h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Sol,

I'm your sub editor for Urban Fantasy: Vampire Porn, Feminist Pipe-Dream or Misfits' Revenge? The new one is here A87790198 don't forget to subscribe

So far I've corrected a few minor typos and just have a couple of questions;

In the 'What sort of stories...?' section

centre 'on' as opposed to 'around' the main characters journey...?

I note from the PR thread that you'd thought of another footnote, if you pop it in here I can add it.

Finally, for now, how would you feel about all your subheaders being headers - it looks clearer in all the skins (new and old)? I've only done the first one so far. Have a look, see what you think.

Mags

Oh cool, bounce bounce. Can I get back to you?

There's no rush, Sol

Changed *all* the Subheaders to Headers - it looks better now in all skins.

Just need to know whether the stories centre 'on' as opposed to 'around' the main characters journey...? and that footnote that you wanted adding.

Other than that (and the book covers - if you still want those adding), we're pretty much good to go I think.

OK, so the reason why I didn;t get back to you was that on rereading, I wanted to tinker a bit to improve the flow of some sections, as well as add the footnote.

I've done that now. Hope it's not too much!

In the section 'what sort of stories do they tell?' could we change: 'by far the most popular plotline in Urban Fantasy is the detective story...' to 'seemingly the most popular plotline in Urban Fantasy is the detective story...'

I've changed the paragraph 'But it still isn't anything really new, is it?' thusly:

Not precisely. Many books written by many established names have covered at least some of these themes, from the dawn of Sci-Fi , Fantasy and Horror and beyond, and yet nobody thought it was worth subdividing the existing categories to account for this. But by the late 80s the increasing number of writers such as Neil Gaiman regularly exploring the possibilities of embedding their stories in the here and now was gathering pace. The people most often credited with heralding the advent of the new genre are Charles de Lint, Terri Windig, Emma Bull and Mercedes Lackey, with their books Dreams Underfoot, Borderlands, War for the Oaks and the Diana Tregarde books respectively. And the first really established full blown series in the genre was the one about Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter by Laurell K Hamilton, currently at twenty plus books and counting.

I've changed the beginning of the next paragraph too:

Undoubtedly the publishing boom which sawUrban Fantasy acquiring its very own labelled shelf in the libraries and bookshops of the world was encouraged by the runaway success of Harry Potter, the teenage wizard whose supernatural world mimics real life and sometimes intersects with it, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the TV tale of the high school student who battles vampires in the small American town of Sunnydale. The equally popular Twilight series, a three book love story between a vampire and a human girl, must have helped tremendously too.

The footnote I was talking about should go after this sentence in the same para:

It probably sneaks in under the 'romance' title because despite the copious amounts of sex, the eventual goal is still the Happily Ever After climax. If you want to read about romance without the eye-watering sex, try the Young Adult titles, which are many, varied and often excellent. Some of them don't even have any romance either!

And i've change the beginning bit 'not for men then' a teensy bit and shunted the last sentence of the first para to the next para thusly:

Nothing to stop them reading it. However, as well as the covers and the impressive amount of kissing that takes place even in many of the series which are not obviously knicker dampeners, Urban Fantasy books are frequently written by women, and feature strong female leads. Strong as in tough minded, of course, but also strong as in the fact that magic or supernatural powers allows women the almost unparalleled opportunity to kick male, female and monster butt. And so that is what they do. With extreme glee for the most part.

Since by all accounts Urban Fantasy books have been a huge commercial success, it is not surprising that the publishing splurge on Urban Fantasy initially stuck to what seemed to be selling. But male authors, or women writing about male lead characters, or anybody writing without giving their characters lengthy romantic time outs from sashaying confidently into a vampire stronghold and demanding information with menaces do now seem to be making headway. Not that the books about strong females with a werewolf boyfriend are necessarily bad, of course. Far from it, in fact. There are a number of writers in the genre out there who have garnered well-deserved critical as well as popular acclaim.

I also had another couple of authors for the list at the bottom. Both for urban fantasy titles (don't hate me):

Kate Griffin: Matthew Swift http://www.kategriffin.net/books/

Carrie Vaughn: Kitty Norville http://www.carrievaughn.com/kittybooks.html

Oh and 'centre around' is probably better, wherever it is, and I sent the pix to the artists (both the pix for the top and the pix for the body) so that's done too.

Boosting the thread, as per.

All those updates have now been done, Monday ran away with the circus

Anything else you'd like to add?



Mags

This para now needs removing:

Since by all accounts Urban Fantasy books have been a huge commercial success, it is not surprising that the publishing splurge on Urban Fantasy initially stuck to what seemed to be selling. But male authors, or women writing about male lead characters, or anybody writing without giving their characters lengthy romantic time outs from sashaying confidently into a vampire stronghold and demanding information with menaces do now seem to be making headway. Not that the books about strong females with a werewolf boyfriend are necessarily bad, of course. Far from it, in fact. There are a number of writers in the genre out there who have garnered well-deserved critical as well as popular acclaim.

In the previous para, could we add 'For some reason this is assumed not to appeal to men.' at the end after 'With extreme glee for the most part.'

Could we also remove the first 'however' in the section entitled 'what stories do they tell?'

And finally (I hope) the description of Harry Potter: 'Harry Potter, the teenage wizard whose supernatural world mimics real life and sometimes intersects with it,' could we change 'intersects' to 'interacts'?

Changes made as per your instruction, sorry for the delay RL and all that.

Dare I ask if there is there anything else you'd like to add or delete or change...

Mags

Probably best take it away now, yes.

Although there's a space missing infront of one of the 'Unrban Fantasy's. Somewhere in the middle...

So there was, it's got one now...

And it's going on it's little way to have the piccies and stuff added.

It'll be on the front page in no time