Urban fantasy on different worlds

I'd like to know this, too.

The story I'm working on now (which I've affectionately titled Conflictus Maximus because I've GOT to get this conflict thing down!) is set in multiple worlds. Part of the time we're on an alternate version of Earth but then we make a jump via corridor (sort of like a wormhole) to another planet and there are other planets that are mentioned in passing.

Grabs popcorn and waits for other responses...

One of the key elements of urban fantasy is having the city be a character. This unique world should influence your real characters.

Can this happen on another planet? Theoretically. If you could build a strong enough urban landscape (it can actually be rural and still work, but a location) on this other world, it could function in a similar way.

However, if you're going to be on multiple planets/worlds, then you're much more in Sci-Fi territory.

I'm revising my novel about a fox shapeshifter assassin/spy that's set in the far future and takes place on multiple planets. I'm hoping to finish revising it within the next month so I can finally submit it.

Otherwise, I don't see any problem with urban fantasy taking place in the future or on other planets so long is it keeps the same urban fantasy feel.

The Dante Valentine series by Lillith Saintcrow is what I consider futuristic urban fantasy. Dante is a necromance with a demon lover. But that series takes place on Earth sometime in the future after all of humanity has become aware of the supernatural.

Grimspace by Ann Aguirre isn't technically urban fantasy, but I and others have said it has an urban fantasy feel to it while being SF. But the main character's j-gene that allows her to travel through grimspace (that's sort of like hyperspace) acts a lot like magic in urban fantasy. Sirantha Jax (the MC) is one of the few people with this gene. It takes place on other planets and spaceships.

Another series that I haven't read but heard was vampires in space is Deadly Pursiut and its sequel by Nina Croft from Entangled Publishing. The first is an e-novella, but I think the second is in both e and print.

That's all I can think of for now, but I'm on the look out for these types of urban fantasies since that's what I'm writing.

Hopefully I could be of some help.

Yttar

If the city on your other world does become integral to the story and it's not straying so much into SciFi, you might be stepping into "New Weird" territory, sort of like China Mieville's Perdido Street Station.

Oberon89 said:

If the city on your other world does become integral to the story and it's not straying so much into SciFi, you might be stepping into "New Weird" territory, sort of like China Mieville's Perdido Street Station.

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Really good example.

CAMueller said:

One of the key elements of urban fantasy is having the city be a character. This unique world should influence your real characters.

Can this happen on another planet? Theoretically. If you could build a strong enough urban landscape (it can actually be rural and still work, but a location) on this other world, it could function in a similar way.

However, if you're going to be on multiple planets/worlds, then you're much more in Sci-Fi territory.

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Wow. I am such a goober. I've been writing sci-fi this whole time and didn't even know it, which is kind of scary because me and science do not get along! I guess I've always thought that in order to write science fiction, one must be a science buff. Please tell me this is not the case!

Anyway, maybe that explains my anti-magic tendencies (not that there's anything wrong with magic - I like reading it - it just doesn't excite me as something to write about), why I keep trying to make everything in my books plausible without using magic to explain it.

FWIW, Wikipedia says that science fiction often includes:

• A time setting in the future, in alternative timelines, or in a historical past that contradicts known facts of history or the archaeological record.
• A spatial setting or scenes in outer space (e.g., spaceflight), on other worlds, or on subterranean earth.[3]
• Characters that include aliens, mutants, androids, or humanoid robots.
• Technology that is futuristic (e.g., ray guns, teleportation machines, humanoid computers).[4]
• Scientific principles that are new or that contradict known laws of nature, for example time travel, wormholes, or faster-than-light travel.
• New and different political or social systems (e.g. dystopia, post-scarcity, or a post-apocalyptic situation where organized society has collapsed).[5]
• Paranormal abilities such as mind control, telepathy, telekinesis, and teleportation.

Now, let's compare that to my WIP:
Other worlds? check
Aliens? check
Wormholes? check
Paranormal abilities? double check

*thread-jack over*

Escape Artist said:

Wow. I am such a goober. I've been writing sci-fi this whole time and didn't even know it, which is kind of scary because me and science do not get along! I guess I've always thought that in order to write science fiction, one must be a science buff. Please tell me this is not the case!

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There is so much cross-over that lots of dark fantasy and Sci-Fi gets merged into UF and vice versa. Nothing wrong with having elements of both!

Hard sci-fi tends to have more of the science you're talking about.

Think about Grimspace by Ann Aguirre (referenced by awesome folks above); it's soft sci-fi. Not science-y, but more paranormal, other-worldly. (And very good, for that matter.)

How urban do you want?

Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series has (so far) focused on a single city in every work. They use tropes from heist films instead of traditional fantasy. But the level of technology isn't modern, so that might not work for some people.

China Mieville has already been mentioned. You might also want to consider Jeff VanderMeer's Finch, which has a very urban feel (it's mixed with noir) but is set in an entirely different world.

John Meaney and his novel Bone Song, as well as its sequel Dark Blood, take place on another world in a city called Tristopolis. It's obviously a modern-day city comparable to any of ours. Its MC is a detective caught in a power struggle of the society's elite. And the world works quite differently than ours, but it's not technological based, but fantasy based.

I can't say I've ever read anything else quite like them, but they fit in the urban fantasy category to me.

Urban fantasy doesn't really include works in a secondary world, really.

Scott Lynch is not UF. Not even a little bit.

Finch is distinctly New Weird and not UF.

The closest to UF novels set on another world I can think of are Michelle Sagara's "Cast" books (Cast in Shadow, etc.). Secondary world, but the city is very important and the MC is essentially a beat cop.

Setting isn't modern, but there are magical items that replace modern conveniences like computers and telephones.

There's a whole host of non-human species, too.

But a seriously large argument could be made against them being UF, too.

Vlad Taltos would be UF on other worlds for me. By Steven Brust i think. They're pretty good, and there are over 10 of them.