Blog Post What Genre Is That? – Fantasy

 

So let’s move swiftly onto next genre of the three (science fiction, fantasy, horror) and examine the sub-genres that make up the realms of fantasy.

 

·         Bangsian fantasy - uses famous literary or historical individuals and their interactions in the afterlife.

·         Comic fantasy – the focus is one of humour both in its intent and tone. It is usually set in imaginary worlds and often includes puns on and parodies of other works of fantasy.

·         Contemporary fantasy – this can also be known as modern fantasy or indigenous fantasy. It is set in the present day. Most of the time contemporary fantasy goes hand in hand with the other fantasy subgenre, urban fantasy.

·         Dark fantasy – combines fantasy with elements of horror. This genre has a dark, gloomy atmosphere or a sense of horror and dread.

·         Fairy tale – is typically a short story. It includes folkloric characters, such as dwarves, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, mermaids, trolls, or witches. It usually involves magic or enchantments. Fairy tales tend to have some kind of moral message at the core of their story.

·         Fairy tale parody – this parodies traditional fairy tales. This can focus on either the retelling of one particular fairy tale or can mix several of them together, like the television show ‘Once Upon a Time.’

·         Fantastique – this is French term. It is a genre that overlaps with science fiction, horror and fantasy.

·         Gaslamp fantasy – can also be known as gaslight fantasy or gaslight romance. It mixes fantasy with historical fiction. It is set in either Victorian or Edwardian period. It has elements, themes and character which are that of a gothic nature.

·         Ghost story – could easily fall into the horror section as well as the fantasy one. This is any type of fiction that includes a ghost. This is can be an actual ghost in the story or could just include the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them.

·         Gods and demons fiction – this focuses on immortals and monsters. Traditionally this genre deals with Chinese gods and demons but has been expanded to include other mythologies.

·          Grimdark – is dark in tone and setting. It is usually dystopian or amoral, or particularly violent or realistic. There are no winners in grimdark and very few characters if any have happy endings or even moments in the story.

·         Hard fantasy – is similar to hard science fiction, in the fact that it has strict rules that have to be kept to, in a rigorous and logical manner. Hard fantasy has starting conditions that do not, and often cannot, exist according to current scientific understanding.

·         Heroic fantasy – think hero journey/character defeats all evil and concurs evil. The hero of the story take off to imaginary lands, leans what they can. Completes in several battles and wins.

·         High fantasy – is epic in its terms of characters, themes and plot.

·         Historical fantasy – this is historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into the narrative. Most of the crossovers are focused around Arthurian, Celtic, or Dark Ages fiction.

·         Juvenile fantasy – is children’s literature with elements of fantasy and includes characters that are not yet adults.

·         Low fantasy – these stories involve strange happenings and events in an otherwise ‘normal’ world, where these types of happenings stand out and are not supposed to occur. In these stories there is less focus on the fantasy and more on how the characters react to the werid things that are happening to them.

·         Magic realism – is an acceptance of magic in the rational world.

·         Medieval fantasy – is fantasy based in the medieval periods of history.

·         Mythic fiction – are stories that are inspired by myths, legends, folklore and fairy tales. This subgenre can have a big cross over with urban fantasy.

·         Romantic fantasy – is romantic fiction that includes fantasy elements.

·         Science fantasy – is science fiction combined with fantasy.

·         Slavic fantasy - use of Slavic folklore (legends, epics, myths) for the rules for fantasy works. It can also be used as a broader term Russian fantasy.

·         Sword and sorcery – is characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts. Stories also tend to include a romance, magic and the supernatural. The focus of the story tends to be on personal battles rather than world-endangering matters.

·         Urban fantasy – is fantasy that is set in real cities from this world and not made up ones, however in many fictions characters can cross from the ‘real’ to the ‘made-up’ world in the story. The key to this is that the characters have something that keeps them placed (in some fashion) in the normal world.