Urban fantasy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Urban fantasy is a subset of contemporary fantasy, consisting of magical novels and stories set in contemporary, real-world, urban settings -- as opposed to 'traditional' fantasy set in wholly imaginary landscapes, even ones containing imaginary cities, or having most of their action take place in them.

Although individual books that could be labelled 'urban fantasy' existed prior to the 1980s (particularly in the field of children's fiction), it was in that decade that the term became widely used among adult fantasy writers and readers -- and that the form grew in popularity to become a sub-genre of its own. Pioneers of this genre were Charles de Lint (author of Moonheart and the Newford series), Emma Bull (War for the Oaks), John Crowley (Little, Big), Megan Lindholm (a.k.a. Robin Hobb, The Wizard of the Pigeons), Jonathan Carroll (The Land of Laughs), Matt Ruff (Fool on the Hill), and Terri Windling (in her role as editor of the Ace Books fantasy line, and as creator of the Borderlands series). Subsequent authors to enter the field and expand its territory included Richard Bowes, Francesca Lia Block, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Holly Black, Mercedes Lackey, Neil Gaiman and China Miéville.