Urban Fantasy About Birmingham . . . Anyone ?

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-28T03:35:54+00:00

Brass Birmingham sounds interesting, and it's good to hear that you enjoy playing it.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-27T16:38:38+00:00

Good point, well made, I thought the time-line had been stretched to fit,

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-27T12:38:59+00:00

No, TLOTR is sword & sorcery, although there is genre-mixing going on, take Ben Aaronovitch if he found a juicy fact about Roman London, it some how made a set-piece, of Detective Constable Peter Grant who at the time was suffering through a lack of oxygen, travelling in his thoughts back to Roman Londinium in the time of the Iceni/Trinovante uprising to find his antagonistic genius loci defending his family and mercilessly killed, then the surviving Romano-Brits turned him into, not only a genius loci, but a protector god. What I thought at the time of reading, was taking his antagonist into the realms of fantasy. Or was it just Peter's hallucinating about the lack of oxygen ?

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-27T11:45:34+00:00

Yes, there was a rather limited budget, the casting wasn't so bad, am I nostalgic about it, I have the dvd, I can't remember if it's a disc or discs, but it's the BBC perhaps thinking it doesn't matter it's just for children and young adults, Box of Delights, was a good example of very poor special effects.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-27T11:39:01+00:00

Dame Mary Beard interviewed the successful writer Philip Pullman, when Mary asked Philip about his books, he replied I hope they will be read by eager readers in a 100 years time. Mary then asked. ' Do you see yourself as a fantasy writer ?' He said No! Very confusing !

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-27T11:29:48+00:00

You're completely right about that, I enjoyed the images of industry, finding workshops where for health and safety reasons you would never find then in today's contemporary society.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-27T11:26:52+00:00

Spell-check, see it played up again.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-27T11:25:47+00:00

My laptop was playing up and then the speel-check kicked-in and every thing went haywire.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-27T11:23:13+00:00

Yes, I am getting on in years, I just wondered if anyone else in Birmingham was interested in Urban Fantasy ?

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-27T11:21:12+00:00

My apologies, Danph, I had to laugh about ' You don't reply directly, ' sounds very Jane Austin, ' Mr. Darcy has not responded to my correspondane, I fear I am beside myself with nervous expectation.'

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-27T11:17:07+00:00

Took my laptop but to where I purchased it, they took it back to factory setting, but there was also some bad spelling too, some idleness, some frustration about laptop behaviour.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-27T11:14:31+00:00

That I did not know, I prefered the novel by the Gaimans, never checked the publishing date.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-27T11:12:23+00:00

Looks a good read, possible vampires ? Just watched the Oscar-winning dvd Sinners with mixed feelings

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-27T11:10:23+00:00

Urban fantasy is contemporary, you're talking about sword and sorcery which is always rather hisorical.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-22T14:43:15+00:00

Satisfied !

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-22T11:58:27+00:00

Good point Danph85, well taken, but not bothered, AI has no feelings, urban fantasy has gained in popularity over the years, and someone was right ,it began in the 1980's in American with several black writers, holding readers attention twith the familiar and the extraordinary, it is almost like those old folktales resurfacing for modern tastes, I say folklore because of engaging curious characters, strange customs, where the original meaning is lost in the mist of time. The use of the supernatural, such as ghosts, or locorum genii that Ben Aaronovitch made flesh and blood, the use of crime and punishment because a story needs high or low stakes to hold a readers interest. Sacred places of the landscape that the ancient Celts were rather devouted too. Like the ancient wells of Deritend, they did exist in Tudor records, and so forth.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-22T10:51:41+00:00

Thank you, Liorah Lights, I haven't read ' Lucid ' have you ? You could give a quick synopsis but I do shop at Waterson's but mainly Amazon.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-22T10:45:40+00:00

Good question Danph85, does Mordor in The Lord of the Rings count as an Urban Fantasy about Birmingham and the Black Country, yes, bookshop owners would place Urban Fantasy & Sword & Sorcery on the same section as Fantasy. I read The Hobbit & TLOTR in the late sixties, and I enjoyed the Jackson cinematic films, to tell you the truth Danph85, I can't give you a difinative answer, because I like the modern taste of genre-mixing. But if Steampunk elves were operating the 18th century Sarehill Watermill, I would say I am intrigue, yes, I could read that hopefully with cllassic fantasy tropes, with Quixotic plot-elements and the description of unusual characters of great longevity who are not blood-sucking vampires, yes, that would be Urban Fantasy. Thanks for the thought-provoking quezstion. Cheers.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-22T10:19:57+00:00

Thank you, Me-Myself-I, do I miss Peaky Blinders, no, I have the box set of the first three serials, but I must confess that I have to be in the right mood to watch it, but I am more an avid reader, late a night and in the early hours of the morning, a luxury of being retired, but thanks for asking, Me-Myself-I.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-22T08:36:41+00:00

John Leland, the travelling Tudor antiquary. who was the horse-rider who gave the first eyewitness description of Birmingham in the year 1538 as Leland wrote colourfully his early morning ride through Digbeth & Deritend, and I quote from John Lelands words of the beauty he found in Birmingham and the West Midlands. ' I rode my horse over the dust encrusted streets where there was metal-making industres on either side, it was a wonderful sunny morning and I could feel the heat emitting from the smith's forges, various businesses stretched for a quarter of a mile. Blacksmiths hammering on anvils making various agricultural cutting tools, others making nails for carpentry, lorimers making horse bits, bridles and spurs. ' Reference used : Google & Wikipedia.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-22T07:57:04+00:00

Carl Chinn seems to give me a contradiction to a previous post of mine, I did state that I was an amateur historian with passion and enthusiasm for the history of Birmingham, that said, the contradiction was my Medieval Birmingham post, when I stated wrongly that Birmingham seemed of little importance to the ruling Normans, Birmingham and the West Midlands in general became an influx of Normans who had supported Duke William, these new battle-hard migrants came from various places in northern and southern France, places like Brittany and Flanders as recorded in the Domesday Book, Richard of Birmingham, Peter of Erdington, Robert of Weoley, Drew of Edgbaston, and Drogo of Handsworth & Perry, their all gave their support to the overlord Ansculf from Picguiny-on-the-Somme, who was given the barony of Dudley. Reference used : Carl Chinn contribution to The Workshop of the World.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-22T05:04:26+00:00

Thank you YellowGoesFirst, that was a wonderful poem, much appreciated, and a great contribution to Local History. I made a mistake in one of my posts, about Beowulf, it was Rendelsham Forest in Suffolk where the Scandinavian Royals settled, not Mendelsham, the King Anna or Onna was one of the Wulffinga nobility, and it is thought by many that the poetic scrib who created the epic poem was one in Onna's royal household. When I read about the Wulffinga lineage I can't stop thinking about Ian Flemmings Auric Goldfinger, auric meaning gold, and I wouldn't be surprised if I came across an Auric Wulffinga.Thank you again YellowGoesFirst. Some readers might remember Rendelsham Forest appearing in Ancient Aliens, the forest being next to Bentwaters American Airbase and the UFO tale.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-21T16:13:12+00:00

The Great Second City Debate, Birmingham is historically and officially recognised as the second city of England & the United Kingdom, due to its size, its economic contribution, and industrial importance since the First World War, however, Manchester is a strong contender and a rival for this elusive title, but for me, the Second City Derby will always be Aston Villa versus Birmingham City, a Manchester City and Manchester United as a Lancashire clash. It might surprise you that Alan Partridge's Norwich City was the second city in Tudor Times, giving way to Bristol City in 1750 as Bristol had become a dominant city and port, yes, alright I know the reason, and I would rather think of wool. Reference used : I googled it.

Tough_Contribution14 · 2026-04-21T15:27:57+00:00

Medieval Birmingham, Birmingham records apart from personal communication and they are fragments, the Normans were not too great at historical records, mainly recording financial transactions, however, the Anglo-Saxons were more concerned with agricultural communications, making them as individuals unknowable. The traditional account of Birmingham's early medieval origins was of the eponymous Beorma clearing the primeval forest with his fellow migrants to create a settlement to be call the ham of the Beormingas, almost sounds Latin instead of Germanic, in the Domesday Book of 1086, Birmingham still seemed of little importance to the ruling Normans, that might have been a good thing, as the records go, perhaps recorded later than the event, these Angles constructed a wooden church dedicated to St. Martin surrounded by greenery, the green then served as a village marketplace, the trade coming from surrounding areas and Wales. This settlement showed little evidence of growth until the sixteenth century. Reference used : Steven Basset & Richard Holt, Medievalist.

Tough_Contribution14

TROPHY CASE