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more about #urbanfantasy more comments → Wookie1972: I feel a sense of desperation in all this, sort of a feeling of "barbarians at the gate" with the true sci fi fans fretting about all these fantasy f... more » deworde: Sorry, can't help you. In Britain, we have Doctor Who. The entirety of our nation's youth are being quickly re-indoctrinated in to madcap Fantasy with... more » Biku: We already have "urban sci-fi". It's sci-fi like the X-files (to use a tv example) that "normal" people also enjoy because the science part takes a ba... more » Klebert L. Hall: "What's the equivalent "gateway drug" for science fiction?" Star Wars. -Kle. more » toveydag: @Dresan I agree with you to a point about cartoons as the gateway drug (and would amplify it with TV and movies), but it won't work with somebody who... more » Rasselas: I don't mean to strike a needlessly cynical tone, but considering the small population of regular readers of anything in the U.S., much less regular r... more » Dresan: When talking about a gateway drug, one that gets your attention but doesn't necessarily hook you, you gotta talk about the easy and fun stuff. And by... more » Lassus: If we're talking solely books, I'd simply say Asimov is the true science fiction gateway drug. Period. End of story. But even for me, that probably... more » Chip Overclock: Stross' comment about why you can't write near-future SF reminds me why I like William Gibson's more recent novels: he writes about the present, or ev... more » RocktheDebit: We could probably poach a bunch of mystery readers by having... DETECTIVES IN SPACE! Post-scarcity-world crime-solving! Hell, Nora Roberts's "In Dea... more » LittleDragon: I love me some literature gateway drugs. more » MonkeyT: In a lot of ways, Bond (as well as any techno-thriller) is a gateway drug to science fiction. more » Silentkiller2774: Can you really consider The Dresden Files "Urban Fantasy"? Don't get me wrong, I love The Dresden Files, it's one of my favorite book series out there... more » Mathmos: I read comic books as a child, right up until I happened to look at an issue of Analog on a news stand. more » Dr Emilio Lizardo: Well, LotR was my gateway drug to genre. Then Heinlein juveniles, I Robot and foundation. CJA, the problem with your suggestion of "Urban SF" is tha... more » -
#genres
Urban Fantasy Is A "Gateway Drug." So Does SF Need A Better First High?
Editor Diana Gill calls urban fantasy a "gateway drug" to regular fantasy, because it takes place in the world we know, except that it's laced with magic. This started us wondering: What's the equivalent "gateway drug" for science fiction? More » -
#bookreview
Magical Dogs and Detectives Explore Supernatural San Francisco in "Unleashed"
Forthcoming urban fantasy Unleashed (Ace) by John Levitt is the sequel to Dog Days and New Tricks. It follows the exploits of a spell-casting jazz guitarist and his magic doggie. Well, sort of a doggie. More » -
#urbanfantasy
Urban Fantasy Always Takes Place In Alternate Worlds
Your urban fantasy automatically takes place in an alternate universe, because the existence of supernatural and magical items would alter society fundamentally. At least, that's what Bill Willingham, Jon Courtenay Grimwood and other panelists at World Fantasy 2009 claimed. More » -
#bookreview
Madness of Flowers: The City Is...Alive
The brilliant and prolific Jay Lake returns to the City Imperishable, with a Madness of Flowers. This is a decadent, surreal urban fantasy in the New Weird vein. Sex Dwarfs, spoilers, and a Polar Bear await.
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#princessfrog
First 5 Minutes Of The Princess And The Frog Is A Love/Hate Experience
As much as I love the hand-drawn beauty that is classic Disney story-telling, it's hard not to let certain Princess And The Frog plot points fog up the animation. But you be the judge: here are the first few minutes. More » -
#bookreview
Fairies With Guns Stalk A Dark San Francisco
"Someday I'll figure out why everything in Faerie seems to end up in San Francisco," the narrator muses in Rosemary And Rue, Seanan McGuire's debut novel. Whatever the reason, the city throngs with fae... and some of them turn deadly.
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#top10
Top 10 Most Corrupt Mayors From Science Fiction
You think your city's leadership is bad? Just look at these 10 stand-out examples of terrible mayors and awful city leaders from science fiction and urban fantasy. They steal, they kill, they won't give the people air! More » -
#urbanfantastic
Megapolisomancy, Or Why All Cities Are Haunted
Your city seethes with ghosts. Its impossibly twisted streets stream with magic, and its chimneys exude smoke of a decidedly hallucinatory nature. Why do modern, urban places feel as if they are home to so many unexplainable, otherworldly forces? More » -
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#chartporn
Is This The Year Urban Fantasy Conquers Science Fiction?
Urban fantasy is swallowing up speculative fiction book sales, according to a new sales chart from Tim Holman, our new favorite chart pornographer. The Orbit Books publisher says that urban fantasy now claims nearly half the SF/F bestselller list. More » -
#bookreview
L.A. Is A Magical Cesspit, And Sandman Slim Is Its New Champion
Richard Kadrey was at the vanguard of the noir-tinged cyberpunk back in the day, so it's only fitting he's helping to shape noir's next frontier, urban fantasy. His novel Sandman Slim brings Hellspawn and trash magic to L.A. Spoilers below...
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#midnightmass
The Greatest Monster-Hunting Comic Of All Time Is Becoming A TV Series
Midnight, Mass, the amazing Vertigo comic about a husband-and-wife team of monster hunters who recruit a new asssistant, is finally getting the adaptation it deserves: as a TV series for NBC. Please let it live up to the comic's brilliance. More » -
#webcomicreview
Robots, Mysteries, and Magic Collide in Gunnerkrigg Court
Tom Siddell's Gunnerkrigg Court has won awards, critical acclaim, and the heart of Neil Gaiman. With its mysterious boarding school setting and curious, lighthearted blend of science fiction, fantastical creatures, gothic imagery, and silly humor, it's easy to see why. More » -
#bookreview
In Which Some Steampunk Novels are Discussed
Goggles, gaslights and gears, oh my! Steampunk is a steadily growing subgenre of speculative fiction. We review four current and forthcoming books that have been affixed with that label... in an elegant copperplate hand, naturally.
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#fantasypolitics
Enjoy "Racial Sensitivity" In Disney's Princess Frog Game About Hot Sauce And Borrowed Tiaras
Disney's Princess and The Frog has been getting a lot of flack for reportedly turning the first black Disney Princess green for a majority of the film. I'm not so sure this videogame tie-in is going to help their case. More » -
#bookreview
"Bar None" Cracks Open A Beer At The End Of The World
Bar None by Tim Lebbon (Night Shade Press, 2009) is a dark post-apocalyptic fantasy with a creepy numinous beauty and really good beer. End of the world, everybody, last orders if you please.
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#bookreview
A Courtesan-Turned-Warrior's Head-Kicking Journey
Jay Lake's sixth novel, Green , is an inventive fantasy of exotic cities, weird gods, conspiracies, stabbings, and kicks to the head. And here come the spoilers...
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#literaryjournals
Joyce Carol Oates And Jeff Vandermeer, Together At Last
Back in 2002, superstar literary journal Conjunctions redefined the intersection of science fiction and lit with its "New Wave Fabulists" issue. Now they're trying to do the same for urban fantasy. More » -
#writing
How To Start A Novel So It'll Grow Into A Compelling Series
Fantasy author Gwenda Bond points us to a fascinating discussion among novelists: How much planning do you put in before you start a novel? And raises a related question: what makes a great book series? More » -
#thesorcerersapprentice
We Met Apprentice Wizard Jay Baruchel
Magical dealings are afoot on location in New York City, for the retelling of Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice. And lucky us - we bumped into the modern-day mouse himself, Jay Baruchel, while filming. More »
