Today’s topic comes from QSFer Freddy MacKay:
Freddy wanted to talk about the difference between High Fantasy and Urban Fantasy.
I grew up on High Fantasy. The first adult book I read, which I started in second or third grade, was The Fellowship of the Rings, and I soon gravitated to the Shannara series and then to tad William’s The Dragonbone Chair, and many others like them. To my mind, High Fantasy is generally set in an alternate world, is epic in length and scope, and features a multitude of characters 9often of the elf-dwarf etc variety).
Urban Fantasy, on the other hand, takes place usually on contemporary Earth. My first run-in with Urban Fantasy in a big way was probably, ironically, Terry Brooks’ Word & Void series, which later were hooked into the Shannara series as precursors.
So my questions today – what would YOU say differentiates Urban Fantasy from High Fantasy? Which do you prefer? And what are some good examples of each on the LGBTIQ side? Extra points if they are not your novels. *grin*