TusCon 35 Report, Part 1

[pameladlloyd]

My first panel was scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday evening. I arrived about twenty minutes beforehand, picked up my badge and materials, and headed upstairs to the El Conquistador meeting room. The panelists were Janni Simner (janni), Jill Knowles (jillykat), Yvonne Navarro (yvonnenavarro), and myself <--New website. Our topic was, "What is urban fantasy today?" We acknowledged the early writers, of whom I remember Charles de Lint and Emma Bull (lj user="coffeeem">), because their works are among my favorites, although there were others mentioned. We discussed some of the changes, with urban fantasy moving toward a darker and more romantic palette. The other panelists were adamant that Tim Powers' works didn't feel like urban fantasy and, therefore, weren't. While I agree that they feel very different, I remain on the fence about whether they should be included, because they are very urban and very fantastic, but if I demurred at the panel I did so quietly and I'm not sure it was noticeable. While we did attempt to distinguish the differences between early urban fantasy and the urban fantasy of today, we also stumbled over the issue of defining urban fantasy. We didn't come up with an exacting answer, but fell back on that old standby: "I know it when I see it."

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

You can usually get people to agree that a core of works are something (like, say, urban fantasy), but it's fascinating to think about the works that people disagree about, and why. I wish I had read more so that I could talk about this less theoretically!

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I'm moving my reply to a full-fledged post, because it was getting pretty long.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Okay!