevitably get mocked amidst smirks and eye rolls. The same thing happens if I share my thoughts about a particularly exceptional paranormal fantasy debut with longtime aficionados of fantasy or mystery.
Haughty science fiction and fantasy fans have shared their disdain concerning paranormal fantasy with me on countless occasions. How can novels about oversexed vampires or werewolves or fairies possibly be as socially significant as Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings or Asimov’s Foundation trilogy? Where’s the awe-inspiring world building, the profoundly moving themes, the visionary storylines, the existential weight?
But while much of this prejudice is indeed simply ignorant belief without basis, I can understand where they’re coming from. If you’ve never read paranormal fantasy before and are making your judgments based solely on seeing cover art on the shelves, then I can see where some elitist readers may view the prevalence of scantily clad, tattooed women wielding guns or swords or battleaxes in four-inch stiletto heels and leather miniskirts with disdain. It all seems so formulaic and unoriginal…
But you know what they say about judging a book by its cover…
In fact, I’ll go as far to say this: some of the most talented and innovative – and visionary – novelists in all of genre fiction are writing paranormal fantasy.
Case in point: Stacia Kane and her Downside novels (Unholy Ghosts, the recently released Unholy Magic, the forthcoming City of Ghosts, etc.), a saga that not only features deeply realized and meticulously described world building but also profoundly moving themes that are more than topical in today’s society.
The heroine of the Downside saga is a drug-addicted, tattooed witch named Cesaria “Chess” Putnam, a Debunker for the Church of Real Truth. And although categorized as paranormal fantasy, this series could just as easily be described as an alternate history – during a seven-day span in 1997, humankind was irrevocably changed when ghosts rose from their graves and killed millions of innocents. Only one small group, called the Church of Real Truth, devoted to the theory and study of magic, had the knowledge to control and defeat the ghosts. Now, several decades in the future, the Church essentially runs the world. There are no governments and no religions: “Who wasted their lives believing in a god when the Church had proof of the afterlife on its side? When the Church knew how to harness magic and energy?” The Church has even gone as far as to vow to reimburse citizens being haunted by the wicked dead. Debunkers are brought in to either banish the offending spirits or expose those fraudulent citizens trying to cheat the church out of money.
I simply love the character of Chess Putnam: she is a functioning addict, just like so many other Americans. She is loving and intelligent yet deeply flawed – she has an affliction that could very well kill her. Statistics from the Mayo Clinic report that 19.5 million people over the age of 12 use illegal drugs in the United States. (How’s that for socially significant, haters?!?)
In Unholy Magic, Kane takes the stellar world building from Unholy Ghosts and expands upon it tenfold. Readers get a glimpse into the machinations – and true charge – of the Church. Early on in the novel, investigating a mystery surrounding an alleged ghost brutally murdering prostitutes in Downside, Chess has to descend to the otherworldly City of Eternity to look for a ghost in the spirit prisons:
“The iron walkway rattled under her feet as she made her way into the prison, a cavern so large she couldn’t see where it ended. Across the red-hot expanse, bottomless and spiked with flames, all she saw were ghosts, hanging from the ceiling in iron cages through which mild electrical currents ran, forcing hem into solid form and making escape impossible – or more impossible, given that every object in the room had been charmed and bolstered with magic.”
Also tasked with debunking a television celebrity’s claim that his newly built mansion is haunted, Chess has her hands full – in her professional life as well as personally. She has two love/lust interests – Terrible and Lex, a sleazy (and sexy) gang leader who supplies her with drugs. But with drug addiction and criminal propensity influencing her existential compass, her decisions are far from rational… It leads to some fascinating questions: Does her drug addiction make Chess an antihero? Are those who enable her addiction villains?
The bottom line is this – never before in paranormal fantasy have I read a series that features the combination of grand scale world building, labyrinthine storyline, superb character development, and social relevance. Stacia Kane’s Downside saga is taking paranormal fantasy to another level right before our eyes…
I challenge anyone who has never read a paranormal fantasy before to read this series – I’ll guarantee you that you never look at paranormal fantasy the same way again.
Paul Goat Allen has been a full-time book reviewer specializing in genre fiction for almost the last two decades and has written more than 6,000 reviews for companies like Publishers Weekly, The Chicago Tribune, and BarnesandNoble.com. In his free time, he reads.
