Urban Fantasy

THE BAG of Holdiby Nancy Holderng Back during the Twilight of the Gods, by these generous souls. So most of the rest of this or at least, the end of the first run of Buffy the month’s column will be a round- Vampire Slayer. my agent suggested to me that robin of Q&A, some lists, and tips from the pros of urban fantasy. After much dithering, I cut a few I try to write some books that were like Buffy, responses that overlapped what another interviewee had to say. about a strong girl or woman battling occult Here are my responders. In the case of the authors, I’ve forces. Editors sat with me in bars and talked tried to provide some current or upcoming titles and/or series. Many of them have excellent websites and forums where you about looking for such books; and when I can learn even more about UF, writing, and the life of a work- discovered Bombshell at Harlequin, I figured ing professional writer. everyone was talking about the same thing. Authors And we were! Charlaine Harris, the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire We now have a genre—or subgenre, de- series: From Dead to Worse Kelley Armstrong, Otherworld series: Personal Demon, No Hu- pending on whose definition you’re using— mans Involved called urban fantasy. Jim Butcher’s Harry Jenna Black, the Morgan Kingsley series: The Devil You Know, The Devil’s Due Dresden series and Charlaine Harris’s South- Jennifer Stevenson, The Brass Bed, The Velvet Chair, The Bear- ern Vampire novels about Sookie Stackhouse skin Rug have both made it onto TV (THE DRESDEN Diana Pharaoh Francis, the Crosspointe series: The Cipher, The Black Ship FILES ran for one season the Sci-Fi Channel; Irene Radford, W/A P. R. Frost, Hounding the Moon, Moon in TRUE BLOOD debuted on HBO on Sep- the Mirror, Faerie Moon Cindy Holby, the Wind Series: Fallen; W/A Colby Hodge, Twist tember 7.) Urban fantasy is everywhere, and (and others) it is a natural fit for SFWAns looking for more Susan Wright, the Slave Trade trilogy; coming in 2009: Confes- places to sell their work. sions of a Demon Sharon Ashwood, the Dark Forgotten series: Ravenous Speaking of work, writing this column Anton Strout. the Simon Canderous series: Dead to me, Deader Still wasn’t much work at all. I put out a call on a Chris Marie Green, the Vampire Babylon series: Midnight Rein, Break of Dawn few lists (and e’ed a few editors and authors), S.J. Day, the Marked series: Eve of Darkness, Eve of Destruction, and find my column has been written for me Eve of Chaos Urban Fantasy © 2008 Nancy Holder October–November 2008 Vol. 42, Issue 2 The Bulletin 49 Editors Ginjer Buchanan (and a partner in urban fantasy crime, as the author of Highlander: White Silence) with Anne Sowards Urban Fantasy for me is a looking over her shoulder; and Liz Scheier. fantasy novel set in modern day, The Merry Marketeer (and another wearer-of -two hats) in a society very like our own but Anton Strout, who says of his other job: “By day, he works for Penguin Group USA in their paperback sales department as with a paranormal twist. a National Accounts Associate and is also a sales rep to the Barnes and Noble College Chain of bookstores. Yes, it is as Some go very dark, others glamorous as it sounds.” are light and fluffy. THE QUESTIONS focus of the plot is usually on the main protagonist’s ability to NH: How do you define urban fantasy? maintain the balance between the two worlds, although some- times the protagonist functions almost entirely within the fantastical Charlaine Harris: Urban fantasy is a mystery/suspense novel world. While there may be romantic elements, they are adjunc- with strong supernatural elements. Often it’s set in cities, but not tive and not expected to end in a “happily ever after” always. (I write rural fantasy.) The protagonist most often is some kind of supernatural creature or has some extraordinary ability. Ginjer Buchanan: Urban fantasy is a subset of contemporary fantasy. It takes place in the here and now, usually, and Kelley Armstrong: UF almost invariably has paranormal in what is more or less recognizable as “our world” as opposed elements. What’s currently being called UF usually has a sus- to a created fantasy world. It has a dark edge and the fantastical pense plot (overcoming a threat, finding a killer) but to say elements typically include beings that are associated with hor- THAT’S urban fantasy ignores the fact that the UF genre has ror, such as vampires and werewolves. been around for a very long time, and it was only recently co- opted for this particular sub-genre. I’ve heard it said that it Jennifer Stevenson: The feel is gritty. The take on magi- must be contemporary—so what do we call all the ones that take cal beings, magical creatures, or magical practices is offbeat or place in historical time periods? Labeling has always been a irreverent to genre tropes, whether funny or dark. huge problem for this sub-genre. When I started, my books were called dark fantasy, then supernatural thrillers, then para- Sharon Ashwood: Urban fantasy is a very elastic genre. Often normal suspense, and now, apparently, they’re urban fantasy. it concerns the unexpected, whimsical collision between fantasy and our everyday world, the horrific and the human—and all the pain, Jenna Black: I like to steal my agent’s definition: it’s beauty, and humor that comes from that. It ranges from very dark to fantasy, set in the real contemporary world, only the things that outright comedy, deeply philosophical to froth. Often it includes go bump in the night are real. Right now, the term is primarily creatures like vampires or elves, but there are lots of other elements used to describe books that are written in first person in a dry, coming into the mix from myth, folklore, and the horror genre. witty tone. The tone is almost like chick lit, although the under- Someone is always coming along with a new, fabulous twist. lying plot and conflict is much, much darker. Liz Scheier: Urban fantasy is best defined by a series of Cindy Holby: I define it as an alternate present or future “mostlies”: contemporary fantasy, mostly fairly gritty, mostly on earth where there is danger at every turn and paranormal somewhat snarky, mostly with a female protagonist, mostly in beings are present. series, mostly action-packed. P.R. Frost: Urban Fantasy for me is a fantasy novel set in Anton Strout: UF is a pretty big bucket that covers a lot modern day, in a society very like our own but with a paranormal of ground when it comes to supernatural fantasy that happens twist. Some go very dark, others are light and fluffy. The com- in a modern setting. mon ground seems to be the narrator looking at life sideways in order to cope with monsters invading the urban or suburban Chris Marie Green: This is a fun question for me because landscape. Patricia Briggs says she was told her books have to when my first “urban fantasy” book, Night Rising, came out, I had have Vampires, Werewolves, and the heroine must have a com- no idea that’s what I was writing. I had heard that urban fantasy plicated love life. Works for her; she made #1 on the NYT. used a first-person voice and had a noir feel to it, and the real-life setting played a huge part, almost become a secondary character S.J. Day: There are two worlds existing alongside each other— in itself. My Vampire Babylon series uses a third-person, hero- one similar to the one we live in and a preternatural underground ine-centric point of view, and it definitely has the “noir, city-set- functioning undetected by the majority of the non-fantastical popu- ting” thing going for it. Also, urban fantasies aren’t straight ro- lation. The story usually follows a single character’s journey. The mances, but they can have strong romantic elements. 50 The Bulletin Unrelated Trivia: The electric chair was invented by a dentist. NH: What is the best way for an SF or fantasy author to break Jean Rabe, came to me and said that one of the anthologies she into urban fantasy? was working on had come in short on total word count and they had some room if I could put something together in just a Several responders: Read a lot of them. Write one. Write few days and it was good. I wrote like a madman and turned it a good one. Write a damned good one. in. They approved it and that got me started. Each writing credit helped build my legitimacy until I got an editor and an S.J. Day: First of all, know what it is. There are a lot of agent to take a chance on my long form fiction. Outside of books out there using the “urban” label in an effort to capitalize taking criticism well and honing the craft of writing, I’d say on the popularity of the genre that aren’t UF at all. networking was a big part of it. Take in what editors, agents, and other writers are telling you and apply it to your work. Cindy Holby. I would say the Shomi line at Dorchester is a good place to start because they are broadening the genre.

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