02 Jan 2012, Posted by caburkes in Urban Lit, 1 Comments Tagged , , , , ,

Urban


I used to wage a serious war with the concept of ‘Urban Lit’ and how it seems, if you’re Black and a writer, you are lumped into this pot called ‘Urban’. Well, while I’m researching all I can about YA URBAN Fantasy … guess what? Barely any Black people. In fact, YA Urban Fantasy also covers Twilight and you KNOW there aren’t any Black people (of any lead quality) in them.

Wikipedia’s definition: Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods. The prerequisite is that they must be primarily set in a city.

So, for kicks, I checked out ‘Urban Lit’:

Wikipedia’s definition: Urban fiction, also known as Street lit, is a literary genre set, as the name implies, in a city landscape; however, the genre is as much defined by the race and culture of its characters as the urban setting. The tone for urban fiction is usually dark, focusing on the underside. Profanity, sex, and violence are usually explicit, with the writer not shying away from or watering-down the material. In this respect, urban fiction shares some common threads with dystopian or survivalist fiction.

Even Wikipedia sees the issue as mentioned in the previous line…. however, the genre is as much defined by the race and culture of its characters as the urban setting.

Okay, assuming that Wikipedia is as close to the final answer on a subject as we can get, by these definitions alone:

1) LA Banks Vampire Hunter series (I REALLY miss her a lot). Also of note, she was ahead of the game as far back as 2003 or 2004. Anyway … YA Urban Fantasy. I agree.

2) Silk White – Tears of a Hustler 2 – Urban Lit. I agree.

3) Liar, Liar by Latrese Carter – Urban Lit. NO!

I would really classify her novel as drama with no extra classification under ‘Urban Drama’. By current ways of thinking, I might as well classify Megan Hart’s Broken as urban lit too, if she was Black. But she’s not, so it’s not urban lit.

But Broken covers a lot of ground Black author drama novels cover.

If an urban story has to take place in a city, and i haven’t read EVERY Black author out there, but are you telling me 95% of Black stories take place in a city?

Butta‘ (forthcoming) is purposely categorized as ‘Urban Thriller’ because it covers both elements: takes place in Manhattan and is a thriller. (see reviews here)

CommonSense short stories … actually YA Urban Fantasy believe it or not.

Daylight Werewolf and Children of StoneGate … YA Fantasy. Some Black characters, mostly children and NOT taking place in a major city though in contemporary times.

The problem is evident without me even having to harp on it for too much longer. Call Black writers ‘Urban’ and they get lumped, as they do, in one corner of the store. It’s almost to your advantage NOT to reveal much of your race in your story/bio/etc just to get equal billing on ALL shelves, not just in an Urban Section, where you KNOW Twilight will NOT be … but it’s urban by definition, even if it’s fantasy.

Proof? Here’s a Harlequin Novel for you … a clearly defined ‘Romance’ category publisher. Written by Marueen Smith. Not in the Urban section. Black author.

Which makes me wonder how many Black characters/Book Cover models are on the cover of Harlequin novel’s anyway? Just a thought.

 

Corey A. Burkes Author/CEO
DesktopEpics Entertainment
Stories You Can Feel! Continue Reading...
http://www.desktopepics.com/blogs/wp-content/themes/press