Choose Your Weapon - Firearms

Jinx from Arcane - Season Two Theories - by Tom Hartig November 22, 2021

A firearm might not be the first weapon we think of sifting through the Fantasy genre, but when considering the popular subcategories, from Steampunk to Urban Fantasy, they do indeed appear. Think of it this way: In any world where gunpowder has been discovered, firearms can exist. 

Ever since Marco Polo started travelling the Silk Road, these exploding projectile weapons have found their way into the hands of Western inventors, and shortly after, Western literature, including Fantasy. Just take a look at these wonderful subgenre examples.

Steampunk

Gail Carriger's The Parasol Protectorate Series comes to mind.

Engagingly written in a Steampunk/PNR/tongue-in-cheek style, this is a 'five book (and one prequel short) series chronicling the exploits of Alexia Tarabotti, a lady of considerable assets including a large Scottish werewolf, a battle-parasol, and treacle tart. Oh, and she has no soul...'

“Well, my love,” said Alexia with prodigious daring to Lord Maccon, “shall we?” 

The earl started to move forward and then stopped abruptly and looked down at her, not moving at all. “Am I?”

“Are you what?” She peeked up at him through her tangled hair, pretending confusion. There was no possible way she was going to make this easy for him.

“Your love?”

“Well, you are a werewolf, Scottish, naked, and covered in blood, and I am still holding your hand.”

He sighed in evident relief. “Good. That is settled, then.”

― Gail Carriger, Soulless

How fun is that!

Think also of Sanderson's Alloy of Law, the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik and other great Steampunk reads like the Lightbribger series by Brent Weeks. 

From Western subgenres to the Victorian era and the Civil War, Steampunk has much to offer, including a 'new' take on weapons in the Fantasy arsenal.

Urban Fantasy

This genre has had its ups and downs, but Urban Fantasy is in our blood and here to stay. With its paranormal characters set against a citified backdrop, what's not to love?

I burned through the Southern Vampire Mysteries (You can check out this internet database of firearms found in True Blood, as an example). I  also relish authors like Patricia Briggs and her Mercy Tompson Series. 

But there are some caveats to consider when writing Urban Fantasy.

 Because we want readers immersed in the tale, 'modern' weapons require careful handling. Otherwise, their appearance might flip readers out of the magic and fracture the storytelling altogether.

The first thing I consider with this genre is giving the township or city backdrop a personality. Think of it as a main character:

The backdrop aesthetic in an urban fantasy... plays a key role in the story; For this reason, the urban setting needs to be very well developed. - Jacqueline Silveste

Weapons are part of this environmental dev. That's why, in some cases, these Urban Fantasy guns will have real names (like the Ruger in the Ava Sykes series), or even mystical ones that imbue magical powers. They may also have special modifications like species-specific bullets. 

... I opened my gun safe and slipped my Ruger 9 mm into my calf holster and smoothed down my jeans. 

I was licensed to carry, and I always did at work, more for the trip there and back than anything else. 

New LA wasn't really a city of angels, not good ones anyway...

From Ava Sykes - The Blood in the Beginning

Post Apocalyptic Fantasy

In this genre, guns make plenty of sense though there may be more issues around obtaining the firearms,

and maintaining them, let alone finding bullets. It depends on how far down the rabbit hole the world has gone. Try TW Piperbrook's Better Guns and Gardens for a quick intro!

And if you want to just kick back and watch a fantastic video-game-turned-Prime-Original-Series, there is always the newly released Fallout. 

"Based on one of the greatest video games of all time, Fallout is the story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have. 200 years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the incredibly complex, gleefully weird and highly violent universe waiting for them above."

However we look at them, guns are fantasy weapons and when handled correctly, make exciting additions to the storytelling.

Do you have a fav fantasy-with-firearms series? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

xxKim

Choose Your Weapon Series 2024

Poison

The Perfect Storm

The Sword

Firearms

Ranged

Spells

Unarmed

Curses

Time Travel

Invisibility

***

About Kim Falconer

Kim Falconer, currently writing as AK Wilder, has released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows as book 2 in the series. Currently, she is working on the third book, out in 2024.

Kim can be found on  AKWilder Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Throw the bones, read your horoscopes or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site

 

Favorite Romantic Quotes

UF vs. PNR

Hi Everyone,

Ever wonder what makes one romantic scene work and another fail?

There are guidelines for writing great romantic dialog, no matter what the genre. They include evoking strong emotions other than love, setting a unique background, keeping characters true to themselves, not going 'purple' with excessively flowery prose, and most importantly, the writing romance that isn't gratuitous but propels the story forward.

Even with all that, you still need great lines.

I've made a list of some of my favourite. Which light you up? Turn you off?

Memorable Romantic Moments

Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears. "After all this time?"
"Always...”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

He drew me into his arms. It was like the pull of the sea. Kind. Irresistible. Swimming …
― Tanith Lee, The Silver Metal Lover

Her pragmatic preternatural self assessed the situation and realized that she could definitely learn to love the taste of him …
―  Gail Carriger, Souless

“So you do believe in... true love?" she whispered.
I took a deep breath, "I think I have to," I said, blinking back tears. "Without it, we're all going nowhere.”
― Juliet Marillier, Wildwood Dancing

He gave me that lazy smile that had always had the power to make my heart beat faster. I was dismayed to see that it still worked.”
― Patricia Briggs, Moon Called

“I lean forward so my mouth is inches away from the perfect shell of his ear. The smell of him – freshly cut grass and mint – is addictive. …I pull back. Otherwise I won’t be able to stop myself from kissing his neck. I don’t know what’s wrong with me …
― Lauren Oliver, Before I Fall

“You make me want things I can't have.”
― Kendare Blake, Anna Dressed in Blood

Eric & Sookie Fancy in Black by JamieRose89

“Eric was holding my hands, and I was digging my nails into him like we were doing something else. He won't mind, I though, as I realized I'd drawn blood. And sure enough, he didn't. "Let go," he advised me, and I loosened my grip on his hands. "No, not of me," he said smiling. "You can hold on to me as long as you want.”
― Charlaine Harris, Club Dead

“I stood on my toes and stole a soft kiss from his lips. "Surprise attack," I said.
Sam leaned down and kissed me back, his mouth lingering on mine, teeth grazing my lower lip, making me shiver. "Surprise attack back."
"Sneaky," I said, my voice breathier than I intended.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Shiver

“I’m watching her talk. Watching her jaw move and collecting her words one by one as they spill from her lips. I don’t deserve them. Her warm memories. I’d like to paint them over the bare plaster walls of my soul, but everything I paint seems to peel.”
—Isaac Marion, Warm Bodies

“Do you think I’ll ever get better at this? That my heart might someday stop trying to jump out of my chest whenever you touch me?” Stephenie Meyers – Twilight

“Sleep,” he says. “I'll fight the bad dreams off if they come to get you.”
“With what?”
“My bare hands, obviously.”
― Veronica Roth, Insurgent 

She hugged me a full five seconds longer than my intimacy issues could stand and whispered in my ear. ‘Love you.’
Love you, too. I did, without a doubt, but I couldn’t get the sounds out of my throat for her to hear, so they stayed in my head.
― Kim Falconer, The Blood in the Beginning

"I came back to find you," Akiva said. "I don't know why. Karou. Karou. I don't know why… Just to find you and be in the world that you're in..."
—Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke and Bone

"I know you write poetry and I know about the raven on your necklace and I know you love orange soda and your grandma and Milk Duds mixed into your popcorn." For a second, I thought she might smile.
"That's hardly anything," [she said].
"It's a start."
— Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl - Beautiful Creatures

“…I tried not to look in his eyes, at the person deep inside who had revealed so much of himself to me, the person I had fallen in love with when I wasn’t paying attention ... Deeply. Madly. And it was making it hard to breathe.”
— Merrie Destefano, Lost Girls

"Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while."
—William Goldman, Princess Bride

“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.”
—John Green, The Fault is in our Stars

What are some of your favorite romantic scenes in books, or films? Feel free to share them in the comments.
xxKim

Kim Falconer's latest release is out now - The Blood in the Beginning - and Ava Sykes Novel. Find this novel in a store near you.

You can also learn more about Kim at AvaSykes.com, the 11th House Blog, and on FaceBook and Twitter.  Or on GoodVibeAstrology.com

She posts here at the Supernatural Underground on the 16th of every month and runs Save the Day Writer's Community on Facebook. Check out her daily Astro-LOA Flash horoscopes on Facebook.