When it comes to urban fantasy, forget the famous James Brown song, “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”: it’s women who rule paranormal fiction. Male protagonists are about as common as tan lines on a vampire. For every one Harry Dresden there are a dozen Anita Blakes, Mercy Thompsons, and Rachel Morgans. That’s not to say that there aren’t plenty of male characters in urban fantasy, but usually they are seen through the eyes of a female protagonist.
There are, of course, a few brave men who have managed to squeeze into the genre and carve out a starring role for themselves. Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series is still running strong, with a thirteenth novel featuring P.I. wizard Harry Dresden (Ghost Story) coming out in July. It even enjoyed a much-too-short lived TV show in 2007.
Given their rarity, I though we should shed some light on these often unsung Urban Fantasy male protagonists, which prompted a list on the Tor.com Urban Fantasy Facebook page and Twitter. Here are the names we came up with (…and suddenly they don’t seem quite so rare, after all):
- Storm Front (Harry Dresden) by Jim Butcher
- Master of None (Gavyn Donatti) by Sonya Bateman
- Sweet Silver Blues (Garrett) by Glen Cook
- Nightlife (Cal Leandros) by Rob Thurman
- Dead Matter (Simon Canderous) by Anton Strout
- Dog Days (Mason) by John Levitt
- The Vampire Files (Jack Fleming) by P. N. Elrod
- Midnight Riot (Peter Grant) by Ben Aaronovitch
- Death Most Definite (Steven de Selby) by Trent Jamieson
- Blood Vice (Karl Vance) by Keith Melton
- Unshapely Things (Connor Grey) by Mark Del Franco
- A Kiss Before the Apocalypse (Remy Chandler) by Thomas E. Sniegoski
- The Double-Edged Sword (Finmere Tingewick Smith) by Sarah Silverwood
- Something from the Nightside (John Taylor) by Simon R. Green
- Sandman Slim (James Stark) by Richard Kadrey
- Sixty-One Nails (Niall Petersen) by Mike Shevdon
- Second Sunrise (Lee Nez) by Aimée Thurlo, David Thurlo
- Child of Fire (Ray Lilly) by Harry Connolly
- The Devil You Know (Felix Castor) by Mike Carey
- Already Dead (Joe Pitt) by Charlie Huston
- The Nymphos of Rocky Flats (Felix Gomez) by Mario Acevedo
- Staked (Eric Courtney) by J.F. Lewis
- Blood Oath (Nathaniel Cade) by Christopher Farnsworth
- Blood Prophecy (Jeremiah Fall) by Stefan Petrucha
- Of Saints and Shadows (Peter Octavian) by Christopher Golden
- The Kensei (Lawson) by Jon F. Merz
- A Madness of Angels (Matthew Swift) by Kate Griffin
- A Devil in the Details (Jesse James Dawson) by K.A. Stewart
- The Vampire’s Seduction (William Thorne) by Raven Hart
Let us know if we missed anybody in the comments below!
Abigail Johnson manages the Tor.com Urban Fantasy Facebook and Twitter accounts and spends way too much time thinking about vampires, werewolves, zombies and all things paranormal in books, movies, TV and video games.