Author Carrie Vaughn has done a three part series on urban fantasy, explaining its virtues, its downfalls, cliches, and what “urban fantasy” means in the first place.
Is there a formula to determine whether a story is urban fantasy or not? Carrie argues that the first thing to look for is whether the story is character driven or not.
She then reveals her pet peeves concerning the genre, including the fact that she dislikes the whole title of “urban fantasy” in the first place. Plus a story having only a single strong female character that is then surrounded by men. Oh, and the tramp stamp tattoos that are becoming more prevalent on the cover art of a lot of these stories.
Lastly, Carrie sums up all her observations and concludes that it seems urban fantasy is designed to address society’s anxiety about women and power. Do you agree?
A great series of posts. Well worth the read.
I see that smile.
Hey, I enjoyed this and got a lot out of it.
Thanks.