I'm going to briefly put on my moderator hat to issue a general warning that if anyone feels like they can poo-poo romance in this thread, you probably want to rethink that.
*takes mod hat off*
Now, onto the meat!
I was having a conversation with a friend the other day that gave me pause. She said she hated the Urban Fantasy genre. This hit me with a shock, since the idea of Urban Fantasy always struck me with a giddy interest. You see, I always thought of Urban Fantasy as things like The Dresden Files, The Iron Druid, or American Gods. Wizards getting by as PIs in Chicago. Gods working quietly in funeral homes. College campus legends and traditions about the local park secretly being about avoiding fae abduction. The melding of modern culture and ancient myths fascinates me as a reader.
When I asked her more about it, she brought up disliking the books about girls smooching werewolves and vampires, with an implication that she isn't simply referring to the Twilight Saga, but a much broader trend. The remark made me question my understanding of the genre. Is Urban Fantasy the same as Paranormal Romance to most people? Is what I'm actually interested in just regular ol' Fantasy? How do you understand where these genres break down?
Yeah, I know that genre classification is a very messy beast, at the best of days. Here's to hoping this conversation goes somewhere other than technicalities and exceptions.
Urban Fantasy (UF) and Paranormal Romance (PNR) aren't the same, but their edges overlap a lot, as many have pointed out. I've written both UF and PNR and the difference for me is the focus of the story. In the PNR, it's about the romantic and sexual relationship (with a happy ending) and surviving the magical world. In the UF it's about saving the day and surviving the magical world. But you can see how these could slip in and out of each other (and in my case, the world building for my UF is
exactly the same as my PNR, because its the same world.
The thing about romance is that there really does need to be either a happy ever after (HEA, i.e., the love interests are together and committed at the end) or a happy for now (HFN, i.e., the love interests are together and things look hopeful for the future). That, and a strong focus on the relationship, are what makes something a genre romance.
Smooching doesn't make something a romance. Banging doesn't make it a romance. It being primarily about the romantic relationship makes something a romance. Most savvy romance readers grock this. And they'll happily read beyond romance. They don't see PNR and UF as the same thing at all.
However, cross-shelving in bookstores does happen. So yes, you may find some books that are more PNR in the fantasy section.
As for where UF and plain old contemporary overlap, it's more that UF is a subset of contemporary fantasy. It has, in the past, had a noir mystery feel (ala Dresden) and it's usually set in a city. It certainly has a more episodic feel to it, like a TV show.
And there are strains of gritty paranormal romance out there too, which end up stumbling more into UF than PRN. (See also the Psycop series by Jordan Castillo Price, but only if you're okay with the love interests being men. Gritty. Dark. Cops. Ghosts. Sex.)
Which is all to say-- no I don't think the majority of readers think UF is PNR. I do think people need to stop bringing up Twilight all the dang time, since the book is now more than ten years old. It didn't even start PNR as a genre.
I don't dislike it per se, but it is one of the genres I steer clear of. That's personal taste, though. I don't like the use of modern figures of speech in fantasy settings, especially when the protagonist is introduced into a fantasy society, usually through some kind of parallel universe set up. The use of language aside, the stories can be interesting. In truth what sours my appreciation of stories isn't the setting as much as the soap opera plots that keep getting shoved into them and even worse when they carry a social justice diversity (SJD) twist to them. I prefer to focus on the world building and the main adventure plot line. SJD always stems from a huge hole in the world building and probably why I find it irritating.
Some stories aren't truly urban fantasy, but have elements of it in them. The Great Book of Amber for instance.
I'm always amused when people disparage current SFF books for being all "social justice-y" and full of, you know, politics.
Fantasy is a genre of subversion. It has always been a genre of subversion. It will continue to be a genre of subversion. If you think older fantasy isn't political or full of social justice, I've got bad news for you, starting with the themes of "Frankenstein".
*puts mod hat back on* And if you think disparaging diversity in fiction or real life is gonna fly, I also have bad news for you.