Week 8: Urban Fantasy

Because I am such a big fan of fantasy works and have been influenced by it so much that my art is mainly fantasy based now, I connect really well to the Mythic Fiction/ Contemporary Urban fantasy sub-genre. It’s great to enjoy fantasy but with stories involved with urban fantasy you can almost put yourself in the characters shoes because you can relate more to them. I was able to read some of American Gods and I really want to finish it mainly for the way that the classic myths and folk tales are woven through the story and reworked to fit into this universe that Gaiman has created.

Stories that have the theme of a magical fantasy realm existing within everyday life are some of my favorites. I was surprised when I saw that Pan’s Labyrinth was considered an urban fantasy, but then the more I thought about it the more I realized that it was. It’s not like most ‘modern’ fantasies where it takes place in the present, but I think the fact that it takes a more historical route with it’s setting makes it stand out on it own. It’s just the small modern details that make it all the more plausible to have actually happened. And that’s also what I liked about American Gods. You have this man who was suddenly thrust into this underground world of leprechauns and various gods, but they are presented in such a way that is normal, like you could just run into someone like that on the street.

That type of believability is very appealing to a lot of fantasy readers so I can see urban fantasy gaining even more popularity than it has in the past few years as more of it's media becomes mainstream.