Is Urban Fantasy turning you into an outcast?
Reading one old article from 2010 written by Damien Walter, writer and columnist for the Guardian, you might be forgiven for thinking so. Because in it, Urban Fantasy readers get quite the beat-down.
Walter writes, “I can believe that before television[…], many more people had a need for cheap books in copious supply that did no more than entertain. But there are now so many competing ways for people to invest their leisure time that the mass market paperback or even the e-book are surely struggling for market share?”
One commenter informed us with authority that Urban Fantasy is read only by emos and teenage girls. Another commenter said about UF readers, “It is quite hard to describe what they are like without being pointlessly mean since I too tend to drift in what I’m reading, and find such specialization unfathomable.”
I bet Walter’s quip about the e-book is one he regrets now, four years later. But let me ask this. What if I expect nothing more from books than to be entertained? Reading is something I do when I’m not watching TV, and I have no further ambitions than to be transported to a universe that is not filled with my kind of problems or world problems. In fact, I don’t need books to make me think. My mind is always on the go, figuring out how CSS works when my HTML knowledge is obsolete, or how to define “depth of field” and “depth of focus” eloquently and simply so that even people who are not versed in optics may understand the difference, or how to use my newest SEO plugin to best effect. Hell, now and again I need a time-out.
Let’s not forget most of UF comes serialized, and you’re not going to abandon the series halfway through, are you? And what about the authors? Authors tend to write in the same genre, and once I’ve come to enjoy an author’s voice, I’ll be back for more.
Which brings me neatly to the thing that puzzles me most. Why single out Urban Fantasy? What about those who only read crime or only historical romance?
I used to read four to five books a week, of which at least three were Urban Fantasy or Paranormal Romance. The “spare one” was usually a work of literary fiction and/or crime or sci-fi. If anything, there wasn’t enough Urban Fantasy around to keep me going.
Because I like what I like. Incidentally, I also like watching shows that might be classified as belonging to only three or four genres. I like Indian takeout more than Chinese. For books, it’s the same.
How about you? Do you flit from one to the other, or do you, too, have your fall-back genre?
My literary consumption has gone down because I got busier, but for those spare moments when I do whip out a book, I want it to be exciting, wonderful, alien and fun. Give me Mary Buckham, Darynda Jones or Kim Harrison, and I’ll be able to finally have some Me time.
Please don’t spoil it for me.