Strange Magic

A Yancy Lazarus Novel, Volume 1

By: James Hunter

Narrated by: Charlie Kevin

Yancy Lazarus is having a bad day: there's a bullet lodged in his butt cheek, his face looks like the site of a demolition derby, and he's been saran-wrapped to a banquet table. He never should have answered the phone. Stupid bleeding heart - helping others in his circles is a good way to die - just ask the gang members ripped to pieces by some kind of demonic nightmare in LA.

As a favor to a friend, Yancy agrees to take a little looksee into the massacre and boom, he's stuck in a turf war between two rival gangs, which both think he's pinch-hitting for the other side. Oh, and there's also a secretive dark mage with some mean ol' magical chops and a small army of hyena-faced, body-snatching baddies. It might be time to seriously reconsider some of his life choices.

Yancy is a bluesman, a rambler, a gambler, but not much more. Sure, he can do a little magic - maybe even more than just a little magic - but he knows enough to keep his head down and stay clear of freaky-deaky hoodoo like this business in LA. Somehow though, he's been set up to take a real bad fall - the kind of very permanent fall that leaves a guy with a toe tag. That's unless, of course, he can find out who is responsible for the gangland murders, make peace in the midst of the gang feud, and takeout said magical dark mage before he hexes Yancy into an early retirement. Easy right? Stupid. Bleeding. Heart.

©2014 James A. Hunter (Adam W. Strode) (P)2022 James A. Hunter (Adam W. Strode)

Great Go to for Butcher fans

Great Dresdenesque urban fantasy.
The performance by the reader is spot on for Noir style fantasy

amazing story!

plot lines for days! well written and excellent, keeps you listening and impatient for the next book.

great new sarcastic occult detective

A great new sarcastic occult detective that could defeat even Harry Dresden. A must read.

New, shockingly good, Urban Fantasy

This is the best Urban Fantasy I have listened to since the Dresden Files. I picked up this book with low expectations and fell in love within the first 10 minutes. If you like lots of magic in your Urban fantasy this is a definite winner.

To give you an idea of what other books I like, to see if you have similar tastes and may enjoy this book as much as I did, here are a few other series I have enjoyed as well; Dresden Files, Grimnoir Chronicles, Iron Druid Chronicles, Demon Accords, and Alex Verus are the first to come to mind.

awesome and intriguing

good performance. the voice matched the character well. will definitely get another in the series

The book has very fun pulpy feel!

What a great urban-noir fantasy! Seriously, from the very beginning I felt that I had been transported into a very pulp-fiction, 50's style bar, complete with a piano man. "Yancey Lazarus, as fingers played across the keyboard, he eyed every patron giving 'em all a measured glance"... James Hunter was actually able to pull off the pulpy feel throughout the entire book! If it hadn't been for the pop-cultural, mostly music references that Yancey kept throwing out, you might even forget what decade you're in!
Yancey at first may seem unlikable... even acerbic, but as you get to know him you'll realize that it's a defensive mechanism, and he's kind of a softy at heart.
So, if you're looking for a fun read/listen, give Strange Magic a try! My son said Yancy is a much tougher character than Harry Dresden would ever be, as Yancey fights dirtier! And, like Jim Butcher's Dresden series, I believe the stories will only get better and better as we delve deeper into Yancey's world!
Charlie Kevin voice performance, was maybe a little too good, because he caught Yancey's bitter tone to the point that I almost didn't like the narration.
Can I fairly fault him for that? Hmmmm...

An alright listen

The story is a good first book in a series. The biggest problem I have is the narrators accent given the main character was born in Raleigh, NC, and lives in New Orleans, LA. It sounds more like he took a side street and picked his accent up in Brooklyn, which grades on me.

will definitely get the next in the series.

Awesome book. Has great character development. Loved the plot. Audio was also well read.

good story, ok narration

solid story, although the hero was a bit formulaic. monotone narration grated on me

Bluesman, Drifter, Mage...

Yancy Lazarus, a drifter Bluesman card player, has a secret. He's also a mage. Basically the Mister Fix-it of the supernatural world, he's known as the guy to see if you have supernatural problems. In fact, and old buddy of his from the Marines just called him about a supernatural problem in LA. As he is getting ready to leave to check it out, he is ambushed outside a bar in New Orleans by some mobsters. Well, that's not going to happen. After Yancy Deals with the hoods, he heads out to LA in his cherry 1986 Chevy El Camino, which is basically his house and workshop on wheels.

After surviving another ambush on the way, he arrives in LA and discovers the situation is even worse than his friend made it out to be. There is someone killing off members of 2 gangs in an effort to take over the underworld in LA. This is being done by sending a demon after the various gang members and their families. This starts Yancy on dangerous path, as he has to determine who is sending the demons out, and how can he stop this? This leads to an epic confrontation with the person behind it all, and Yancy will have to use all the skills at his disposal to stop the threat in a climactic ending.

This was one of those books I had in my To read pile and just never got to. If I had known what I was missing, I would have moved it to the top of the pile. Yancy is a great character. Cynical, world weary, but still cares enough to help out an old buddy even though life has kicked him in the teeth a few times. Yancy would rather smoke, play the blues and play cards than get into fights, but once the fight begins he's all in. The supporting characters are good as well, and the villains motivations were actually fairly unique. You just don't see that kind of limited motivation too often.

The settings are as real as it gets in an urban fantasy book, and you get a real feeling of being in the action. Yancy was a marine in Vietnam (he's 65 but looks 40. Magic.), so the flashbacks he has to those days have a visceral feel to them. The author is a marine veteran, in a more recent combat zone, but the marine experience hasn't changed much. Better equipment, same attitude. Semper FI. The times he brings the Marines up, you can tell his experience helps lend that portion realism.

Charlie Kevin did an outstanding job bringing this book to life. He really gave the whole thing a world weary feel. The way he plays Yancy as a cynical kind of laid back burn out really plays well. His narration is steady, and never falls into a monotone. He just does a good job of keeping the story moving along at a good pace.

All in all, this is one of the fresher and original Urban Fantasy books I've listened to lately. So much so, In fact, I am going to get signed copies at some point. This is definitely an author to watch!