UF TRends - Continued
by ilonaandrews on Sep.29, 2009, under Ann Aguirre and Ilona Andrews
Ann brought up an awesome point regarding the frequency of sexy vampires. Urban Fantasy is an extension of folkloric tradition, a more modern interpretation of the old fairy tales. I think the vampires in UF and Paranormal are the natural extension of the Prince motif we see so much in European folklore. The Prince that we so often see in fairy tales is noble, both in spirit and in manners, brave, often quite violent (chopping off dragon heads, etc), attractive, and let’s not forget loaded. If he wasn’t rolling in riches at the beginning of the fairy tale, he can usually give the millionaires from Dragon’s Den a run for their money by the end of it.
The vampire fits into this stereotype beautifully. Handsome, check (Thank you, Anne Rice). Violent, check (bloodsucker, after all, must suck). Rich, check (well of course he is rich, since he’s been alive for years and years.) And because the Prince must be noble, our vampire comes with built in moral conflict: he hates what he must do to survive and he acknowledges the fact that he is, indeed, a monster. That Prince-monster motif is old, too, starting from Beauty and the Beast, of which there are tons of versions. Below is a Russian one. Fast-forward to about a minute to see the Beast, or you may have to sit through a bit of singing.
George Sand built on this trend to bring us Consuelo in late 18oo’s and opening the era of the Gothics, which took the idea of Prince-monster and twisted it in a million different ways. Now the idea of anti-hero is once again re-surging.
I like the antihero. He’s never boring.
I also do enjoy an story of an elegant vampire once in a while. But if we move away from European mythology and dip our toes into other folklore, we come up with a whole slew of different creatures. Russian upiri - while occasionally hot and often suffering from a terminal weakness for the ladies - are also know to literary devour dead bodies, to the point of raiding churches where the dead were laid out for burial. Manananggal from the Philippines grows wings, detaches its upper torso and flies around looking for victims, preferably pregnant women, so it can suck their organs. Tibetian vampires, the Wrathful Deities, attacked the newly dead, not the living. And the list goes on.
So here is my questions to you: Anti-hero, yes or no and which myths would you like to see explored in UF?
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September 30th, 2009 on 12:01 am
I like both the hero and the anti-hero. In some ways I think it is harder to come up with new twists for the hero, yet it is possible to make the anti-hero by using a lesser known mythology or joining more then one together. I have found that I tend to enjoy more complex characters most of the time instead of the cookie cutter hero/heroine/villain. That doesn’t mean that I do not appreciate the elegant knight in shining armor hero but a steady diet of that can feel over-used.
I would like to see more Asian and Norse myths used. They were always my favorites to read growing up. In my opinion you and Yasmine Galenorn have been doing a wonderful job of melding those areas together. I also enjoy how Ann Aguirre’s Corine Solomon series takes myths from the hills and back county to bring to life.
Thanks for the discussion.
September 30th, 2009 on 12:11 am
Love love love anti-heroes. I actually find the idea of a hero itself a little tame, nowadays. I like my fantasy dark, complex, and viscerally real.
And actually, though it doesn’t fit into “urban fantasy” so much, one of the best examples of a writer who actively toys with myths, legends, fairy tales and general folklore I’ve read in recent years has been Andrzej Sapkowski, the Polish author of The Last Wish and Blood of Elves. His world is a mix of Tolkien’s Middle Earth with a dash of late-medieval backstabbing politics, racism, disease and turmoil. His main character, Geralt, is a Witcher, a sort of Jedi with Balls. They’re genetically altered (through alchemy and magic) to be better fighters than normal humans, but the same processes make them sterile, and humans, being ever noble and gracious, shun them with one hand, and toss pennies at them later for killing monster (which is what they were all altered for).
Not to be long winded, but Sapkowski has managed to thread his world with the seeds of fairytales, both recognizable and not, and the way in which he toys with those familiar archetypes and twists them around to give a more bleak, modern, cynical viewpoint on them is refreshing and always, always interesting.
September 30th, 2009 on 6:09 am
@ Adam What did you think of the Witcher computer game? My husband likes it, but controls were a bit awkward to me. I get through the initial “oh noes, castle attack” thingie and then I feel like I have to force myself through the rest. I might have lost my mind but wasn’t it buggy on the release?
October 1st, 2009 on 12:53 am
I really enjoyed it. I tried the game at first, and I actually didn’t like it (I got to the first chapter and called it quits), but a few friends of mine played it and told me to stick it out, and it’s actually pretty excellent. It’s slower paced than a lot of RPG’s, but it’s rewarding, and the way they approach decision-making is awesome - whatever choice you make affects the game later, in one way or another, and it’s not a cheap “good or evil” choice like in Fable.
So I’d recommend it, definitely.
October 1st, 2009 on 9:52 pm
Yes, on the anti-hero. Anne Stuart is a master of the Romance anti-hero, and I love her books.
I like the Cupid and Psyche myth, but that’s not surprising since B&B is my favorite fairytale. I’m blanking out on other suggestions, though. My mythology education has been sadly lacking apparently. I did admire the way Patricia Briggs incorporated the Beowulf legend into Cry Wolf.
That video is gorgeous, BTW.
October 1st, 2009 on 11:03 pm
Anti-heroes. And I love Celtic and Norse mythos. I don’t know much about the numerous Asian mythos but I’d be curious to learn more about them in fiction!