Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: geeky
  • Music: OK-Go, "Here It Goes Again."

6 awesome things about urban fantasy.

My pre-release countdown for A Local Habitation [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy] continues. I'm six days out now. Books have been sighted all over the place (although still not in my home town, which is probably good for my overall level of twitchiness, if not for the local folks who want to buy them). And I've been thinking a lot about urban fantasy.

I've been thinking so much about urban fantasy, in fact, that it's today's countdown item. So there.

6 Awesome Things About Urban Fantasy.

6. Because urban fantasy is a relatively new genre, there's a lot of flexibility for making up rules as you go along. No one says "oh, this book was terrible because they didn't all meet up in a bar and there was no quest for the magical wing-diddy of Macguffindonia." There's an insane amount of freedom in urban fantasy.

5. Because urban fantasy in an incredibly old genre that's just making its reappearance, there are centuries of tradition to draw on. Seem like a contradiction? It's not. As I've said many times, we are the children of Lily Fair, and we are carrying on the traditions of our fairy tale ancestors. There are monsters in those woods.

4. Urban fantasy gives its authors the freedom to play with creatures from both sides of the divide between "fantasy" and "horror." You can have pixies and werewolves, if that's what makes you happy, and nobody gets to tell you different. It's awesome.

3. The modern/pseudo-modern settings of most urban fantasies make it easier to build engrossing and detailed non-human societies, without needing to first introduce your readers to a whole new reality. That creates an illusionary accessibility that reveals itself only when it's too late to escape. Mwahahaha.

2. The scope of urban fantasy means that it really does contain something for everybody. Maybe you don't like my work. That's fine. Kelley Armstrong is more horror, and Kim Harrison is more sexy, and Anton Strout is more funny. We can find you a match!

1. All the ass-kicking heroines. Naturally.
Tags: a local habitation, busy busy busy, contemplation, making lists, toby daye
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  • 48 comments

admnaismith

February 24 2010, 15:38:03 UTC 7 years ago


Some time before I die, I'm going to form a heavy leather band and name it "The Magical Wingdiddies of MacGuffindonia".

mariadkins

February 24 2010, 17:24:17 UTC 7 years ago

THIS.

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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autographedcat

February 24 2010, 15:47:57 UTC 7 years ago

Now I want a story with werepixies.

seanan_mcguire

February 24 2010, 18:22:36 UTC 7 years ago

Defying the laws of physics and common sense.

deire

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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deire

7 years ago

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dornbeast

7 years ago

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deire

7 years ago

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autographedcat

7 years ago

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ravenclawed

February 24 2010, 15:50:58 UTC 7 years ago

1. All the ass-kicking heroines. Naturally.

I'm new to urban fantasy -- are the protagonists usually female?

tikiera

February 24 2010, 16:33:17 UTC 7 years ago

An truly awe-inspiring number of ones are... and they are diverse lot.

U

beccastareyes

7 years ago

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shadowkitty

7 years ago

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nimitzbrood

7 years ago

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beccastareyes

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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beccastareyes

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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beccastareyes

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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nimitzbrood

February 24 2010, 17:06:28 UTC 7 years ago

Ass-kicking heroines? Naw! You'd know nothing about ass-kicking heroines! (0)

*poke* ;-P

One of the reasons I like urban fantasy is that I think in pictures and it's considerably easier to "roll the movie" in my head if the framework is easy to construct so to speak.

Inversely if I have to construct the framework from scratch while I'm reading (alien world and language for example) the world "feels" more real to me because I've invested more energy into it.

(0) I think I have a heroine addiction because I often enjoy reading stories about strong female protagonists more than male ones. Usually in fantasy settings. :-)

seanan_mcguire

February 24 2010, 18:24:05 UTC 7 years ago

That makes sense.

gorgeousgary

7 years ago

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rysmiel

February 24 2010, 17:42:16 UTC 7 years ago Edited:  February 24 2010, 18:24:40 UTC

The thing about genre urban fantasy as a whole that does somewhat get to me, much though I love several individual examples, is how much of it is transplanted European mythologies with no trace of the native powers remaining.

That and a bit of a grumble going in here about things that are definitely a) fantasy and b) urban but don't get called "urban fantasy", ranging from China Mieville to Ellen Kushner to Sarah Monette to Walter Jon Williams' Metropolitan and City on Fire (because, dude ? That series is, like, Trantor with magic. It's Totally and Utterly Urban Fantasy.)

seanan_mcguire

February 24 2010, 18:25:46 UTC 7 years ago

I've had to go with "look, the native powers may and probably do exist, but Faerie doesn't exist in the same layers of reality as they do." So the native powers want nothing to do with Faerie, aren't part of Faerie, and are just leaving them the hell alone. (This is because my Faerie requires descent from the primary Three, and I refuse to say "la la Coyote is descended from Oberon." Just no.) I figure that in a lot of cases, your local spirits will follow you when you leave, just because they're accustomed to having you about.

I agree with your grumble, utterly.

ladyfox7oaks

7 years ago

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deire

February 24 2010, 19:08:08 UTC 7 years ago

It might not last through my microbiology test next week, but I now feel the need to write a short story about a werewolf being horribly annoyed by pixies. He's magic, but no one else has noticed yet and they think it's funny. I'm sure you can imagine what he thinks.

seanan_mcguire

February 24 2010, 19:15:59 UTC 7 years ago

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

deire

7 years ago

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dormouse_in_tea

February 24 2010, 19:27:15 UTC 7 years ago

Albuquerque, also still sucking. *cranky* Want book.

. . . well, so much for that lunch hourandahalf. Back to the coal mines with nothing at all to look forward to after!

because I own no other books, no video games, no DVDs, and there's no internet at my house. Or something.

angel_vixen

February 24 2010, 19:37:25 UTC 7 years ago

This, precisely (except that I'm on the East Coast).

<continues to ignore her massive To Be Read shelf>

AngelVixen :-)

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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spectralbovine

February 24 2010, 19:50:30 UTC 7 years ago Edited:  February 24 2010, 20:48:22 UTC

I am surely not the first person to link you to Disney Zombies.

Or the My Little Pony musical.

seanan_mcguire

February 26 2010, 19:43:30 UTC 7 years ago

These make me...happy.

kittikins

February 24 2010, 22:33:54 UTC 7 years ago

Add Central Pennsylvania to the sighting list. I bought a shiny new copy from the book display of awesomeness prominently displayed in my local Barnes & Nobles. :)

seanan_mcguire

February 26 2010, 19:43:38 UTC 7 years ago

Hooray!

bigherman

February 25 2010, 00:18:48 UTC 7 years ago

My evil plan is to show up to the book release party early, buy the book, and read it so it is JUST THAT FRESH when the party starts.

Also, I'd rather buy from Borderlands than B&N or Borders.

seanan_mcguire

February 26 2010, 19:43:50 UTC 7 years ago

This is an EXCELLENT evil plan. I approve.

kidogirl

February 25 2010, 01:27:36 UTC 7 years ago

Yup, purchased in Monroeville, PA (just outside of Pittsburgh) today at B&N.

seanan_mcguire

February 26 2010, 19:44:18 UTC 7 years ago

Woo!

arib

February 25 2010, 02:20:59 UTC 7 years ago

I got my copy on Monday at the Borders near my office in Boston. Grinned like an idiot all the way back from the store. :-)

seanan_mcguire

February 26 2010, 19:44:31 UTC 7 years ago

Oh, yay.

Thank you for letting me know.

arib

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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moshez

February 26 2010, 19:44:35 UTC 7 years ago

0. The possibility of having the story set in the Bay Area, objectively the best place on earth!

:)

seanan_mcguire

February 26 2010, 19:47:04 UTC 7 years ago

Awwww.

Yes, that, too.