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A love letter to urban fantasy

Hey! Dear god, Urban Fantasy, back off! This is a love *letter* which means you won’t be receiving this for at least a month or so, depending on your area’s postal service. So stop humping my leg.

Okay. Phew. Onward.

UF, why is it that you continue to fascinate me? Is it your hardened heroes and heroines that never take “No” for an answer and always rise to impossible challenges? Is it the fact that you show us how a normal day at your local grocery store can turn into a hunt for a demon-infested soccer mom? Is it your ability to flip fantasy tropes on their heads, shock me, and tug me along by my nostril-hairs?

Yes. It is all those things and more.

Urban Fantasy…you take so much of my time. I’m a writer, I’m an author, and yet you don’t care. You don’t think about my priorities, do you? All you care about is entertaining me. About dragging me away from my current manuscripts and getting me invested in the plights of wizard detectives, magical moms, fantasy families, and more.

FU, UF.

Ahem.

Will I stop reading urban fantasy? Hell no. (Okay, hoping no demons are summoned by my passionate use of “Hell”)

Urban fantasy inspires us all to think beyond our normal routine. To consider that homeless guy you pass by every day in  new light. To always doubt our interpretation of reality and imagine what’s left to discover. To hope that the kitchen salt shaker can be used to banish a supernatural stalker. It takes the mundane and makes it magical.

And I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

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5 Comments

  1. Loren Eaton
    Loren Eaton December 10, 2011

    Hi Josh,

    I hope this email finds you well. I’m writing because we both placed in Jason Evans’ “Elemental” short fiction contest on The Clarity of Night a few months ago, and I thought that meant you might be a fan of flash fiction! We have an annual shared storytelling tradition at my blog, I Saw Lightning Fall. Every year, a group of us writes spooky 100-word stories that we post to our respective blogs on Christmas Eve. We don’t offer prizes or anything like that, just a lot of fun and a chance to meet new writers. You can read more about it here (http://isawlightningfall.blogspot.com/2011/12/shared-storytelling-advent-ghosts-2011.html). I hope you’ll consider joining us!

    Sincerely,

    Loren Eaton
    ISawLightningFall.com
    Narrative, Genre and the Craft of Writing

    P.S. Sorry for leaving this on your blog’s comments section. I had a devil of a time trying to find another way to contact you. Apologies.

  2. Wendy
    Wendy December 12, 2011

    Hey, what are your top three fave UF's to read? Just curious.

  3. Josh
    Josh December 13, 2011

    Heya Wendy,

    Well, The Dresden Files is a top series, for sure. I enjoy Thomas Sniegoski's Remy Chandler series, and Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series is fun as well.

    You have any favorites?

    • JRVogt
      JRVogt November 21, 2012

      Glad to hear! And thanks!

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