Something About London & The Realms Fantastical
I’ve decided there must be something about London and the realms fantastical.
After all, there’s Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, which features a dark, wild, alternate London Below.
There’s also the fantastical Un Lun Dun in China Mieville’s novel of the same name.
To complete this triumvirate we have Simon Green’s Nightside, also a dangerous magical alternate London accessed via the Underground system…
What do you think? Is there something special about London that lends itself to imagining conjoined realms fantastical? Or are there other cities that have generated similar, specific alternate realms (or urban alter-egos) in Fantasy literature?
And don’t forget Kate Griffin’s series starting with A Madness of Angels.
As far as other cities. Seattle seems to be very popular with Fantasy writers. Kat Richardson and Patricia Briggs just to name a couple
You are right! And as I recall, Twilight was set in a town in the Washington/Oregon part of the world and Cherie Priest’s “Boneshaker” was an historical-alternate Seattle.
London has all these strata: rich and poor, immigrant, political, professional. Different worlds collide in one world. It lends itself to fantasy. It also feels slightly ruthless. If you look carefully, you’ll see the Eye of Sauron glowing above the Shard.
I’ve been there, but so briefly it’s hard to get the real “feel” you get from living in a place. But I’d like to at least visit for loger, again “one day…”
London has been a surprisingly popular city in modern speculative fiction. I think that many authors enjoy writing about London, because it has existed for many years and has a long history. It has something to offer for everybody.
Susanna Clarke’s beautifully written alternate history fantasy novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, deserves to be mentioned when talking about London, and Christopher Nuttall’s The Royal Sorceress series is also worth mentioning.
Good mentions: thanks Seregil!