My TBR is looking a little low and I’m finding that I’m re reading all my comfort reads. What UF books do you recommend?

I’ve got a bunch of Uf series that I have read dozens of times, but if I want specifically a comfort read, the series I go back to is Anne Bishop’s The Others. (First book is Written in Red.)

First off, the mythology. Yes, there are all the paranormal touchstones but Bishop gives them an original twist. No sparkly vamps. No cuddly shapeshifters. Although they do shapeshift.

These Others see humans as prey. The only thing that we meatsacks have in our favour is that we produce some stuff that these creatures like. So woe betide us if we forget our place and get uppity. There is a ruling power and it's not us.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of but they are all so well developed and fully fleshed out. And while there are some darker elements, falling into this world and especially our two MCs, for me, is like wrapping myself in a cozy blanket and hanging with old friends.

What urban fantasy book does that for you?

I've been thinking a lot about the nature of magic in fantasy settings, particularly urban fantasy since that's what I write. The series I wrote here, Magic as Infrastructure, goes largely into the how of it. I wanted to uset his post to explore the why! It's a long one, so buckle up.

Part I: Magic is Fundamentally Infrastructural to Fantasy

The number of opinions on magic systems in various forms of media — from fantasy literature to epic sci-fi space operas like Star Wars — is about as numerous as the amount of magic systems themselves. Everyone from JRR Tolkien to Seanan McGuire has a unique take on how magic should work within their genre of choice, and fictional media is better for it. There is one seemingly immutable fact about magic in fantasy literature that I have run across in my years both as a reader and as a newly published independent author, however: Magic in fantasy literature is treated almost universally as infrastructure, whether consciously or not.

When most people think of the fantasy genre, they think of knights in shining armor, dragons hoarding gold and sleeping on it as if it were a Temperpedic mattress, and wizards in conical hats shouting magic words and engulfing entire rooms in thirty-foot fireballs. Because of this, magic has become something akin to infrastructure in fantasy and its subgenres. If you have magic in your setting, it exists as a fundamental aspect of the world you've created, and because it exists as a fundamental component in so many fantasy worlds, it exists as a fundamental component within the genre itself.

This is likely obvious to most of you reading this, so I'll not spend too much time on that particular aspect of my point. What I will focus on is the idea that came from both the realization above and the desire I had to create my own magic system and develop my own ideas on the subject. One conclusion I came to most recently is that magic, at its core, treated as infrastructure.

This means different things for different fantasy subgenres, of course. A magical infrustructure as exists in Lord of the Rings is going to behave much differently than a magic system in an urban fantasy series like The Dresden Files, which also depends upon whether or not you're developing a soft magic or a hard magic system. The bottom line is that if magic exists inside a body of work, it supports the world the way electricity and plumbing support modern cities.

Part II: Hard vs. Soft Magic Infrastructure

Other personalities online such as Hello Future Me have explained the differences in hard and soft magic systems elsewhere, so I won't spend too much time on that topic here. Suffice to say that the difference between a hard magic and a soft magic system is rules. The more concrete and immutable your rules are, the harder your magic system is.

But one thing stands out to me about magic in general, regardless of whether the system is hard or soft: Both types of systems have rules, and good versions of both are logical extensions of those rules.

The difference lies in how strictly those rules are applied, and how concretely they are explained.

Lord of the Rings is an example of a soft magic system. Professor Tolkien doesn't explain much about how magic actually works in Middle Earth beyond a few rules to justify why Gandalf can't just magic the Fellowship to Mordor with a teleport spell. After defeating the wolves at the pass of Caradhras, Gandalf explains why they can't stay where they are after the fight:

"If there are any to see, then I at least am revealed to them. . . . I have written Gandalf is here in signs that all can read from Rivendell to the mouths of Anduin."

This tells us several different things about the nature of magic in Middle Earth.

1. Casting a spell is akin to a sending up a signal flare, as Gandalf specifically says he's given away at least his location after the fight.

2. Those who can read the signs he mentions can easily do so.

3. The Maiar aren't the only ones who can read those signs, otherwise Gandalf wouldn't be worried about giving their location away.

4. Magic has signatures. Note that Gandalf says “I have written Gandalf is here” rather than “I have written the fellowship is here”. Presumably this means Saruman and Radaghast have their own magical signatures. Unfortunately we never find out because Tolkien never tells us.

5. Use of any form of magic potentially reveals the caster to those he may or may not want to reveal himself to. Essentially, Gandalf's use of magic has far reaching consequences that even he can't fully foresee, and so his spellcasting is limited by consequences ranging from the practical to the political.

Contrast this with a system of magic like Allomancy, which Brandon Sanderson has made famous by basing it around actual scientific principles, and you have two systems that, at first glance, are as different as night and day.

Yet they both share one simple fact:

They both have rules. Just as electricity, plumbing, transit, and other forms of infrastructure have rules in the real world.

Part III: How This Manifests as Infrastructure in Urban Fantasy

We all know the usual conventions of urban fantasy as a genre. Supernatural creatures from folklore ranging from vampires to werewolves to the Faerie courts themselves living among mortals (sometimes with their knowledge, sometimes without) alongside wizards, secret organizations, and sometimes even actual folkloric personalities like King Arthur or Gywnn Ap Nudd.

The advantage urban fantasy has over other fantasy subgenres in regards to magic as infrastructure is that in addition to being a fundamental narrative convention of fantasy in general, it can function as actual infrastructure alongside the mundane sort of infrastructure that makes up modern cityscapes. This works best with hard magic systems, in my opinion, due to clarity of rules being fundamental to the workings of such a system, but soft magic systems can function this way as well.

The best example I can think of as to how magic can manifest as infrastructure is within the universe of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.

In the parent show, Airbender, Aang takes Katara and Sokka to the city of Omashu to show them the delivery system the people use to transport goods throughout the city, which parimarily works by using Earthbenders to manipulate stone in a way that facilitates delivery.

The Fire Nation took a militaristic approach to this idea, incorporating firebenders into their elite military ranks.

The Northern Water Tribe does something similar, by showing us that waterbenders can execute the defense of an entire nation by employing waterbenders to manipulate ice in such a way that they can open and close walls of it like gateways.

In the sequel series, Korra, we see this taken even further by employing lightning benders to supply actual power plants with the energy they need to run.

While it's true that The Last Airbender is not, in fact, urban fantasy, Legend of Korra IS (or at least shares a great many elements of it), which lends credence to the idea.

Part IV: How Magic can Manifest as Actual Infrastructure

In urban fantasy, magic is best applied when it is treated as the infrastructural foundation of the setting in which it is being used.

I think J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter stories, while not urban fantasy, show how this can manifest rather well. Showing us that entire governments are formed around the existence of magic, complete with bureueacratic bottlenecks, interdepartmental memos, and an entire transit system involving chimneys and powder, are an excellent example of how a magical society can incoroprate magic into its workings the way we do with roads and bridges, power lines and water reservoirs.

Part V: Magic as Infrastructure Should Have Consequences.

Magic without consequences is, quite frankly, boring. If magic only exists to solve a problem with a finger snap, then the story's conflict effectively does not matter. Treating magic as infrastructure solves this problem rather neatly.

How, you ask?

Simply put, unintended consequences are themselves a natural consequence of treating magic this way. Magic as infrastructure has similar limitations to those that infrastructure itself has. And remembering this will help enrich your stories by introducing conflicts you'd never otherwise have thought of.

When I was developing my own magic system, I decided to start with a simple, ubiquitous component: Caffeine. I was looking for a method by which I could conceal the supernatural in my setting in a similar manner as to how the High Table keeps itself concealed through codewords and the existence of the Continental Hotel. Some research into Seattle, Washintgon's coffee culture made it the perfect smokescreen.

This naturally led me to ask several questions about what happens when a person doesn't get the caffeine they crave, as well as the consequences of using top shelf caffeine like high end Seattle brews or Turkish blends of coffee as opposed to dollar store cola and other, less prestigous substances.

In short, I was forced to follow the logic chain until I worked out the consequences of not being properly caffeinated and having a connection to the source of my world's magic. I go into more detail in my currently-six-part series Magic as Infrastructure right here on Reddit, and am working on a series of long form Youtube videos explaining the nitty gritty details of the world and magic's place in it.

In conclusion, magic should be treated like infrastructure in fantasy and its various subgenres because, simply put, it is. And treating it as such will make you ask questions you would not otherwise have asked, just as I did when creating the Sound and Steel universe.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree? Are there any examples you can think of that I missed that either support or refute the point I made?

I'm eager to find out!

Blurb

The city smells of blood and gold.

Detective Jeremy Murray believes in logic and doesn’t believe in people. He knows—anyone can become a monster. He just wasn’t ready to admit he was right.

Death walks one step behind him. Murray isn’t afraid to look it in the eye—but his wife keeps saving his life.

How? She’s been dead for six months.

Murray almost convinced himself he was losing his mind…

Until death came back.

A mutilated body. Found under the city bridge.

A new case. A new reason not to put a bullet in his head. A murder that changes everything.

Five days. Four lives. One city on the edge of collapse.

- A detective who wants to die.
- His partner, who believes the law is absolute.
- A girl whose heart an immortal witch would kill for.
- A shifter who has never been allowed to call anything his own.

Each has only one choice.

Each will have to sacrifice something…

…when the golden mist rises over the ancient square.

Golden Mist is a completed adult dark fantasy / urban gothic / noir detective novel (~103k words, present tense, multiple POV), book one of a planned trilogy.

Excerpt (Ch. 1)

Jeremy refuses the hospital, despite the paramedic’s insistence. Cadging a few cigarettes from the firefighters, he sits on the ambulance step and smokes, watching grimly as they battle the flames consuming his apartment. Unhappy neighbors have gathered around, squawking like gulls on a dock.

“We’ll have you evicted!”

“Oh, be my guest. Soon as you find a buyer for my place.” His lips twist into a smirk. […]

The mortgage is still here. Jennifer isn’t.

Content warnings

Violence and gore, death, ritual sacrifice with a teenage character in danger, suicidal ideation, strong language, smoking and drinking, grief.

Important context

I wrote the book in Russian. The English version was translated with AI assistance (Claude) and reviewed by me. My English is good for reading but not native, so I’m looking for native American English readers who read this genre.

What I’m asking for

A sample of three chapters (~10k words) in a Google Doc with comment access. Please DM me and I'll send you the link.

Please mark, quote the line, and add one short note on why:

1. Lines that sound translated or unnatural, something an American would never say.
   
2. Voice mismatch: Jeremy should be cynical, tired and profane; Pati is a frightened teenager; Liam is animal, intense, blunt.
   
3. Wrong or stiff idioms, slang, or profanity.
   
4. Sentences you had to reread.
   
5. Repetition (gestures, phrases) that starts to grate.

Please don’t rewrite my sentences, a note on what tripped you is much more useful. Present tense, short punchy fragments and em-dashes are deliberate.

Timeline: no rush, 2-4 weeks is great.

Critique swap

Not available at the moment, sorry, I don't have the time right now. But I'm genuinely grateful for any feedback, even on a single chapter.

Thank you!

I've always liked the trope of a completely ordinary-looking object hiding something physically impossible inside it, especially when magic has to coexist with an otherwise recognizable world.

This is my D&D take on that idea: the Spatial Ring, a piece of jewelry connected to its own extradimensional space. Its wearer can store and retrieve objects almost instantly, bind the ring to themselves through a spiritual mark, and find rarer versions with much larger interiors. I also made several specialized variants, including rings built for preserving food and materials, concealing weapons, carrying books, or even sheltering spirit creatures.

I think this kind of item works especially well in urban fantasy. A character can walk through a city looking completely mundane while secretly carrying occult tools, weapons, evidence, strange artifacts, or half their supernatural life on one finger.

It's part of my currently live Kickstarter, 300+ Mythological Items for 5E and 5.5E, a collection of more than 300 magic items inspired by mythology, folklore, legends, and fantasy traditions from around the world.

I am a huge fan of the Sookie Stackhouse and World of the Lupi series, and was recommended the Mercy Thompson series as something similar. I've read the first 2 books so far and the characters and the world so far seem interesting enough (although not similar to either series at all).

However, I'm puzzled about the romance aspect. I understand that Adam will be her romantic partner (spoilered myself) but so far I have seen no buildup there at all. She has barely spent any time with him, and the book keeps telling me she has some confusing feelings about him but it's never shown how she developed them. She seems a lot closer with several other men, who also have shown a lot more concern for her.

You would expect that the romantic interest will have a harsher reaction when their romantic interest is in a dire predicament or hurt - which happens at the end of Book 2, but Adam has zero reaction to it, nor extends her any help/comfort. Seemed like a missed chance to show some feeling?

Is this a writing flaw or does this get better and more developed in the next books? Should I keep reading or switch to another series?

Which other series would you recommend that also has a great female main character, and a good mix of urban fantasy, adventure and romance?

Hi all. I'm Deborah Wilde and I write funny, sexy urban fantasy set in my hometown of Vancouver, Canada. I've actually been reading posts in this groups for quite some time but have had no real bandwidth to post. I want to get better, especially around sharing urban fantasy books I love.

I've got a new release: Golem for Broke (Mad Queens Inc., #1). It's my fifth series, available in ebook, audiobook, and paperback on all the major retailers as well as direct from me at Deborah Wilde Books.

Surviving your forties requires coffee, good friends, and a morally flexible relationship with illegal magic.

Tovah Silver runs Mad Queens Inc., an unlicensed magical problem-solving agency with her three best friends. They've built their reputation on grit, loopholes, and unrepentant competence, ignoring those who think their perimenopausal magic tops out at party tricks.

They’re wrong but correcting them would be a felony. Every one of the Queens has a forbidden second magic buried deep—until an assassin golem forces Tovah to unleash hers. 

She thinks she got away with it. Then Nikolai Azarov shows up.

Vancouver’s only golem maker would call her story creative if he wasn’t too busy calling BS. Worse, once he figures out what she actually did to that golem, he doesn’t turn her in. He names his price.

Now Tovah must honor a dangerous bargain with a man who’s already insufferable without leverage, outmaneuver the magic cops circling her agency, and hunt down whoever left a hand-delivered clay effigy on her bed.

Middle age isn't a crisis. It's a weapon.

Perfect for fans of smart heroines, slow-burn romance with banter, and found family who’d help you hide a body.

I'm obviously biased, lol, so here's what some other uf authors had to say about it.

"Stayed up past my bedtime to finish her book. She's so freakin' talented. I hate her." - Annabel Chase

"This is Deborah Wilde at her absolute peak. Immaculate world building, sharp humour, and romantic tension to swoon over. Magic and realism collide in this witty, fun, unputdownable urban fantasy novel. I can't wait for more!" - Heather G. Harris

"What a ride! I love a Deborah Wilde story, you can always count on her for a badass FMC with a razor-sharp tongue, an expertly-weaved mystery, a complicated hunky love interest and a unique, imaginative urban fantasy world you're just begging to spend more time in. Golem for Broke delivers in spades. I fell in love with all the Mad Queens, and I can't wait to pick up Tovah's next adventure. I want more Nikolai, please!" - Lauretta Hignett

And now a launch video my husband made for me that makes me laugh.

https://reddit.com/link/1x6tams/video/vm5paa3raovh1/player

What if saving humanity was the wrong thing to do?

Emma just wants to keep the people she loves safe when a cold unlike anything she has ever known spreads through Fairview and reality begins to fall apart.

As creatures from myths around the world return to reclaim the Earth, she and eight other teenagers become connected to ancient forces that could influence the Verdict on humankind’s fate. They aren’t chosen heroes; their bodies have held on to a survival instinct humanity has nearly forgotten.

But surviving is only the beginning. Saving their species could mean condemning the world that sustains it. Letting nature reclaim everything could mean abandoning everyone they love. How do you decide whether humanity deserves another chance when the people who mean everything to you are part of what the world wants gone?

The Fracture opens a four-book apocalyptic urban fantasy saga blending mythology, survival horror, and high-stakes moral choices.

Because saving humanity and saving the world may not be the same thing.

For the last two years, I've been writing a story about -- put far too briefly -- a sad, gay, French witch who adopts a daughter. I think you guys may enjoy it.

Set in fantasy 1400s France, my story places heavy emphasis on calling on the essence and grim nature of traditional folklore. It follows Ava, a rambunctious 11-year-old, who's swept into the world of witchcraft after a witch devours her father. At her side is Emeraude, a small town hermit who's done everything he can to leave his past, and witchcraft, behind.

After Chapter 2, the entire story takes place in the capitol city of Noterre, right under the nose of the anti-witch Red Lord and the city's police, the Judges. We are later introduced to one of these judges, Jeanette, who has tried to rise in the ranks of the system, but the higher she goes, the less power she feels she has.

This story is one of identity, relationships, and what makes you, you.

Blurb:

Magic has a cost. Some witches pay with trinkets and baubles. Others, often unwillingly, pay with their lives.

Ava has her simple life as a potter's daughter stripped away after a witch devours her father. She's saved by her village's strange fortune teller, Emeraude, who realizes too late he's plunging headlong into the life he tried to escape.

Now as Ava navigates the grotesque world of witchcraft and plots her revenge, Emeraude reunites with old friends and alongside them, enemies. A scion of the fallen kingdom, an idealistic witch hunter, the nobleman with a score to settle.

Emeraude finds that, despite his best efforts to live in peace, the past will not forget. 

What to expect:

⟡ Fantasy that hearkens back to traditional folklore, like Grimm's Fairy Tales

⟡ Character-driven story: flawed humans trying to 'make it' propel the overarching plot forward

⟡ Mystery and hidden plots

⟡ A world bigger than what's on the page

⟡ Over 80k words written, and more to come.

Come find me on Royal Road and drop a follow if you enjoy :) https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/192473/the-girl-the-witch

No AI, the cover is drawn by one of my dear friends after I gave her the Rider-Waite Tower tarot card as inspiration. Feel free to ask any follow up questions, such as my inspirations and my favorite pieces of worldbuilding in this story!

The final novel in the series, The Rise, is just about ready to be put into play. Fittingly set ten years after the end of the Yellow War - the events of the previous novel - The Rise follows the tense race between our factions to establish dominance in a world where the New Science - once dismissed as superstitious magic - stands to completely redefine daily life. Agency Division schemes to reclaim their dominance through sole use of the arcane, while a new player on the stage, Dynamo Special Economics Group, seeks to empower the masses through new product offerings that take advantage of the New Science, and rebuild Kraterburg in the process.

I have never and will never use generative AI in any of my creative work, including this series. Both of the first two books were released years before any of the serious LLMs were even on the market

I'm currently running it on Kickstarter as a way to come up with the funds for a shake-down by a copy editor and to hire a human illustrator who is local to my immediate area.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zadammac/the-arcane-revolution-ends-in-the-rise?ref=4rvy6l

Some villains threaten you. The clever ones make you grateful they're there.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HBLTY4TJ

Having brushed her tragic past behind a twisted sense of humour, Lieutenant Estellia Highlander lives to be the best. When a god-like vampire returns fifty years after nearly destroying the Alley, the military division assigns Estellia to the team charged with killing him. Their hopes to prevent another war lies within the powerful mutation she carries, a mutation that makes her more like the target she hunts than the Innocents she protects.

The mission takes Estellia deep into vampire society where she discovers something far more sinister than the Paragon vampire Michael Bayne is emerging. If she and Michael cannot work together to defeat the rising darkness, humanity could be lost.

Genres in Order of Relevance: Urban Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Psychological Thriller, Dark Romance (slow burn)

#makeshadowdaddiesevilagain

Thea Shadowblade has spent years hunting demons.

She has no intention of going back to school.

At eighteen, however, Thea is summoned to Hope Academy, where the Gifted are trained, classified and placed into permanent teams. She arrives expecting lessons she doesn't need, rules she doesn't want and five strangers chosen by a spell she has no reason to trust.

Then the Academy puts her in Team Twelve.

Damien sees too much. Lucy can command the natural world. William's magic is stronger than anyone first assumes. Rowena thinks like a battlefield commander. Mary's faith can work miracles.

And Thea has abilities she has spent years making certain nobody knows about.

When something inside Hope Academy begins behaving in ways that don't make sense, Team Twelve finds itself confronting sealed passages, impossible encounters and evidence that refuses to fit the obvious explanation.

Every answer creates another question.

Every assumption could get someone killed.

And for Thea, surviving the mystery may prove easier than learning to trust the five people standing beside her.

SHADOWBOUND is Book One of THE RESONANCE CHRONICLES, a character-driven contemporary fantasy mystery about extraordinary abilities, dangerous assumptions and six strangers learning what it means to become a team.

Thank you to all of the urban fantasy fans that have taken the time to listen, read, rate, and give feedback. It is sorely appreciated. We're not alone out here!

In case you haven't checked it out yet...

In the city of Slakterquay there's an office with the words Aggie McPherson Spectral Analysis on the pebbled glass of its door. Behind it is a detective agency that handles the strangest cases in the Paris of the Pacific Northwest. 

In this episode, the inspector meets Pastor Neumann, the friendliest man that doesn't want her asking about the one who died on his way into town.

Apple | Spotify | YouTube | RSS | Author's Page [includes text]

I've seen some questions pop up about how magic remains hidden in my setting. Here's one of the several explanations:

Most civilians think the Meridian Line is just a hotel chain with a coffee shop attached.
They’re not wrong; they’re just remembering the version the Line lets them keep.

Crossing the Meridian Line forces you to surrender one memory tied to what you saw there.
It’s always small. Always subtle. Always enough to keep the truth hidden.

Unless you’ve been taken in by the Underfog, you never remember the real purpose of the Line.
You only remember the lobby. The smell of coffee. The polite staff.
Everything else slips away.

The Line doesn’t hide itself.
It simply edits you.

Hi everyone! I’m Blue Aether, the author of Lord of the Sword, an isekai fantasy series with a mystery twist.

An editor dies and awakens inside the world of his author’s novel. He knows how the story should end—but his arrival starts changing the plot. Knowing what comes next may no longer be enough to survive.

Arc I — Between Two Worlds is complete across Volumes I–III. All three are available on Kindle Unlimited.

I enjoy stories with unexpected endings, and I wanted to bring that feeling to this series. Thanks for taking a look!

Start with Volume I:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HM3SWX7F

Volume II — The Weight of the Blade:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HM83KMDY

Volume III — The Author:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HMN6SBWG

Thus far, out of UF, I've read Dresden Files, October Daye, The Hollows, Iron Druid, Mercy Thompson, Kate Daniels (and the other Illona Andrews series, the one about Nevada, though idk what the series is called), Alex Verus and Daniel Faust/Harmony Black

Kind of struggling to find any new ones? I've given Rivers of London a go a few times before but DNFed the first book each time.

Out of the ones I've read, I like Dresden Files the most, with the ones that more heavily focused on romance being my least favourite. Mercy Thompson is probably dead last on the list out of these.

Every magical system has failure states. Some are small enough to ignore. Some are large enough to rewrite a neighborhood. All of them follow the same physics: pressure, strain, and collapse. Some examples of how I handle this in my setting are as follows:

1. Individual Failure: Veil Strain

Veil strain is the smallest unit of magical failure. It happens at the personal level, when a tethered individual starts absorbing more resonance than their body can safely vent.
It shows up as headaches, ringing, vertigo, déjà vu spikes, or that “someone just walked over my grave” feeling.
A tether under strain behaves like a frayed wire: still connected, still functional, but humming with instability.

2. Systemic Failure: Grid Backflow

Scale that same pressure up, and you get grid backflow.
When resonance can’t move cleanly through the Soundrunner network, it pushes backward through the infrastructure.
The Veil thickens. Anchor points wobble. Mediums flicker.
This is the stage where street‑level weirdness starts: distorted reflections, doubled shadows, voices that don’t belong to anyone in the room.

3. Catastrophic Failure: Node Collapse

A full Soundrunner node collapse is the magical equivalent of an EMP.
It doesn’t vaporize anything. It doesn’t explode.
It disconnects.

Mediums lose tether integrity.
Supernatural signals short out.
The Veil spasms, forgetting for a moment which side is supposed to be “here” and which side is supposed to be “there.”

For a few seconds, the world becomes a scrambled broadcast.

4. Aftermath: The Blackout Window

Once the node collapses, the grid enters a blackout window.
Resonance goes dark.
Tethers reboot.
Anchors re‑establish priority routes.
And whatever was pressing against the Veil during the collapse… sometimes slips through.

What sort of consequences do you have for magic failing in your universe? I"d love to hear about them!