When I first saw Tim Marquitz's call for
stories for Manifesto: UF, I read it and thought I
couldn't possibly write an urban fantasy short story. I mean, what did I know
about the genre? I was totally intimidated by the blurb: "The time has
come to make a statement, to define a genre. This is our manifesto ..."
"... to define a genre."
How could I help define a genre I
didn't understand at all? Were they looking for something like Ilona Andrews's
Kate Daniels series? Alex Bledsoe's Tufa series? Clive Barker's Cabal stories?
Romance, angels, demons, fairies, and cities? What ... what ... what were they
looking for in terms of stories?
I got out of there before my brain
exploded. Sometimes I overthink things and that is precisely what I did with
the Manifesto anthology. Other projects took my attention and I more or less
forgot about the anthology until my little message bar popped up on Facebook
one evening and it was Tim. He had seen an earlier status update about a short
story that I had written, and he invited me to submit a story to
Manifesto. I told him I didn't know anything about urban fantasy, but he wasn’t
put off. He offered me several very broad suggestions, and I realized that I
might be able to write something for him.
I looked at the guidelines again.
The word "badass" kept jumping out at me. I realigned my thinking and
put urban fantasy in the context of badass. It was then that I realized
that the Kate Daniels series has snappy dialogue along with a badass
protagonist who is wicked-sharp; Alex's Tufa are badass in a low-slung southern
kind of way; and Clive Barker's Cabal stories were so badass they straddled the
line between urban fantasy and horror.
I had an idea for a traditional
fantasy story, but I thought that the story could work just as well in the
present day. I reshaped the background and the characters to write "Naked
the Night Sings." I didn't try to ram the story into any guidelines and I
just had fun with the concept. I allowed convention to fall by the wayside and
let the story run free.
When I was done, I saw that my story
slid closer to Barker's style of badass--urban fantasy mixed with horror. As a
matter of fact, I thought the story edged a little too close to horror to
fit in the Manifesto anthology, but I offered it up to Tim nevertheless.
That was how "Naked the Night
Sings" found its way into the anthology, and how I rethought my
misconceptions about urban fantasy.
Definitions and categories are
utilized by marketing and bookstores to show people where to look for the
stories that they like. However, definitions usually present a narrow view, a
statement of exact meaning or context. The short stories in Manifesto:
UF defies the confines of a definition by showing the
reader the absolute beauty and breadth of the urban fantasy genre.
The very inclusiveness of urban
fantasy is what makes it so much fun. This inhibition turns each story,
each novel into a brand new adventure. Urban fantasy opens the door to the
fantastic and the reader is never quite certain where the path will lead. The
emphasis, however, is on fun and I like that, because enjoyment and wonder are
what stories are about.
I know we take our genres and
ourselves quite seriously at times. We passionately defend our viewpoints and
why this story or that story may or may not be within the guidelines of urban
fantasy or paranormal romance or traditional fantasy or dark fantasy or
whatever new and amazing thing we discover next.
Yet there really are no rules, no
definitions, and the only manifesto is the manifesto of fun.
Urban fantasy may contain aspects of
horror; angels and demons and fae and all sorts of creatures wondrous and new;
romance and pleasure and songs; stories may take place in cities
or in small towns ...
Urban fantasy holds all of these
things, some of these things, none of these things, you never know what you
will find. That is the beauty of discovery.
So I've decided to make a manifesto
of my own: to read for the joy of reading and to explore new genres without
prejudice. I'll find some stories that I don't care for, but I'll also
find a gem or two. All that is required of me is to remain open to the
possibilities.
********
Teresa Frohock has turned her love of dark fantasy and horror into tales of deliciously creepy fiction. She is the author of Miserere: An Autumn Tale and has a short story, “Naked the Night Sings,” in the urban fantasy anthology Manifesto: UF. Teresa has long been accused of telling stories, which is a southern colloquialism for lying. Visit her at her website: www.teresafrohock.comThanks for visiting Teresa and welcome to the Urban Fantasy family. For those that don't know, I'm a big fan of Teresa Frohock since I loved her debut Miserere: An Autumn Tale which I reviewed here. In it, I made mention of how Miserere made me feel as if I was reading a story that's not urban fantasy, but what occurs behind the curtains of such a story. Highly recommended.
Make sure to follow Teresa on her website or on Twitter @TeresaFrohock.
And now for the giveaway, it'll be for 5 ecopies of the Manifesto: UF anthology edited by Tim Marquitz and Tyson Mauermann which includes Teresa Frohock's short story Naked the Night Sings.
From angels to vampires, dragons to wizards, Manifesto brings together twenty-three stories full of action, snark, and unadulterated badassery.
Featuring stories from Lucy A. Snyder, Jeff Salyards, William Meikle, Teresa Frohock, Zachary Jernigan, Betsy Dornbusch, Kirk Dougal, Karina Fabian, Adam Millard, Timothy Baker, Ryan Lawler, Andrew Moczulski, R.L. Treadway, Abhinav Jain, TSP Sweeney, Nickolas Sharps, Jonathan Pine, Kenny Soward, Joshua S. Hill, Jake Elliot, Lincoln Crisler, J.M. Martin, & Wilson Geiger.
The time has come to make a statement, to define a genre. This is our manifesto.
Participants have to be 18 years of age or older to participate. Void where prohibited by law. Giveaway rules are subject to change.
The giveaway is open WORLD WIDE, and it will run from October 7, 2013 until 11:59 pm ET on October 14, 2013.
The giveaway is for a chance to win an ecopy of 5 of the Manifesto: UF anthology.
How to participate:
- To participate simply log-in into to the Rafflecopter and "Enter" through the easy entry.
- One entry per person, or face disqualification.
- Entries accepted until 11:59pm ET on October 14, 2013.
- There'll be 5 winners for 1 ecopy each of Manifesto: UF.
- Will have to confirm email to be considered a winner within 48 hours.
- Additional entries may be had by following the steps provided in the Rafflecopter instructions, and only by doing those steps.
- Winners will be chosen by random selection using the Rafflecopter.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Teresa is awesome! I am definitely looking forward to reading this, one way or another. :)
ReplyDeleteDitto to what Roger said.
ReplyDeleteHuh. Sounds great Teresa. I have this one on my Nook and look forward to reading it. Thank you!
ReplyDelete