Smoke em if you got em

 So, there's a trilogy that follows Tanya Huff's Blood Books that follows around Henry's project Tony in Vancouver. (This was actually how I got introduced, wince I found book one in the library, and then introduced to the earlier books.) Now available in omnibus, the Smoke trilogy follows Tony around as he starts working for a Vancouver Television show, a syndicated number about a vampire detective.

In Smoke and Shadows, Tony starts off as a Production Assistant. Problem being his coworkers keep getting possessed by living shadows being sent through a gate in the sound stage. Including Tony at one point, although Henry manages to help out with that. We find out that the special effects coordinator is actually a Wizard from another dimension, and the shadows are seeking her. We also get to see the was Henry and Tony's relationship has evolved, as Tony is not that thrilled that Henry still views Tony as a possession. On the other hand, Tony winds up becoming a Wizard in training by the end, so it kind of gives him a counterbalance.

In Smoke and Mirrors, Tony and the production of Darkest Night get trapped in a Haunted House by one particularly vengeful ghost and several repeating phantoms that try to get people to participate in an ongoing murder/suicide pattern that feeds the big bad in the basement. Henry and Tony's boss wind up working together on the outside to get information inside to Tony, since the boss's daughters are inside as well. (One of them would be me as a kid in the same situation: wanting to see the ghosts, complaining the house is boring because the walls don't bleed...) 

In Smoke and Ashes, Tony and Stunt Lady/Demon Gate Leah get wrapped up in a Demonic Convergence around Vancouver. This gets fun as Tony's wards are made with cherry cough syrup that changes to cherries when triggered. As things proceed, the cast and crew of Darkest Night, who have spent the past few books getting possessed by ghosts and shadows, are ready to fight back. We get to see Tony and Henry's relationship eventually resolve itself better, as Tony is dealing with jealousy over Henry's relationship with Tony's boss. We also see Tony finally work out his feelings for the costar of the show, who seems to want to make out with Tony every time he becomes possessed.

This trilogy is much more lighthearted than the Blood books, and there are several moments of the production crew laughing at the horrible cliches and dialogue that are part and parcel of the proceedings. It's good to see Tony grow into an adult and realize what he wants. And it remains fun reading.

Ends and Beginnings

 So, I'm about 2 days late posting this, but I did finish the Blood Books by Tanya Huff.

We start with Blood Debt, which starts roughly a year after Vicky returns from Vancouver, having learned to be a vampire from Henry. Problem being, Henry is waking up to some really angry ghosts seeking vengeance on who killed them. (Not Henry, obviously.) This requires Vicky and Mike to drive from Toronto to Vancouver to help Tony and Henry figure out who is killing street kids and why. Along the way, Mike gets kidnapped by the bad guys, and everyone reevaluates their relationships. (Indeed, Henry and Vicky have to work around Vampiric territorial issues, Tony looks at moving on, Mike begins to respect Henry...etc.) 

The second part, Blood Bank, is a collection of short stories, most of which take place after the events of the previous volume. It's kind of a mixed bag, with monsters of the week, Henry's history, Vicky going through Dickens, but they're all quite fun. 

I'm happy I reread the series. It remains amusing.

Are you my mummy?

 I finished Tanya Huff's second collection of The Blood Books yesterday, consisting of Blood Lines and Blood Pact, both of which having a few emotional land mines in the prose. 

The first section deals with a pre-dynastic Mummy waking up in modern Toronto and essentially trying to set up shop on behalf of his own power and that of his Deity, who got folded in with Set after the Dynastic era started. As such, the Mummy more or less takes over Provincial police and government, while also deciding he wants to eat Henry's ka, while his god wants to eat Vicky's suffering. This does lead to some changed relationship dynamics in Henry and Mike's interactions, as both begin to realize that Vicki loves them both, but is not inclined to settle down with either of them. While this is all well written Dark Fantasy, Vicki's tortures while locked up by an out of control Mummy is a bit hard to get through. 

The second part, though, is really where the triggers are. Vicki spends the first part of the book avoiding talking to her never really seen mother in Kingston, mainly due to the ongoing rivalry between her suitors. Which doesn't work so well when Vicki figures out the reason behind the calls is that Mom was dying, and indeed is now deceased. Which leads Vicki to take the train to Kingston in a daze, without telling Herny or Mike what's going on. Both, of course, follow her, which leads into finding out that Mom's body isn't in the casket. Given this is horror and not the Christian Bible, it should come as no surprise that the resurrection of the body in this case has nothing to do with divine intervention, and everything to do with a crazed grad student, her greedy advisor, and a third assistant, who are using computers and bacteria to reanimate dead bodies.One of which happens to be Vicky's mom. Who manages to scare the heck of of everyone when she tries to walk home. By the finale, one student is dead, Henry gets captured, and eventually Mom and Vicki find each other. Which is by far one of the absolute hardest scenes to read in a book filled with reanimated corpses. 

This book ends with a fairly large surprise, although one that I knew about thanks to starting with the follow up Smoke series. I also wonder if, given some of the hints in the text, had these been written later, would Mike and Henry formed a true triad with Vicki, had social mores of the mid 90's likely dragged it down?

Seriously though, these are stil fun reads, although as I said above, a bit emotional.

Poor Henry

 I'm a bit delayed in this write up, but my free time also has been rather tied up of late. I had occasion to get my hands on Tanya Huff's Blood Books and the sequel trilogy The Smoke Series, and I'm starting through the original. 

Which, due to availability, means reading the former as the 2-in-1 versions. 

We start with the initial book in the series, Blood Price, which introduces us to former cop turned Private Eye, Victoria Nelson, who left the Toronto Police Department after a storied career due to retinitis pigmentosa destroying her peripheral and night vision. This also lead to some very major rifts with her at the time boyfriend Mike Celluci, who remains at TPD in Homicide. We find out bits and pieces of this history as Vicki walks into a subway station only to witness a murder. One where the murderer manages to disappear in a crack in the wall.

This, along with the girlfriend of the victim hiring Vicki to find the "Vampire" (the local newspapers have dubbed the killer as such) gets Vicki involved in a series of murders involving exsanguination. Which leads to her eventually meeting Henry Fitzroi, bastard son of Henry VIII, loyal Catholic, romance novelist, and vampire since the Sixteenth Century, who is not involved in the murders. We also meet Tony, a male hustler who is also one of Vicki's contacts.

Anyway, by the end, we find out the murderer is a demon, using victims to spell the name of a Demon Lord. Said minor demon being summoned by 1991's version of what we know today as an "Incel". 

Then begins book 2, Blood Trail, in which Henry drags Vicki off to London, Ontario, to solve a case involving werewolves getting shot on their farm. We find out Henry has been feeding on Tony, the street kid, as well as helping Tony get off the streets. 

The weres follow a bit of a dated code (the whole Alpha gendered thing), but generally open up the series to rubbing rough edges off the human characters, particularly Mike when he drives over. We get a really good object lesson in the differences between a Lawful alignment and a Chaotic alignment 

Honestly, these are a bit rough around the edges, particularly book one, but the story is engaging nonetheless, and only gets better if I remember correctly.

Fur flying everywhere.

I'll preface this by stating I wasn't sure how much I'd like The Silvered by Tanya Huff. I love her other books, but I loathe werewolves. Thankfully, my love won out and I really enjoyed reading about Mirian Maylin taking on prophecy and becoming part of a duo out to overthrow an Empire.

The book opens on said empire's invasion of Aydori borders by Captain Reiter and his rag tag band of Imperial shields are sent by a prophecy to retrieve 6 pregnant mages from far off Aydori. In the meantime, Mirian Maylin has been told not to return to University, having not mastered more than the first level in any of the 5 magical disciplines. Not that that's stopping her mother from trying to set her up with any member of the pack, the werewolves that act as protectors of Aydori. Because were Mirian to become Mage-Pack, that would increase her mother's societal standing and hopefully get the Pack to start banking with Mirian's father. Which leads to a scene at the Opera, where the Mage-Pack (women) mated with the Pack (men) try very hard to keep people calm in the beginning of the invasion, telling folks to wait until morning to begin pulling further withing Aydori borders to the more defensible capital. Mirian also catches the nose of one of the unmated Pack, who tells her she smells amazing. (Pretty much any Pack we meet throughout the book says this or something similar. Given most of those saying it are barely out of adolescence, I assume her amazing mage powers smell like pizza.)

Anyway, Mirian sees Captain Reiter capture 5 of the most powerful members of the Mage-pack and takes it upon herself to go report the taking of the mates to the Pack fighting on the front lines. Whereupon she gets captured by Captain Reiter, who thinks her to be the 6th Mage. Lord Tomas Hagan, nephew of the Pack Alpha (who just died to Imperial weaponry) finds and rescues her, leading to a rather hurried race against both Captain Reiter (trying to re-capture her) and whatever fate will befall the 5 Mage-pack members once they reach the Capital of the Empire.

Which we as readers get to see in rather graphic detail. See, The Emperor has declared both Mages and Pack to be abominations, less than human, and expendable. Thus why Pack pelts are worth money in the Empire. His grand plan involves mating the beasts with the other beasts to get Mages he alone controls. (The Empire is a very science heavy realm, where magic is dying out. Even though most of the decisions the Emperor makes is based on Soothsaying.)

It's actually quite brutal in places. And the gay subtext in this is hard to miss, particularly since Ms. Huff is married to a woman. One of the biggest themes here is the idea that by declaring someone as less than human, it's a lot easier to torture them and kill them, because they're nothing but an animal. And again, Ms. Huff has no problem portraying gay male relationships in her fictions. We meet a were in the Empire who's paired with a soothsayer who end up taking Tomas and Mirian in about 2/3rds of the way through the narrative. They, along with the mental ghost of Mirian's mother as well as heroines of books Mirian read provide a little levity to the story. (Seriously. The mother's instructions on how to be a proper lady crop up at inopportune times during the chase.)

Another bit of subtext falls under the idea that the more society advances and become more civilized, the less room we have for magic and wonder in that society. Which has its good and bad sides.

Really though, I ended up liking the book. While it's not listed as series fiction, I wouldn't complain if she returns to this world for another story or two.