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Urban fantasy

October 15, 2023

Urban fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy, placing supernatural elements in an approximation of a contemporary urban setting.[1][2][3] The combination provides the writer with quixotic plot-drivers, unusual character traits, and a platform for classic fantasy tropes,[4] without demanding the creation of an entirely-imagined world.

While precursors of urban fantasy date back to the 19th century,[5] present use of the term dates back to the 1970s.[3] The genre's wide popularity began in 1980s North America, as writers and publishers were encouraged by the success of Stephen King[6] and Anne Rice.[7]

Characteristics Edit

Urban fantasy combines selected imaginary/unrealistic elements of plot, character, theme, or setting with a largely-familiar world[8]—combining the familiar and the strange. Such elements may exist secretly in the world or may occur openly. Fantastic components may be magic, paranormal beings, recognizable mythic or folk-tale plots, or thematic tropes (such as a quest, or a battle of good and evil). Authors may use current urban myths, borrow fictional technologies, or even invent occult practices, as well as using established supernatural characters and events from folklore, literature, film, or comics. The urban component is usually found in the setting—typically a large or small city—or even a suburban community in a metropolitan area. Common use of contemporary technologies (such as automotive vehicles or communications technology) and everyday community and social institutions (such as libraries, schools/universities, or markets) also establishes a familiar context. The period in which the action occurs may be the fairly recent past or the near future, but will typically require merely only casual historical or other special knowledge from the reader. The city-setting is a tool;[9] used to establish a tone, to help move the plot, and may even be acknowledged as a character itself.[10]

Urban fantasy is most often a sub-genre of low fantasy (where magical events intrude on an otherwise-normal world) and/or hard fantasy (treating magic as something understandable and explainable), and works may be found in the sub-genres of horror, occult detective fiction, or the various "punk"[11][12][13] genres. Common themes include coexistence or conflict between humans and other beings, and the changes such characters and events bring to local life.[14][15] Many authors, publishers, and readers particularly distinguish urban fantasy from works of paranormal romance, which use similar characters and settings, but focus on the romantic relationships between characters.[1]

Unrelated uses of "urban fantasy" Edit

The term "urban fantasy" has been in use from the early 20th century. It originally described a characteristic of some object or place. Horst Schmidt-Brummer's 1973 book about Venice, California is subtitled "An Urban Fantasy", to denote a nostalgic appreciation for the unique city.[16] In New York Times advertisements in 1928 through 1930 for the St. Regis hotel, the term implies that the hotel is a sort of paradise: "Never was an urban fantasy so enchanting..."[17]

History Edit

Predecessors Edit

During the late Romantic era, writers of sensational fiction (including Mary Shelley, Dickens, Hoffmann, Le Fanu, Hugo, Poe, Wilkie Collins, Stoker, &c.) wrote melodramas that explored social anxieties induced by new technologies, population shifts to industrial-centers,[18] and immigration.[19] Re-imagination of the contemporary universe by manipulating one or more social/technical realities exploded with highly-popular works by Jules Verne, and Doyle's Professor Challenger stories. Jack London's 1908 dystopian novel The Iron Heel preceded by a year H. G. Wells' novel The Sleeper Awakes. Karel Čapek, Aldous Huxley, and even Sinclair Lewis (in his novel It Can't Happen Here) all wrote along this axis, exploiting a market for adventure that was post-apocalyptic, and dystopian.

The same period introduced popular mail-delivered periodicals in Europe[20][21][22] and the Americas (The Saturday Evening Post (1821), Godey's Lady's Book (1830), and Harper's Weekly (1857)). The success of general-interest magazines led to others targeted at specific readerships: Boys' Own Magazine (1855), and Argosy (1882) among them. All of these magazines published short and serialized fiction features, as well as reportage, instructional articles, illustration, and opinion.[23] Before WW1, fantasy vied for magazine space with westerns, romance, mysteries, military adventure, comedies, and horror. Many writers published stories in multiple genres - among them Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert E. Howard, Isaac Asimov, and Elmore Leonard. A sought-after descriptive hallmark for many of these writers was "realism' - even though their stories were outrageously fantastic.[24][25]

Dime novels appeared before the Civil War; some of the earliest re-printing serials from magazines. Commonly associated with Western adventure, they also encompassed romance[26] and crime-fiction.[27] Robert deGraff founded Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books in 1939, he distributed not only to the 2,800 US bookstores, but also in more than a hundred thousand drugstores, news-stands, 5-&-10s, cigar stores, groceries, and diners.[28] By doing this, he established a market - not for copies of Shakespeare or Jane Austen - but for collections and book-length versions of popular magazine fiction.

In 1899 Harper's Weekly editor John Kendrick Bangs altered fantasy parameters with The Enchanted Type-Writer (a series of humorous short-stories supposedly typed by the ghost of 18th century writer James Boswell) - introducing a benign revenant in a contemporary setting. Thorne Smith was successful in 1920s-30s, especially his two "Topper" farces about a middle-aged banker's adventures with a couple of ghosts (subsequently made into films, radio plays, and a 1950s television series). Charles G. Finney's celebrated[29] 1935 experimental novel The Circus of Dr. Lao placed mythical creatures in a contemporary setting to examine the society in a small Arizona town.[30] Occult detective stories, such as Manly Wade Wellman's John Thunstone stories - written originally during the 1940s -are credited by many current authors for bringing contemporary characters and American settings into the fantasy and horror genres.[31] These early tales, however, differ from current urban fantasy - they present supernatural beings and acts as unnatural, aberrant, and a possible danger to ordinary citizens.

Unknown magazine (1939–1943) was conceived by its editor John W. Campbell as a fantasy equivalent of Campbell's successful Astounding science fiction magazine; its stories often took place in the present and many had a thoughtful "science-fictional" approach. Writers such as Fritz Leiber ("Smoke Ghost", published in 1941), Jack Williamson with "Darker Than You Think" (originally published 1940), H. L. Gold (with his "Trouble with Water", published in 1939) and L. Sprague de Camp's "Nothing in the Rules" (1939) presented ghosts, lycanthropes, gnomes, mermaids, demons and more, in a modern setting, with horrific and/or humorous results. The prolific de Camp and his writing partner, war game inventor Fletcher Pratt, also explored urban material with their stories of Harold Shea in the 1940s and Gavagan's Bar stories in the 1950s.

1950s-60s Edit

The 1954 best-selling novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant details a Faustian deal with the devil in major-league professional baseball; it was made into the successful 1957 Broadway musical Damn Yankees[32] (subsequently revived several times), and then into a 1958 Hollywood film. That same year, Irish-American Leonard Wibberley published Mrs Searwood's Secret Weapon, about an elderly British widow who is haunted by the ghost of a Powhatan Indian warrior during the London Blitz. The British spy-novel writers Adelaide Manning and Cyril Coles (writing under the pseudonym Francis Gaites, though published in the United States as by Manning Coles) produced a series of humorous novels from 1954 to 1958 placing ghostly revenants of Franco-Prussian War era into 1950s Paris and Como.[33] Herman Cohen's teen-horror films for American International Pictures commenced in 1957 with I Was a Teenage Werewolf, combining supernatural characters with the mundane popular post WW2 teen-culture. In 1959, the fantasy/sci-fi TV anthology The Twilight Zone began, after the success of its pilot "The Time Element" appeared as a 1958 episode of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse.

In 1962, Ray Bradbury published the dark novel Something Wicked This Way Comes, which has been cited as a particular influence by writers Stephen King,[34] R. L. Stine,[35] and Neil Gaiman.[36] The highly successful TV fantasy series Bewitched began its 8-year run in 1964, with its rival I Dream of Jeannie and a less-successful fantasy show My Mother the Car appearing a year later; The Addams Family based on Charles Addams New Yorker cartoons also debuted in 1964. Chester Anderson's psychedelic adventure The Butterfly Kid was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1968.[37] Also in 1968, the English translation of Italo Calvino's short-story collection "Le cosmicomiche" made his fantastic tales built around minor scientific details available to the Anglo-American audience that was interested in urban fantasy.

1970s–early 1980s Edit

After the success of Stephen King's contemporary horror-story Carrie in 1973, the author introduced supernatural characters (vampires) into his next book, 'Salem's Lot (1976), which he has claimed is his own favorite.[38] Retrospective reviews of King's work note that he "brought reality to genre novels",[39] and have remarked that "Jerusalem's Lot is the main character here, a warm-up for what King would later do with his beloved fictional towns of Derry and Castle Rock. We're given a vivid description, details and foibles, before the town is populated with a cast of characters..."[40]

Anne Rice published Interview with the Vampire (a re-working of her own late-60s short story) in 1976 to strikingly mixed critical reviews. Incorporating many genres (horror, eroticism, fantasy, romance, historical fiction), it and its sequels established a new audience for fantasy characters in a real world.[41] Recognizing its potential Alfred A. Knopf editor Victoria Wilson recommended a very substantial advance; later, the paperback rights cost Ballantine Books $700,000.[42]

The 1974 TV show Kolchak: The Night Stalker was an occult detective series featuring a Chicago newspaper reporter uncovering and battling supernatural creatures (e.g. vampires and zombies) in an urban environment. He was unbelieved and unappreciated, considered by his boss, colleagues, the police and the public as something between a crackpot or an insane murderer as he struggles with both real and metaphorical demons in each episode. This series spun off from the 1972 horror movie The Night Stalker.

Isaac Asimov's Azazel stories, most of which were written in the 1980s, take some of their urban character of his mystery stories initially published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.

In the cinema, the re-write of Dan Aykroyd's original 1982 science fiction comedy script for Ghostbusters by Harold Ramis replaced the futuristic setting for the present day.[43] This effectively enabled the film to be made, and introduced to the mainstream the idea of fantastical events taking place in New York City. Two years later, Gremlins brought another batch of supernatural beings into our everyday world. At the same time another low-budget supernatural comedy success, Teen Wolf was popular enough to generate a television show, an animated cartoon, and a cinema sequel. Before its run was finished, another general-audience teen comedy with supernatural elements, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was in production.

1980s and 1990s Edit

The term began to come into its present use in the late 1970s[3] but its meaning kept shifting during the 1980s and early 1990s.[44] This development is apparent in the increased use of the term in contemporary reviews.[45][46]

Terri Windling's shared Borderlands universe, made up of a number of anthologies and novels, launched with the eponymous paperback original anthology, Borderland in 1986, followed up by Bordertown, also in 1986. The series was later touted by Neil Gaiman as "one of the most important places where Urban Fantasy began".[47] An article in Tor.com has stated that "some say, Urban Fantasy was born in Bordertown," which provided "young, beginning writers like Charles de Lint and Emma Bull" with a platform.[48] Emma Bull's unrelated 1987 urban fantasy War for the Oaks, where fairy factions battle in present-day Minneapolis, also received interest and attention. Both Bull's novel and the Borderlands books emphasized young, poor, hip protagonists. In this, they had much in common with the usual protagonist of the cyberpunk sub-genre of science fiction.

Sweet Silver Blues a 1987 novel by fantasy author Glen Cook began his Garrett P.I. series. These tales chronicled adventures of a hardboiled detective in a contemporary fantasy world, and were among the earliest to use a fantastic "underworld" in place of the criminals and thugs of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and their followers. Prolific author Mercedes Lackey started a series in the waning years of the 1980s with Burning Water, exploring the life of a contemporary American witch.

The Vampire Files [2] by P.N. Elrod featured a vampire detective that begins the series by him solving his own murder. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, the 12-book series pioneered the vampire investigator role. P.N. Elrod has authored more than 25 books and edited many anthologies. She has won numerous awards for her work in establishing the UF genre.

Shadowrun, a tabletop RPG with a similar concept to the Borderlands universe appeared. Like those earlier books, Shadowrun took place in a future Earth setting (specifically 2050, in the first edition), after the reappearance of supernatural powers and beings. Players could play humans (cybernetically enhanced or otherwise), elves, dwarves or orcs, all in a dark high tech setting. The more definitely cyberpunk approach (jaundiced and gritty) of the game's universe exerted its own influence.

Anthologist and professor.[49] Dr. Martin H. Greenberg sparked growth in urban fantasy by commissioning established authors to write stories for his many fantasy anthologies (among them Wizards, Witches, Devils, and Faeries). The commissioned work was juxtaposed with older fiction; it frequently used supernatural elements in contemporary urban settings.

21st century Edit

Several publications and writers have cited authors Laurell K. Hamilton and Kim Harrison as notable contributors to the genre. Entertainment Weekly,[50] USA Today,[51] and Time[52] have recognized the longevity and influence of Hamilton's stories, while The New York Times[53] and Amazon.com[54] have noted the work of Kim Harrison. Author Courtney Allison Moulton has cited Hamilton's early works among her inspirations.[55] Kelly Gay has noted Hamilton, Harrison, and Emma Bull as primary influences.[56] Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series have been described by Barnes and Noble as "the gold standard" for the genre;[57] one of the books from the series was nominated for the 2015 Hugo Award. N. K. Jemisin's The City We Became features major cities acquiring sentience through human avatars; it won the 2020 BFSA Best Novel Award and was nominated for the 2021 Hugo and Nebula.

Novels Edit

Adult fiction Edit

While adult urban fantasy novels may stand-alone (like Mulengro by Charles de Lint or Emma Bull's War for the Oaks), the economics of the market favor series characters, and genre-crossing allows sales along multiple lines.

Many urban-fantasy novels are told via a first-person narrative, and often feature mythological beings, romance, and female protagonists who are involved in law enforcement or vigilantism.[1][58] Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series—which follows the investigations of a supernatural Federal Marshal during paranormal cases—has been called a substantial and influential work of the genre.[52] Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan novels, also regarded as inspirational works, feature a bounty-hunting "witch-born" demon who battles numerous supernatural foes.[59] Multi-genre offerings combine urban fantasy with other established forms (e.g.: police procedurals, as presented in the Peter Grant stories of Ben Aaronovitch, or the Charlie Madigan series, by Kelly Gay, which explores challenges a police officer faces while trying to balance her paranormal cases with life as a single mother[14]).

In addition to books which present largely independent characters, certain stories feature men and women who are regularly partnered on adventures—often with an underlying romantic element. The Jaz Parks series, by Jennifer Rardin, follows the titular Central Intelligence Agency operative and her vampire boss as they combat supernatural threats to national security.[60] Jocelynn Drake's Dark Days novels follow a vampire named Mira and a vampire hunter named Danaus, who work together to protect their people from a mutual enemy.[61] Night Huntress, a series by Jeaniene Frost, centers on a half-vampire named Catherine and a vampire bounty hunter called Bones, who gradually become lovers while battling the undead.[62]

Teen fiction Edit

In contrast to the "professional heroes" found in adult urban-fantasy novels, many novels aimed at young adult audiences follow inexperienced protagonists who are unexpectedly drawn into paranormal struggles. Amidst these conflicts, characters often gain allies, find romance, and, in some cases, develop or discover supernatural abilities of their own.[58] In Kelley Armstrong's The Darkest Powers series, a group of teens with paranormal talents go on the run while fleeing from a persistent band of scientists.[63] Gone, by Michael Grant, follows an isolated town in which adults have mysteriously disappeared, leaving a society of super-powered children behind.[64] In Unearthly, by Cynthia Hand, a girl discovers that she is part angel and gifted with superhuman abilities, leading her to seek out her purpose on Earth.[65]The Immortals series, by Alyson Noël, follows a girl who gains special abilities after recovering from an accident, and also grows close to a mysterious new boy at her school.[66] Love triangles also play a prominent part in these and several other urban-fantasy novels.[67][68] Coming-of-age themes and teen 'voices' also often distinguish young-adult urban fantasy from adult books in the genre.[69] Bruce Coville and Jane Yolen collaborated on Armageddon Summer which places a standard teen romance in the middle of an imagined apocalyptic cult.

Boarding schools are a common setting in teen urban fantasy. Rampant, by Diana Peterfreund, follows a group of young women at a cloisters as they train to fight killer unicorns.[70] The House of Night series, by P. C. and Kristin Cast, presents a school where future vampires are disciplined while on the path to transformation, during which several romantic conflicts and other clashes ensue.[71] Claudia Gray's Evernight novels center on a mysterious academy, where a romantic bond develops between a girl born to vampires, and a boy who hunts them.[72] Fallen, by Lauren Kate, revolves around a student named Luce who finds herself drawn to a boy named Daniel, unaware that he is a fallen angel who shares a history with her.[73] Other series, such as Carrie Jones's Need, have characters moving to new locations but attending public schools while discovering mysterious occurrences elsewhere in their towns.[74]

Juvenile fiction Edit

A helping of the fantastic is often an element in children's literature, but the two major strands of urban fantasy are well-represented in particular.

The hidden-world focuses on stories and characters taking place in a fully-realized domain which operates secretly but simultaneously to the world with which we are familiar. An outstanding example are the Harry Potter books of J. K. Rowling - where our own (muggle) world is unaware of an entire universe of wizards and magical creatures; and intersections of these domains provide plot material and character dimensionality for the action taking place primarily in the magic universe - and so being a type of high-fantasy.

On the other hand, magical charm stories operate mostly in the mundane universe, but where a spell or token provides plot-interest. The protagonist of Robert Lawson's 1945 Mr. Wilmer works as a clerk for a big New York City company - but suddenly one morning he can speak with and understand animals. In the magical stories of Edward Eager, groups of children are granted wishes or transported through time by invoking spells. This makes the stories a variety of low-fantasy.

Possibly the best-known urban fantasy series for children are P. L. Travers' low-fantasy Mary Poppins stories, set in London between the World Wars. As well as eight books, there have been several film and stage adaptations.[75] The high-fantasy Harry Potter phenomenon may soon be in position to overtake Poppins.

Paranormal romance Edit

In an online commentary, author Jeannie Holmes described differences between urban fantasy and paranormal romance:[1]

The two share 90% of their genre DNA. However, the main differences are this: Urban fantasy focuses on an issue outside of a romantic relationship between two characters. Paranormal romance focuses on a romantic relationship between two characters and how outside forces affect that relationship. The best litmus test to determine if a story is urban fantasy or paranormal romance is to ask the following question: 'If the romance between Character A and Character B were removed, would the plot still stand as a viable storyline?' If the answer is 'yes,' chances are good it's urban fantasy. If the answer is 'no,' it's most likely paranormal romance.

Media tie-ins Edit

Use of other forms of media has become a common part of the creation and promotion of urban-fantasy works.

Music Edit

"Sometimes the songs influence the book and sometimes it's the other way around, but either way the playlist eventually comes to epitomize the feeling of the book to me."

—Christina Henry[76]

Several urban-fantasy authors cite music as an inspiration. Certain writers recommend songs or playlists on their official websites, including Courtney Allison Moulton, Jaye Wells, and Sarah J. Maas, who couple their recommendations with links to music-providing services.[77][78] Publishers have also used music for book trailers, including the trailer for Carrie Jones's Captivate, which features the work of songwriter Derek Daisey.[79][80]

Original music is also produced. In 2010, musicians Alexandra Monir, Michael Bearden, and Heather Holley (a songwriter for Christina Aguilera's Stripped) collaborated to create songs for Monir's debut novel, Timeless.[81]

Video Edit

Book trailers are often used to promote urban-fantasy novels.[82] Publishers such as HarperCollins also produce regular video interviews with debuting authors.[83]

Comics and manga Edit

Adaptations of urban-fantasy novels have appeared in comic books and manga. Among the tales to be adapted are Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series,[84] Patricia Briggs's Mercy Thompson stories,[85] and Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely.[86]

Film and television Edit

Works of urban fantasy have been adapted to or have originated in film and television. Well-known examples include the 1992 series Highlander and the TV adaptation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is regarded as a seminal work of the genre.[58]

Certain staples of urban-fantasy novels are also present in television shows. The concept of peaceful coexistence with paranormal beings is explored in the 1996 series Kindred: The Embraced, which focuses on secret vampire clans in San Francisco.[87] Works such as Witchblade present the more common matter of a protagonist attempting to protect citizens.[88]

While urban-fantasy novels are often centered on heroines, television programs have regularly featured both genders in leading roles.[89] Shows such as Beauty and the Beast, The Dresden Files, Forever Knight, Grimm, Moonlight, and Supernatural are based around male protagonists, while other programs, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, and Witchblade, focus largely on female protagonists.[90]

Authors Edit

The following is an incomplete list of notable authors of urban fantasy. According to 2013 statistics by the fantasy publisher Tor Books, among writers of urban fantasy or paranormal romance, 57% are women and 43% are men, whereas men outnumber women by about two to one in writing historical, epic, or high fantasy.[91]

See also Edit

References Edit

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October 15, 2023
urban, fantasy, subgenre, fantasy, placing, supernatural, elements, approximation, contemporary, urban, setting, combination, provides, writer, with, quixotic, plot, drivers, unusual, character, traits, platform, classic, fantasy, tropes, without, demanding, c. Urban fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy placing supernatural elements in an approximation of a contemporary urban setting 1 2 3 The combination provides the writer with quixotic plot drivers unusual character traits and a platform for classic fantasy tropes 4 without demanding the creation of an entirely imagined world While precursors of urban fantasy date back to the 19th century 5 present use of the term dates back to the 1970s 3 The genre s wide popularity began in 1980s North America as writers and publishers were encouraged by the success of Stephen King 6 and Anne Rice 7 Contents 1 Characteristics 1 1 Unrelated uses of urban fantasy 2 History 2 1 Predecessors 2 2 1950s 60s 2 3 1970s early 1980s 2 4 1980s and 1990s 2 5 21st century 3 Novels 3 1 Adult fiction 3 2 Teen fiction 3 3 Juvenile fiction 3 4 Paranormal romance 3 5 Media tie ins 3 5 1 Music 3 5 2 Video 3 5 3 Comics and manga 4 Film and television 5 Authors 6 See also 7 ReferencesCharacteristics EditUrban fantasy combines selected imaginary unrealistic elements of plot character theme or setting with a largely familiar world 8 combining the familiar and the strange Such elements may exist secretly in the world or may occur openly Fantastic components may be magic paranormal beings recognizable mythic or folk tale plots or thematic tropes such as a quest or a battle of good and evil Authors may use current urban myths borrow fictional technologies or even invent occult practices as well as using established supernatural characters and events from folklore literature film or comics The urban component is usually found in the setting typically a large or small city or even a suburban community in a metropolitan area Common use of contemporary technologies such as automotive vehicles or communications technology and everyday community and social institutions such as libraries schools universities or markets also establishes a familiar context The period in which the action occurs may be the fairly recent past or the near future but will typically require merely only casual historical or other special knowledge from the reader The city setting is a tool 9 used to establish a tone to help move the plot and may even be acknowledged as a character itself 10 Urban fantasy is most often a sub genre of low fantasy where magical events intrude on an otherwise normal world and or hard fantasy treating magic as something understandable and explainable and works may be found in the sub genres of horror occult detective fiction or the various punk 11 12 13 genres Common themes include coexistence or conflict between humans and other beings and the changes such characters and events bring to local life 14 15 Many authors publishers and readers particularly distinguish urban fantasy from works of paranormal romance which use similar characters and settings but focus on the romantic relationships between characters 1 Unrelated uses of urban fantasy Edit The term urban fantasy has been in use from the early 20th century It originally described a characteristic of some object or place Horst Schmidt Brummer s 1973 book about Venice California is subtitled An Urban Fantasy to denote a nostalgic appreciation for the unique city 16 In New York Times advertisements in 1928 through 1930 for the St Regis hotel the term implies that the hotel is a sort of paradise Never was an urban fantasy so enchanting 17 History EditPredecessors Edit During the late Romantic era writers of sensational fiction including Mary Shelley Dickens Hoffmann Le Fanu Hugo Poe Wilkie Collins Stoker amp c wrote melodramas that explored social anxieties induced by new technologies population shifts to industrial centers 18 and immigration 19 Re imagination of the contemporary universe by manipulating one or more social technical realities exploded with highly popular works by Jules Verne and Doyle s Professor Challenger stories Jack London s 1908 dystopian novel The Iron Heel preceded by a year H G Wells novel The Sleeper Awakes Karel Capek Aldous Huxley and even Sinclair Lewis in his novel It Can t Happen Here all wrote along this axis exploiting a market for adventure that was post apocalyptic and dystopian The same period introduced popular mail delivered periodicals in Europe 20 21 22 and the Americas The Saturday Evening Post 1821 Godey s Lady s Book 1830 and Harper s Weekly 1857 The success of general interest magazines led to others targeted at specific readerships Boys Own Magazine 1855 and Argosy 1882 among them All of these magazines published short and serialized fiction features as well as reportage instructional articles illustration and opinion 23 Before WW1 fantasy vied for magazine space with westerns romance mysteries military adventure comedies and horror Many writers published stories in multiple genres among them Arthur Conan Doyle Robert E Howard Isaac Asimov and Elmore Leonard A sought after descriptive hallmark for many of these writers was realism even though their stories were outrageously fantastic 24 25 Dime novels appeared before the Civil War some of the earliest re printing serials from magazines Commonly associated with Western adventure they also encompassed romance 26 and crime fiction 27 Robert deGraff founded Simon amp Schuster s Pocket Books in 1939 he distributed not only to the 2 800 US bookstores but also in more than a hundred thousand drugstores news stands 5 amp 10s cigar stores groceries and diners 28 By doing this he established a market not for copies of Shakespeare or Jane Austen but for collections and book length versions of popular magazine fiction In 1899 Harper s Weekly editor John Kendrick Bangs altered fantasy parameters with The Enchanted Type Writer a series of humorous short stories supposedly typed by the ghost of 18th century writer James Boswell introducing a benign revenant in a contemporary setting Thorne Smith was successful in 1920s 30s especially his two Topper farces about a middle aged banker s adventures with a couple of ghosts subsequently made into films radio plays and a 1950s television series Charles G Finney s celebrated 29 1935 experimental novel The Circus of Dr Lao placed mythical creatures in a contemporary setting to examine the society in a small Arizona town 30 Occult detective stories such as Manly Wade Wellman s John Thunstone stories written originally during the 1940s are credited by many current authors for bringing contemporary characters and American settings into the fantasy and horror genres 31 These early tales however differ from current urban fantasy they present supernatural beings and acts as unnatural aberrant and a possible danger to ordinary citizens Unknown magazine 1939 1943 was conceived by its editor John W Campbell as a fantasy equivalent of Campbell s successful Astounding science fiction magazine its stories often took place in the present and many had a thoughtful science fictional approach Writers such as Fritz Leiber Smoke Ghost published in 1941 Jack Williamson with Darker Than You Think originally published 1940 H L Gold with his Trouble with Water published in 1939 and L Sprague de Camp s Nothing in the Rules 1939 presented ghosts lycanthropes gnomes mermaids demons and more in a modern setting with horrific and or humorous results The prolific de Camp and his writing partner war game inventor Fletcher Pratt also explored urban material with their stories of Harold Shea in the 1940s and Gavagan s Bar stories in the 1950s 1950s 60s Edit The 1954 best selling novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant details a Faustian deal with the devil in major league professional baseball it was made into the successful 1957 Broadway musical Damn Yankees 32 subsequently revived several times and then into a 1958 Hollywood film That same year Irish American Leonard Wibberley published Mrs Searwood s Secret Weapon about an elderly British widow who is haunted by the ghost of a Powhatan Indian warrior during the London Blitz The British spy novel writers Adelaide Manning and Cyril Coles writing under the pseudonym Francis Gaites though published in the United States as by Manning Coles produced a series of humorous novels from 1954 to 1958 placing ghostly revenants of Franco Prussian War era into 1950s Paris and Como 33 Herman Cohen s teen horror films for American International Pictures commenced in 1957 with I Was a Teenage Werewolf combining supernatural characters with the mundane popular post WW2 teen culture In 1959 the fantasy sci fi TV anthology The Twilight Zone began after the success of its pilot The Time Element appeared as a 1958 episode of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse In 1962 Ray Bradbury published the dark novel Something Wicked This Way Comes which has been cited as a particular influence by writers Stephen King 34 R L Stine 35 and Neil Gaiman 36 The highly successful TV fantasy series Bewitched began its 8 year run in 1964 with its rival I Dream of Jeannie and a less successful fantasy show My Mother the Car appearing a year later The Addams Family based on Charles Addams New Yorker cartoons also debuted in 1964 Chester Anderson s psychedelic adventure The Butterfly Kid was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1968 37 Also in 1968 the English translation of Italo Calvino s short story collection Le cosmicomiche made his fantastic tales built around minor scientific details available to the Anglo American audience that was interested in urban fantasy 1970s early 1980s Edit After the success of Stephen King s contemporary horror story Carrie in 1973 the author introduced supernatural characters vampires into his next book Salem s Lot 1976 which he has claimed is his own favorite 38 Retrospective reviews of King s work note that he brought reality to genre novels 39 and have remarked that Jerusalem s Lot is the main character here a warm up for what King would later do with his beloved fictional towns of Derry and Castle Rock We re given a vivid description details and foibles before the town is populated with a cast of characters 40 Anne Rice published Interview with the Vampire a re working of her own late 60s short story in 1976 to strikingly mixed critical reviews Incorporating many genres horror eroticism fantasy romance historical fiction it and its sequels established a new audience for fantasy characters in a real world 41 Recognizing its potential Alfred A Knopf editor Victoria Wilson recommended a very substantial advance later the paperback rights cost Ballantine Books 700 000 42 The 1974 TV show Kolchak The Night Stalker was an occult detective series featuring a Chicago newspaper reporter uncovering and battling supernatural creatures e g vampires and zombies in an urban environment He was unbelieved and unappreciated considered by his boss colleagues the police and the public as something between a crackpot or an insane murderer as he struggles with both real and metaphorical demons in each episode This series spun off from the 1972 horror movie The Night Stalker Isaac Asimov s Azazel stories most of which were written in the 1980s take some of their urban character of his mystery stories initially published in Ellery Queen s Mystery Magazine In the cinema the re write of Dan Aykroyd s original 1982 science fiction comedy script for Ghostbusters by Harold Ramis replaced the futuristic setting for the present day 43 This effectively enabled the film to be made and introduced to the mainstream the idea of fantastical events taking place in New York City Two years later Gremlins brought another batch of supernatural beings into our everyday world At the same time another low budget supernatural comedy success Teen Wolf was popular enough to generate a television show an animated cartoon and a cinema sequel Before its run was finished another general audience teen comedy with supernatural elements Buffy the Vampire Slayer was in production 1980s and 1990s Edit The term began to come into its present use in the late 1970s 3 but its meaning kept shifting during the 1980s and early 1990s 44 This development is apparent in the increased use of the term in contemporary reviews 45 46 Terri Windling s shared Borderlands universe made up of a number of anthologies and novels launched with the eponymous paperback original anthology Borderland in 1986 followed up by Bordertown also in 1986 The series was later touted by Neil Gaiman as one of the most important places where Urban Fantasy began 47 An article in Tor com has stated that some say Urban Fantasy was born in Bordertown which provided young beginning writers like Charles de Lint and Emma Bull with a platform 48 Emma Bull s unrelated 1987 urban fantasy War for the Oaks where fairy factions battle in present day Minneapolis also received interest and attention Both Bull s novel and the Borderlands books emphasized young poor hip protagonists In this they had much in common with the usual protagonist of the cyberpunk sub genre of science fiction Sweet Silver Blues a 1987 novel by fantasy author Glen Cook began his Garrett P I series These tales chronicled adventures of a hardboiled detective in a contemporary fantasy world and were among the earliest to use a fantastic underworld in place of the criminals and thugs of Dashiell Hammett Raymond Chandler and their followers Prolific author Mercedes Lackey started a series in the waning years of the 1980s with Burning Water exploring the life of a contemporary American witch The Vampire Files 2 by P N Elrod featured a vampire detective that begins the series by him solving his own murder Set in Chicago in the 1930s the 12 book series pioneered the vampire investigator role P N Elrod has authored more than 25 books and edited many anthologies She has won numerous awards for her work in establishing the UF genre Shadowrun a tabletop RPG with a similar concept to the Borderlands universe appeared Like those earlier books Shadowrun took place in a future Earth setting specifically 2050 in the first edition after the reappearance of supernatural powers and beings Players could play humans cybernetically enhanced or otherwise elves dwarves or orcs all in a dark high tech setting The more definitely cyberpunk approach jaundiced and gritty of the game s universe exerted its own influence Anthologist and professor 49 Dr Martin H Greenberg sparked growth in urban fantasy by commissioning established authors to write stories for his many fantasy anthologies among them Wizards Witches Devils and Faeries The commissioned work was juxtaposed with older fiction it frequently used supernatural elements in contemporary urban settings 21st century Edit Several publications and writers have cited authors Laurell K Hamilton and Kim Harrison as notable contributors to the genre Entertainment Weekly 50 USA Today 51 and Time 52 have recognized the longevity and influence of Hamilton s stories while The New York Times 53 and Amazon com 54 have noted the work of Kim Harrison Author Courtney Allison Moulton has cited Hamilton s early works among her inspirations 55 Kelly Gay has noted Hamilton Harrison and Emma Bull as primary influences 56 Jim Butcher s The Dresden Files series have been described by Barnes and Noble as the gold standard for the genre 57 one of the books from the series was nominated for the 2015 Hugo Award N K Jemisin s The City We Became features major cities acquiring sentience through human avatars it won the 2020 BFSA Best Novel Award and was nominated for the 2021 Hugo and Nebula Novels EditAdult fiction Edit While adult urban fantasy novels may stand alone like Mulengro by Charles de Lint or Emma Bull s War for the Oaks the economics of the market favor series characters and genre crossing allows sales along multiple lines Many urban fantasy novels are told via a first person narrative and often feature mythological beings romance and female protagonists who are involved in law enforcement or vigilantism 1 58 Laurell K Hamilton s Anita Blake series which follows the investigations of a supernatural Federal Marshal during paranormal cases has been called a substantial and influential work of the genre 52 Kim Harrison s Rachel Morgan novels also regarded as inspirational works feature a bounty hunting witch born demon who battles numerous supernatural foes 59 Multi genre offerings combine urban fantasy with other established forms e g police procedurals as presented in the Peter Grant stories of Ben Aaronovitch or the Charlie Madigan series by Kelly Gay which explores challenges a police officer faces while trying to balance her paranormal cases with life as a single mother 14 In addition to books which present largely independent characters certain stories feature men and women who are regularly partnered on adventures often with an underlying romantic element The Jaz Parks series by Jennifer Rardin follows the titular Central Intelligence Agency operative and her vampire boss as they combat supernatural threats to national security 60 Jocelynn Drake s Dark Days novels follow a vampire named Mira and a vampire hunter named Danaus who work together to protect their people from a mutual enemy 61 Night Huntress a series by Jeaniene Frost centers on a half vampire named Catherine and a vampire bounty hunter called Bones who gradually become lovers while battling the undead 62 Teen fiction Edit In contrast to the professional heroes found in adult urban fantasy novels many novels aimed at young adult audiences follow inexperienced protagonists who are unexpectedly drawn into paranormal struggles Amidst these conflicts characters often gain allies find romance and in some cases develop or discover supernatural abilities of their own 58 In Kelley Armstrong s The Darkest Powers series a group of teens with paranormal talents go on the run while fleeing from a persistent band of scientists 63 Gone by Michael Grant follows an isolated town in which adults have mysteriously disappeared leaving a society of super powered children behind 64 In Unearthly by Cynthia Hand a girl discovers that she is part angel and gifted with superhuman abilities leading her to seek out her purpose on Earth 65 The Immortals series by Alyson Noel follows a girl who gains special abilities after recovering from an accident and also grows close to a mysterious new boy at her school 66 Love triangles also play a prominent part in these and several other urban fantasy novels 67 68 Coming of age themes and teen voices also often distinguish young adult urban fantasy from adult books in the genre 69 Bruce Coville and Jane Yolen collaborated on Armageddon Summer which places a standard teen romance in the middle of an imagined apocalyptic cult Boarding schools are a common setting in teen urban fantasy Rampant by Diana Peterfreund follows a group of young women at a cloisters as they train to fight killer unicorns 70 The House of Night series by P C and Kristin Cast presents a school where future vampires are disciplined while on the path to transformation during which several romantic conflicts and other clashes ensue 71 Claudia Gray s Evernight novels center on a mysterious academy where a romantic bond develops between a girl born to vampires and a boy who hunts them 72 Fallen by Lauren Kate revolves around a student named Luce who finds herself drawn to a boy named Daniel unaware that he is a fallen angel who shares a history with her 73 Other series such as Carrie Jones s Need have characters moving to new locations but attending public schools while discovering mysterious occurrences elsewhere in their towns 74 Juvenile fiction Edit A helping of the fantastic is often an element in children s literature but the two major strands of urban fantasy are well represented in particular The hidden world focuses on stories and characters taking place in a fully realized domain which operates secretly but simultaneously to the world with which we are familiar An outstanding example are the Harry Potter books of J K Rowling where our own muggle world is unaware of an entire universe of wizards and magical creatures and intersections of these domains provide plot material and character dimensionality for the action taking place primarily in the magic universe and so being a type of high fantasy On the other hand magical charm stories operate mostly in the mundane universe but where a spell or token provides plot interest The protagonist of Robert Lawson s 1945 Mr Wilmer works as a clerk for a big New York City company but suddenly one morning he can speak with and understand animals In the magical stories of Edward Eager groups of children are granted wishes or transported through time by invoking spells This makes the stories a variety of low fantasy Possibly the best known urban fantasy series for children are P L Travers low fantasy Mary Poppins stories set in London between the World Wars As well as eight books there have been several film and stage adaptations 75 The high fantasy Harry Potter phenomenon may soon be in position to overtake Poppins Paranormal romance Edit In an online commentary author Jeannie Holmes described differences between urban fantasy and paranormal romance 1 The two share 90 of their genre DNA However the main differences are this Urban fantasy focuses on an issue outside of a romantic relationship between two characters Paranormal romance focuses on a romantic relationship between two characters and how outside forces affect that relationship The best litmus test to determine if a story is urban fantasy or paranormal romance is to ask the following question If the romance between Character A and Character B were removed would the plot still stand as a viable storyline If the answer is yes chances are good it s urban fantasy If the answer is no it s most likely paranormal romance Media tie ins Edit Use of other forms of media has become a common part of the creation and promotion of urban fantasy works Music Edit Sometimes the songs influence the book and sometimes it s the other way around but either way the playlist eventually comes to epitomize the feeling of the book to me Christina Henry 76 Several urban fantasy authors cite music as an inspiration Certain writers recommend songs or playlists on their official websites including Courtney Allison Moulton Jaye Wells and Sarah J Maas who couple their recommendations with links to music providing services 77 78 Publishers have also used music for book trailers including the trailer for Carrie Jones s Captivate which features the work of songwriter Derek Daisey 79 80 Original music is also produced In 2010 musicians Alexandra Monir Michael Bearden and Heather Holley a songwriter for Christina Aguilera s Stripped collaborated to create songs for Monir s debut novel Timeless 81 Video Edit Book trailers are often used to promote urban fantasy novels 82 Publishers such as HarperCollins also produce regular video interviews with debuting authors 83 Comics and manga Edit Adaptations of urban fantasy novels have appeared in comic books and manga Among the tales to be adapted are Laurell K Hamilton s Anita Blake series 84 Patricia Briggs s Mercy Thompson stories 85 and Melissa Marr s Wicked Lovely 86 Film and television EditWorks of urban fantasy have been adapted to or have originated in film and television Well known examples include the 1992 series Highlander and the TV adaptation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer which is regarded as a seminal work of the genre 58 Certain staples of urban fantasy novels are also present in television shows The concept of peaceful coexistence with paranormal beings is explored in the 1996 series Kindred The Embraced which focuses on secret vampire clans in San Francisco 87 Works such as Witchblade present the more common matter of a protagonist attempting to protect citizens 88 While urban fantasy novels are often centered on heroines television programs have regularly featured both genders in leading roles 89 Shows such as Beauty and the Beast The Dresden Files Forever Knight Grimm Moonlight and Supernatural are based around male protagonists while other programs including Buffy the Vampire Slayer Charmed and Witchblade focus largely on female protagonists 90 Authors EditThe following is an incomplete list of notable authors of urban fantasy According to 2013 statistics by the fantasy publisher Tor Books among writers of urban fantasy or paranormal romance 57 are women and 43 are men whereas men outnumber women by about two to one in writing historical epic or high fantasy 91 Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London series 92 Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels series 44 Jennifer Armintrout Blood Ties series Kelley Armstrong Women of the Otherworld and Darkest Powers series 44 L A Banks Vampire Huntress series and Crimson Moon novels Holly Black Modern Faerie Tales series 44 Marie Brennan Midnight Never Come and In Ashes Lie 93 Sarah Rees Brennan The Demon s Lexicon series 94 Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series 44 Terry Brooks Word amp Void series Emma Bull War for the Oaks 44 Jim Butcher Dresden Files series 44 95 Rachel Caine Weather Warden series 44 Dana Cameron Fangborn series Mike Carey Felix Castor series 96 Karen Chance Cassandra Palmer series 44 Cinda Williams Chima The Heir Trilogy 44 Cassandra Clare Mortal Instruments series 97 95 John Conroe Demon Accords series Glen Cook Garrett P I series 98 Jack Dann Junction editorial output S J Day Marked series 44 Edward Eager Magic children s books P N Elrod The Vampire Files series Jennifer Estep Elemental Assassin Mythos Academy Black Blade series J M Frey Jeaniene Frost Night Huntress series 44 Neil Gaiman Neverwhere 44 Yasmine Galenorn Wild Hunt Otherworld Indigo Court Kelly Gay Charlie Madigan series 14 Michael Grant Gone series 64 Claudia Gray Evernight series 72 Simon R Green Nightside series 44 Lev Grossman The Magicians trilogy 44 Kate Griffin Matthew Swift series Laurell K Hamilton The Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series 44 Cynthia Hand Unearthly series 65 Charlaine Harris The Southern Vampire Mysteries series 44 Kim Harrison The Hollows series 44 Rachel Hawthorne Dark Guardian series 99 Kevin Hearne The Iron Druid Chronicles 100 Mark Henry Amanda Feral series 44 Robin Hobb Wizard of the Pigeons Tanya Huff Keeper Chronicles Blood series The Enchantment Emporium Smoke series 101 Faith Hunter Rogue Mage series Jane Yellowrock series and the Soulwood series Charlie Huston Joe Pitt casebooks Benedict Jacka Alex Verus series 102 Elliott James Pax Arcana series Carrie Jones Need series 74 Lauren Kate Fallen series 73 Elliott Kay Good Intentions series 103 Jackie Kessler Hell on Earth paranormal romance series Caitlin Kittredge Nocturne City and Iron Codex series 104 Katherine Kurtz Adept series Mercedes Lackey Elves on the Road universe and the slightly steampunk Elemental Masters books 44 Fritz Lieber Our Lady of Darkness Charles de Lint Newford series 44 Sergei Lukyanenko Night Watch series Melissa Marr Wicked Lovely series 105 John C McCrae Pact and Pale web serials Seanan McGuire October Daye series 106 Robin McKinley Sunshine Richelle Mead Georgina Kincaid and Vampire Academy series 107 Scott Mebus Gods of Manhattan children s series China Mieville Bas Lag series 108 Karen Marie Moning Fever series Devon Monk Allie Beckstrom series 109 Courtney Allison Moulton Angelfire series 77 C E Murphy Walker Papers series 44 Joseph Nassise Templar Chronicles and Jeremiah Hunt series Alyson Noel Immortals series 66 Mary Norton The Borrowers and its sequels Jackson Pearce As You Wish and Sisters Red 110 Marlene Perez Dead Is series 111 Diana Peterfreund Killer Unicorns series 70 Vicki Pettersson Signs of the Zodiac series 44 T A Pratt Marla Mason series Kalayna Price Alex Craft series 112 Cat Rambo Jennifer Rardin Jaz Parks series 60 Natasha Rhodes Kayla Steele series Kat Richardson Greywalker series 44 Rick Riordan Percy Jackson and the Olympians series 113 J K Rowling Harry Potter series Lilith Saintcrow Dante Valentine series Jill Kismet series Ekaterina Sedia The House of Discarded Dreams Oh Seong dae Tales of the Unusual Thomas E Sniegoski The Fallen series Lucy A Snyder Jessie Shimmer series Jeff Somers Jeanne C Stein Anna Strong series Shanna Swendson Enchanted Inc series Anton Strout Simon Canderous series 114 Mark Teppo Codex of Souls series 115 Sandra D Tooley Sam Casey mysteries Chase Dagger mysteries P L Travers Mary Poppins books Carrie Vaughn Kitty Norville series 44 Catherine Webb Matthew Swift and Magicals Anonymous series H G Wells The Sea Lady Kiersten White Paranormalcy 83 Terri Windling Borderlands series 44 Yvonne Woon Dead Beautiful series 116 Alyssa Wong Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers See also Edit nbsp Speculative fiction portalContemporary fantasy Paranormal fiction List of literary genres List of genres List of urban fantasy novelsReferences Edit a b c d Holmes Jeannie December 21 2010 Writing Urban Fantasy Part 1 jeannieholmes com Archived from the original on May 10 2015 Retrieved May 17 2012 Datlow Ellen 2011 Naked City Tales of Urban Fantasy New York St Martin s Press pp xii xiii ISBN 978 0 312 38524 8 a b c 1 Ekman Stefan 2016 Urban Fantasy A Literature of the Unseen in The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts Volume 27 No 3 452 69 Barron Kaelyn March 15 2021 15 Common Fantasy Tropes and How To Own Them TCK Publishing Retrieved November 25 2022 March Russell Paul May 18 2020 Urban fantasy novels why they matter and which ones to read first The Conversation Retrieved November 25 2022 The H Word The Horror of Small Town America July 10 2013 Understanding Urban Fantasy and Its Roots H R Sinclair June 11 2014 How to Recognize Urban Fantasy 7 Elements of Urban Fantasy Masterclass Retrieved May 29 2023 Urban Fantasy s Monstrous City the artifice com December 2 2018 Retrieved November 25 2022 Rereading Stephen King week two Salem s Lot the Guardian June 11 2012 Retrieved November 25 2022 Cyberpunk Steampunk Cyberpunk derivatives a b c The Better Part of Darkness review Publishers Weekly Retrieved April 11 2011 Deadtown by Nancy Holzner Publishers Weekly Retrieved April 11 2011 Schmidt Brummer Horst 1973 Venice California An Urban Fantasy New York Grossman Publishers pp 1 7 ISBN 0670745057 Unknown November 6 1928 The Seaglade Advertisement p39 The New York Times The Realistic Novel in the Victorian Era British Literature Wiki Retrieved November 25 2022 British Library www bl uk Retrieved November 25 2022 How Punch Magazine Changed Everything May 3 2016 Wild West Germany The New Yorker April 2 2012 ASHLIMAN D L 1968 The Novel of Western Adventure in Nineteenth Century Germany Western American Literature 3 2 133 145 http www jstor org stable 43017463 Pulp Magazines and their Influence on Entertainment Today by Mai Ly Degnan Norman Rockwell Museum the Home for American Illustration April 12 2013 Realist School of Detective Fiction by Michael e Grost Lutes Jean 2010 Re Covering Modernism Pulps Paperbacks and the Prejudice of Form review The Journal of Modern Periodical Studies 1 113 117 10 1353 jmp 0 0009 Women and the World of Dime Novels On Dime Novels Sensation Stories and the First Appearance of Old Sleuth December 14 2021 Pulp s Big Moment The New Yorker December 29 2014 Book Reviews Sites Romance Fantasy Fiction A Day in the Life Charles G Finney s the Circus of Dr Lao May 4 2003 Clarkesworld Magazine Science Fiction amp Fantasy Damn Yankees Awards ibdb com retrieved August 16 2018 Rue Morgue Press Manning Coles www ruemorguepress com Archived from the original on September 29 2012 Retrieved May 15 2022 Bloom Harold 1998 Stephen King Chelsea House pp 20 R L Stine About R L Archived from the original on November 27 2013 Gaiman Neil June 6 2012 A man who won t forget Ray Bradbury The Guardian The Locus Index to SF Awards Hugo Nominees List Locus Magazine Locusmag com Retrieved February 28 2015 Phil Konstantin An Interview with Stephen King Articles Written by Phil Konstantin Archived from the original on April 12 2014 Retrieved December 23 2013 A Century of Great Suspense Stories edited by Jeffrey Deaver Pg 290 Publisher Berkley Hardcover 2001 ISBN 0425181928 Rereading Stephen King Week two Salem s Lot TheGuardian com June 11 2012 Interview with the Vampire and the Origin of Remorseful Bloodsuckers November 11 2019 11 Facts About Anne Rice s Interview with the Vampire September 20 2021 Paprocki Matt June 12 2019 Dan Aykroyd on Ghostbusters Lost Origins Writing Process and More 35 Years Later Gamespot a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Donohue Nanette Wargo June 1 2008 Collection Development Urban Fantasy The City Fantastic Library Journal Randall Marta July 21 1985 Short Fiction s Set Firmly in Sci Fi s Orbit San Francisco Chronicle Clines Francis August 15 1987 BBC Study Finds U S TV More Violent The New York Times The Borderland Series Editing Desk Archived from the original on June 1 2016 Retrieved June 15 2016 An Introduction to Bordertown Tor com May 5 2011 Retrieved June 15 2016 Dr Martin H Greenberg Obituary 1941 2011 Green Bay Press Gazette Legacy com Archived from the original on June 29 2011 Garcia Catherine June 1 2010 Q amp A Anita Blake Vampire Hunter author Laurell K Hamilton ew com Retrieved March 6 2011 Memmott Carol June 28 2006 Vampire stories are in this writer s blood USA Today Retrieved March 6 2011 a b Cruz Gilbert October 30 2008 Q amp A Vampire Novelist Laurell K Hamilton Time Archived from the original on November 3 2008 Retrieved February 3 2010 Garner Dwight April 8 2007 TBR Inside the List The New York Times Retrieved March 6 2011 Editorial Reviews amazon com Retrieved March 6 2011 Interview with Courtney Allison Moulton Debut Author of Angelfire mundiemoms blogspot com February 12 2011 Retrieved March 6 2011 M Sara December 9 2009 Author Interview and Giveaway Kelly Gay urbanfantasyreader blogspot com Retrieved February 28 2011 Meghanball October 14 2016 12 Highly Bingeable Urban Fantasy Series a b c 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