"City of Roses" by Kip Manley

City of Roses is a serialized epic very firmly set in Portland, Oregon—an urban fantasy mixing magical realism with gonzo noirish prose, where sinister high-rise riverfront condos are fought by a sprawling tea-house constructed from scrap lumber and old windows, and ancient sea-gods retire to close-in Southeast apartments with lovely views.

The overall story is told in novelette-sized installments, published as paper zines and online, available at https://thecityofroses.com. The novelettes are then collected in volumes, available in paperback and ebook editions, which would be ideal for your bookshelf. Four have been collected and published to date, and are available direct from the publisher (https://thecityofroses.com/books) or from Bookshop.org (https://bookshop.org/shop/thecityofroses) or just about anywhere else that books might be found.

Vol. 1: “Wake up…”

Jo Maguire, a highly strung, underemployed telemarketer, meets Ysabel, a princess of unspecified pedigree. Jo rather unexpectedly becomes Ysabel's guardian and caretaker, and now must make a place for herself among Ysabel’s decidedly unusual family and friends—which involves rather more sword-play than most of us are used to. Collects chapters 1 - 11.

Vol. 2: The Dazzle of Day

Jo Maguire, a highly strung, underemployed telemarketer, has been knighted in the mysterious Court of Roses. Her roommate, Ysabel, is a Princess of the Court, and the intended Bride of the King Come Back (whomever that turns out to be). Together they must face the threats of bad dreams, changelings, surly exes, jealous lovers, intemperate peers, shabby magicians in ill-fitting suits, abstruse oracles, unemployment, eviction, and the nothing-time of three in the morning, when dawn seems so far off. Collects chapters 12 - 22.

Vol. 3 In the Reign of Good Queen Dick

Ysabel rules the City of Roses with her brother, Lymond, the King, and Jo Maguire, formerly a telemarketer, is now the Duchess of Southeast—but happily ever after doesn't go as far as it used to. New peers have been raised up, and new factions vie to bring them down, from disgruntled knights to shadowy government operatives, from Lake Barons over the hills to Gloria Monday's art commune, and from enemies out of the past to apocalyptic nightmares of the future, drowned and forgotten. Can they possibly live up to the responsibility that power demands? Collects chapters 23 – 33.

Vol. 4 —or Betty Martin

Jo Maguire, Duchess of Southeast, Hawk's Widow and Huntsman to the Court of Roses, has denied her Queen a second time, setting aside her office, her title, and her sword. Ysabel Perry, Sun-clad, Mountain-shod, the Rose arisen from the bitterest of tears, has crossed the river and thrown open her treasury; any and all might take what they need-so long as they do not serve the Viscount Agravante. The court is on the brink of civil war, and whether in a junk-shop or a rooftop garden, a riverside carnival or a hillside mansion, a dilapidated houseboat or a caravan, out by the airport-sides must be chosen, once and for all. Collects chapters 34 - 44.

 

Author Biography

Kip Manley lives in Portland, Oregon, with a cartoonist, an aspiring veterinarian, and (at last count) three cats and (now) two dogs.