Urban Fantasy Wiki
Advertisement
Urban Fantasy Wiki
Urban Fantasy Wiki
606
pages
in: Witches as Main Supe, Mages or Wizards as main supe, Ghosts and Spirits,
and 17 more

Keeper Chronicles series

Sign in to edit
Summon the Keeper (1998)

1. Summon the Keeper (1998)

Keeper Chronicles series written by Tanya Huff. 

Genres and Sub-Genres[]

Urban Fantasy / Supe Humor / Mystery / UF Comedy

Brief Series Description or Overview[]

Claire Hansen is a Keeper whose task is to repair holes in the fabric of the universe caused by bad magic or deeds that let evil enter into our world. Claire is summoned to the Elysian Fields Guest House to reseal a hole in the basement, which is literally an opening to Hell. The owner and monitor of the site disappears, leaving Claire stuck managing the place until the problem is solved. Her new employee, Dean McIssac, is a gorgeous Newfie who cooks, cleans, and lives the Boy Scout oath. Then there's Jacques Labaet: very French Canadian, very sexy, very dead. Jacques is a ghost who wants to be the man in Claire's life. Oh yeah, and there's Austin, a talking cat with attitude.

Lead's Species[]

  • Keeper of the fabic of the Universe

Primary Supe[]

  • Witches, ghosts, various

What Sets it Apart[]

  • Quirky, fun UF, has a great talking cat

Narrative Type and Narrators[]

  • Third person narrative mainly from Clare Hansen's perspective.

Books in Series[]

Keeper's Chronicles:

  1. Summon the Keeper (1998)
  2. The Second Summoning (2001)
  3. Long Hot Summoning (2003)

~ Ranked #44 on Goodreads | Best Urban Fantasy Series (181 series)

Shorts, Anthologies and Guides[]

None

Other Series by Author onsite[]

World Building[]

Setting[]

Elysian Fields Guest House in Canada

Places:

  • Canada

Supernatural Elements[]

✥ Witches, talking cat, ghosts, magic broomstick, Retired Olympian gods, mischievous imps, hellhound, medium, angels, demons, archaeologists, returned-to-life mummy, deranged hunter, midget basketball teams, mall-elves, multidimensional shopping mall, aspect of Hell,

Glossary:[]

  • Keepers are people who are born with magical powers and who are responsible for keeping a balance between the forces of good and evil in this world. They are described as plumbers, stopping metaphysical leaks.
  • Cousins are people who are born with an awareness of that struggle for balance and who can participate marginally by watching danger spots and summoning Keepers when a 'leak' must be closed.
  • Bystanders are the rest of humanity; people who go through life unaware of any magical forces. One of the cardinal rules is that Bystanders must be protected; not only from harm but also from any knowledge of magic.
  • Aspect of Hell: Hell has different aspects of itself and is constantly arguing with itself;

Groups & Organizations:[]

World[]

✥ A Keeper is a person whose task it is to repair holes in the fabric of the universe caused by bad deeds or magic and where evil is able to find its way into our world. Claire Hansen is such a Keeper who was summoned along with her talking cat Austin to Kingston to take care of a hotel where hell resides in the basement and a bad Keeper is put to sleep by other Keepers and not to be aroused in any circumstances.

Arriving there she meets her employee Dean McIssac a handsome young man who would bring honor to every boy scout group (he cooks, cleans and keeps things tidy) and discovers a lascivious ghost in the attic named Jacques Labaet. Not enough her hotel guests aren´t your average visitors they´re vampires, werwolves and retired ex-olympic gods and there´s a nosy neighbour with a crazy dog watching her all the time.

There is a weird sense of humor in this book! The talking cat is hilarious and the pouting hell seems to have a split personality and is constantly talking to itself and its tries via bathroom mirror to lead Claire into temptation are amusing. ~ GR reader | Inara

✥ This is a world where words have power, and our heroes have to be careful what they say, simply because it can be taken literally. Cursing is a no-no, and as for ground-shakingly good sex ... er, anyway. There are Rules to be followed for both good and evil, and breaking one allows the other side to do the same. Once again, things have to be done subtly at times. The dangers are real, even if they're not all-encompassingly nasty. So maybe Hell talks to itself and argues with its aspects. So maybe those aspects have dreams of being promoted to having names. So teenagers trapped in a mall can become elves, and the archetypical leader figure of Arthur isn't what we expect. ~ Green Man

Protagonist[]

✥ Claire Hansen: a sort of witch whose job it is to patch tears in the fabric of reality where evil leaks through. But she's a Canadian witch, so generally very polite. ~ GR reader | Wendy

✥ Her latest assignment has her ticked off. She's been summoned to a bed and breakfast where hell resides in the basement and she fears she may be stuck there for the rest of her life. She spends the book attempting to figure out how to complete her assignment while fighting off the advances of the sexy ghost, fighting off her lusty thoughts of the younger handyman, arguing with her know it all cat (who talks) and dealing with the strange assortment of guests who visit the B&B. ~ GR reader | Barks books

Sidekick[]

  • Austin/ What: talking cat/ Sidekick-to: Claire Hansen / About: helper in Keeper tasks / Book First Seen: Summon the Keeper, Keeper Chronicles series

Characters Chart[]

Characters What About
Claire Hansen Keeper A Keeper with experience closing the holes through which evil comes
Austin talking cat companion to Claire and helper in her Keeper responsibilities; Black & white;
Dean McIssac: hunk 20 year old hunk with the "strength of 10 because his heart is pure."; from Newfoundland; raised by a preacher grandfather; handyman of a rather haunted B&B in Kingston, Ontario; Neatnik, does windows, laundry, dishes, cooking;
Diana Keeper powers Claires 17 year old sister, possibly the strongest Keeper powers of this century; in High School; bored; not used to her power, odd things are always happening around her; Keeper duties start right after graduation;
Jacques Labaet lascivious ghost lives in the attic of the B&B; French sailor; Claire has a fling with him
Sara previous keeper been put to sleep using magic; She got caught trying to use the pit of hell for her own gain; in room six;
Zeus & Aphrodite retired Olymians
Mrs Abrams neighbor nosy; hell hound dog;
Sam angel-turned-cat Diana's companion;
Dr. Rebik archaeologists on-the-run with and undead mummy turned lover;
Meryat undead mummy returned to life mummy traveling with Dr. Rebik; deranged hunter trying to slay her;
? hunter deranged; trying to slay the mummy
King Arthur a version of Arthur filtered through an anime archetype

To expand the table, in Edit–Visual mode, right-press on a Row of the table (Control-press on a Mac)—choose add Row or Column. Or, in Source Mode: copy-paste rows.

Tanya Huff b&w

Tanya Huff

Author[]

Tanya Huff

Bio: Tanya Huff lives and writes in rural Ontario with her partner Fiona Patton. She has a degree in Radio and Television Arts from Ryerson University. She's written many novels, a Ravensloft book for TSR, and has three collections of short stories. Except for the Ravensloft book (Scholar of Decay) all her books are still in print and available -- don't let bookstores tell you they aren't. Several of her works have been nominated for the Aurora Award. She was on the jury for the 2000 Philip K. Dick Award. For eight years (1984-1992) she worked at Bakka, North America's oldest SF bookstore, managing it for part of that time. She writes the occassional book review for Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper, not minding the fact it's only occassional because she just so damned pleased they're reviewing genre books at all. During 2000, she wrote regular columns for the Toronto magazine, Realms. Her greatest claim to fame is that she makes her living with mortgage, cars and cats, totally from writing and does no other work and has never received any kind of a grant -- although she will admit to cashing the Public Lending Rights check every year so it's not like she has any moral objections to taking government money. It's a great life. ~ Tanya Huff ~ FF

Contributors[]

Cover Artists[]

Summon the Keeper:

The Second Summoning:

Long Hot Summoning:

Complete Keeper Chronicles

Other Contributors:[]

  • Audio Book Narrator: — Source: 
  • Editor: — Source:

Publishing Information[]

  • Publisher: DAW,
  1. Summon the Keeper: Paperback, 331 pages, Pub: May 1st 1998—ISBN 0886777844
  2. The Second Summoning: Paperback, 416 pages, Pub: —March 1st 2001ISBN 0886779758
  3. Long Hot Summoning: Paperback, 413 pages, Pub: May 6th 2003—ISBN 0756401364

Book Cover Blurbs[]

✤ BOOK ONE—Summon the Keeper (1998): Claire Hansen, the Keeper, is summoned to the Elysian Fields Guest House to reseal a hole in the basement, which is literally an opening to Hell. The owner and monitor of the site disappears, leaving Claire stuck managing the place until the problem is solved. Her new employee, Dean McIssac, is a gorgeous Newfie who cooks, cleans, and lives the Boy Scout oath. Then there's Jacques Labaet: very French Canadian, very sexy, very dead. Jacques is a ghost who wants to be the man in Claire's life. Oh yeah, and there's Austin, a talking cat with attitude: "I barely know you, but I'm assuming you're human. I'm not saying this is a good thing, it's just the way it is." ~Summon the Keeper (Keeper Chronicles #1) by Tanya Huff

✤ BOOK TWO—The Second Summoning (2001): After closing the portal to hell, Claire and her talking cat, Austin, acquired a new companion--Dean, who was a Bystander and should not have remembered Keepers existed. But with Dean around, and a little of her sister Diana's meddling--the world is heading for Chaos, and Claire is about to face a challenge beyond her wildest imagination. ~ The Second Summoning (Keeper Chronicles, #2) by Tanya Huff

✤ BOOK THREE—Long Hot Summoning (2003): In Tanya Huff's delightful new follow-up to her acclaimed bestsellers, Summon the Keeper The Second Summoning a force from the Otherside threatens to break through to our world and destroy the balance between Light and Darkness. Unless, of course, the Keepers Claire and Diana-two sisters who are able to reweave the possibilities of time and space-can prevent a permanent rift between worlds...at the local shopping mall. ~ Long Hot Summoning (Keeper Chronicles #3) by Tanya Huff

First Sentences[]

  1. Summon the Keeper (1998) — When the storm broke, rain pounding down in great sheets out of a black unforgiving sky, Claire Hansen had to admit she wasn't surprised; it had been that kind of evening.
  2. The Second Summoning (2001) — For all intents and purposes, the motel room was dark and quiet.
  3. Long Hot Summoning (2003) — Throwing her backpack over one shoulder, Diana raced out the front door and rocked to a halt at the sight of the orange tabby crossing the front lawn.

Quotes[]

Trivia[]

Awards[]

Read Alikes (similar elements)[]

See Category links at bottom of page

Notes[]

See Also[]

See Category links at bottom of page

External References[]

Books:

World, Characters, etc:

Reviews:

Artists: 

Author:

Community and Fan Sites:

Gallery of Book Covers[]

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement