What is fresh in fantasy?

[Christian Walker]

I'm trying to fnd some freshness by tossing out the shackles that have been placed on the hobby by Tolkien. Elves, hobbits, dwarves, and orcs have been a staple for so long that few stop to ask why they are always found in settings.

These days I've been running games where the only sentient race native to the planet are humans. Add a bit of magic, infernal interference, and good ol' human cruelty, and that's enough to keep me going.

 

[skinnydwarf]

The "Banned and the Banished" books by James Clemens are pretty awesome. Sort of dark epic fantasy, very cool stuff. When I was reading the first couple books I just kept thinking "Gosh, this is so good..." And, even better, it actually ends! I'm on book three of five, and I know that I can actually finish the story within the next ten years. Imagine that!

Also good are George R. R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" books. Probably the best fantasy currently being written, IMHO.

 

[Liminal Syzygy]

While it seems to be in fashion on ENWorld to bash Mieville--quite possibly as a knee-jerk reaction to perceived "hype" around his novels--his PSS and The Scar are both very good. I'd recommend checking them out before being influenced by all the negativity.

Mieville would be the first though to say he isn't writing in the fantasy tradition, but more of a cross-genre interstial area. He calls it "weird fiction".

I'd also recommend VanderMeer's City of Saints and Madmen.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

If I might insert a shameless plug here, I'd like to think that Urbis is fairly innovative...

Basically, it takes a look at all those oddities of the D&D rules - spells like fireball, raise dead, [/i]plant growth[/i] and so on, strange monsters like yrthak and destrachan, the abundance of magical items - and then tries to work out how the world and society would really look like.

Believe me, it's not anywhere near being feudal or medieval.

Oh, and then I threw lots of really big cities into the mix. Urban settings are cool.

 

[mmadsen]

...those guys are miles beyond him in inventiveness, despite the 50-120 year old age of their stories.

I noticed the same phenomenon while reading Alexandre Dumas. Even though everything he wrote later became a cliche, his original stories don't feel re-hashed.

 

[hong]

If all else fails, introduce ninjae.


Hong "trust me on the ninjae" Ooi

 

[rounser]

I think the most recently successful twist on fantasy (arguable whether it's fresh or not) is what I call "contemporary fantasy". E.g. Harry Potter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, and (some of) the X Files.

Elves, hobbits, dwarves, and orcs have been a staple for so long that few stop to ask why they are always found in settings.

I'm under the impression that modern fantasy authors don't employ demihumans; that's just a Tolkien thing that D&D happens to stick to because it's firmly anchored in the implied setting and game rules. Eddings, Jordan, Gemmell etc. all lack them, but come up with their own races - the only one I can think of with the "standard Tolkien array" is Feist, and his world is ex-RPG anyway. Then again, I'm about a decade out of date fantasy novel-wise, and things may well have changed...

If all else fails, introduce ninjae.

If all else fails? I should think they'd be a first resort rather than a last one, as in the classic campaign starting point; "You're all sitting around the table at a tavern, when suddenly...ninjas attack! Roll for initiative..." Really shows the verisimilitude who's boss from the outset, I think.

 

[Amaroq]

Without regard to 'recent publishing date', I'll nominate three of my all-time favorites.

Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon (1988) - excellent character development, plot which avoids cliche, absolute masterpiece. (Book 1 of a three-book trilogy)

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold (2001) - excellent science fiction author makes debut in fantasy. Interesting world, 'human' characters, good fantastic plot. Also worth checking out Paladin of Souls - same world, but not a series. Features a very unique 'hero' facing an equally unique plot.

Rhapsody by Elizabeth Haydon (2001) - avoided cliche'd characters, plot feels uniqe and fresh. (Book 1 of a three-book trilogy)

 

[Kichwas]

The first that popped into my head was 'Billy Idol', but then I realized I'd misread the thread title a bit.

Try writers outside the scope of your normal writers. I used to try and never read the same author twice.

I've actually found, through that, that most fantasy does not have dwarves, elves, goblins, and such. Most of it doesn't even have non humans. So the term 'generic fantasy' to me has the meaning it has to non gamers, and not how gamers seem to think of it.

If you vary your author choices it will hardly seem stagnant to you. I'd say the people who think fantasy is stagnant are themselves stagnant. The issue is with them, not the genre.

 

[SSquirrel]

Heh not new but I've always been a big Feist fan. I like that you have some very high magic happening, but you also don't have resurrection spells. Heroes actually die. The good guys usually win, but some real nasty stuff happens along the way. It's all just a really good read IMO.

Hagen