Uploaded September 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
“I wanted to do fantasy and horror,” says author Simon R. Green, “but set in the here and now.” Science fiction and fantasy authors William Shatner, Liz Williams, Walter Mosley, and Simon R. Green talk about the popularity of the detective-style story set in a fantastical world—cops and robbers, science fiction style. From the mean streets of urban fantasy to detectives in an alternate reality, these authors use their favorite genres to, in the words of Liz Williams, “jazz up the traditional detective story.”
Take a tour of the subgenre that has more and more authors turning to film noir for inspiration.
“I wanted to do fantasy and horror,” says author Simon R. Green, “but set in the here and now.” Science fiction and fantasy authors William Shatner, Liz Williams, Walter Mosley, and Simon R. Green talk about the popularity of the detective-style story set in a fantastical world—cops and robbers, science fiction style. From the mean streets of urban fantasy to detectives in an alternate reality, these authors use their favorite genres to, in the words of Liz Williams, “jazz up the traditional detective story.”
Take a tour of the subgenre that has more and more authors turning to film noir for inspiration.
