What's the difference between urban fantasy and paranormal fantasy? What exactly makes a book flintlock fantasy? And is heroic fantasy just another name for epic fantasy?

Fantasy has an enormous number of subgenres, and knowing what they actually mean can make finding your next read a whole lot easier.

In this episode of Judging By The Cover, we're diving into four:

🌆 Urban Fantasy
👻 Paranormal Fantasy
💥 Flintlock Fantasy
⚔️ Heroic Fantasy

We'll break down what defines each genre, the tropes you'll commonly find, who I think will love them, and the books I'd recommend if you're ready to explore them for the first time.

We also get into some of the genre distinctions that trip readers up the most, including urban fantasy vs. paranormal fantasy, paranormal fantasy vs. paranormal romance, and heroic fantasy vs. epic fantasy.

BOOKS MENTIONED:

Storm Front — Jim Butcher
Ninth House — Leigh Bardugo
The City We Became — N.K. Jemisin
Mexican Gothic — Silvia Moreno-Garcia
A Discovery of Witches — Deborah Harkness
The Book Eaters — Sunyi Dean
The Hollow Places — T. Kingfisher
Promise of Blood — Brian McClellan
The Thousand Names — Django Wexler
The Guns Above — Robyn Bennis
The Hobbit — J.R.R. Tolkien
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian — Robert E. Howard
Legend — David Gemmell
Theft of Swords — Michael J. Sullivan

Which fantasy genre should I break down next?

Chapters:

00:00 - Fantasy Genres Explained
01:07 - Urban Fantasy
02:01 - What Makes Urban Fantasy Different?
05:13 - Urban Fantasy Book Recommendations
07:30 - Paranormal Fantasy
09:37 - Paranormal Fantasy vs. Paranormal Romance
14:03 - Flintlock Fantasy
15:45 - What Makes Flintlock Fantasy Different?
18:17 - Flintlock Fantasy Book Recommendations
20:31 - Heroic Fantasy
21:52 - Heroic Fantasy vs. Epic Fantasy
24:47 - Heroic Fantasy Book Recommendations
26:46 - Which Fantasy Genre Is for You?

Welcome to Judging By The Cover, the podcast for readers who love discovering their next favorite book. Each week, Brittany Barry dives into the fascinating world of books through in-depth genre guides, conversations with bestselling and debut authors, and discussions about the stories that stay with us long after the final page. From epic fantasy and science fiction to thrillers, horror, romance, and literary fiction, every episode is designed to help you find books you'll genuinely love.

In this episode, I'm joined by thriller author R. John Dingle to discuss Before the Devil Knows, the latest installment in the Gus Wheeler series.

We talk about what goes into writing believable crime thrillers, from researching investigations and building realistic cases to creating memorable villains and sustaining suspense across an entire series.

We also chat about John's writing process, where the series is headed next, how he comes up with book titles, and wrap things up with a fun lightning round and audience questions.

If you love crime fiction, mysteries, or suspense novels, this episode is for you.

Chapters

00:00 Intro

02:00 The Gus Wheeler Series

07:10 Before the Devil Knows

09:12 Research & Realism

16:10 Creating Villains

18:15 Writing a Series

23:30 Writing Process

26:59 What's Next

28:30 Choosing Titles

31:45 Lightning Round

34:00 Audience Questions

37:40 Outro