Revealed character in urban fantasy, and in Bad to the Bone in particular

Reading Bad to the Bone this week, I was thinking about something my old writing mentor used to say: that in fiction, you have two kinds of major characters. There's the known character, and you're interested in what they will do, and the other kind is a revealed character, and the fun there is finding out who the heck they are, and what they're up to.

In most romance, the H/H are typically both known characters, and the story is how they come to find, love, and/or affect one another. That's true for paranormals too.

Part of why most romance or paranormal H/H are known characters is that most romances and paranormals switch points of view between the H/H. Generally, if you are in the point of view of a character, that character is known to you. Because, you know, you're in their heads, you have access to their thoughts. People do revealed character points of view, but it's not common. Of course, friends and family of the H/H can be revealed or known characters.

Exceptions would be any first person book, like, Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas, or the work of Megan Hart, which are in the heroine's point of view all the way through.

Why that makes urban fantasy fun

Anyway, one of the fun things about urban fantasy is that it's pretty much always only one point of view like that, commonly the heroine's. That means the author can choose between a known or a revealed hero. Myself, I love to read about a revealed hero. And no, I don't mean that dirty! Sometimes I like a hero to be a mystery, not just to the heroine, but to me, the reader. I like to speculate about his secrets, decipher his actions, think about how he adds up, make up my mind about him, and discover him along with the heroine.

In the UF world of monsters and magic, I find this effect extra thrilling. And Bad to the Bone by Jeri Smith-Ready has a really fascinating revealed hero thing going on.

Okay, plot of the WVMP Series:

This oldies radio station is run by vampire DJ's, each stuck in their own time era. (The blues guy, the psychedelic guy, etc.) They have this whole ad campaign that they're vampires, but few people realize it's not just fun marketing. Anyhow, in this installment, #2, Bad to the Bone, this cult called "Family Action Network" takes WVMP's signal and blasts anti-vampire stuff.

Our heroine Ciara, who is not a vampire (but she dates Shane, who is), goes undercover at the cult's fortress. She also gets a new vampire dog! I sometimes get nervous when there are pets in books, because I'm always afraid they'll be killed, but from her bio, you can tell that Jeri Smith-Ready is a dog lover, so I felt like I could relax and enjoy the dog.

So the vamps here are all stuck in their eras.

They can't learn new things, or even get into new music. They become less human, increasingly calcified, and eventually quite dangerous. I love this invention of JSR's--it relates to the human condition in a super cool way, something I discussed in my post on book #1, Wicked Games.

New ways to be a doomed hero

Ciara's boyfriend Shane died/became a vampire in the age of Nirvana, so he's a grunger, and a lot of the struggle here is her trying to help him fight his destiny. Like, she's always trying to get him into new music, and is always happy to hear him play a song that came out after he died.

Another way his monster side comes out is in OCD habits. All the vamps get these OCD habits as part of their grasp for control over their deterioration, and Shane is a big alphabetizer and neatness note-writer. One note:

Dear Ciara,

When you make toast, it really helps to use one knife to put the butter on your plate an a separate knife to spread it. That way you don't get crumbs in the butter.

Love, Shane

Known side + doomed monster side = one fine hero

At the outset, Shane feels like the known character. In fact, in that last post, I went on and on about how he's such a well drawn portrait of that kind of grunge rocker guy. But reading this book, there's this really cool way where he's also operating as part revealed character. Like, he has a known side and an unknown/gradually revealed doomed monster side that can sometimes be scary. (Compare this to JR Ward, where you totally get the full monster side of the heroes; it's the heroines who don't.)

There are also things being revealed about his past, like his Catholic upbringing, which darkens his doomed monster side. It's making for a unique story.

Ciara struggles to get him to move forward with the time, and really works to save him, but she's also unsure of the relationship. Shane really seems to love her, but he's hurtling toward this dark monstery future. So anyway, it's really very pleasing. A fine doomed relationship!

I love how honestly JSR writes these two--the relationship feels so genuine, the emotions so raw. Take note: This is an urban fantasy, and romance isn't exactly central here, so though I'm dwelling on the romance, it's mostly monster stuff. But whatever. I'm eating up the romance and the monster stuff.

Another revealed character that's not even a character

There's also this covert paramilitary organization known as "The Control" (the International Agency for the Control and Management of Undead Corporeal Entities). This agency also sort of operates as a revealed character in this series. You're never quite sure what the deal is with them; they're not exactly evil, but they're not benevolent either. The vamps sort of need them, but hate them.

The Control is growing in importance, and I'm quite pleased. As a morally ambiguous organization, The Control makes a kind of interesting counterpart to Ciara, who also has her morally ambiguous moments, and definitely a morally ambiguous history. Okay, am I rambling? Suffice it to say, I'm hooked, and really eager to read the next installment of this series!

Actual reviews of this book: Tez says, (FYI: Tez also reveals in that post how she LUVS hair bands!), Janicu, Scooper.

The hugely satisfying mix of familiarity and monsteryness in the hero of Wicked Game

It practically takes an act of God to get me to pick up a new vampire series these days, but wow, I'm sure glad I gave this one a whirl. Wicked Game is book 1 of the Ciara Griffin/WVMP radio urban fantasy series by Jeri Smith-Ready. I bought it because I wanted to read Bad to the Bone, Book 2, which came out last month, and I'm constitutionally incapable of starting a series at Book 2.

The plot, quickly: Vampires, stuck forever in the eras when they were turned, work as DJs in a radio station. (The '40's guy does blues, the '60's guy does psychedelia, etc.) and the radio station is in danger of being bought and destroyed; intern Ciara Griffin to the rescue.

Anyway, I am loving the character of Shane MacAllister the youngest of the vamps, who spins grunge (he was turned in the 90's).

The hugely satisfying familiarity of Shane MacAllister

This is an exquisitely and perfectly drawn portrait of the grunge guy, a species that roamed the streets of Minneapolis in small herds in the late 80's and early 90's, though I think even somebody who missed all that would recognize this type of guy--I think he's typical of the counterculture 20-something you find in a number of alternative scenes, and it's just really fun to read about him.

A few of the details that make Shane so 'that guy'

• Shane is sleeping on the couch when Ciara is first introduced to him and his co-workers, but really, he's highly aware of everything going on in the room.
• His blend of ideals and pragmatism is pitch perfect: He opposes the idea of degrading the purity of the station with a cheesy advertising campaign, even if it means it's eventually destroyed, but in the end, he accepts the save.
• He has a genuine rock-guy pedigree but is the first to mock himself ("My first concert was Night Ranger and .38 Special, but don't tell the other DJs. They think it was Black Flag.")

The most perfect Shane scene was when he takes Ciara, who has trust issues with him at this point, to a bluff to watch fireworks, and packs this little picnic, then he somewhat awkwardly pulls out a guitar to sing her a song. Just before he starts, we get this little moment of self-effacement:

He takes a deep breath and blows it out slowly. "I apologize ahead of time for fucking it up."

But then it's actually a very lovely song that he plays well. I never see this type in UFs, and certainly never as the hero. But he's excellent as a hero. He's neither alpha nor beta, just your smart, easygoing buddy who underplays his strengths, but he'll whip them out when he needs to.

The way in which the hugely satisfying familiarity of Shane MacAllister makes his monsterness really intense.

So all the DJs here are a real-life type, they're all a guy (or girl, in the case of the goth girl) that you might work with or be neighbors with. Except the older era vamps, though they seem like somebody's grandfather (in behavior, anyway).

Take Rio, Rhage, Wrath, Eric Northman or Butch for comparison--those guys are already other, at least in my mind. Even Sookie's Bill is other-ish--a Civil War era vet, slightly stiff and clueless. I mean, none of these guys seem like real life guys, so it's not that huge a stretch they might kill and suck blood.It's not like you really know them.

These guys you might know. I mean, the WVMP DJs seem so familiar and friendly, especially Shane, that it is startling to know they have this violent animal nature, and some killed for food, or have it in them to do so. Ciara is constantly having to be reminded--and reminding herself--that they are not human. Shane is not human. He seems so cuddly, and acts so cuddly--it's a just a wonderful effect, wonderful tension. I know other books play this card, but JSR's excellent characterization makes it fresh and powerful.

Is there a saying about this? Like, when something dangerous is embedded in the familiar, that makes it all the more intense?

The also-hugely-satisfying way in which this book relates to the human condition.

It's been said that part of the reason Buffy became so popular is how it sort of pulled some of its truth from real life. Truths like: Nobody ever goes to the high school library. The nerdy kids always turn out more interesting. As soon as you have sex with your high school boyfriend his personality completely changes, and he turns into a monster freak.

The thing about the vampires here is that they are stuck in their eras, and they stop growing, become more empty husk, empty patterns of the past--less and less human and more monster, until eventually, they really are dangerous to society. To me, this is a sad thing that happens to real life people: they grow old, stop taking in new things and get fossilized, somehow less human. But then I also know older people who are interested in the changing world around them, and they continually take in new ideas and learn new things, and they beat the fossilization. Really, we are all on that journey to some extent.

So beyond the external battle with the baddies, there's a poignant internal battle and a character journey for all these vampires - can they stop the dehumanization process? Specifically Shane - can he fight the fossilization of being stuck in his era? Can he learn new things? Play new songs on his radio show? Learn computers? Can Ciara help him?

It's a character journey that doesn't end with this book - I'm looking richly forward to continuing it in Bad to the Bone.

Jeri Smith-Ready interviews at Patricia's Vampire Notes and Bitten by Books.

Proper reviews: Tempting Persephone, Alert Nerd, Musings of a Bibliophile, Leslie's Psyche ...(anybody else? Let me know!)