Urban Fantasy: the elusive cousin of High Fantasy. Grungy, brazen, streetwise; just like the urban settings it depicts, Urban Fantasy takes the fantasy genre and gives it a thorough shaking down. Not only are its protagonists faced with fantastical scenarios, they are also faced with the daily trials that urban areas throw at you.
For many, Urban Fantasy is still a very much unknown sub-genre of fantasy. Mentioning it often results in blank faces and whilst some booksellers welcome it with excitement, some refuse to even contemplate it. However, the odds are you have already read and enjoyed Urban Fantasy without realising it. Terri Windling's Bordertown? Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere? Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series? J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter? To name but a few. I am sure you have read at least one of those and enjoyed it.
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But what is it? I hear you ask. It is anything you want it to be. Provided it is set predominately against an urban backdrop, it can have any fantastical twist you want. The limits are only those of your imagination. Love your bloodsuckers? No problem. Want to run with the pack? Fine. Like elves and their pointy ears? You're on! Long to be a Gryffindor? Sorted.
Due to its flexibility, Urban Fantasy novels tend to straddle several genres: horror, romance, action. Whilst this makes the sub-genre wonderfully versatile, it can make it difficult for it to be fully recognised as the urban backdrop can be mistaken as merely the 'setting' to the story. Think Platform 9 ¾: we were so blown away by an alternative platform co-existing at King's Cross (through a wall no less!) that we forgot its urban setting. Same with Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, Azkaban, the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts itself. Without the urban walls, bricks and mortar providing an anchor for J. K. Rowling's magical world, there would be no Harry Potter.
So, how could you define Urban Fantasy? It's where the fantastical world borders the mundane. It's where the majority, living in the urban setting, have no idea of the fantastical world lurking about them. They carry on with their everyday lives oblivious to the magical. It is only through the protagonist's encounters with the fantastical that help them, and us, become aware of it. For example, Terri Windling's Bordertown depicts a dystopian metropolis that lies along the border between "the Elflands" and "The World". Here, both magic and technology refuse to follow anyone's rules, Elves play in rock bands and human kids recreate themselves in artists' studios. Whilst in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, "London Below" is a magical realm that coexists with the more familiar London, referred to as "London Above".
