Spotlight on Fandoms: Tanya Huff's Blood/Smoke books
Spotlight on the Blood/Smoke books by Tanya Huff, brought to you by morpherboy and wantstodirect!
Okay, that's a lie. This is mainly about the Smoke books with a little background thrown in. Because in spite of their spin-off origins, the Smoke books are their own series.
What's All This About?
Tanya Huff's Smoke books are a spin-off from her Blood Ties series. The Blood books star Vicki "Victory" Nelson, a former cop who left the force when she was diagnosed with a disease which caused her to lose her night sight and will eventually leave her blind. When the story begins, she works as a private detective in Toronto. While investigating a series of murders, she meets Henry Fitzroy. Henry, as she discovers, is the bastard son of Henry VIII. He was turned into a vampire at the age of 17. He currently looks about 23, since in this 'verse, vampires age gradually. (They do not, however, sparkle.)
At the end of the first book, Vicki recruits Tony to donate blood to Henry after he's badly injured. She's already given as much as she safely can, but she trusts Tony and he's willing. Henry and Tony develop a relationship featuring blood, sex and friendship. At the end of the fourth book, Vicki gets vamped and she, Henry, and Tony relocate from Toronto to Vancouver, though only Henry and Tony wound up staying on the west coast.
The Shadow series picks up a few years after the end of the Blood Ties books. Henry and Tony are no longer a couple, and Tony is now working as a PA on Darkest Night, a straight-to-syndication TV show about a vampire detective and his human sidekick. Somewhere between the fourth Blood book and the first Shadow book, Tony, a high school dropout, has completed his GED and gone to Vancouver Film School. The books are written in third person but they're mainly Tony's POV and inner monologue.
All three books center on Tony's job at Darkest Night and the relationships he forms with his co-workers, boss, Henry, and other random people who often try to attack him. He's also got a major crush on the show's co-star, Lee Nicholas. Who is, according to all evidence, entirely straight.
Smoke and Shadows
Things get weird when the show's Victim of the Week drops dead for real. Unlike most of the cast and crew (Amy excluded, but more on her later), Tony doesn't dismiss the evidence of something strange just because it isn't possible. When Lee Nicholas gets possessed by a shadow and puts the moves on Tony, he's certain something is up. He investigates and finds out that Arra, the special effects wizard, is a literal wizard. She escaped from another dimension seven years ago after a major war in her world. Now the Shadowlord that killed her people has tracked her down. He wants to destroy her and her new world. Arra wants to get the hell out of town. She's convinced the fight is hopeless. Many wizards from her order fought him and lost. How could a single wizard hope to defeat the Shadowlord? But Tony keeps pushing her and she grudgingly helps him.
After many various adventures and a few casualties, Arra casts a memory-altering spell on the people at the studio, and decides to return to her homeworld to rebuild. She tells Tony that he has the potential to be a wizard and invites him to go with her. He refuses. But before she leaves, she gives him her laptop which she's filled with 80 gb of do-it-yourself wizardry lessons. And porn.
The only guest star in this book is Arra, with the Shadowlord playing the Big Bad.
Smoke and Mirrors
In the second book, a few months later, the cast and crew of Darkest Night are on a location shoot at a haunted house which turns out to really be haunted because it just wouldn't be otherwise. They get trapped in the house overnight while a malevolence in the house tries to get them to go insane and kill each other and are helped by two of the house's more self aware ghosts. Joining the regular cast and crew are also CB's two young, head-strong daughter's, one of whom appears to have some wizarding potential herself.
Tony has been practicing wizardry, but until that night, he'd only managed to do as much as calling small objects to his hand. But this night he's forced to learn a lot of new magic in order to stay alive, keep his co-workers and friends alive, and stop them from thinking he's gone completely crazy. He also accidentally brands himself on the left hand with a rune that allows him to physically grasp energy such as ghosts. And he outs himself to his co-workers as a wizard. Most of the cast and crew survive the night and Tony comes out with a few more spells under his belt. And a visual that both he and the readers wish they were never exposed to.
Guest stars include Ashley and Brianna, the two bratty boss's daughters, Cassie and Stephen, the long-dead siblings who fell victim to the house and are now helping Tony avoid the same fate, and the caretaker of the house, who really needs a stiff drink. The Big Bad is played by the basement.
Smoke and Ashes
By the third book, a few months after the second and almost at the end of the first season of DDarkest Night, Tony's learned a few new tricks. The most powerful one is a Powershot - a blast of energy that turns demons to ash, although it also drains him badly. This spell comes in handy because there's a Demonic Convergence in town, which Tony finds out from an immortal stunt woman. At some point, Tony just finally goes with the whole "like attract like" thing and stops even expecting normal things to happen.
During the Convergence, demons are coming through from another plane and there's a big bad behind them ready to wreak havoc and come through once he has enough minions in place. In the course of dealing with this invasion, Tony learns more about his magic and better understands the energies he's using. They defeat the Demonlord and the world does not end and the ending causes many screams for a sequel and much good fanfic to be spawned.
Guest stars for this book include Kevin, a reporter for a tabloid who can tell when people are lying to him and Leah, the mentioned immortal stuntwoman with the Demongate on her stomach. She was originally a handmaiden for the Big Bad, who is an ancient Demonlord who tries to get back from his dimension and take over the world. (He slaughtered her entire village and accidentally granted her immortality.)
Characters
Tony Foster - Tony's a 24-year-old PA (production assistant) working on the syndicated vampire detective show Darkest Night. He's also a wizard with a vampire ex-boyfriend, an ex-street kid, and big believer in pop culture references.
Henry Fitzroy - The bastard son of Henry VIII. Henry's been a vampire for over 400 years and he still has the royal attitude. His territory is Vancouver and Tony is his property. They have boundary issues. He's agreed to let Tony go off and lead his own life, but he won't let Tony cut all ties with him. This actually works out, since they are good friends. Plus Tony has someone to call if he needs supernatural advice or vampire muscle.
Lee Nicholas - The very hot, [allegedly] straight co-star of Darkest Night. Lee spends a good portion of the books as the damsel in distress and looks hot doing it, though he is very adamant that he's tired of that role. He also manages to make out with Tony at least once a book despite being frequently photographed with busty blondes.
Mason - The main star of Darkest Night. Mason is convinced that the world revolves around him and is very devoted to his fans, as long as they're hot and of age. He accepts the supernatural world along with the a large part of the cast and crew, but he still manages to make everything about himself. It's a skill.
Amy - Goth-punk chick who works in the office at Darkest Night and spends way too much time interested in Tony's love life. She already believes in ghosts and is thrilled when she finds out how much supernatural stuff is real. Her response to demons attacking is pretty much "That's so cool!" She owns a complete set of Charmed on DVD. Her biggest disappointment is that more weird stuff doesn't happen to her. At one point she attacks a demon with a candle.
Zev - Music director on Darkest Night. Dated Tony briefly between Smoke and Shadows and Smoke and Mirrors. They broke up due to Tony's lack of being Jewish (Zev is Orthodox) and lack of appreciation for Richard Dean Anderson. They stay good friends. Zev is really the most normal person of the main cast. He's good with kids and has no wish to go out and fight demons, though he'll help out if he can, as long as it's not on a Friday evening.
CB - The show is produced by CB Productions and the CB in question is Chester Bane, the creator/executive producer for "Darkest Night." He's a large, authoritative man with several ex-wives and a vise grip on the show's budget. He refuses to spend any money that won't show up on screen and pushes the crew to cut costs wherever possible. If he picks up a gorilla suit cheap somewhere, the writers will have to find a way to work that costume into a show.
RCMP Constable Jack Elson - The cop who notices weird things happening around Tony and starts asking questions. He's really into that whole "protect and serve" thing, even if he's protecting people from demons. He's not gullible but he also doesn't deny what's right in front of him, even if it's impossible. And who doesn't love a Hot Mountie?
Other characters - There's also Peter, the director,who's in charge of both the show and the emergency, Everett, the make-up artist but don't quote him on that, and Jack's partner Special Constable Geetha Danvers, who's the Scully to his Mulder, though she buys the whole supernatural thing fairly quickly.
The TV Show
The short lived TV show was based only on the Blood Ties books and sadly wrote out Tony, but was still good, despite the cheese. Plus, it had a very hot Henry Fitzroy (even if he was the wrong height and hair color). I'll [Lana] be the first to admit that the episodes based on actual books were kind of horrible. But the ones where they had freedom to make plots for 45 minutes instead of 400 pages? Were good.
The show was also rather true to the mythos of the books, and with the exception of swapping Tony for a minor, somewhat more annoying character, kept all major points in tact and worked with them. Sadly, like many other decent sci fi shows with a cult following, it died after two short seasons.
It's not yet available on DVD, but it does have a lovely web site: http://www.bloodtiestv.com/ where you can oggle Henry. Or you know, read up on the show.
Oh, and it ran on Lifetime. Yeah.
Why You Have to Read This
It's like fanfic, only in a really good way. (They have to have a threesome to Save The World!) There's plenty of slashy text and snarky fun. The books take a few good-natured jabs at fandom and genre fiction. The Smoke books have a lot less melodrama than the Blood books but plenty of good drama and suspense.
Plus Buffy references. Definitely the Buffy references. And BSG and Firefly. Come on, what other book have you read that is going to have a character who watches the same TV shows as you do? Tony is a fanboy at heart and he says pretty much everything that we're thinking. Plus, it's nice to have genre savvy characters. And the Scooby Gang. Amy and Zev make awesome, stapler-wielding side-kicks.
Really, they're just fun.
Okay, that's a lie. This is mainly about the Smoke books with a little background thrown in. Because in spite of their spin-off origins, the Smoke books are their own series.
What's All This About?
Tanya Huff's Smoke books are a spin-off from her Blood Ties series. The Blood books star Vicki "Victory" Nelson, a former cop who left the force when she was diagnosed with a disease which caused her to lose her night sight and will eventually leave her blind. When the story begins, she works as a private detective in Toronto. While investigating a series of murders, she meets Henry Fitzroy. Henry, as she discovers, is the bastard son of Henry VIII. He was turned into a vampire at the age of 17. He currently looks about 23, since in this 'verse, vampires age gradually. (They do not, however, sparkle.)
At the end of the first book, Vicki recruits Tony to donate blood to Henry after he's badly injured. She's already given as much as she safely can, but she trusts Tony and he's willing. Henry and Tony develop a relationship featuring blood, sex and friendship. At the end of the fourth book, Vicki gets vamped and she, Henry, and Tony relocate from Toronto to Vancouver, though only Henry and Tony wound up staying on the west coast.
The Shadow series picks up a few years after the end of the Blood Ties books. Henry and Tony are no longer a couple, and Tony is now working as a PA on Darkest Night, a straight-to-syndication TV show about a vampire detective and his human sidekick. Somewhere between the fourth Blood book and the first Shadow book, Tony, a high school dropout, has completed his GED and gone to Vancouver Film School. The books are written in third person but they're mainly Tony's POV and inner monologue.
All three books center on Tony's job at Darkest Night and the relationships he forms with his co-workers, boss, Henry, and other random people who often try to attack him. He's also got a major crush on the show's co-star, Lee Nicholas. Who is, according to all evidence, entirely straight.
Smoke and Shadows
Things get weird when the show's Victim of the Week drops dead for real. Unlike most of the cast and crew (Amy excluded, but more on her later), Tony doesn't dismiss the evidence of something strange just because it isn't possible. When Lee Nicholas gets possessed by a shadow and puts the moves on Tony, he's certain something is up. He investigates and finds out that Arra, the special effects wizard, is a literal wizard. She escaped from another dimension seven years ago after a major war in her world. Now the Shadowlord that killed her people has tracked her down. He wants to destroy her and her new world. Arra wants to get the hell out of town. She's convinced the fight is hopeless. Many wizards from her order fought him and lost. How could a single wizard hope to defeat the Shadowlord? But Tony keeps pushing her and she grudgingly helps him.
After many various adventures and a few casualties, Arra casts a memory-altering spell on the people at the studio, and decides to return to her homeworld to rebuild. She tells Tony that he has the potential to be a wizard and invites him to go with her. He refuses. But before she leaves, she gives him her laptop which she's filled with 80 gb of do-it-yourself wizardry lessons. And porn.
The only guest star in this book is Arra, with the Shadowlord playing the Big Bad.
Smoke and Mirrors
In the second book, a few months later, the cast and crew of Darkest Night are on a location shoot at a haunted house which turns out to really be haunted because it just wouldn't be otherwise. They get trapped in the house overnight while a malevolence in the house tries to get them to go insane and kill each other and are helped by two of the house's more self aware ghosts. Joining the regular cast and crew are also CB's two young, head-strong daughter's, one of whom appears to have some wizarding potential herself.
Tony has been practicing wizardry, but until that night, he'd only managed to do as much as calling small objects to his hand. But this night he's forced to learn a lot of new magic in order to stay alive, keep his co-workers and friends alive, and stop them from thinking he's gone completely crazy. He also accidentally brands himself on the left hand with a rune that allows him to physically grasp energy such as ghosts. And he outs himself to his co-workers as a wizard. Most of the cast and crew survive the night and Tony comes out with a few more spells under his belt. And a visual that both he and the readers wish they were never exposed to.
Guest stars include Ashley and Brianna, the two bratty boss's daughters, Cassie and Stephen, the long-dead siblings who fell victim to the house and are now helping Tony avoid the same fate, and the caretaker of the house, who really needs a stiff drink. The Big Bad is played by the basement.
Smoke and Ashes
By the third book, a few months after the second and almost at the end of the first season of DDarkest Night, Tony's learned a few new tricks. The most powerful one is a Powershot - a blast of energy that turns demons to ash, although it also drains him badly. This spell comes in handy because there's a Demonic Convergence in town, which Tony finds out from an immortal stunt woman. At some point, Tony just finally goes with the whole "like attract like" thing and stops even expecting normal things to happen.
During the Convergence, demons are coming through from another plane and there's a big bad behind them ready to wreak havoc and come through once he has enough minions in place. In the course of dealing with this invasion, Tony learns more about his magic and better understands the energies he's using. They defeat the Demonlord and the world does not end and the ending causes many screams for a sequel and much good fanfic to be spawned.
Guest stars for this book include Kevin, a reporter for a tabloid who can tell when people are lying to him and Leah, the mentioned immortal stuntwoman with the Demongate on her stomach. She was originally a handmaiden for the Big Bad, who is an ancient Demonlord who tries to get back from his dimension and take over the world. (He slaughtered her entire village and accidentally granted her immortality.)
Characters
Tony Foster - Tony's a 24-year-old PA (production assistant) working on the syndicated vampire detective show Darkest Night. He's also a wizard with a vampire ex-boyfriend, an ex-street kid, and big believer in pop culture references.
Henry Fitzroy - The bastard son of Henry VIII. Henry's been a vampire for over 400 years and he still has the royal attitude. His territory is Vancouver and Tony is his property. They have boundary issues. He's agreed to let Tony go off and lead his own life, but he won't let Tony cut all ties with him. This actually works out, since they are good friends. Plus Tony has someone to call if he needs supernatural advice or vampire muscle.
Lee Nicholas - The very hot, [allegedly] straight co-star of Darkest Night. Lee spends a good portion of the books as the damsel in distress and looks hot doing it, though he is very adamant that he's tired of that role. He also manages to make out with Tony at least once a book despite being frequently photographed with busty blondes.
Mason - The main star of Darkest Night. Mason is convinced that the world revolves around him and is very devoted to his fans, as long as they're hot and of age. He accepts the supernatural world along with the a large part of the cast and crew, but he still manages to make everything about himself. It's a skill.
Amy - Goth-punk chick who works in the office at Darkest Night and spends way too much time interested in Tony's love life. She already believes in ghosts and is thrilled when she finds out how much supernatural stuff is real. Her response to demons attacking is pretty much "That's so cool!" She owns a complete set of Charmed on DVD. Her biggest disappointment is that more weird stuff doesn't happen to her. At one point she attacks a demon with a candle.
Zev - Music director on Darkest Night. Dated Tony briefly between Smoke and Shadows and Smoke and Mirrors. They broke up due to Tony's lack of being Jewish (Zev is Orthodox) and lack of appreciation for Richard Dean Anderson. They stay good friends. Zev is really the most normal person of the main cast. He's good with kids and has no wish to go out and fight demons, though he'll help out if he can, as long as it's not on a Friday evening.
CB - The show is produced by CB Productions and the CB in question is Chester Bane, the creator/executive producer for "Darkest Night." He's a large, authoritative man with several ex-wives and a vise grip on the show's budget. He refuses to spend any money that won't show up on screen and pushes the crew to cut costs wherever possible. If he picks up a gorilla suit cheap somewhere, the writers will have to find a way to work that costume into a show.
RCMP Constable Jack Elson - The cop who notices weird things happening around Tony and starts asking questions. He's really into that whole "protect and serve" thing, even if he's protecting people from demons. He's not gullible but he also doesn't deny what's right in front of him, even if it's impossible. And who doesn't love a Hot Mountie?
Other characters - There's also Peter, the director,who's in charge of both the show and the emergency, Everett, the make-up artist but don't quote him on that, and Jack's partner Special Constable Geetha Danvers, who's the Scully to his Mulder, though she buys the whole supernatural thing fairly quickly.
The TV Show
The short lived TV show was based only on the Blood Ties books and sadly wrote out Tony, but was still good, despite the cheese. Plus, it had a very hot Henry Fitzroy (even if he was the wrong height and hair color). I'll [Lana] be the first to admit that the episodes based on actual books were kind of horrible. But the ones where they had freedom to make plots for 45 minutes instead of 400 pages? Were good.
The show was also rather true to the mythos of the books, and with the exception of swapping Tony for a minor, somewhat more annoying character, kept all major points in tact and worked with them. Sadly, like many other decent sci fi shows with a cult following, it died after two short seasons.
It's not yet available on DVD, but it does have a lovely web site: http://www.bloodtiestv.com/ where you can oggle Henry. Or you know, read up on the show.
Oh, and it ran on Lifetime. Yeah.
Why You Have to Read This
It's like fanfic, only in a really good way. (They have to have a threesome to Save The World!) There's plenty of slashy text and snarky fun. The books take a few good-natured jabs at fandom and genre fiction. The Smoke books have a lot less melodrama than the Blood books but plenty of good drama and suspense.
Plus Buffy references. Definitely the Buffy references. And BSG and Firefly. Come on, what other book have you read that is going to have a character who watches the same TV shows as you do? Tony is a fanboy at heart and he says pretty much everything that we're thinking. Plus, it's nice to have genre savvy characters. And the Scooby Gang. Amy and Zev make awesome, stapler-wielding side-kicks.
Really, they're just fun.