On 9/10/26 21:40, BobbieSellers wrote:
Hello my fellow denizens of rasfw,
"City of Shadows" a series by Harry Turtledove
˙˙˙˙The City of Shadows is the Los Angeles of the
Post-WW II period.˙ This LA ain't our LA not even in 1949.
That WW II was not fought against the NAZI but a group like
them called the Fylfot boys by the characters.˙ A flyfot
is like a swastica but upright with shorter arms but they
shared a lot with the real world NAZI party primarily
in treatment of minorities.
-
˙˙˙˙The Japanese were in it as well and instead of A-Bombs
they dropped Salamanders on Hiroshima and Nagasaki courtesy of
the Wizards on the project.˙ Just as nasty.
˙˙˙˙˙ LA is full of the liberated folks from the Flyfot Boys, which
include Jews and Vampires as well as the occasional Zombie
and one Zombie Vampire.
˙˙˙˙˙ Jack Mitchell is a private investigator with a
talking cat called Old Man Mose, He is also a man with
a drop no more of African blood which would make him a
target for the less amiable members of the LAPD so he
offers them cooperation when it is required.
˙˙˙˙The first book in the series is "Twice As Dead".
Jack is hired by Dora Urban a Hungarian Vampire of some
power and after his own apartment is salamander-ed
he moves to Vampire Village to be with her.˙ She wants
him to find her depressed half-brother made by the
same master vampire.˙ He does and that is the first
story I read in this series.
˙˙˙˙One ironic bit is that Jews are hired by
Vampires to protect their homes during daylight
hours.
˙˙˙˙I wrote a review of that story but it went
away in a crash and confusion of a backup that
was written over the original material. Oh Boo-Hoo!
It was a good story though which is why I can
remember so much of what I wrote before.
˙˙˙˙We met many other members of populace of LA
from police to a dirty book seller who offer other
merchandise such as information.˙˙ Being of that
taste Jack frequents Jazz clubs and likes Be-Bop.
˙˙˙˙The novel I am currently reading is
"Lightening Runes" and Jack is asked by a musician
to investigate a firm which may be allowed to
record the musician who is ahead of his time,
even more advanced than Be-Bop.
˙˙˙˙Back across the Ocean some Vampires thought the
Flylfot were just aces and joined up being tattooed
with the Lightening Runes and one of those is the
villain.
˙˙˙˙˙ Now I haven't read the whole of this latest
book yet but I thought I should fill you in, because
that is the next review I will add to this post.
˙˙˙˙˙ Fine reading for those few of us who like
Hard-boiled detectives and alternative worlds where
the rules of magic and folklore apply.
˙˙˙˙˙ bliss -
Well our Private Investigator, hard-boiled by what
he saw in Europe during the War against the Flyfot Boys
and the Knights of Bushido. Is not able to find a Recording
Firm that is not totally mob connected. But the Musician
gets his records pressed and Jack Mitchell runs down and
eventually wipes out the blackmailer preying on the gay
lover of the Night Club owner.
Because of the power of the werewolf/Vampire
who runs a bunch of were-jackals Jack has to assemble
a team of heroic wizard, vampire, and others to take
down the big bad. Well we think that the villain
is beaten but how many times did Bruce Wayne think
that he was done with the Joker, the Penguin, Bane,
Croc and so many others... But he has canine help
from a animal we have heard of but never met.
Strong villains like powerful heroes tend to
be tougher than expected.
A word about Zombies: People can sell themselves
into Zombie-hood but many are shanghaied from the streets
and forced into becoming a cheap source of labor. Then
they work on building highways and sub-division.
Read this unless you are for some unimaginable
to me Turtledove adverse. It is full of interesting
characters and slow development. In case your wonder
about the Los Angeles Central Avenue venue I am
appending a URL for a video article, well-illustrated
that I found through sheerest happenstance.
Or was it synchronicity???
A visit to Central Avenue, the center of the
early Los Angeles jazz scene by Denise Oliver Velez
<
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/9/13/800096064/series/a-visit-to-central-avenue-the-center-of-the-early-los-angeles-jazz-scene/>
Also I must say that I never lived in Los Angeles in 1949.
I was 12 years old at the time though and an observer of
adult behavior and the smoking, drinking, bigotry and
racism are right on key.
I have ridden the Red Line from Long Beach to
downtown LA and back again in the 1950s as well as the
old SF-Oakland trolley system a few years later.
Meantime I will look forward to futher novels set
in LA maybe in the 1950s if time can move in that world.
bliss-
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