A select panel of urban fantasy authors pondered traditions and fresh ideas in depicting the Fae in their work on Saturday at 10AM, Urban Fantasy YouTube. Moderated by Carol Malcolm, panelists Patricia Biggs, Jim Butcher, Cecilia Dominic, Lisa Manifold, and Bishop O’Connell discussed “Favors, Bargains and Glamours: The Fae in Urban Fantasy.”

Although the authors agreed on certain legends concerning the Fae—their inability to lie, their abhorrence and fear of iron, their longevity, and their disdain for humans, among others—they also agreed that they had played with those tropes for story fodder.

When asked about their favorite Fae characters from their work, Butcher answered Queen Mab and explained that she was a take-off from the White Witch in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. He praised Lewis several times during the panel and his choice engendered a lively discussion of Mab’s traits by other panelists.

In exploring new Fae creatures in the future, water Fae like selkies, mermaids, and nymphs were favorites among the panelists. Patricia Briggs confessed to a certain reluctance to get in the water due to the apparent abundance of waterborne Fae. Readers will have wait and see if any of these new Fae creatures make their way onto the pages of the panelists’ new works.