{"id":5457,"date":"2017-07-22T12:47:11","date_gmt":"2017-07-22T16:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?page_id=5457"},"modified":"2024-05-06T16:42:06","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T20:42:06","slug":"municipal-fantasy-adventures-in-literary-taxonomy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?page_id=5457","title":{"rendered":"Municipal Fantasy: Adventures in literary taxonomy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On defining a new subgenre<\/h1>\n

Danny Sichel<\/h5>\n<\/header>\n
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Some years back, I attended a panel on urban fantasy at ConCept. The panelists discussed the urban aspect, and they discussed the fantasy aspect, and when they were finished, there were still ten minutes left on the schedule. And they said, well, it looks like we\u2019ve discussed both components implied by the name, I guess we can leave early!<\/p>\n

And I realized\u2026 no, there\u2019s a third component. There\u2019s urban<\/i>, and there\u2019s fantasy\u2026<\/i> and there\u2019s the space between them<\/i>. An enforced separation between the modern world \u2013 the urban environment \u2013 and the magic.*\u00a0 They\u2019ve developed separately over the years (which is typically shown as leading to a certain degree of stagnation in the magic). The magic is hidden from the science and technology, and so it does not advance while they do.<\/p>\n

This is what characterizes \u2013 or has characterized \u2013 the vast majority of works of urban fantasy over the years: the Masquerade, the Veil, the Cover-up, the Blindness. Magic exists, in the background, but the general population has no idea. The good guys lie, and erase memories, and their biggest danger is the general public finding out that they exist. When there\u2019s an epic battle between good and evil, the forces of good also have to ensure that it\u2019s wiped from the record. There is magic, and there are muggles; they know about us, but we don\u2019t know about them. They may benefit from our progress, but we remain forever unaware.<\/p>\n

But what if this weren\u2019t so?<\/em><\/p>\n

In the early 18th century, Girolamo Saccheri revolutionized mathematics by taking one of the fundamental axioms of geometry, and examining what would be implied by its opposite.** What happens if we apply that principle to urban fantasy? What if the supernatural magical paranormal fantastical elements, and modern society\u2026 are NOT <\/i>forcibly separated?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start by examining the justifications for the separation. One common excuse is that people would panic. As per Agent K,\u00a0 we\u2019re \u201cdumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it.\u201d But panic doesn\u2019t last<\/i>. We very quickly accept massive changes in the world as \u201cthe new normal\u201d. That\u2019s why the phrase \u201cnew normal\u201d exists.
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And we\u2019re clever <\/b><\/i>monkeys, we are; when we know that something is real, we adapt. And we begin to use it. We exploit it. We make allowances for it. We take it apart to see how it works, and we tinker with it to see what else we can make it do. As per Phil Foglio (who was paraphrasing a line misattributed to Larry Niven, which was itself an inversion of Arthur C. Clarke), \u201cany sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from technology\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another rationalization is that humanity is too dangerous for the supernatural: magical creatures would be harmed, hunted down, enslaved, exterminated. And, granted, when you look at human history, that\u2019s not so difficult to believe. But in general, we\u2019re past the age of the pogrom. If you\u2019re an intelligent race living secretly among modern humanity, you know how to hire lawyers and PR firms. You can lobby for legislation.<\/p>\n

If we undo those justifications\u2026 if we assume their opposite\u2026 we get fantasy where magic has openly<\/i> come back into the modern world, or been revealed to the general public<\/em> to have been here all along. Or, alternately, magic has openly been around long enough that an equivalent to our modern technological society has developed. And, perhaps most importantly, that magic is an issue of public policy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I propose that this subgenre be called: \u201cMUNICIPAL FANTASY\u201d<\/b>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the difference between \u2018municipal\u2019 and \u2018urban\u2019?\u201d, you might be wondering. \u201cDon\u2019t they mean essentially the same thing?\u201d And in a way, they do, but synonyms are never exact. They both refer to cities\u2026 but \u2018urban\u2019 is a general feeling<\/i>, an environment<\/i>, a mood<\/i>. \u2018Municipal\u2019, conversely, implies more of a system<\/i>, with regulations and public services. \u2018Urban wildlife\u2019 is raccoons eating your garbage and \u2018urban legends\u2019 are just stories you heard about a friend of a friend of a friend, but \u201cmunicipal wildlife\u201d feels like the raccoons are only eating the garbage because it\u2019s their job, and \u201cmunicipal legends\u201d feels the story won\u2019t be told outside city limits.<\/p>\n

So, now that we\u2019ve begun to establish what municipal fantasy is<\/i>, let\u2019s see if we can refine our definition. A good way to start is by examining pre-existing works and assessing whether or not this new label applies to them. At this point, I\u2019d like to remind you that ultimately taxonomy is arbitrary, and that literary taxonomy is even more so: it\u2019s tough to use a dichotomous key when there\u2019s no physical entity!<\/p>\n

Joss Whedon\u2019s \u201cBuffy the Vampire Slayer\u201d: When Buffy goes out to kill vampires, all she needs is a stake. The world in general has no idea what she\u2019s doing, or that vampires exist. Urban fantasy.<\/p>\n

Laurell Hamilton\u2019s \u201cAnita Blake\u201d: When Anita goes out to kill vampires, she needs a warrant. And instead of avoiding the police, she has to coordinate with them. Municipal fantasy.<\/p>\n

Jim Butcher\u2019s \u201cHarry Dresden\u201d: openly a wizard, but most people have never heard of him and nobody believes this is real. Urban fantasy.<\/p>\n

Mike Carey\u2019s \u201cFelix Castor\u201d: openly a freelance exorcist, and the existence of ghosts and demons became undeniable by the general public at some point about the year 2000 \u2013 no one\u2019s quite sure when, but Parliament has started debating what to do about zombies. Municipal.<\/p>\n

Seanan McGuire\u2019s \u201cOctober \u2018Toby\u2019 Daye\u201d: she\u2019s a private investigator who\u2019s magically transformed into a koi and abandoned in a pond for 17 years (not a spoiler; it happens in the prologue to the first novel). When she\u2019s rescued, her life is ruined, because even when she goes back to her husband and daughter, she can\u2019t tell them that there\u2019s any such thing as magic.\u00a0 Urban.<\/p>\n

Ben Aaronovich\u2019s \u201cRivers of London\u201d and Paul Cornell\u2019s \u201cShadow Police\u201d are both about the branches of British law enforcement that deal with magical things, and in both cases there\u2019s a substantial bureaucracy, but in both cases it\u2019s secret to the general public. Same in Harry Potter with the secret Ministry of Magic, and the hidden departments in Mur Lafferty\u2019s \u201cShambling Guides\u201d. All urban.<\/p>\n

Charlene Harris\u2019s True Blood novels: vampires have \u201ccome out of the coffin\u201d, and now there\u2019s arguments over their legal rights. Municipal.<\/p>\n

Mercedes Lackey\u2019s SERRAted Edge: elves are driving race cars and rescuing abused children, but elvishness is secret. Urban.<\/p>\n

Holly Lisle\u2019s \u201cDevil\u2019s Point\u201d books, where God announces publicly that demons will be allowed to take physical form within the borders of North Carolina, and land surveyors use this to settle disputes about where precisely the borders of North Carolina are (if the demon takes three steps to the left, it is forcibly discorporated; therefore, the border is two<\/i> steps to the left), and even if individual demons try to pass as human, that demons exist<\/i> is now a known and publicly accepted fact. Municipal.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s Ilona Andrews\u2019 \u201cKate Daniels\u201d series, and Wen Spencer\u2019s \u201cTinker\u201d, and Andrew Swann\u2019s \u201cDragons of the Cuyahoga\u201d, and Geoff Landis\u2019s short \u201cElemental\u201d, and the Shadowrun RPG and associated novels\u2026. all municipal.<\/p>\n

A particularly intriguing phenomenon happens when a series starts<\/i> as urban fantasy, and then transitions into municipal. This happens in Jim Hines\u2019 \u201cMagic Ex Libris\u201d , for instance \u2013 in the first book, \u201cLibriomancer\u201d, magic is a tightly-kept secret and the general public has no idea, but by the time they hit book 4, \u201cRevisionary\u201d, they\u2019ve blown the masquerade to bits and have to deal with the consequences that they can no longer hide. This is also what happens in Charlie Stross\u2019s \u201cLaundry\u201d novels: as CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN progresses, and the stars are right, eventually, the incidents become too big and too involved, and there are too many witnesses\u2026 and too much stuff gets uploaded to the internet. And you can\u2019t mindwipe everyone who has access to Twitter and Youtube. Carrie Vaughan\u2019s \u201cKitty Norville\u201d series begins<\/i> with Kitty revealing magic to the world.<\/p>\n

What all these works I\u2019ve cited thus far have in common is that they\u2019re municipal fantasy of the first type: set in our world (or what was, until recently, our world), with magic. The second type is, as I\u2019ve already mentioned, a world where magic has been around from the very beginning \u2013 and yet, people haven\u2019t let it stop them from developing technology. There\u2019s been actual\u00a0progress<\/em>. Max Gladstone\u2019s magnificent \u201cCraft\u201d sequence (a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Series) is an excellent example of this type of municipal fantasy, one of the strongest I\u2019ve found: magic corporations and contracts and loans, and urban planning that takes into account the presence of gods, and a police force that uses golems, and water purification plants powered by deals with otherworldly entities and a global economic system based on souls and commodified worship. Or Robin McKinley\u2019s \u201cSunshine\u201d, about a world several years after the \u201cVoodoo Wars\u201d, but there\u2019s still TV and motorcycles and the Internet and license plates and blood tests to detect if someone is magical and electric fences and vampires and shapeshifters and the fact that nobody\u2019s yet figured out a proper ward to keep mice out of your house.<\/p>\n

This does raise the question, though, of what counts as \u201cequivalent to our modern society\u201d? What about Felix Gilman\u2019s Ararat, China Mi\u00e9ville\u2019s Bas-Lag, Graydon Saunders\u2019s Commonweal, Poul Anderson\u2019s \u201cOperation Chaos\u201d, Randall Garrett\u2019s \u201cLord Darcy\u201d, Dave van Domelen\u2019s \u201cAcademy of Superheroes\u201d? What do we need for a setting to be recognizably modern? Bureaucracy? Mass production? Labor unions? Printing? Telecommunications? Evidence-based medicine? Peer-reviewed journals? Fiat currency? Representative government? Do any of Steven Brust\u2019s \u201cDragaera\u201d novels fit the description? What about Terry Pratchett\u2019s \u201cDiscworld\u201d? Melissa Scott\u2019s \u201cFive Twelfths of Heaven\u201d? Alter S. Reiss\u2019s \u201cRecalled to Service\u201d? The term \u201cgaslamp fantasy\u201d has been used to describe mid-to-late-19th-century-equivalent societies with magic (certainly Susanna Clarke\u2019s \u201cJonathan Strange and Mister Norrell\u201d would be better described as \u201cgaslamp\u201d than \u201cmunicipal\u201d, for one\u2026 although it rather antedates the gaslamp era!); where does \u2018gaslamp\u201d end and \u201cmunicipal\u201d begin? And what counts as \u201cmagic\u201d, anyway? And how much detail do you need?<\/p>\n

All these are questions for other essays, and perhaps other essayists. Which works of municipal fantasy do you think I\u2019ve omitted?<\/p>\n

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* at this point, you might say \u201cwell, wait, that\u2019s not always the case, I can think of works of urban fantasy where that definition doesn\u2019t apply\u201d; that\u2019s the whole point of this essay. I\u2019m arguing that although such works may have been<\/i> called \u2018urban fantasy\u2019, they should<\/i> not be.** yes, I\u2019m aware that \u2018revolutionizing mathematics\u2019 was not at all what Saccheri had intended, that he was horrified by his results, that he denied them, and that consequently they went largely ignored for another 150 years. That\u2019s not the point.<\/p>\n

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Bibliography for this essay. Sort of.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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