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Originally Posted by HarryT
What is "urban" fantasy? Fantasy set in a city? Never come across that term before.
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It's my understanding that it's set in contemporary or near future scenarios with elements of the occult/magic/supernatural but also blending in other disciplines such as the detective genre. The field is largely dominated by female protagonists, kick-ass heroines as I've heard it described, and sometimes has elements of erotica and romance, although this is not the predominant theme within the story as a whole (When romance and erotica become central, the term Paranormal Romance is more often used).
Harry Dresden is described often as Urban Fantasy, as is Laurell K Hamilton (although I'd argue her stuff is more Paranormal Erotica), Stephanie Myers might also fit this cateogry. It has very little to do with Epic Fantasy or anything that followed in that tradition.
Years ago all of this was just called "slipstream" or "cross-genre".