Longer Than Is Required
by Carter Kalchik
This is my newsletter and site for wrangling various book-related projects. If this is your first time here, welcome, and please subscribe (it’s free). The main ongoing project right now is The History of Urban Fantasy. More about that below.
What are we doing here
I’m fascinated by the urban fantasy genre and in November of 2022 I decided to embark on a quest (of indeterminate length) to explore its history, development, and future.
What you will find here are book reviews (both contemporary and "historical”), essays, short story recaps and reviews, author interviews, and my personal weekly reading recap (the only content that will branch out from the urban fantasy genre).
This is the “permanent record” of my historical explorations. You may know me from my TikTok and will also find similar, although perhaps more chaotic, discussions there.
What is urban fantasy?
I take an (unusually) broad definition of the genre. Urban fantasy is: any story with fantasy elements set in a world recognizably our own. For me, urban fantasy is essentially interchangeable with “contemporary fantasy”. It would include anything within those genre labels but also a lot of horror, paranormal romance, low fantasy, and even some magical realism.
I am also increasingly of the opinion that urban fantasy is both: 1) its own unique genre (and not a sub-genre) and 2) the “border genre”. I use the phrase “border genre” to pay respect to one of the trailblazing works in urban fantasy: the Borderland anthology and shared world created by Terri Windling. I also refer to it as the “border genre” to recognize urban fantasy’s unique genre position—occupying a space between and among fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, romance and more.
So you will find all kinds of book reviews and discussions here that potentially range far outside what you might have considered urban fantasy.
What is free, what is paid?
Book reviews (with affiliate links) are free for everyone, now and forever. Weekly reading recaps and occasional discussion posts are free for subscribers (did I mention it’s free to subscribe?)
I think most people will get all they’re looking for with a free subscription to those posts.
Behind the paywall are:
historical essays
author interviews
short story recaps and reviews
and other more niche content (maybe some of my own fiction…)
I limit comments to paid subscribers to encourage a kind and accountable atmosphere.
What else?
If you are interested in contacting me you can find my email in my Linktree. I’m always happy to hear from folks interested in the genre.
If you are an author or a publisher looking to send me an ARC of an upcoming book, feel free to send me an email with the details. I can’t commit to reading any specific book but I do read every email I get. Please note that I do not post sponsored content on this newsletter.
