“Dammit! He’s gotten ahead of us!”
“Nay, that shall not do!” Shaw cried. “Release the hindmost door!”
I reached down, popped the SUV’s rear hatch.
The griffin leapt out the back as if shot from a cannon.
“Nay, that shall not do!” Shaw cried. “Release the hindmost door!”
I reached down, popped the SUV’s rear hatch.
The griffin leapt out the back as if shot from a cannon.
Fantasy and Forensics is an urban Portal Fantasy series by Michael Angel.
When Dayna, forensic analyst for Los Angeles, is called to inspect an murder scene, she doesn't expect to be shot at. Or to find an archaic golden coin that transports her into another world. Andeluvia, as it is called, is a bucolic realm on the verge of civil war. Its king was recently murdered, under suspicious circumstances that left his subjects- both human and centaur- at each other's throats. If Dayna can't find the culprit within three days, Andeluvia will crumble beneath violence and blood...
...and with it, the patchwork team of assistants that she is coming to think of as friends.
This series includes the following tropes:
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Inverted. Apparently a month in prison not only made Vazura repentant, but gave him a crash course in chivalry and poetic language. For all intents and purposes, he's a completely different character.
- Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: The centaur king punches his own son in the face when the latter offers him a spell that makes crops grow.
- The Marvellous Deer: Fayleene are a species of Fair Folk that take the form of small, antlered white-tail deer. On top of their incredible grace and magic-absorbing physiology, they are naturally lucky creatures who pass on their luck to anyone they choose to ally with. That fact is soon proven to be objectively true, even when a fayleene thinks it isn't. The species is so awesome that full understanding of how awesome they are eludes them.Thea: For centuries, no one with a fayleene on their side has ever failed at a task, or lost a battle.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Because everyone else is preparing for war, the only people helping Dayna investigate is a gryphon too old to fight, a centaur disowned for practicing magic, and an unlucky fayleene.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: When Dayna shows up after being missing for days, in perfect health but unable to explain her absence, Shelly reassures her that she understands exactly what happened: God entrusted Dayna with an important mission and whisked her up to Heaven to explain the details. She's wrong about the religious part of it- Andeluvia certainly isn't Heaven- but other than that, she's right. In fact, the immediate support Shelly gives the quest because of her belief is one of the factors that enable Dayna to succeed.
- Skewed Priorities: Esteban has difficulty understanding why his girlfriend is more interested in a magical alternate dimension than their relationship.
