Article Written by @LauraT_98

A misconception about Urban Fantasy is that the story must be contemporary, and set in a modern time but that's not true. In Urban Fantasy the word Urban is about the setting rather than the time. This means the story will need to happen in a city, or sometimes even a smaller town can be acceptable.

Meaning, you can choose to write a story set in the past where the characters live in a city – or travel from one city or another.

Choosing Your Era

Have fun with the planning of your Urban Fantasy, starting with the era of the story. You can choose any era, as long as you can keep the urban setting. Meaning, you can choose to write a story set in the past where the characters live in a city – or travel from one city or another.

If you choose an era that's not the present day, make sure to really include the era: speakeasies in the 20s, swords in medieval times, etc. together with the right clothes and events that, historically, happened in that period.

Victorian / Edwardian England

One of the most popular historical eras for Urban Fantasy the Victorian Era saw the very start of the Industrial Revolution and enormous leaps in experimentation in medical science. The era still had a lot of things unknown about it, people believed it easier and the world was still open and hidden but inside the cities, the beginning of the Urban set came through.

Examples

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Anno Dracula by Kim Newman

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers

A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab

WW1 Era

An era that bridges the old and the new world. It's one of the bloodiest time periods in history when everything was changing and people were living through some of the hardest times of their lives. Where people started thinking more of themselves and survival instead of what was going on around them. It is a time for something to slip through the cracks of the world.

Examples

The Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Corriea

Hot Lead, Cold Iron by Ari Marmell

Lovecraftian Fiction

WW2 Era

This is the time of the most evil of evil people that have walked the planet (in recent history at least). It was a time for no rules and particular people running around ruining the world as they new it. Hitler did actually have an occult division as well.

Examples

Midnight Front series by David Mack

Bloody Red Baron by Kim Newman

Indiana Jones Movies

Other interesting Urban Fantasy Books set in Different Eras

Dan Willis's Arcane Casebook series is set in 1930s New York, as electricity was becoming widespread. Private detective.

Leanna Renee Hieber's Spectral City series is set around the turn of the last century in New York. Police detective, more or less.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke is set in early 1800s England, and fuck if I know how to explain it.

Victoria Goddard's Greenwing & Dart series is probably Regency England. Small town social intrigue and also smuggling and cults to old gods and a mermaid.

Karen Memery by Elizabeth Bear is a steampunk novel set in 1800s Seattle, when the Underground was still mostly aboveground.

The Cecelia and Kate series by Caroline Stevermer and Patricia Wrede is set in London and rural England around 1820. Fantasy Regency romance mystery.

Caroline Stevermer's College of Magics series might be our world or might be a secondary world, it's hard to tell. End of the 1800s, partially set in England. A little bit of magical school, a little bit of political intrigue, a few spy hijinks.

CL Polk's Kingston Cycle is set in a secondary world, not our own, but it's basically Edwardian England. The doctor investigates the murder of his patient, plus war crimes and a gay romance.

Conclusion

In conclusion, don't be afraid to take Urban Fantasy away from the Modern setting. Don't be afraid to break the mould that people have put Urban Fantasy into. Explore history and find all the things hiding around the dark corners.

And most importantly have fun.