The Urban Fantasy Subgenre, Explained
In the average fantasy setting, the mundane details of the setting often resemble the real world of the medieval era. One of the most common and popular twists on the genre brings the fantastical elements into a more modern setting, creating a new world known as urban fantasy.
Every medium from comic books, to film, to literature, to television has multiple huge urban fantasy staples with armies of fans. The big names often grow past traditional fantasy, leading to a ton of fairy tale creatures wandering city streets. Urban fantasy serves as a platform for almost every other major genre, but it's one of the most popular settings for a reason.
The Weird West Subgenre In Fiction, Explained
In the big modern cities, there's so much happening at any given time that any number of incredible secrets could hide away from the average citizen. Beings ripped straight from the pages of Grimm or Tolkien could blend into the surging crowd and join the giant organism that is a well-functioning city. Urban fantasy imagines a world in which magic and all it implies is real, but remains a well-kept secret to most. Some urban fantasy settings allow magic to be a bit more out in the open than others, but a secret society is the typical order of the subgenre. The world of urban fantasy typically developed in much the same way the real world did, but elements of alternate history are also sometimes available. They almost always take place on Earth or a facsimile. Urban fantasy is as simple and classic as a subgenre can be, and it works by providing a platform for anything.
The term «urban fantasy» was originally used to describe real places. Travel guides and hotel advertisements would describe their little piece of metropolis as an «urban
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