A Multipli City of Realms

An increasing diversity in speculative fiction is the new name of the publishing game this fall. The boundaries between steampunk and alternate histories set in similar near-modern time periods are beginning to blur, while lighter and humorous tongue-in-cheek sf titles are counterbalancing the still popular but grim dystopian trend. Although paranormal/urban fantasies apparently have fallen a bit out of vogue, Harper Voyager executive editor David Pomerico still sees plenty of great books and submissions from that arena. More innovative story lines and paranormal creatures are replacing urban fantasy's tired vampire tropes. And crossovers are building new readerships beyond narrowly defined genre ghettos. Likewise space opera and military sf have experienced a recent surge in popularity.