Witchy Fiction

[Lark]

Face it, sometimes we just like to spend some time curled up with a good book to read.  And what is more fun than a book that speaks to Witchy heos and heroines and situations we can relate to.

For starters I'd suggest the Diana Tregarde books by Mercedes Lackey about a young woman who is a Guardian with the task of fixing magic that goes awry.

"Burning Water"
"Children of the Night"
"Jinx High"

I would also recommend the trilogy by S.M. Stirling

"Dies the Fire"
"The Protector's War"
"A Meeting at Corvallis"

The series takes place in a post-apocolypse America up in the Willamette valley. One of the main protagonists is Wiccan and it is interesting to watch the forrmation of a society where Wicca is the predominant religion. The characters are interesting and the story line draws you in.

And some other good reading includes the Bast novels by Rosemary Edgehill where the protagonist is a Wiccan priestess in New York City.

"Speak Daggers to Her"
"The Book of Moons"
"The Bowl of Night"

If you like mysteries you might want to look at the series by M. R. Sellars. The protagonist and his wife are HP and HPS of a Wiccan coven in St. Louis who work with the police on occult crimes.

"Harm None"
"Never Burn a Witch"
"Crone's Moon"
"The Law of Three"
"Love is the Bond"
"All Acts of Pleasure"

And there is of course "Spellbinder" by Melanie Rawn which is half mystery and half romance novel set in New York City.


-Lark-

[Emrys]

Been looking to add to my "Brain Candy" reading. Thanx Lark.
Rose Edghill's Bast mysteries are great. Oddly enough, several of her characters are taken/based on real life "community " family in NYC. They get a charge out of reading her stuff and finding out what "they" are doing!


I'm going to add Nora Roberts "Circle Trilogy"
"Morrigan's Cross"
"Dance of the Gods"
 "Valley of Silence"

Also Madelyn Alt's
"Trouble with magick"
" A Charmed  Death"
With a third one on the way.

Emrys

[mermdotcom]

I love Nora Roberts!  I've only read a few of her books outside of her "...In Death" murder mystery series (under pseudonym J.D. Robb), but I love her writing style.  She makes it very hard to put a book down!  I haven't read those 3, though - I'll have to snag them from my mother-in-law.  She's the one who turned me on to Nora Roberts!

Lark, I love mysteries, so I'll have to look for M.R. Sellars.  I've been reading a series by Laurell K. Hamilton where, oddly enough, the protagonist is also an occult/supernatural consultant for the St. Louis police!  It's much more on the fantasy side (vampires, werewolves, & such), so it might not quite apply!  There were also some eye-roll moments at the beginning of the series where Witchcraft is concerned, but that improves throughout the series as the protagonist (and, perhaps, the author) becomes more educated about Wicca.

[Rowan CedarWolf]

Speaking of Nora Roberts there is another trilogy of hers that you all may like the three sisters island trilogy
Dance upon the Air
Heaven and Earth
Face the Fire

Each book centers on a witch. All three complete a circle and the cirlce is charged with the responsibility of saving the island.In order to save the island each witch is faced with a task or challenge, and if all challenges are met the island stand, but if not the island will crumble into the sea along with all those who live there. The last book has a forth witch, but you'll have to read to find out more.

[Lark]

Been looking to add to my "Brain Candy" reading. Thanx Lark.
Rose Edghill's Bast mysteries are great. Oddly enough, several of her characters are taken/based on real life "community " family in NYC. They get a charge out of reading her stuff and finding out what "they" are doing!

Emrys

I figured she was writing about real people..I even recognized a few of them, such as Phyllis Curott in the books.  And I just KNEW that the story about the potato salad had to be true..it's been a running joke in our Trad for years.

-Lark-

[Sarahbear]

A favorite series of mine is intended for teens, and I think I was probably 14 or so when I first read the books.  They are by L.J. Smith, and the series is called "The Secret Circle."  I think the individual books are called

"The Initiation"
"The Captive"
"The Power"

They are about a girl named Cassie who discovers she comes from a long line of witches in New England.  The books are more fantasy than based on any truths about Paganism, but I enjoyed them very much then, and I still read them once a year or so.  They also have some romance in them, as well as some mystery.  

L.J. Smith is an extremely talented writer.  All her books have elements of the fantastic and she often uses mythology for inspiration in her books.  Some of her other series are "Dark Visions" and my absolute favorite, "The Forbidden Game," which has a lot of Norse mythological influence.  For those of you who like vampires and werewolf fiction, she also wrote a short series called "The Vampire Diaries" that is good, and a longer series called "Night World."  There were upwards of fifteen of those books.  All these books are intended for teens and young adults.  But I still enjoy them all.  (Sorry for the length, I get carried away pimping my favorite books. )

[Blayze]

I love witchy fiction.

Diana Paxson's Westria series is very good. A bit high fantasy in some places but the ritual stuff is excellent. Also I love her novel White Raven which is a retelling of Tristan and Isolde with a *brilliant* Beltane land marriage.

I also really like the teen series by Isobel Bird - "Circle Of Three". They are a bit teen angsty but again the rituals are really good.

I'm a big Mercedes Lackey fan and love the Diana Tregarde novels. Shame that she had so many loonies harass her over them that she never wrote any more of the them.

Bright blessings
Blayze

[Rin]

I love Nora Roberts!  I've only read a few of Lark, I love mysteries, so I'll have to look for M.R. Sellars.  I've been reading a series by Laurell K. Hamilton where, oddly enough, the protagonist is also an occult/supernatural consultant for the St. Louis police!  It's much more on the fantasy side (vampires, werewolves, & such), so it might not quite apply!  There were also some eye-roll moments at the beginning of the series where Witchcraft is concerned, but that improves throughout the series as the protagonist (and, perhaps, the author) becomes more educated about Wicca.

I really did like LKH's Merry Gentry series, and was going to get into her Anita Blake series (I think thats the one you're talking about).

However.. it just degenerates into really bad worse-than-a-motel porn in the later books. I really hope that one day LKH realizes this, by letting reality come back into her books, getting rid of the six-men orgies, and actually have POSITIVE female characters (not cardboard cut-outs for Anita to mock) in her novels.

And having gay characters remain.. you know.. gay.

I don't mean to make fun of your choice... I'm just sad because of the way her novels have taken direction. :\


There was one book I was going to mention.. but I can't remember the name. Argh! It'll come to me later.

[Sarahbear]

I used to enjoy LKH's Anita Blake novels, too.  I started reading them way back in 7th grade (25 years old now).  I think I read up to the fifth or sixth book.  Then I either lost track or interest of the books.  I just recently picked up "Obsidian Butterfly" because I remember really liking Edward, and I was just completely shocked at how much either a) my tastes had changed or b) the author had changed.  And now, hearing other peoples' opinions on her latest books, and I know it's not me.  I was horribly disappointed in the writing and the characters.  I couldn't even finish the book.  I think I got about a hundred pages in and just couldn't go on.  

Sorry, I don't mean to hijack the thread and turn it into a "How Has LKH Disappointed Me This Year" rally.

[mermdotcom]

Rin, I started on the Merry Gentry books after I posted that, and you're absolutely right... after the first few books it's very little plot and a whole lot of sex.  It does get annoying - if I wanted porn, I'd go to a porn shop!  And the Anita Blake series (again, read farther after my last post) starts to go that direction too... it was kind of disappointing!