Apparently there is a genre of fiction called urban
fantasy. It is popular enough to have
its own track at Dragon*Con. I will not
be attending any of those events this weekend.
What is urban fantasy, you might ask. Well, it is fantasy that is set in…get this…a
city.
There’s a little more to it apparently. Beyond its urban environment the genre
features mythological beings, romance, and often female protagonists who are
involved in law enforcement or vigilantism.
Romance seems to be key in these stories about the
supernatural. That makes it seem a lot
like the paranormal romance genre. The
difference here, which is almost hair splitting, is that if you removed the
romance part of the story, there would still be a story to tell in urban
fiction. I suppose Twilight without the
romance would leave nothing. I don’t
know. I never read them. You tell me.
I’ve been trying to imagine what these stories might be
like, since I’ve never actually read anything in this genre before. Here’s what I’ve come up with: vigilantes,
fighting the paranormal, with a romantic aspect that, if removed, would still
leave a story. So, Ghostbusters is what
I’m thinking. It’s been done already.
Know how very serious genre fiction writers are, I don’t
think Ghostbusters would be an accurate portrayal. I assume it would be Ghostbusters, but
without all the fun. More like
Ghostbusters 2, I guess.
Why can’t we get tracks in weird fiction or bizarro fiction?
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