Panel: "Worlds Beneath Our Feet: Fantasy Without Elves" for Readers and Writers

·57 min·5 clips

A panel of authors discusses launching a new urban fantasy book and what it takes to publish in 2025.

Fantasy without elves starts here. Jason Henderson frames the gathering as a Castlebridge Media conversation, names publishing partner Inchur Yo, then lets the room grow beyond a single release. Don Sawyer's The Tunnels of Buddha, the second Soul Catcher book, gives everyone a practical reason to talk about urban fantasy craft instead of staying in launch mode. The good stuff comes when the panel tests how far strange ideas can stretch. One guest talks through waves, frequencies, and suggestion traveling from far away, amused that the premise felt less abstract than expected. That detail matters because it keeps the weirdness tethered. The fantasy can still be fantastic, but it has to feel like it belongs inside the story's known universe. Tricia puts the rule problem plainly: a book has to follow its own logic, even when the magic should not arrive as a rulebook. She prefers first-person discovery, where readers learn the world as the character learns it. She also admits that, looking back, she can spot places where she explained too much too early. Continuity adds another wrinkle. Since she does not pre-plan every book in a five-book series, she keeps a large document tracking what has already happened. Then comes the itch to break a rule. The craft question is whether the story can honestly work around it. By the end, the panel turns warmer. A writer contrasts the usual long publishing silence with Jason's replies within 24 hours, and the book launch starts to sound like an actual working relationship.

As heard by us

A craft-minded urban fantasy discussion that keeps its magic grounded in rules, continuity, and reader discovery.

The discussion keeps its attention on craft rather than labels, with Jason Henderson framing Don Sawyer's The Tunnels of Buddha, the second book in the Soul Catcher series.

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Why you'd press play

For the writer who wants urban fantasy talk without the fog machine.

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