As a professor who teaches, amongst
other things, popular fiction, I’m very much aware of the debates
surrounding urban fantasy. What does this term mean, exactly? For
example, my books are about a girl living in a tiny village in Maine.
Not very urban. But there is magic, so that’s fantasy. But there’s
no map or funny languages, since it is set in “our” world.
Over the years I’ve watched the genre
of UF evolve, and I’m now lucky enough to take part in this
process, as an author of my own books. But I’ve always thought that
one of the most fascinating and fun versions of urban fantasy is,
undoubtedly, Jen Rardin’s.
In Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Vayl
almost immediately makes a joke about James Bond. And this is, in a
fabulously parodied way, exactly the world Jen created. It’s James
Bond, only made more believable, paradoxically, by its connection to
magic, vampires, and the supernatural. In other words, while I never
once believed James Bond could get away with any of his absurd, if
entertaining, shenanigans, I can believe they’d be possible
in a world that contains CIA-agent vampires.
Jen wrote some of the most “real”
urban fantasies on the market today, not least because of her world’s
reliance on science as much as technology. While Vayl may work his
vampire mojo, Jaz relies on Grief, as well as other deliciously wacky
and brutal weapons made by Jen’s Q, Bergman. I can’t think of
another character like Bergman out there, in Urban Fantasy: someone
who, despite there being magic in the world, relies on the cold steel
of wonderfully absurd gadgetry.
Meanwhile, who doesn’t love a gadget?
And imagine how hard it is to make these things up? I avoid such
things because I’m not really sure, to be frank, exactly how
something as straightforward as my vacuum cleaner works. For all I
know, there is magic at the heart of a Dyson. So for a writer
who has that chance to “opt out” of the physics-ruled realm of
science, but refuses, is brave, indeed.
And Jen never opted out. There was
always the frighteningly detailed Grief, throughout the series. Then
there was Bergman’s flying, credit-card-bug-detector in Biting
the Bullet. And who could forget One More Bite’s
ominously foaming “Mongoose”?
The world of urban fantasy is a darker
place without Jen. As a woman, she brought much joy and light. And as
a writer, she brought her shiny, shiny gadgets. We will miss her, and
everything she created.
--------
Comment on this post for a chance to win a signed a copy of Bitten in Two. Don't forget to comment on all this months posts for more entries. You have a chance to win four books by commenting on Steph's guest post and Amberkatze's interview with Jennifer.
