All the Fantasy Novels That I Have Read

Once again, a not so complete list:

1. Bloodsucking Fiends (1995) -- Christopher Moore.

A rarity--a vampire novel that is actually both funny and scary. Better than the sequel, You Suck: A Love Story.

2. You Suck: A Love Story (2007) -- Christopher Moore.

An appropriately titled book. At least the first part of the title is appropriate.

3. A Dirty Job (2006) -- Christopher Moore.

One of the best novels Moore has written in quite a while. It's about a man who sees the Grim Reaper at the bedside of his dying wife and ends up “inheriting” the Reaper's position. It combines genuinely serious insights into life and death with not so serious insights about everyday life -- and makes it work. It even manages to include a guest appearance by the lead female character of a previous Moore novel, Bloodsucking Fiends, and make that bit work.

4. Definitely Dead (2006) -- Charlaine Harris.

The until-recently-latest novel in the Sookie Stackhouse Saga (a series about a young Southern barmaid who becomes involved with a vampire). It answers some questions raised by earlier books in the series and leaves yet other answers to the imagination. It could have made a good conclusion for the series if Ms. Harris had not gone on to write another book in the series.

5. Grave Sight (2005) -- Charlaine Harris.

A young woman in the modern South can find dead people. A better novel than that brief description makes it sound. Proof that Charlaine Harris can write about something other than vampires and barmaids.

6. Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth (2006) -- Simon R. Green.

I had first supposed this book to be the concluding volume in Mr. Green's Nightside series. But apparently it is not. (Another book in the series has been published since this book came out.) An odd comic-book-style effort about a psychic detective who operates in a supernatural area of London known as the Nightside. The detective spends most of the series searching for clues to the mystery of his mother's disappearance, only to find out an unpleasant truth about his missing parent. In this book, he has a big confrontation with his missing mother; hence, the title.

7. Smoke and Ashes (2006) -- Tanya Huff.

Concluding book in a trilogy about a gay production assistant who is constantly running into the supernatural. (I hate it when that happens.) A spinoff from Ms. Huff's Henry Fitzroy series.

8. The Paper Grail (1991) -- James Blaylock.

So-so novel about a modern-day Holy Grail. Not to be confused with the Richard Ben Sapir novel Quest.

9. Quest (1987) -- Richard Ben Sapir.

A New York City police detective and an all-American girl try to track down an ancient artifact which might be the original Holy Grail. Sapir's last novel and one of his best.

10. The Werewolf of Paris (1933) -- Guy Endore.

Endore uses a fictional version of a real-life fiend (Sgt. Francis Bertrand) to explore the non-supernatural horrors of nineteenth-century French society. The novel is much, much better than the title makes it sound.