Nightside series

Nightside series is written by Simon R. Green. This series is set in the same universe as Ghost Finders series and Secret Histories series.

"A place where dreams come true and nightmares come alive."

Genres[]

Urban Fantasy / SciFi–Urban Fantasy / Noir UF

Series Description or Overview[]

✥ A series of fantasy novels centering around the protagonist, John Taylor, and based in the "Nightside", a hidden area within London in which magic and advanced technology exist. This series also ties into the Hawk and Fisher series (i.e. mentioning the Street of the Gods, a prominent setting in the second and third novellas, Winner Take All and God Killer). Indeed, Hawk and Fisher appear drinking at Strangefellows Pub in the Nightside as an unnamed but clearly recognizable couple in A Hard Day's Knight, and the Deathstalker series is often referenced: Haceldama, Hadenmen, and the Darkvoid Device are all mentioned in passing. Razor Eddie, Punk God of the Straight Razor, is rumored to have gone to the Street of the Gods to make a deal with some unknown deity for all the evil he had done, and came back changed. The Nightside series was completed when the twelfth book was released in January 2012. ~ Simon R. Green - Wikipedia

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✥ The series is focused on John Taylor, a private investigator based in the fictional Nightside, a dark, hidden netherworld of London in which the supernatural and science fiction super-technology co-exist. Dark, cynical, and humorous, the books offer an adventure into the Nightside, where classic pulp PI novels blend with fantasy and science fiction. The novels also contain references to various folklore and iconic world literature. The series itself takes place in a fictional inner city area of London known as the Nightside. The Nightside experiences perpetual night ("it's always 3am"). The Nightside itself is contained within London, yet is significantly larger than London itself. Though access to the Nightside is hidden, it does experience a steady stream of tourists from the "normal world". ~

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✥ Take Dresden, shoot him up with crack, cast him into an alternative version of London where it’s always nighttime, and surround him with the craziest cast of oddities imaginable, and you get Simon R. Green’s Nightside series, which began in 2003 with Something from the Nightside. This now-complete twelve-volume series features magical investigator John Taylor, who tracks down cases in the shadowy Nightside version of London. This series draws heavily on mythology and history to illustrate just how far and how far-out urban fantasy can stretch itself. Merlin is buried beneath a bar called Strangefellows, the God of the Hunt is a homeless dude with antlers, Angels are bad, bad news, and John Taylor himself has some major family secrets stretching back to Eden. ~ Heroes and Heartbreakers

Lead's Species[]

Para PI, Son of Lillith

Primary Supe[]

Vast Variety

What Sets it Apart[]

Narrative Type and Narrators[]

First Person narrative told by protagonist, John Taylor.

Books in Series[]

Nightside series:

Something from the Nightside (2003)
Agents of Light and Darkness (2003)
Nightingale's Lament (2004)
Hex and the City (2005)
Paths Not Taken (2005)
Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth (2006)
Hell to Pay (2006)
The Unnatural Inquirer (2008)
Just Another Judgement Day (2008)
The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny (2010)
A Hard Day's Knight (2011)
The Bride Wore Black Leather (2012) — FINAL

Shorts, Anthologies and Guides[]

9.5. "The Difference a Day Makes" in Mean Streets anthology (2009)
"The House of Seven Spirits" in Powers of Detection: Stories of Mystery & Fantasy anthology ((2008)
"Tales from the Nightside", collection of Nightside short stories

Companion Series or Spinoffs[]

Ghostfinders series
Secret Histories series

Other Series by this Author onsite[]

Themes[]

World Building[]

Setting[]

The series itself takes place in a fictional inner city area of London known as the Nightside. The Nightside experiences perpetual night ("it's always 3am"). The Nightside itself is contained within London, yet is significantly larger than London itself. Though access to the Nightside is hidden, it does experience a steady stream of tourists from the "normal world". ~ Nightside - Wikipedia

Places:

Strangefellows: Alex's bar
Vatican:
Heaven:
Uptown
Necropolis
Caliban's Cavern
Londinium Club
Camelot
Londinium Club

Supernatural Elements[]

✥ Para-PI, Excalibur, supe drugs,

Glossary:[]

Revert: drug which causes users to temporarily devolve into a biological ancestor
Timeslip:
Agent (or "The Man": enforces the rules of The Authorities
The Voice, a way of issuing vocal commands which no human can refuse. Walker holds this position—uses it to bring the dead to life so they can answer his questions.
Wild Hunt:

Groups & Organizations:[]

The Harrowing: a collection of faceless assassins—the only real authority in the Nightside
The Authorities: a committee which makes rules, policy, and decisions concerning what is allowed to happen within the realm
Last Defenders of Camelot: group of knights who dwell in a place that some find more frightening than the Nightside.
Trust of Gods:
Prometheus Inc.: Nightside electricity distributor
Cavendish Properties: Family owned real-estate company with ties in the entertainment management business
Hell's Neanderthals: Biker gang that is also used as security
Raging Dragon Clan: Martial artists, magic users and all around mercenary type body guards

World[]

John Taylor, the protagonist, describes the Nightside as "a place where dreams come true and nightmares come alive. Where one can buy anything, often at the price of your soul... or someone else's. Where the music never stops and the fun never ends". Numerous seemingly impossible services or goods are available such as albums from alternative time-lines (e.g. a live Mama Cass concert from 2003), a business where customers pay to be possessed for a brief period of time "just for the kick of it," and a drug called Revert which causes users to temporarily devolve into a biological ancestor (e.g. a Neanderthal).

A recurring feature in the Nightside is the appearance of "timeslips", locations where the Nightside collides with another part of space and/or time, and sometimes with a completely separate, alternate timeline as well. A number of characters identified within the series are "refugees" displaced by timeslips. The appearance of timeslips is generally, though not always, unpredictable and unplanned.

The Nightside is overseen by The Authorities, a committee whose members are largely unknown which makes rules, policy, and decisions concerning what is allowed to happen within the realm. The Authorities' decisions are enforced by their Agent (or "The Man"), who among other equipment and abilities is given The Voice, a way of issuing vocal commands which no human can refuse. At the beginning of the first book this position is held by Walker. ~ Nightside (book series) - Wikipedia

Protagonists[]

John Taylor — The main character of the series, John possesses the ability to locate anything with a supernatural ability he refers to as his "private eye". This allows him several secondary abilities, such as disrupting magical forces and wards by finding and removing the lynch-pins that hold them together. He later learns to relocate certain objects, such as unloading enemy weapons at a distance, removing cavity fillings, or removing the air from someone's lungs. Taylor is the son of Lilith, who first created the Nightside. This fact has made Taylor a primary target for many powerful forces e.g. the Harrowing, who wish to aid or kill Taylor depending on their opinion of his mother.

Suzie Shooter — The Nightside's most dangerous bounty hunter, named for her trademark pump-action shotgun. Known for bringing back her bounties dead because, as she always puts it, "it takes less paperwork". Later in the series, she reveals to John that her older brother raped her and made her pregnant when she was a teenager, forcing her to have an abortion. After she murdered her brother, she disappeared into the Nightside. Later in the series she and Taylor become lovers. Introduced in the book as "Suzie Shooter, also known as Shotgun Suzie and Oh Christ it's her, RUN!!!" — More: Nightside (book series) - Wikipedia

Sidekick[]

Name: / What: / Sidekick-to: / About: / Book First Seen:

Characters Chart[]

Characters	What	About
John Taylor	private investigator	gift that lets him find lost things
Suzie Shooter	Nightside's most dangerous bounty hunter	older brother raped her and made her pregnant when she was a teenager
Razor Eddie	Punk God of the Straight Razor	former gang member turned homeless vigilante; The punk god of the straight razor. Who Can't Die as ensured By the Trust of Gods.
Henry Walker	face of the "Authorities"	good friend of John's father; most of John's cases are due to him; known for using 'The Voice';
The Collector	collector of the rarest artifacts
Alex Morrisey	owner of Strangefellows	Taylor goes to him for information and meets clients at the bar
Dead Boy	young man who was brutally murdered outside a Nightside club	came back as a zombie to avenge his own death
Merlin Satanspawn	Merlin of Arthurian legend	buried underneath Alex's bar, sometimes appears in public by possessing Alex Morrisey
The Harrowing	collection of faceless assassins
Adrian Saint	The Walking Man	As long as he walks the path of God then no weapon of the earth, or men could hurt him

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.

Author[]

Simon R. Green

Website: Simon R Green | Best-selling SciFi and Fantasy
Genres: Urban Fantasy

Bio: Simon Richard Green is a British science fiction and fantasy-author. He holds a degree in Modern English and American Literature from the University of Leicester. His first publication was in 1979. His Deathstalker series is partly a parody of the usual space-opera of the 1950s, told with sovereign disregard of the rules of probability, while being at the same time extremely bloodthirsty. ~ Goodreads | Simon R. Green (Author of Something from the Nightside)

Full Bio: Simon R Green | Best-selling SciFi and Fantasy

Cover Artist[]

Artist: Jonathan Barkat

Source: Nightside - ISFdb
Source: Jonathan Barkat - ISFdb

Publishing Information[]

Publisher: Ace
Author Page:

Something from the Nightside: Paperback, 230 pages, Pub. May 27th 2003—ISBN 0441010652
Agents of Light and Darkness: Paperback, , Pub. —ISBN
Nightingale's Lament: Paperback, , Pub. —ISBN
Hex and the City: Paperback, , Pub. —ISBN
Paths Not Taken: Paperback, , Pub. —ISBN
Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth: Paperback, , Pub. —ISBN
Hell to Pay: Paperback, , Pub. —ISBN
The Unnatural Inquirer: Paperback, , Pub. —ISBN
Just Another Judgement Day: Paperback, , Pub. —ISBN
The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny: Paperback, , Pub. —ISBN
A Hard Day's Knight: Paperback, , Pub. —ISBN
The Bride Wore Black Leather: Paperback, , Pub. —ISBN

Book Cover Blurbs[]

✤ BOOK ONE BLURB—Something from the Nightside (2003): John Taylor is not a private detective per se, but he has a knack for finding lost things. That's why he's been hired to descend into the Nightside, an otherworldly realm in the center of London where fantasy and reality share renting space and the sun never shines. ~ Goodreads | Something from the Nightside

✤ BOOK TWO BLURB—Agents of Light and Darkness (2003): "The New York Times" bestselling author takes readers back to the Nightside. A quest for the Unholy Grail-the goblet from which Judas drank at the Last Supper-takes private eye John Taylor deep into the secret, magical heart of London...called the Nightside. ~ Goodreads | Agents of Light and Darkness (Nightside, #2)

✤ BOOK THREE BLURB—Nightingale's Lament (2004): In the Nightside, the hidden heart of London where it's always 3 AM, Detective John Taylor must find an elusive singer known as The Nightingale. Her silken voice has inexplicably lured many a fan to suicide--and Taylor is determined to stop her, before the whole neighborhood falls under her trance. But to catch the swift-winged Nightingale, he'll have to hear the deadly music--and survive. ~ Goodreads | Nightingale's Lament (Nightside, #3)

✤ BOOK FOUR BLURB—Hex and the City (2005): Lady Luck has hired John Taylor to investigate the origins of the Nightside--the dark heart of London where it's always 3 A.M. But when he starts to uncover facts about his long-vanished mother, the Nightside--and all of existence—could be snuffed out. ~ Goodreads | Hex and the City (Nightside, #4)

✤ BOOK FIVE BLURB—Paths Not Taken (2005):John Taylor just discovered his long-gone mother created the Nightside—the dark heart of London—and intends to destroy it. To save his birthplace, he will have to travel back through a very distant—and probably deadly—past. ~ Goodreads | Paths Not Taken (Nightside, #5)

✤ BOOK SIX BLURB—Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth (2006): My name is John Taylor. I’m a PI for hire in the Nightside, the dark and corrupt city within the city of London. Where the sun never shines and where pleasure and horror are always on sale—for the right price. Not a nice place to visit or a nice place to live. So you wouldn’t think I would care that it was about to be destroyed, by none other than my very own long-missing, not-quite-human mom.

But I do. I was born here, I live here, and I got friends here. They might not all be acceptable in polite company, but they’re my friends, nonetheless. I know that I’m the only one who can stop her. The trick is, how to do it without fulfilling this prophecy that says whatever action I take, not only is the Nightside doomed, but the rest of the world will soon follow. ~ Goodreads | Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth (Nightside, #6)

✤ BOOK SEVEN BLURB—Hell to Pay (2006): In the wake of the war that left the Nightside leaderless, Jeremiah Griffin-one of the last of the immortal human families-plans to fill the power vacuum. But his granddaughter has disappeared, and he wants John Taylor to use his special abilities to find her. Except someone-or something-is blocking Taylor's abilities. ~ Goodreads | Hell to Pay (Nightside, #7)

✤ BOOK EIGHT BLURB—The Unnatural Inquirer (2008): The publisher of The Unnatural Inquirer?the Nightside?s most notorious rag?has offered John Taylor one million pounds to find a man who claims to have evidence of the afterlife stored on a DVD. The Inquirer made the guy a sweet deal. Then he and the disc vanished. And if Taylor?s not careful, he may be next. ~ Goodreads | The Unnatural Inquirer (Nightside, #8)

✤ BOOK NINE BLURB—Just Another Judgement Day (2009): There's a new sheriff in town, and he's got the Nightside's rich and powerful quaking in their boots. He's The Walking Man, and it's his mission to exorcise sinners-with extreme prejudice. Problem is, the Nightside was built on sin and corruption, and The Walking Man makes no distinction between evildoers and those simply indulging themselves. He'll leave the place a wasteland unless someone stops him, and P.I. John Taylor has been handed the job. No known magic or science can affect The Walking Man, and if John can't discover his weakness, he'll be facing the very Wrath of God. ~ Goodreads | Just Another Judgement Day (Nightside, # 9)

✤ BOOK TEN BLURB—The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny (2010):Things were going so well for P.I. John Taylor, that it was only a matter of time before everything hit the fan. Walker, the powerful, ever-present, never?to-be-trusted agent who runs the Nightside on behalf of The Authorities, is dying. And he wants John to be his successor-a job that comes with more baggage, and more enemies, than anyone can possibly imagine. ~ Goodreads | The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny (Nightside, #10)

✤ BOOK ELEVEN BLURB—A Hard Day's Knight (2011): John Taylor is a P.I. with a special talent for finding lost things in the dark and secret center of London known as the Nightside. He's also the reluctant owner of a very special-and dangerous-weapon. Excalibur, the legendary sword. To find out why he was chosen to wield it, John must consult the Last Defenders of Camelot, a group of knights who dwell in a place that some find more frightening than the Nightside. London Proper. It's been years since John's been back-and there are good reasons for that. ~ Goodreads | A Hard Day's Knight (Nightside, #11)

✤ BOOK TWELVE BLURB—The Bride Wore Black Leather (2012): John Taylor is marrying the love of his life, Suzie Shooter, the Nightside’s most fearsome bounty hunter. But before he can walk down the aisle he has one more case to solve as a private eye—a case that has him on the run from friends and enemies both, with his bride-to-be looking to collect the bounty on his head… ~ Goodreads | The Bride Wore Black Leather (Nightside, #12)

First Sentences[]

Something from the Nightside (2003) — Private eyes come in all shapes and sizes, and none of them look like television stars.
Agents of Light and Darkness (2003) — There is only the one church in the Nightside.
Nightingale's Lament (2004) — There are all kinds of Powers running loose in the Nightside, but its power sources have to be rather more reliable, as well as completely divorced from outside interference.
Hex and the City (2005) — You can find anything in the Nightside, from the sacred to the profane and back again, but I don't recommend attending the auctions there unless you've got a strong stomach and nerves of steel.
Paths Not Taken (2005) — There's never enough time in the Nightside, which is odd, because you can buy everything else.
Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth (2006) — Strangefellows is said by many and considered by most to be the oldest bar in the world, and therefore has seen pretty much everything in its time.
Hell to Pay (2006) — The boundaries of that dark and secret place, the Nightside, lie entirely contained within the city of London.
The Unnatural Inquirer (2008) — One of the many problems with working as a private eye, not counting all the many people who want to kill you, often for perfectly good reasons, is that you have to wait for the work to come to you.
Just Another Judgement Day (2008) — You don't go to Strangefellows for the good company.
The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny (2010) — I was out and about that night, taking my trench coat for a walk, when a sudden fog came rolling down the street and towards me like a grim grey tidal wave.
A Hard Day's Knight (2011) — Things you need to know: 1. The Nightside is the dark, secret, brooding heart of London, hidden away from the rest of the world, where magic is realer than you can bear, where lives and souls and everything else you can think of are always for sale, and all your worst dreams go walking openly in borrowed flesh.
The Bride Wore Black Leather (2012) — I went walking up and down the packed streets of the Nightside, making my way through all the desperate conversations and dodgy deals, through all the damned and the disgraced, and all the lost souls searching for what they could buy, then call love; and everywhere I went, people nodded quickly and politely to me, out of respect.