Fantasy subgenres

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The fantasy genre has spawned many new subgenres with no clear counterparts in the myths or folklore upon which the tradition of fantasy storytelling is based, although inspiration from mythology and folklore remains a consistent theme. Since the rise of popular fantasy fiction in the twentieth century, the fantasy genre is often subdivided into a number of branches. However, like all discussions of genre, there are very few definitions of any of the subgenres that can be called 'definitive' to cover every and only work of that subgenre. These new subgenres are frequently extended back to include earlier works.

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[edit] Alternate history

For more details on this topic, see Alternate history.

Although many forms of alternate history are classified as science fiction, alternate histories where magic works or fantastic creatures abound are classified as fantasy.

The characteristics that separate it from historical fantasy and contemporary fantasy are that the history has both clear differences and clear connections to history and geography.

[edit] Bangsian fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Bangsian fantasy.

Bangsian fantasy is named for John Kendrick Bangs, whose late 19th- and early 20th-century Associated Shades series of novels deals with the afterlives of various famous people. Frequently used are the Underworld/Limbo/Purgatory ("neutral"), Elysium/Nirvana/Heaven ("good"), and Erebus/Gehenna/Hell ("bad").

[edit] Comic fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Comic fantasy.

This sub-genre parodies the above ideas as well as ideas outside the genre, sometimes in a postmodern manner. A peculiarly early example of this genre is the aforementioned Gulliver's Travels. It might also include the so-called "worst fantasy story ever published" The Eye of Argon.

Although many of these works qualify, by setting, as high fantasy, comic fantasy can theoretically overlap with any of the other subgenres.

[edit] Contemporary fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Contemporary fantasy.

This fantasy comprises stories set in the putative real world or consensus reality in contemporary times, in which, the story reveals, magic or magical creatures exist, such as vampires or, as in the Highlander films and television series, immortals.

All the fantasy elements in a contemporary fantasy must exist in, or at least intrude into, the real world. Fantasy stories where the characters leave the real world for a fantasy world, and the real world contains nothing magical except, perhaps, the portal, are high fantasy.[citation needed] On the other hand, their existence must be secret enough that a reader can be convinced that by one means or another, the fantasy elements could hide or be hidden from history, the media, and the overwhelming majority of people. If the fantasy elements are so clear as to make the majority of people aware of them, the story becomes alternate history.[citation needed]

[edit] Urban fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Urban fantasy.

Most contemporary fantasy takes place in an urban setting, leading the designation urban fantasy.

The term is rarely used for stories taking place in the cities of imaginary lands.

[edit] Elfpunk

Elfpunk is a subgenre of contemporary fantasy and urban fantasy, specifically consisting of novels and stories in which faeries and elves are transplanted from rural folklore into modern urban settings. Some works in this subgenre are

[edit] Dark fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Dark fantasy.

Dark fantasy in this context refers to stories that focus on elements usually found in the horror genre but which take place in a setting more alike sword and sorcery or high fantasy. Dark fantasy includes "grittier" fantasy, conducted in settings which represent the brutality of the medieval period more realisticly than the traditionally idealised representations of conventional fantasy, generally with a dash of supernatural horror. It may or may not take place in its own fantasy world.

[edit] Erotic fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Erotic fantasy.

Erotic fantasy utilizes erotica in a fantasy setting.

This subgenre can, in fact, overlap with almost every other subgenre, since its distinguishing traits are not the fantastical elements or setting that distinguish the others.

[edit] Fairytale fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Fairytale fantasy.

Fairytale fantasy is distinguished from other subgenres by the works' heavy use of motifs, and often plots, from folklore. They sometimes ignore the standards of world-building common to fantasy as blithely as the tales from which they derive, though not always; stories that use a high fantasy, contemporary, or historical setting, with the world-building thus entailed, may also be considered part of those genres.

[edit] Heroic fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Heroic fantasy.

A subgenre touching high fantasy on one hand and sword-and-sorcery on the other. A hero is usually the main character, and is usually on a quest, and often is carrying one or more magical items.

[edit] High fantasy

For more details on this topic, see High fantasy.

The term high fantasy (also epic fantasy) generally refers to fantasy that depicts an epic struggle between good and evil in a fantasy world, parallel to ours. The moral concepts in such tales take on objective status, and are not relative to the one making the judgement.

The moral tone and high stakes -- usually world-shaking -- separates this genre from sword and sorcery, while the degree to which the world is not based on a real-world history separates it from historical fantasy.

[edit] Historical fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Historical fantasy.

Historical fantasy takes two distinct forms. One encompasses stories set in the historical past but with fantasy elements introduced, much as contemporary fantasy is set in the present. The other is set in a created fantasy world that closely parallels our own, with recognisable analogs for countries, historical events or historical personages.

[edit] Celtic Fantasy

Within the genre, further subgenres arise when a given historical era is popular. For instance, many fantasy settings have been in, or inspired by, Dark Age Celtic cultures have lead to the name of "Celtic fantasy."

[edit] Steampunk

Fantasy Steampunk is another subgenre of historical fantasy, being set in the Victorian or Edwardian eras, although certain technological features must also be present to label it as steampunk, and some works in this genre are alternate history.

[edit] Wuxia

For more details on this topic, see Wuxia.

Wǔxiá (Traditional Chinese: 武俠, Simplified Chinese: 武侠, Mandarin IPA: wuɕiɑ, Cantonese Pinyin: mów hàb), literally meaning "martial (arts) heroes", is a sub-genre of the quasi-fantasy and martial arts genre in literature, television and cinema. Wǔxiá figures prominently in the popular culture of Chinese-speaking areas, and the most important writers have devoted followings.

The wǔxiá genre is a blend of the philosophy of xiá (俠, "honor code", "an ethical person", "a hero"), and China's long history in wǔshù ("kung fu" (pronounced gong fu, despite popular misconceptions) or "martial arts"). A martial artist who follows the code of xiá is called a swordsman, or xiákè (俠客/侠客, literally "chivalrous guest"). Japan's samurai bushidō traditions, England's knight chivalry traditions, and America's gunslinger Western traditions all share some aspects with China's swordsman xiá traditions. The swordsman, however, need not serve a lord or hold any military power and they are not required to be from an aristocratic class.

[edit] Historical high fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Historical high fantasy.

When the historical setting is used for characters and a plot resembling high fantasy, the names may be combined to indicate this subgenre. The Chronicles of Narnia is a very good example.

[edit] Medieval fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Medieval fantasy.

[edit] Juvenile fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Juvenile fantasy.

Fantasies may be intended specifically for a juvenile audience. This subgenre usually overlaps with others.

[edit] Low fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Low fantasy.

Low fantasy is not a proper subgenre as such, but a catch-all term employed to describe works of fantasy literature described in an antagonistic relationship with the more well-defined high fantasy genre. As such, it can indicate fantasy that tries not to emphasise magic; fantasy set in the real world; fantasy that contains realism and a more cynical worldview; and Dark fantasy -- among others.

[edit] Fantasy of manners

For more details on this topic, see Fantasy of manners.

Fantasy of manners, sometimes called "mannerpunk", is the fantasy genre's arena for the comedy of manners. Its worlds involve elaborately complex social hierarchies, and its plots revolve around its characters' interactions within those hierarchies in the traditions of Jane Austen or Anthony Hope.

Many fantasy of manners could, by the setting, be classified as alternate history, high fantasy, or historical fantasy. The subgenre is marked out by tone and plot, and the centrality of etiquette to the characters' negiotations.

[edit] Mythic fiction

Mythic fiction is a term often used for contemporary, real-world fantasy (including fantastical work published as mainstream fiction) that draws upon the themes, symbols, and archetypes of myth and folklore. Mythic fiction overlaps with urban fantasy and the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but mythic fiction also includes contemporary works in non-urban settings.

Though often very loosely based in mythology, it uses familiar mythological personages archetypes(such as tricksters, or the thunderer). This is in contrast to many other forms of fantasy (with the usual exception of fairytale fantasy), such as the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, which generally invent their own legends and folklore, and volunteer entirely new pantheons, or attempt to disguise actual mythology with made-up names. Some examples of mythic fiction:

[edit] Mythpunk

Mythpunk, a subgenre of mythic fiction, is a term used by Catherynne M. Valente and other American fantasy writers to define a specific brand of nonrealist fiction, largely written by women authors, which starts in folklore and myth and from there layers in postmodern fantastic techniques: urban fantasy, confessional poetry, non-linear storytelling, linguistic calisthenics, worldbuilding, and academic fantasy. Writers of works that can be considered to fall under the mythpunk label are Greer Gilman, Theodora Goss, Yoon Ha Lee, Vera Nazarian, Holly Phillips, Sonya Taaffe, Erzebet Barthold Yellow-Boy, and Valente herself.

[edit] Romantic fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Romantic fantasy.

The plots of romantic fantasies centre upon a romantic relationship between the protagonists, and the plots or settings include fantastical elements. Romantic fantasy has been published both as fantasy and as romance.

Although this subgenre can overlap with almost every other fantasy subgenre, since its distinguishing traits are not the fantastical elements or setting that distinguish the others, most romantic fantasy shares setting elements that go beyond the focus on romantic relationships. Romantic fantasy novels usually feature valiant female warriors and in most of these books, female soldiers and mercenaries are either accepted and common in enlightened realms, or gain acceptance in the course of the story.

[edit] Science fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Science fantasy.

Fantasy and science fiction jointly share the subgenre called science fantasy, which has many of the trappings of science fiction, such as space travel and laser guns, but also contains significant elements that bear more resemblance to magic than science or in some other way draw more from fantasy than from science fiction. One of the best known examples of science fantasy is the Star Wars series of films, set aboard spaceships and on alien planets but featuring swashbuckling knights, princesses in distress, a dark sorcerer who has enslaved the galaxy, a mystical source of magical power called the Force, and even an opening line that is a variant of "Once upon a time": A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

See also:

[edit] Sword and Planet

For more details on this topic, see Sword and Planet.

A subgenre of science fantasy, it focuses on swashbuckling adventures on other planets.

[edit] Dying Earth fiction

For more details on this topic, see Dying Earth subgenre.

A subgenre of science fantasy, distinguished by its setting in the far-distant future.

[edit] Superhero fantasy

For more details on this topic, see Superhero.

Superhero fantasy began in American comic books, evolving into a combination of science fantasy and contemporary fantasy. That is, it is a genre that is typically set in the contemporary world in where all fantastic concepts from extraterrestrials and futuristic technology to magic and classic mythological beings potentially co-exist. The feature characters, however, are costumed heroes often endowed with fantastic abilities, skills or equipment.

[edit] Sword and sorcery

For more details on this topic, see Sword and sorcery.

Inspired primarily by the works of Robert E. Howard, especially Conan the Barbarian, sword and sorcery is more concerned with immediate physical threats and action than high fantasy, distinguishing the two genres. Further, sword and sorcery, in contrast to high fantasy, tends to portray amoral protagonists and/or worlds--there are rarely objective values, or any sort of cosmic justice. Even when the protagonists act morally and do incidental good deeds along the way, the usual protagonist's motivation is self-interest.