Bone Dance

Bone Dance: A Fantasy for Technophiles is a 1991 Urban Fantasy/Cyberpunk novel written by Emma Bull. The protagonist Sparrow makes a living by selling pre-war artifacts in a post-nuclear war North American city, until being caught in the power struggle against the secret ruler of the city. Contains a lot of Voodoo, Tarot and popular culture reference. Nominated for Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Awards.

---

Tropes used in Bone Dance include:

• After the End: The western hemisphere has been largely destroyed by a nuclear war. No one mentions what happens to the other half of the world though.
• The All-Concealing "I"
• Angst Coma: Happens to Sparrow after being tortured by Beano.
• Anyone Can Die: About half of the characters are killed off, in chronicle order: Cass, Dana, Mick, Tom and Dusty.
• The Atoner: Frances, to the point of being a Death Seeker
• Body Snatcher: The Horsemen.
• Brother-Sister Team: Dusty and Myra. Until she kills him.
• City Noir: The setting.
• City with No Name: The setting is only referred to as The City, though there are enough locations specified to indicate that it used to be Minneapolis, where Bull was living at the time.
• Fighting From the Inside
• Grey and Grey Morality: The Big Bad Tom Worecski keeps his host alive, while Frances, while being one of the good guys, has already killed her current host.
• I Should Write a Book About This
• Missing Time: That's where Sparrow realizes there's something strange happening.
• Rape Discretion Shot: It's heavily implied that Beano rapes Sparrow, but whatever happens isn't described.
• Sex by Proxy: Due to a post-possession mental link, Sparrow gets to--very unwillingly--eavesdrop on Frances and Mick.
• Shout-Out: At one point Sparrow listens to an old album; it isn't named, but the lyrics are from Another Way to Travel by Cats Laughing, of which Bull was a member.
• Tarot Motifs: All chapters are named after a Tarot card, and Tarot readings are sometimes used to foreshadow the fate of characters.
• Watching Troy Burn