Was William T. Sherman a Werewolf?
Talk Nerdy to me. Celebrating 20 Years of Carrie Vaughn's Kitty and the Midnight Hour
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Urban fantasy is a genre where the supernatural and the mundane collide in a recognizable, contemporary setting usually a major city like New York, L.A., Vegas, etc. Unlike high fantasy, which takes place in entirely fictional worlds like in The Lord of the Rings, urban fantasy explores the friction caused when the paranormal operates in the era of the nation-states, the Internet, and in shadows of the electronic age, often conflicting with our modern legal, social, and technological systems.
I think the best writer in the genre is the American author Carrie Vaughn who introduced her soon to be beloved Kitty Norville character in her 2005 debut novel Kitty and the Midnight Hour. In it, our heroine is a young American woman who struggles with the impact of becoming a werewolf against her will. Along the way, Vaughn weaves in all sorts of characters who force us to look out how culture war, the post-9/11 military, government’s involvement in science research, and social isolation shape our society. And what happens when the 21st century runs crashing into the supernatural, and vice versa.
Keeping spoilers to a minimum, I love the character growth and the seriousness with which Vaughn treats Kitty’s increasing maturity and reflection on life. Vaughn also takes history seriously, and asks the question: if vampires and werewolves are real, then how long have they been here, and how have they impacted history and religion?
