Thursday, December 6, 2012

The Evolution of Urban Fantasy by Mihir

In the past few weeks, there have been several bloggers posting their thoughts on the topic of “Urban Fantasy”. Surprisingly all of them seemed to be fed-up by it and ironically it is a sub-genre that has many readers, authors, and bloggers divided about its features and strengths. I however like urban fantasy books to a certain large extent with the only detracting point being that romance sometimes becomes the highlight of the story.

Urban Fantasy is a term that has come into the spotlight since the late 90s with the emergence of the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton. Before this series, it was a bit loosely termed as contemporary fantasy and was competently showcased in stories by Charles D. Lint, Emma Bull and Mercedes Lackey. While these books and many others showed a remarkable fusion of modern life and magical characters, they weren't the most financially successful books. It wasn't until Hamilton came out with her Anita Blake books that the series practically ignited a fire under many readers with its mix of heady action and erotic sequences that left most readers waiting desperately for the next volume. Terry Brooks ironically also had a hand to play in the start to the urban fantasy bandwagon with his world and Void Trilogy, which was a dark urban fantasy series and later revealed to be the prequel to his Shannara world. Many readers enjoyed this darker turn in Brook's predictable efforts.

There's also the presence of Buffy the Vampire Slayer which further galvanized the fans and helped focus the rise of Vampires and other supernatural races within the confines of urban life. This was the start of the movement which made publishers take notice of this sub-genre and made them realize how this could be the next cash cow. Of course the Anita Blake series has taken a huge nose dive after books five/six (depending on your perspective) and most of its readers felt the series had jumped off the proverbial shark and headed into the area that can be only labelled as Paranormal Romance at best. However most readers weren't so kind and many labelled it as soft-porn or the erotic ramblings of an author who made her character sex-addicted and charmed to keep boinking to save her life or some silly situation like that.

This series did have an impact on many readers and chief among them was a hitherto-unknown dude called Jim Butcher who started writing his own series about a wizard detective set in Chicago. He got his start by having the same agent as that of Laurell K. Hamilton and in 2000 got his book published under the Penguin imprint. Since his debut Jim Butcher has become a juggernaut of sorts with each new book release, the sales of the Dresden Files have sky rocketed leading to the series jumping from paperback to Hardback on publication and eventually getting a TV show order from then known as Sci-Fi channel as well. The TV show didn't pan out all too well however it further spread the word about the books and that has also helped introduce newer readers to the author whom I believe can be labelled as “Tolkien of the Urban fantasy sub-genre”.

My reason for labeling Butcher as such is simple; this sub-genre is in its nascent stages and is slowly finding its feet. Recall the early era of the epic fantasy genre before Tolkien, people might not remember much beyond Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs and a few other distinguished names. Tolkien basically came along with his books and laid down the foundation for the epic fantasy world and here are a few observations from his seminal work:

1. The story mostly was about good versus evil
2. The world had to be detailed with many races and with a hankering for the passing of ages
3. The stories had to be laid out in the form of a trilogy

The last part we know was more of a publishing decision than Tolkien's, and since then these make-shift rules influenced the epic fantasy world and made it a benchmark for all writers to follow. Terry Brooks lead a further resurgence of Fantasy with his Shannara titles and he was joined by David Eddings, David Gemmell, Glen Cook, Raymond Feist and many others who upon reading Tolkien’s work were galvanized to continue his epic storytelling efforts, however with their own slants. They furthered epic fantasy's cause and showcased various other facets of storytelling that perhaps weren't Tolkiens forte.

The next decade however was to unleash three other publishing phenomenons who would further change the fantasy rules and create millions of newer readers as well. Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind and George R. R. Martin were the three behemoths that left publishers with a big fat smile on their faces and with even fatter purses. They added the aspect of long winded stories that would require large volumes to be finished. Of the three, one has finished his series (sort-of), one passed away and the third is still writing. Their value to fantasy cannot be overstated, however their writing skills/contributions to fantasy are debatable and have often been points of contention in arguments and discussions. In the last decade though, we have seen fantasy been further amalgamated into various other forms as well seen writers such as Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch and Peter V. Brett take conventional stories/tropes and spin them sideways to give very, very interesting story-lines.

There's also Robin Hobb and Kate Elliott who since their debuts have perfected characterization into a sublime art, Mercedes Lackey who has dabbled in many a genre and further created many more fans. There's also J.K. Rowling who writes in a beguiling way mixing comedy, epic fantasy, and other genres to create a debut series that is often mistaken to be epic fantasy but can be thought of as “Epic Urban Fantasy”. In the last decade many female writers have taken their rightful place into the epic fantasy annals and I hope this trend continues and we see more them explore epic fantasy and all of its multivariate incarnations.

The basic gist of my recollection of Epic Fantasy's metamorphosis is that I believe urban fantasy will take a similar path. Urban fantasy's path will however be much quicker than that of epic fantasy thanks to technology and immense reader participation via the internet and social media, not to mention the meteoric advent of self/indie publishing. What this means is that this will cause further permutations in the metamorphosis of urban fantasy.  Developments which took decades to occur in epic fantasy, might take only a few years for urban fantasy. Presently we are in what we can call the 80s decade of fantasy, which means that we will be seeing or reading the emergence of the Eddings’, Brooks’, Gemmells' and Cooks' in this sub-genre.

Kevin Hearne is a writer whose Iron Druid Chronicles is often thought as the literary successor to The Dresden Files. It has a witty hero, colorful side character cast, deep world system and a quirky magic system as well. Kevin Hearne can be said to be the "Brooks/Feist of urban fantasy" for now. Myke Cole is another writer whose books have taken an off-road track; he debuted in January with his Shadow Ops series, a high-octane mix of military thriller and urban fantasy. His series featured a much darker world and with his background, the author choose to re-imagine a geo-political world that has been further complicated with the rise of Magic. His series has been one to showcase the world from a grunt level and that is very reminiscent of a particular Black Company. I believe Myke can be labelled as the “Glen Cook of urban fantasy”.

Going by the same standards, Ilona Andrews share the same level as David Eddings because of the witty banter shared by their characters in their various books. Though this writer couple is way ahead in prose style and characterization, I'm labeling them as such to provide a point to parallel the comparisons of progress between the two subgenres at their respective development cycle. Also Laurell K. Hamilton while being a label herself, can be thought as the “Terry Goodkind of urban fantasy” as she believes in herself more than others might be willing and her series has simply gone off the deep end, but yet remains a commercial success for her publishers.

Lastly there are a few mavericks that defy classification and are forging their own paths. These writers namely Tim Marquitz, Peter Clines, B. Justin Shier and John Connolly are ones to watch out for as they write their own brand of urban fantasy stories. With Tim Marquitz, the dark and grotesque get their turn at the helm. With Peter Clines, we get a hodge-podge of zombies, urban fantasy, comedy & much more to keep flipping the pages, and with B. Justin Shier it's the exciting mix of Harry Dresden and Harry Potter-like story that perhaps makes the read so enticing. Lastly with John Connolly, readers get a nuanced series about a private eye who's trying to find peace after the loss of his loved ones however trouble always finds him and in this case there are strong metaphysical reasons for the happenings. His Charlie Parker series is unique with its setting and mystical juxtaposition, and it comfortably straddles both urban fantasy and the mystery genre. There also solo gems here and there such as the Anubis Gates by Tim Powers and Devil’s Cape by Rob C. Rogers. Both these books are vastly under-appreciated and equally under-read.

What we can look forward to is the 1990s & 2000s decades of fantasy, when writers will perhaps reach the magnificent depths of A Song Of Ice And Fire or give us the topsy-turvy nature of the First Law Trilogy. Either way it will be something that I as a fan can look forward to with gusto and anticipation. Perhaps by then we might have gotten over the horrible cover gal fiascos that is so prevalent nowadays and also urban fantasy might have significantly distanced itself from its amorous sub-genre cousin; paranormal romance (PNR). These are weighty things to anticipate and might entirely come to pass soon enough, but as with most fantasy fans hope runs ever eternal that they might happen sooner than later.



NOTE: It has come to my attention that I've done a great disservice to female authors in the urban fantasy genre. These authors have been the central pillars of urban fantasy and have had a big hand in its progression until now. So I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for my mishandling of the topic.

When I wrote this article, I wasn’t looking to downgrade the impact of female authors in urban fantasy. I was hoping to put into focus the need for urban fantasy to explore outside of its comfort zones. Patricia Briggs, Kelley Armstrong, and Kim Harrison, for example, are three big names that have helped this sub-genre. However, I reckon Armstrong's books are more PNR oriented than UF. I’ve also read both Briggs and Harrison, but by my estimation they are more inline as direct successors of the aforementioned Laurell K. Hamilton's story format. It's for that reason, that I unintentionally overlooked them and deprived them the well deserved credit they've earned in regards to furthering the urban fantasy genre, and inspiring the great majority of what seems to be found in urban fantasy today. As with others worthy of mention are mentioned in the comments by others and me.

Nevertheless, what I’m trying to get at is that I was attempting to mention authors who had written stories within the genre, but have done something different irrespective of their gender. Something crucial to differentiate their stories from what has been written so far in the genre abundantly. Kelly Gay was an author that I should've mentioned, and whom I completely overlooked, and is someone whose books I enjoy very much. As was Kari A. Stewart who writes the wonderful Jesse James Dawson books. K.A. Stewart on the other hand seems more of "descendant" to what Jim Butcher is doing, so maybe for that reason I failed to mention her as it's the same reason I overlooked the Briggs and Harrisons of the world. It looks like Kate Griffith might have also been worthy of mention, but I haven't read her.

So my apologies if the intent of this post seems misleading and handled shoddily as I did. I wish for urban fantasy to be read further and I want the authors to challenge reader perceptions and go beyond the impressions of what currently abounds in urban fantasy as detailed in the recent group of urban fantasy guest posts from readers who dislike the subgenre. Since PNR and Romance were two of the main complaints indicated in those posts, I shied away from certain series/authors, but now it has become apparent that I was wrong to do so. With that said, it is my hope to see more stories that break from that mold and help with the diversification of the subgenre.

44 comments:

  1. Reading the second Myke Cole novel now as an ARC. Yeah, he might be the Glen Cook of Urban Fantasy. I could see that...

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    1. I've yet to read Glen Cook, got his Black Company books though, I reckon I should read them already?

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    2. Yes, you should. You are much more UF than I am, B, so it might not really be in your wheelhouse. You might like the Garrett novels more than straight up Black company

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  2. Meh, i think you are ignoring way too much a lot of great UF that happens to have romance too, AND you give way too much values to really badly written tripe like Kevin Hearne, which books did the classic "oh this has potential..wat...wat...ok, this is dumb" scenario where each book get worse than the preceding one as we learn more about the author's various bias.

    So, huh, pretty disappointed there were no words about whole styles of UF while concentrating on a handful of authors who all happen to have very similar male main characters, especially as those authors tended not to be the best written examples of UF at all (I like B Justin Shier stuff, but it's obvious he is very much a beginner and we can't call his stuff anything else than guilty pleasures).

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    1. One can only comment on what one has read, feel free to give examples of those UF that happen to have romance.

      For that matter, I don't think we can ignore Mercy Thompson's role in the urban fantasy market, or that of Kim Harrison, though I haven't read the latter, and I'm pretty sure Mihir didn't read (or maybe he did and didn't enjoy much) Mercy, but I definitely think they were overlooked.

      This isn't a post about quality of writing though, but about market influence and genre influence. So while I disagree about your notion about Mihir putting too much value on Hearne for example, despite of how accurate your portrayal of him may or may not be, you can't in any shape or fashion disregard the impact it has on the genre. Since Dresden, I'd be hard pressed to find an author's series who has risen to his popularity while attracting many readers from outside the genre.

      As for B. Justin Shier the context of his inclusion was that what he was doing was something different than the usual Urban Fantasy, as was the other authors mentioned alongside him. So he can be a beginner all he wants, but that there's someone like him trying something different within the genre is what is important. Some really like him, and even if you don't, maybe someone better will come along later on.

      While there's room for more discussion on a focus about styles of UF, that simply wasn't what the post was about. I'd definitely would like to see one though, maybe you'd like to take the time and write one yourself?

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    2. Fair enough- i was mostly slightly annoyed at the focus on a very specific kind of UF, and, it seemed, a disdain for most of the mainstream ones like Patricia Briggs, Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong, Kelley Gay...

      And yeah, i might have been a bit too negative. As for B.Justin Shier, i liked his debut a lot, but it's just that it's definitely a guilty pleasure, and if we wanted to talk about weirder beginnings of UF, i would have thought people like Mark Del Franco or Charles Stross would have been more obvious than talking about new authors that have only done a couple of books yet.

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    3. Well I personally love Patricia Briggs, I don't think Mihir likes her. Kim Harrison I plan on reading, and we both love Kelley Gay (we have reviewed the entire series on the blog). And I feel Briggs and Harrison were overlooked as far market and genre influencers.

      I love Mark Del Franco too. I particularly like the mixture he's brought of procedural with the social and political focus in his stories. Very underrated series.

      But we can't really go on about listing every single series that is published in the market.

      The other side of B. Justin Shier's inclusion is the context of the previously mentioned opportunities for indie and self-publishing.

      As mentioned though, one can only talk about what one has read.

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  3. @ Paul

    Yeah Myke's 2nd book has really taken off from the premise of the first and this time around we get a whole new protagonist as well. FF is definitely going to earn him more accolades.

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  4. @ Arkeus

    I've purposefully avoided UF which has strong romance in it because that is often very close to PNR and I'm not a fan of it.

    The authors that are mentioned in this post are so because they are doing stories that are a bit different than most cookie-cutter UF being published nowadays.

    Your thoughts on Kevin Hearne are your own and I would disagree with you. Kevin's world features a multitude fo mythologies apart from Ilona Andrews, I haven't read many others who do such things.

    In regards to guilty pleasures many people would label all of SF and Fantasy as "guilty pleasure". It's all subjective after all. I think B. Justin Shier is a talent to watch out for, even though he's just a beginner.

    In regards to strong female characters, most UF stories feature the same sort of gal who is having trouble with the men in her life and parent issues (besides the smogsaboard of supernatural entities). One of the few good stories I have read is the Charlie Madigan series by Kelly Gay.

    So you can disagree with me of course but I don't think we can quite disregards UF's potential with the complication of romance in it.

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    1. About the "lots of mythology" bit, i would recommend TA Pratt, Daniel Abraham, Mark Del Franco, at the top of my head.

      They are all pretty deeply entranced in mythology, and Pratt and Abraham in particular are very good at using less known ones.

      My problems with Kevin Hearne are mostly because the writing became stale, and upon looking at what he actually wrote later on, it makes the parts i liked at the beginning look really awful. Sort of like how once you realize Goodkind buy into the hype of his own characters, you can't appreciate the first couple of volumes because everything there take different connotations. Tl,dr: the last couple of books really pissed me off, and made me hate the first two too.

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    2. TA Pratt great choice, and certainly worthy of being mentioned despite it being cancelled after 3 or 4 books (though he continued self-published).

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    3. @ Arkeus

      Tim Pratt is a great example and I have enjoyed the 2-3 books in the Marla Mason series that I have read so far. Tim Pratt really goes out of his way to include some truly weird stuff in the mythology of his series. B always has been asking me to read MDF's books but for the paucity of time.

      DA's ML Hanover books haven't been all that terrific for me inspite of DA's prose. With KH it's a very subjective thing. Atleast he hasn't had Atticus kicking young girls in their jaw...

      But I can see where you are coming from, I've had some issues with Kevin's latest book as well.

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  5. Tanya Huff is a pioneer of the genre. Disappointing not to see her on the list.

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    1. I haven't read Tanya Huff personally. My only experience with her was watching a few episodes of the Lifetime show, Blood Ties. But that series seem to skew heavily towards PNR though from what I've seen.

      Am I wrong? Or is there another series I should look into.

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  6. There is romance, but it's not the kind of thing we see today. It's not the driving force behind the series, vampires in a modern city are.

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    1. Tanya Huff's series is one that I haven't read as yet Sean and hence I couldn't give an opinion on her. If I remember corrctly isn't it a supernatural cop-vampire buddy series right?

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    2. Bingo. And it takes place in Canada - WIN!

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    3. I wonder if the Lifetime series did a disservice to the perception of the series. Have you seen it? I only lasted for the first 2 or so episodes.

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  7. Just wanted to say how enjoyable this article was. Great history of epic fantasy and prediction of UF, which are already underway. I definitely see where you're going there and hope it makes those changes, broadening a bit from the copy-cats.

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    1. Thanks Bryce, I'm hoping that authors come forward and beguile us with their variations in the UF sub-genre.

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  8. Great article, Mihir. I tried to do something similar on my blog, but you really nailed it. The only small quibble I have is that I would have liked see Ben Aaronovitch, Seanan McGuire and even Tad Williams new series get a mention.

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    1. Thanks Elfy, I've added a note in regards to concerns of other commentators. I'm currently reading the first BA book and hence didn't include it. And with TW, he's released only 2 UF books so far hence didn't include him. SMG is another writer whom I've read only 1 book.

      I'll be sure to let you know how I find them.

      Mihir

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  9. Wonderful article and a very interesting read Mihir. Although I am not averse to reading a bit of PNR, I mostly agree to the authors and series that you have mentioned.

    James Clemens' Godslayer chronicles though unfinished felt like a ground breaking genre to me at least and I am yet to read something on similar lines. The closest that this book can be classified is Dark Fantasy. With the advent of eBooks, I really hope that this series gets a logical conclusion some day. Of course, this series went mostly un-noticed and hence wouldnt figure in the topic you have discussed here.

    Kim Harrison is another author whose work I really love reading and although some people classify it as PNR, I think it leans more towards the UF genre than anything. I do hope that some day you bring yourself around to reading it.

    All in all it is quite an interesting time for all readers and fans of this genre. Hope your predictions come true.

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  10. It is an interesting article, though it feels quite incomplete and misses quite a bit. Peter S. Beagle wrote something similar in his introduction to the anthology The Urban Fantasy Anthology - which is quite good. His intro also suffered a bit, but I think captures the origins of urban fantasy a bit better than here.

    It's also a bit shocking to see the lack of female authors mentioned - Laurell K. Hamilton was the only one discussed in detail. That is a big oversight when discussing UF.

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    1. Completely agree on that oversight about the female authors.

      But, don't ignore the mention of Ilona Andrews, it's a writing couple, but I think it's more Ilona than Gordon.

      In my opinion the only real big oversight might be Patricia Briggs and Kim Harrison as much of what is currently out there can find their roots upon those two.

      That said, remember this post wss also a reaction to the complain about romance and the portrayal of female characters in urban fantasy from previous guest posts linked above, so in that context it stands to reason why female authors got the short change here.

      Another female author I would mention are the efforts of Kate Griffin and her Mathew Swift/Urban Magic series.

      But as the post suggested, this is more of an article to show that while there's currently a lot of romance tinged series in urban fantasy, there's hope for there to be more diversity in the future.

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    2. Also should add KA Stewart is another, which both me and Mihir enjoy.

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    3. Hi Ken

      Basically I was trying to highlight author who have gone "against the grain" in the urban fantasy sub-genre. I've addresed some of the concerns in my note above as well.

      Mihir

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  11. What you've done here is taken a sub-genre that is famously dominated by female authors and completely re-written its history in such a way as to exclude almost all of those female authors at the expense of their less successful male contemporaries. I'm not a big fan of urban fantasy but this type of thing is nothing short of reprehensible.

    Urban fantasy is not just Laurel K. Hamilton but Kim Harrison, Kelly Gay and Kelley Armstrong. These are the names you see on shelves when you walk through that part of the book shop and they deserve recognition as the influential figures they are.

    The fields of science fiction, fantasy and horror have a long history of systematically under-valuing the influence of female authors and this piece not only continues that tradition but extends it to a genre whose female dominance (according to some) is a direct result of the fact that it is female dominated.

    This article feels like an attempt to make the field of urban fantasy appear palatable to fans of epic fantasy and the way you have achieved this is by systematically excluding many of the most influential and successful writers in the field.

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    1. Oops, I meant to say that the fact that UF is dominated by females (according to some) explains why it has such low status.

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    2. The amusing thing in all this, of course, is that there is plenty of epic fantasy written by women (and the epic fantasy reader who doesn't read Elliott or Jemisin to just name two are foolish)

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    3. Hi Jonathan

      Thank you for your comment, perhaps I haven't been as lucid as I thought I was. I've added a note that addresses your comment among others. Basically what I was trying to highlight by means of this article was that Urban fantasy is shrouded in certain trappings and it needs to shed those to evolve further.

      Like Epic fantasy was in its earlier decades, I'm hoping that UF becomes more complex and divergent. The gender of the authors doesn't matter to me. What matters is the story and the differences they bring to via their books. The authors whom I like but neglected to mention are Kelly Gay & K.A. Stewart. The authors mentioned above were done because they did something different and highlighted themselves (this is of course subjective).

      I hope you understand my concerns and my apologies if I gave out any other impressions.

      Mihir

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    4. Nothing short of reprehensible? I think you're being a bit dramatic there, Jonathan M. And if you've been following along the last few weeks, this whole urban fantasy analysis has been about people who don't like urban fantasy. Most of the guest posts have even been by people who read mostly epic fantasy, so Mihir's take, someone who enjoys the genre trying to persuade us epic fantasy heathens to try something new, is pretty spot on.

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  12. Honestly, we would rather be the David Gemmell of UF, but if you have to be a David of something, you could do worse than Eddings.

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    1. You still have a chance to be the "David Gemmells' of UF" I'll wait to see how you end the Kate Daniels series. I simply kept you as Eddings for the superb dialogue and easy characterization that is so remniscent of Edding's earlier work. No offense meant :)

      Mihir

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    2. No offense taken, I was and am still a huge fan of the Belgariad series. When we were still in college Ilona got me to read the Diamond Throne or Sparhawk series. It was a change for me from Conan and Casca.

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    3. Yeah his earlier work is really easy to read and sometimes is great for newer fantasy readers. I think the Belgariad as a superb comfort read and I think many others might agree with me on it.

      How goes the writing on Magic Rises?

      Mihir

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  13. Mihir, how the hell can you leave Charlaine Harris out of this, she is arguably the most successful UF writer out there now?

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    1. I chose not to include her Mr. Gordon because even though her series started as UF she's now firmly in the PNR camp. I believe she has done a lot for this genre however her books aren't what I would wish for the UF genre to evolve into.

      She heartily deserves her place in the pantheon of super-successful writers and a superb PNR writer as well however I don't think the Sookie Stackhouse series can comfortably separate itself from its romance-heavy trappings.

      Mihir

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  14. Also Tanya Huff preceded LKH. :) Blood Price is 1991, Guilty Pleasures is 1993.

    Mihir, I do have to tell you, I'm not quite feeling this article now that I've read it. :) I think it's a mistake to force a comparison between two genres. UF blends noir and modern urban folklore, while epic fantasy is, at its core, a historical exploration of an alternative world with magic. It would be like comparing Chandler and Sharon K. Penmann. Where would you even start?

    Urban Fantasy doesn't need to be legitimized by comparison to historical fantasy. It's doing well on its own.

    Also, this article mentions some less known names - mostly male writers - and some new writers and positions them as influential within the genre while ignoring people who have been shaping the genre for years. (Our first book came out in 2007 and I wouldn't claim we had affected the genre, for example.) Obviously Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison, and Kelley Armstrong, but also Anne Rice? Sure, it may not have been called urban fantasy, but Anne Rice's work is a definitive precursor to the genre. It was very widely read.

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    1. Hi Ms. Ilona

      Thank you for your comment and frankness. I must plead ignorance of Tanya Huff as I haven't read any of her books. I've added a note to address concerns brought up by you and other commentators. I'll however try to address yours over here as well.

      I'm not comparing it the 2 genres "apples to apples". What I wanted to highlight was when epic fantasy began how stereotypical it was and how far and diverse it has become after so many decades.

      I want UF to expand in the same divergent way and the authors that I mentioned in my piece were mentioned because each of them hass done something different with their UF storyline. Gordon and you write about romance yet the world, magic system, characterization and humor make it unique while still honoring the present traditions of UF (female bad-ass protagonist, multiple supernatural races, first person POV).

      I believe both Charlaine Harris and Kelley Armstrong write more in the PNR sub-genre than UF and hence I didn't mention them earlier (and I admit that was a mistake). Anne Rice was a complete miss for me and thanks for bring her up. I'm glad you took the time to comment on it. I hope I've addressed your concerns and my apologies once again if the article implied otherwise.

      Mihir

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  15. As I am reading the comments this article has generated, it somehow reminds me of how when a blogger comes out with a list of "Best 10 comedy movies of all time" or "Best 10 thrillers of the 90s" that the readers invariably comment about how this one or that one was missed. In my previous comment, even I suffered from the same "syndrome" so I am not above reproach.

    However, I felt that the article was about what he felt were the trappings of the UF genre currently and the direction in which he wishes the genre to evolve. I wholeheartedly agree that some of the better known authors like Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison, Anne Rice et al were missed. But still IMHO the post still manages to capture the essence of the topic here.

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  16. Charlie Huston & Mike Carey have some of the best written UF out there,miles ahead of Butcher,Harris,Harrison etc.

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    1. I love Charlie Huston, haven't read Mike Carey yet, though I should.

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  17. I am going to suggest that for me at least UF started with a comic book in the 1970's - Werewolf By Night

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