On urban fantasy.

[limyaael]

Quote of the Day:

"I sometimes wish that I could control the weather. But this might be uncomfortable for other people."

-Swinburne.

Comments

[limyaael]

That's a really neat idea, and one I don't think I've ever seen an author handle. Usually they assume that human souls are too "lowly" to get reincarnated as elves. *eyeroll*

[venusrain]

...Please, for the love of all that is truly smart evil, tell me you're joking. Because that statement gave me a cerebral anurysm.

And I'm fairly certian I misspelled something there. Oh well.

[worldserpent]

#3: Yeah, I'd prefer that the author did deal with the social and historical trends, otherwise it is sort of pointless

[limyaael]

Most urban fantasies do take place in twentieth-century cities, especially New York or various cities in Canada (those last mostly the creations of Charles de Lint). There are some that don't, but I suspect the idea of "elves in New York City" holds enough inherent fascination to pull authors back there.

I've never read any fantasies that take place in our world but not in the modern era. The designation "historical fantasy" doesn't really work, since that usually assumes another world based on our own. Nor does "alternative history" work, since that assumes the presence of magic and magical creatures alters history.

Perhaps you could found a new genre?

[maureenlycaon]

I think the steampunk genre (or even "sandalpunk"!) already offers possibilities here. If we can have higher technology in the Victorian age, why not throw elves into the mix?

I do know of one such novel, The Not-World by Thomas Burnett Swann. The main characters try an early (undocumented by history!) hot-air balloon ride, and end up in a pocket of English forest. And the "little people" and other creatures here resemble the "other" creatures of legend a lot more than the elves of Tolkien or de Lint.

(Side note: it's a great pity that Swann's work has been nearly forgotten. He owed no debt to either Tolkien or Robert Howard, but drew most of his inspiration from Greco-Roman mythology.)

Another recommendation: Ariel, a book of the Change, by Steven Boyett. The laws of science change abruptly and horrifyingly, so that modern technology doesn't work but magic does, unicorns and griffins and dragons (clearly inspired by the book The Flight of Dragons reappear, etc. . . . but the author is very careful to show the ghastly destruction

[limyaael]

I really do need to read more Charles de Lint. I hadn't known that Jack the Giant Killer was urban fantasy; I thought it was just a retelling of a fairy tale.

And you're right about the impossibility of cutting off contact with the human world. I think a lot of urban fantasy authors, like a lot of fantasy authors in general, want to have their cake and eat it too: they want to have the "cute" aspects of their creatures interacting with the modern world, but they don't have to deal with any that would inconvenience their characters or involve complex plotting.

[mark356]

I disagree; before Tolkien, there was a huge variety of elves, of all heights and shapes and colors.

[teh_kittykat]

Just for another good urban fantasy, Josepha Sherman wrote an excellent Unseelie-centered one that (I am fairly sure, book is currently packed away) is called Son of Darkness. It totally breaks just about all of the cliches you mention: the transplanted Dark Elf is of the old school (not drow), quite self-centered, devious, and has his former colleagues make sure to show up and bite him in the ass from time to time. The Unseelie Court is made delightfully creepy and sadistic. His human partner is also quite cool-- a normal museum archivist. It also breaks down a lot of the "redeemed Dark Elf" garbage from the Drizzt series (which I liked, but which do have junk in them), but I shan't give too much away to avoid spoilage.

Really, Josepha Sherman was wasted in those coauthors she did with Lackey, but coauthoring is one of the surefire ways of getting your books bought.

[raim]

I enjoyed that book a lot, but you have to admit the plot was kind of... lacking.

And to limyaael: Tolkien didn't really make his elves go through a huge transformation - there are elves who are pretty and as tall as humans (or taller), in Celtic and Germanic mythology and I'm sure in other cultures, as well. In fact, Germanic elves are really short to really tall, devided in at least two subgroups (one of which spawned the 'modern' idea of dwarves). I'm certain Tolkien knew about that.

(and once again she's commenting on old stuff *grins* Sorry)

[anonymous]

If urban fantasy is one side of the coin, horror is the other. So, if you put too much sense of wonder in the latter, or too realistic/scary legendary beings in the former, you end up in the other genre.

BTW, if you want fun with faeries [sp?], and technology, I'd recommend the Artemis Fowl books.

inge

(lyorn@gmx.de)

[limyaael]

*blink* There are Artemis Fowl books? I thought it was mainly a television show.

Hmm. Thanks for the info.

[dreamsnake21]

there's a television show??? hmm... the books are cute tho... very very different idea of mythological creatures and how they adapt to technology..

[sauntau]

I've never heard of it as a television show. Nope, it's a six-book series written by an Irish guy named Eoin Colfer, and very well-written, IMHO. Although, to me, the magic is the least important part of the plots. It's more like action-adventure/crime/law-enforcement, only with magic. :P