Fantasy Taxomony - by MoonHunter on 02:37 27 May 2003
I vaguely remember a dicussion on this topic on this board, but I can not find it. So, lacking that reference I was wondering what mental or actual categories do you organize your fantasy books into?
For me:
Swords and Sorcery: Connan, Grey Mouser stories, any number of pulpish fantasy stories/ books. Not just older work, Mercedes Lackey's Sword Sworn series fall into this category.
Swords and Planets: Fantasy with some sci-fi overtones, primitive and advanced all existing simultaneously. The classics in this genre are John Carter of Mars and Carson of Venus. Technically Pern and somewhat Darkover could be in this category, thought they are heading more towards scifi.
Historical Fantasy: Stories set in recognizable historical times, with some mystic/ supernatural elements tossed in. Many Arthur/ Guennever/ Lancelot/ Morgan stories are in this section.
Modern Fantasy: Fantasy elements tossed into a pre-modern to post-modern setting. Different from the horror effects of when most fantasy elements slam into the modern world, in these books the human characters can deal with the concept of the fantasy aspects and adapt to them. In many of these books, the protagonists are not humans, but Elves or other fey. Mercedes Lackey's Diana Trigard and Serrated Edge books, L Hamilton's works, and anything by Charles DeLint, would be examples of this setting.
Non-European Fantasy: Things set in fantasy of another historical trend. This would be things like Tome Gomez and many other Japanese/ Chinese historical fantasies.
Traditional Fantasy: Things of the Tolkein mold (tropes and memes), with the Elves, and other species, plus some magik. Besides most roleplaying game worlds and said inspired books, way many novels. Sword of Shanara (and the rest of them) Usharack, and myrid others make up this category.
Semi-traditional fantasy: This would be the sort of thing that has been common recently, as people are trying do fantasy, yet stay away from Tolkein based memes and tropes. Mercedes Lackey's Valdamar/ Griffin series and Wheel of Time make up good examples.
(Fantasy tends to be trilogies and maybe a series, while scifi tend to be single books or tend to be a series. Strange no?)
So does this taxonomy make sense to you all, or am I missing something, or do you categorize them a different way?
I vaguely remember a dicussion on this topic on this board, but I can not find it. So, lacking that reference I was wondering what mental or actual categories do you organize your fantasy books into?
For me:
Swords and Sorcery: Connan, Grey Mouser stories, any number of pulpish fantasy stories/ books. Not just older work, Mercedes Lackey's Sword Sworn series fall into this category.
Swords and Planets: Fantasy with some sci-fi overtones, primitive and advanced all existing simultaneously. The classics in this genre are John Carter of Mars and Carson of Venus. Technically Pern and somewhat Darkover could be in this category, thought they are heading more towards scifi.
Historical Fantasy: Stories set in recognizable historical times, with some mystic/ supernatural elements tossed in. Many Arthur/ Guennever/ Lancelot/ Morgan stories are in this section.
Modern Fantasy: Fantasy elements tossed into a pre-modern to post-modern setting. Different from the horror effects of when most fantasy elements slam into the modern world, in these books the human characters can deal with the concept of the fantasy aspects and adapt to them. In many of these books, the protagonists are not humans, but Elves or other fey. Mercedes Lackey's Diana Trigard and Serrated Edge books, L Hamilton's works, and anything by Charles DeLint, would be examples of this setting.
Non-European Fantasy: Things set in fantasy of another historical trend. This would be things like Tome Gomez and many other Japanese/ Chinese historical fantasies.
Traditional Fantasy: Things of the Tolkein mold (tropes and memes), with the Elves, and other species, plus some magik. Besides most roleplaying game worlds and said inspired books, way many novels. Sword of Shanara (and the rest of them) Usharack, and myrid others make up this category.
Semi-traditional fantasy: This would be the sort of thing that has been common recently, as people are trying do fantasy, yet stay away from Tolkein based memes and tropes. Mercedes Lackey's Valdamar/ Griffin series and Wheel of Time make up good examples.
(Fantasy tends to be trilogies and maybe a series, while scifi tend to be single books or tend to be a series. Strange no?)
So does this taxonomy make sense to you all, or am I missing something, or do you categorize them a different way?
Fantasy Taxomony - by Brad on 09:00 27 May 2003
Previous Discussion.
I would say that is a good breakdown of fantasy. The most recent trend has been to mix genres and subgenres more ala Buffy.
What I have noticed is that fantasy is perhaps the most Balkanized of the genres. This applies to both subgenres and media. (ie. people who might like fantasy (web)comics might show no interest in fantasy books, or a fan of Conan might show no interest in any other type of fantasy.) Univeralists (like me) that are interested in all sorts of fantasy are not the majority. Often the subniches get very dedicated followings (ie. fantasy RPGers)
This makes it difficult to run a fantasy directory for instance. It is almost easier to break it down to something highly specialized.
This self-Balkanization effect is also why fantasy remains lumped in with SF all the time even though there are more fans of fantasy than horror (which can more easily stand on it's own.)
The contrast is science fiction fans which tend to be more "big tent" oriented. The interesting thing is that SF is currently pretty stagnant in re. growth, while most of the expansion is in fantasy.
Sorry MH I got a little off topic here but this is stuff I think about, so it came to mind.
Previous Discussion.
I would say that is a good breakdown of fantasy. The most recent trend has been to mix genres and subgenres more ala Buffy.
What I have noticed is that fantasy is perhaps the most Balkanized of the genres. This applies to both subgenres and media. (ie. people who might like fantasy (web)comics might show no interest in fantasy books, or a fan of Conan might show no interest in any other type of fantasy.) Univeralists (like me) that are interested in all sorts of fantasy are not the majority. Often the subniches get very dedicated followings (ie. fantasy RPGers)
This makes it difficult to run a fantasy directory for instance. It is almost easier to break it down to something highly specialized.
This self-Balkanization effect is also why fantasy remains lumped in with SF all the time even though there are more fans of fantasy than horror (which can more easily stand on it's own.)
The contrast is science fiction fans which tend to be more "big tent" oriented. The interesting thing is that SF is currently pretty stagnant in re. growth, while most of the expansion is in fantasy.
Sorry MH I got a little off topic here but this is stuff I think about, so it came to mind.
Fantasy Taxomony - by MoonHunter on 01:15 28 May 2003
You say this to the master of the parallell, but divergant rant? Not a problem. Keep going.
In addition, I would like to hear other chime in.
I am forumlating a follow up thread as we type....
You say this to the master of the parallell, but divergant rant? Not a problem. Keep going.
In addition, I would like to hear other chime in.
I am forumlating a follow up thread as we type....
Fantasy Taxomony - by Brad on 10:42 28 May 2003
The problem is especially accute online. People seem to stay in thier own little fantasy subniche.
It may be because fantasy as a genre is based upon chasing ones passions and emotions. Whereas, traditionally SF was more about ideas. My thinking is that fantasy, unhindered by science and logic and ideas can break down into almost infinite subgroups. Or something.
I've not fully thouhgt out this line of reasoning so i won't go much further.
It still comes back to subgenres and submedia.
The problem is especially accute online. People seem to stay in thier own little fantasy subniche.
It may be because fantasy as a genre is based upon chasing ones passions and emotions. Whereas, traditionally SF was more about ideas. My thinking is that fantasy, unhindered by science and logic and ideas can break down into almost infinite subgroups. Or something.
I've not fully thouhgt out this line of reasoning so i won't go much further.
It still comes back to subgenres and submedia.