I'm reading a fantastic book-- City of Saints and Madmen, by Jeff Vandermeer. It's a really entertaining collection of stories that take place in the imaginary city of Ambergris. I guess it's fantasy, though of course that conjures up images of, like, Boris Vallejo-drawn buxom warrior maidens in chain mail bikinis, or the work of Robert Jordan, or any of the other horrible crap we have Tolkein to thank for. (Don't get me wrong--I like Tolkein, except for all the songs and the whole Tom Bombadil thing, and, oh yeah, the racism, but, like Bob Dylan, he opened the floodgates, and hoards of less talented imitators spilled out.)
I guess you could possibly call it "urban fantasy," but that still has the ring of something like... well, this.
Whatever you want to call it, it takes place in an imaginary city on what I guess is an imaginary world, and it reminds me a lot of China Mieville's work. If Vandermeer doesn't really have the awe-inspiring, prodigious imagination that Mieville has (but who does? His observations of his invented world are way more detailed than my observations of the world I actually live in), he does have something Mieville lacks, which is a sense of humor. (I should say, Mieville's work doesn't really evidence a sense of humor. He may be the life of the party in person. What do I know.). This book is a ton of fun to read, thought provoking and entertaining and playful.
