Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett and Urban Fantasy 


                     So easily my favorite urban fantasy book of all time is Good Omens written by both Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett so I'm mostly gonna talk about that. Urban Fantasy is a ripe setting for comedy, mixing the whimsical ridiculousness of Fantasy and the drab ultra serious practicality of modern society. The contrast between the two creates an immediate interest, and stets the stage for some hilariously juxtaposed events. For example in the book Good Omens, Crawly a demon, and his best friend Azeraphiale and angle who like the earth and enjoy human civilization are tasked with starting the rapture and in turn accidentally lose the Anti-Christ, high-jinx ensue. The book thrives on the on the mellow accepting nature of dull urban England in the face of a fantasy nightmare of biblical proportions. Events like a satanic nunnery that gets into a paintball and entertainment center for corporate retreats. Where for fun Crawly turns all the paintball guns into real guns, and as an angle Azeraphiale makes it so everyone will live by a miracle, but the corporate employees don't realize no one can get hurt and an all out war between the different departments breaks out and its fucking hilarious. Ultimately the point of urban fantasy is to take the "what if" scenario and apply to the most familiar setting in contrast against the least. It gives it the opportunity for something incredibly interesting and funny, but also captures the audiences/readers imagination when we ask ourselves "what would I do in this scenario?".