[My Love-Hate Relationship With Urban Fantasy]

Ever since I was a kid, I have loved urban fantasy. Mind you, I'm older than some people think. When "I was a kid," urban fantasy wasn't even called "urban fantasy." I'm talking about Vampire: The Masquerade, The entire World of Darkness, shows like Kindred, the Embraced, &c. I was fascinated by things that go bump-in-the-night. I loved reading about them and telling stories about them.

So why do I not read urban fantasy nowadays? The answer is simple:

It's all the same.

The darling subgenre of the SFF world is a despicable homogenization. I've read a few books here and there, sure. But if I have to read another "pretty white woman" urban fantasy novel, I'm going to puke. I hate it. I hate urban fantasy. My roots. My core.

I remember going to the bookstore a year ago to check out the state of the subgenre. Maybe I haven't given it the chance it deserves, I thought. Maybe it's changed, I thought. Wrong. Dominating the shelves in all their black-and-red glory were dozens of books with the same cover elements: Pretty white (straight... or bisexual-of-convenience... that's a rant for another post) woman. And looking at those covers, I already knew what the books would be about. Every single bloody one of them would be about a pretty white woman who will do battle and/or fall in love with a pretty white supernatural man.

This is not why I adored "urban fantasy" so many years ago. I adored the subgenre because it let me explore worlds that weren't so different from my own, worlds that were just a shade darker than my own. But they were worlds where anything was possible.

Apparently, "anything" means sexy white female is a vampire/werewolf/magic-user/hunter who wears leather pants.

So what's the point of this post? Well, I've been wanting to write an urban fantasy novel for awhile now. But I'm stuck. I haven't written it. Maybe it's fear, maybe it's disgust, maybe it's just excuses. I don't want to write my urban fantasy novel because I know, deep down, that it will never see the light of day. I don't like writing for myself. I want to write for other people. But what happens when the story I want to tell is a story that publishers won't touch with a ten-foot pole?

I know there are plenty of people out there who feel the same way that I do. Maybe even enough to deem the idea of publishing a "different" urban fantasy novel a worthwhile endeavor. But let's face it: Publishers aren't in the business of making change. Publishers are in the business of following trends. And the trend in urban fantasy is "pretty white woman does battle and/or falls in love with pretty white supernatural man."

Personally, I would LOVE to read an urban fantasy novel about a black lesbian and HER conflicts. I would LOVE to read an urban fantasy novel about a gay male teenager and HIS conflicts. I would LOVE to read an urban fantasy novel about a latina asexual female and HER conflicts. I would LOVE to read an urban fantasy novel about an elderly man and HIS conflicts. And you gotta write the kind of book that you want to read. Maybe I'll give it a go. NaNoWriMo is coming up. It'll be a perfect excuse to finally do it. Even if it never will see the light of day.

And if it does... bet your bottom dollar that even if my novel is about a 50-something year-old heavyset black woman, the cover will feature a 20-something year-old supermodel white woman.





There's a great youtube video that illustrates some of the points I'm trying to make:
Urban Fantasy Book Covers