Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Writer’s Wednesday: Urban Fantasies






As of today, this will be Writer’s Wednesday. If you’re an author of horror, science fiction, fantasy, nonfiction ghost books, poetry, thriller and mysteries, you can contact me to do a guest blog about writing on one of the Wednesdays.

What is it about urban fantasies that people are reading these days? Urban fantasy is supposed to mean fantasy happening in city landscapes. That is usually with fairies and other creatures of a fantastical bent. Actually the name implies throwing fantasy elements into our urban society. Though the last few years, publishers have even added ghosts, vampires, werewolves, zombies and creatures considered to belong in the horror genre. An author I read, Laura K. Hamilton, was considered under horror when I first began her Anita Blake series, but later was called urban fantasy. Now there's even romance added to the mix. Not that horror and fantasy can’t have romance in the storyline.



My first urban fantasy read was Emma Bull's War for the Oaks, back in 1987. I've read others since then, though they were termed fantasies then. But by the twenty-first century, the name, urban fantasy, was coined. It's one of my favorites to read. I have even finished one myself that I am now shopping around. Under my pseudonym for paranormal romance, Sapphire Phelan, I have written two books in a series, that first came out as eBooks, Being Familiar With a Witch and A Familiar Tangle With Hell, and now is out in print together in one book, The Witch And The Familiar. Of course, none these are for anyone under 18, being erotic. LOL.



One of my favorite authors who write in this genre is Jim Butcher. Which authors of this genre you read?


2 comments:

KarennaC said...

I've read Laurell K. Hamilton's books, though at some point they tipped into being sex with a little bit of urban fantasy thrown in and I stopped reading. I love Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books. I write urban fantasy myself, both for teens and as part of romances; and I have a thing for werewolves since one of my romance series is about a gay vegan werewolf and his mate, the pack Alpha.

Janice Seagraves said...

I too read Laurell K. Hamilton, but when it became nothing but sex with very little story, I stopped reading. I love Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, and Read the Stooky Stackhouse book before there was True Blood. I also enjoyed Kim Harrison books about a witch, a smart mouth pixy and a vampire that all live together.

Janice~