OCTOBER 21, 2012 11:28PM
U is for ... (31 Days of Halloween, Oct. 21)
URBAN FANTASY: LEATHER PANTS AND TRAMP STAMPS!
Have you taken a good look at the airport, newsstand and supermarket bookshelf? Have you noticed anything else alongside the wingnut pundit anti-Obama tomes and the many Shades of prurient naughtiness?
Perhaps you’ve noticed some hardbitten supernatural mamas with rockin’ bods and a daring sense of fashion?
Urban fantasy (sometimes Paranormal Romance) is defined thus in the blog a genteel black whole:
To me, to class a book as being of
this Fantasy subgenre, it needs to contain the following ingredients:
contemporary setting, set in the real-world and with a real sense of
place, city-based, with a male or female lead who has supernatural
powers and uses them to kick ass and help people, detective/crime plot,
humour, and set in a slightly alternative ‘now’ as humans are usually
aware or becoming aware of the existence of certain supernatural beings.
These beings include, but are not limited to: vampires (new and old
mythology), were-creatures (from wolves to coyotes), wizards/witches,
and the fae.
The genre has its more masculine properties (see Jim Butcher, whom I haven’t read), but strong, modern female protagonists are the norm. And a little googling reveals the several clichés of the genre and its characters:
- Blunt, hardbitten heroines in some sort of law enforcement
- Snappy sarcastic dialogue
- Pop culture monsters and mythological creatures
- Tattoos and badass leather clothes
- Complicated love triangles or headache inducing polyamorous relationships
And with that in mind, I have recently sampled via audiobook two examples of the genre. One was Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan series, which I found engaging and charming and entertaining. The other is the Queen Mother of urban fantasy at her worst: Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series, whose incredibly overblown erotic triangles will have you guffawing in astonishment, not titillation. Anita Blake, the heroine, has a harem of pretty boys who are allowed to have sex with each other and Anita, but no other women. They are utterly fascinated with Anita and will allow her to have sex with any permutation of character because they love her. You have to admire this in-your-face transposition of male fantasy.
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Comments
have you seen the book aisles of young adult in Target? If thats young adult then maybe I am too.:)
HUGGGGGGGGGGG
HUGGGGGGGGGGG
In terms of genre
clichés, all hail Tattoos and badass leather clothes, but it's a shame
that the love triangles need be complicated or the polyamorous
relationships headache-inducing. The other books you mention seem more
sex-positive.
Linda, you may have seen the less racier permutations of the Urban Fantasy at the Target YA section. Hope you're well!
VA - I think it's a sex positive result. I'm certainly not condemning the outre sex in the Anita Blake novels. It's just that, after a while, the whole thing gets a little ridiculous. In the one I listened two, Anita Blake is in a relationship with three vampires, a werewolf, two wereleopards and a werelion, all of whom will have sex with each other but are brought to tears when she expresses interest in others. They may never, EVER, have sex with another woman but Anita. Plus she also finds time to have sex with someone outside the relationships. Got a headache yet? ;)
VA - I think it's a sex positive result. I'm certainly not condemning the outre sex in the Anita Blake novels. It's just that, after a while, the whole thing gets a little ridiculous. In the one I listened two, Anita Blake is in a relationship with three vampires, a werewolf, two wereleopards and a werelion, all of whom will have sex with each other but are brought to tears when she expresses interest in others. They may never, EVER, have sex with another woman but Anita. Plus she also finds time to have sex with someone outside the relationships. Got a headache yet? ;)
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