In contrast, Sinclair points out that in magical realism "the impossible can occur without comment", and the relationship between reader and narrator may be stronger.
The Encyclopedia's definition includes "portal fantasy in which transition between the two realms occurs regularly", as well as several other subgenres; it cites Peter S. Beagle's Lila the Werewolf as a classic of the type.
[4] Grzegorz Trebicki describes "contemporary" fantasy works "set in our 'primary' world, in which the textual reality has been enriched by various fantastical elements, usually borrowed from particular mythologies or folk traditions".
Bacon-Smith credits Terri Windling's 1986 introduction of Borderland as a key event in improving interest in the genre, also noting the earlier influence of Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire which she says has a "contemporary background".
[8] In his preface to That Hideous Strength, one of the earlier works falling within this subgenre, C. S. Lewis explained why, when writing a tale about "magicians, devils, pantomime animals and planetary angels", he chose to start it with a detailed depiction of narrow-minded academic politics at a provincial English university and the schemes of crooked real estate developers: I am following the traditional fairy-tale.
We do not always notice its method, because the cottages, castles, woodcutters and petty kings with which a fairy tale opens have become for us as remote as the witches and ogres to which it proceeds.
[10] Novels in which modern characters travel into other worlds, and all the magical action takes place there (except for the portal required to transport them), are not considered contemporary fantasy.