More About Urban Fantasy

[mmerriam]

blackholly talks sensible and thoughtful about it here:
http://blackholly.livejournal.com/81135.html

stillsostrange talks smart and passionate about abused characters, abused people, and doing something: http://stillsostrange.livejournal.com/412040.html

Go read what they have to say, for they are both wise.

Comments

[tiny-wings.livejournal.com]

Have I just been living under a rock for the past while, or is there DeLint bashing suddenly popping up all over the place? What happened to cause that?

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

I think there are a lot of people who have been long time fans of de Lint's work who have felt let down by his last few books.

I have to admit that several of his more recent books have seemed stale, as if he's going back to the same well too often.

That said, I thought The Blue Girl was a good as anything he's ever written and I'm reading Widdershins right now and enjoying more than anything since Someplace to be Flying.

[tiny-wings.livejournal.com]

I was really disapointed by Spirits in the Wires, I admit. Haven't read The Blue Girl. I like Someplace to be Flying because it used a different crowd (i.e. not the Jilly and Geordie gang)

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

The biggest problem I had with Onion Girl was that it felt like there was a a Cool Cameo every five pages. That and I felt like the novel failed to advance the characters

In Widdershins, while it's a Jilly and Geordie book, I feel like he's growing and advancing the characters again.

[tiny-wings.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's right! I used to like the Cool Cameos because I felt like I was smart for knowing who the characters were, but now it's a little boring. I guess that's the problem when all your characters are in the same circle of friends.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Just the blogoverse thing. One person posted something that struck a chord for someone else, who linked it, and then several other people picked it up. The evolution of this one's only oddball in that it's a little easier than usual to trace back to the source.

[garunya.livejournal.com]

I'd personally really like to see more urban fantasy featuring otherwise "normal" characters as the protagonist - and by that I mean people who aren't your typical freaks and oddballs, or artists/musicians, or cops/detectives.

Not that those things are necessarily bad, I just want to see more variety, and more different takes on the genre.