What is fresh in fantasy?
- Thread starter Tormenet
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Tinker Gnome
Adventurer
I agree that contemporary fantasy seems to be fairly popular right now. One of my favorite anime series could be considered contemporary fantasy, well, at least I think it could. I love Digimon. 
jester47
First Post
Fresh in fantasy?
hrm tough question. The trilogy is tired. It takes a lot to get me to pick up a book with the words "Book X of the X saga" on it.
Contemporary fantasy seems to be one of the big trends right now. American Gods, Harry Potter, d20 Modern, buffy and the whole rest of the bunch. The other big trend seems to be a Swords and Sorcery revival. Hence the return to Howard, Vance, Moorcock, LeGuin, and Leiber. Satire brings out originality. In that case I would say Pratchett. What all of these trends seem to be seeking and attempting to present here is a sort of Otherworldliness. Oddly enough, some of the most innovative stuff in fantasy is found in video games (Final Fantasy 9, 10, and 10-2 for example) and anime (Escaflowne, Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky). However the big trend that all these smaller trends seem to be pointing to is believable reactions in the midst of weirdness. Hence the revival in swords and sorcery- a weirder subgenre (if you will) of fantasy where the reactions are basicly more human. As a whole, fantasy is slipping more and more from the historical to the alternate in the same way science fiction is slipping more towards fantasy in an effort to stay ahead of the progress of science. Some ideas seem to be connected - strange machinery, strange life forms, other worlds. We also see alternate social, technological, and spiritual development in the face of the animal-impossible and as a result of the ability to bring it about.
It is interesting to see that most speculative fiction (fantasy, sci-fi, horror) is filled with non-humans (aliens essentially) of some sort. All three also deal with other worlds quite regularly. Similarly, all three have the theme of dealing with a kind of applied knowledge to achieve some sort of result (magic, science). So I think what we are seeing right now is a fusion of the three. To achieve this, you drop science in favor of scientific looking magic. You drop the real world and make your setting what might as well be another planet. You have humanity rubbing elbows with other lifeforms. Forget real world history. Make the consequences of magic more drastic than those of technology leading to limited use by an intellectual elite. Apply social, spiritual and technological reactions to the said situations, and I think you might have the state of speculative/weird/science/fantasy/horror fiction say 50 to 200 years from now.
Aaron.
hrm tough question. The trilogy is tired. It takes a lot to get me to pick up a book with the words "Book X of the X saga" on it.
Contemporary fantasy seems to be one of the big trends right now. American Gods, Harry Potter, d20 Modern, buffy and the whole rest of the bunch. The other big trend seems to be a Swords and Sorcery revival. Hence the return to Howard, Vance, Moorcock, LeGuin, and Leiber. Satire brings out originality. In that case I would say Pratchett. What all of these trends seem to be seeking and attempting to present here is a sort of Otherworldliness. Oddly enough, some of the most innovative stuff in fantasy is found in video games (Final Fantasy 9, 10, and 10-2 for example) and anime (Escaflowne, Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky). However the big trend that all these smaller trends seem to be pointing to is believable reactions in the midst of weirdness. Hence the revival in swords and sorcery- a weirder subgenre (if you will) of fantasy where the reactions are basicly more human. As a whole, fantasy is slipping more and more from the historical to the alternate in the same way science fiction is slipping more towards fantasy in an effort to stay ahead of the progress of science. Some ideas seem to be connected - strange machinery, strange life forms, other worlds. We also see alternate social, technological, and spiritual development in the face of the animal-impossible and as a result of the ability to bring it about.
It is interesting to see that most speculative fiction (fantasy, sci-fi, horror) is filled with non-humans (aliens essentially) of some sort. All three also deal with other worlds quite regularly. Similarly, all three have the theme of dealing with a kind of applied knowledge to achieve some sort of result (magic, science). So I think what we are seeing right now is a fusion of the three. To achieve this, you drop science in favor of scientific looking magic. You drop the real world and make your setting what might as well be another planet. You have humanity rubbing elbows with other lifeforms. Forget real world history. Make the consequences of magic more drastic than those of technology leading to limited use by an intellectual elite. Apply social, spiritual and technological reactions to the said situations, and I think you might have the state of speculative/weird/science/fantasy/horror fiction say 50 to 200 years from now.
Aaron.
s/LaSH
First Post
Galeros said:I agree that contemporary fantasy seems to be fairly popular right now. One of my favorite anime series could be considered contemporary fantasy, well, at least I think it could. I love Digimon.
Who doesn't?
I've got to throw a Digimon game together sometime... better improve my X-mon-fu first, though, I can barely name the hero characters.
(Also... which continuity? Season 1/2, where you can legitimately throw in Cthulhu, like that Season 2 episode? Season 3, where I'm allowed to call in an airstrike on downtown Tokyo like they did in that episode near the end? Season 4, which they haven't finished broadcasting here yet? Something fresh and new?)
The Mirrorball Man
Aventurier
The easiest way to escape from the cliches of fantasy is to get rid of the western european flavor (and of the Chinese/Japanese flavor as well). West African fantasy, Indian fantasy, South American fantasy all have a lot of potential.
Beyond the D&D novels, I've read very little of fantasy. The big stuff from Tolkien (Hobbit, LotR, working through Silmarillion), some David Eddings (The Sparhawk stuff), and George R.R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire).
Now, I really enjoy Tolkien's stuff, but Eddings' and Martin's worlds of pretty much all humans (hints of some other things), but with many varying cultures really interests me. It's influenced my RPG world-building, as I very much try to give specific regions different cultures... and I try to have a lot of real-life issues. Weddings, births, deaths - these things happen, and sometimes there's nothing strange about them.
But "fresh" to me just means something I haven't read before, and thanks to the Legends collections of famous author's short stories, I've been able to learn about several other authors without a large literary or financial commitment.
Now, I really enjoy Tolkien's stuff, but Eddings' and Martin's worlds of pretty much all humans (hints of some other things), but with many varying cultures really interests me. It's influenced my RPG world-building, as I very much try to give specific regions different cultures... and I try to have a lot of real-life issues. Weddings, births, deaths - these things happen, and sometimes there's nothing strange about them.
But "fresh" to me just means something I haven't read before, and thanks to the Legends collections of famous author's short stories, I've been able to learn about several other authors without a large literary or financial commitment.
lior_shapira
Explorer
I think Arcana Unearthed is a really fresh take on fantasy, It takes a lot of basic concepts of fantasy and changes them. For example no alignments, no hobbits, no elves...
Monte Cook specifies several sources of inspiration for AU but one of them seems to me to be really influential and is also one of my favorite fantasy books
, 'The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant'. It's a two trilogy series which I think started in the 70's and is really really good and a great source for campaign inspiration
Monte Cook specifies several sources of inspiration for AU but one of them seems to me to be really influential and is also one of my favorite fantasy books
, 'The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant'. It's a two trilogy series which I think started in the 70's and is really really good and a great source for campaign inspirationI've heard some good things about Gene Wolfe's new book "The Knight", but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. It manages to be innovative by trying to ignore all the fantasy subtypes; it's supposed to go back to mythology before Tolkien, and re-examine fantasy archetypes from a more folklore-based angle. Like I said, I haven't read it myself, but it sounds good, and is getting good reviews.
I'm in the middle of Sean Russel's One Kingdom books, which is an ongoing series. It's an all-human world (with some spirit-types), magic is handled interestingly, and is very low-key, and he's got an interesting parallel/alternate plane of existence set up. The series is on it's second book, with the third due out soon.
I'm in the middle of Sean Russel's One Kingdom books, which is an ongoing series. It's an all-human world (with some spirit-types), magic is handled interestingly, and is very low-key, and he's got an interesting parallel/alternate plane of existence set up. The series is on it's second book, with the third due out soon.
Mathew_Freeman
Adventurer
Thomas Covenant? Really? OK, I'm more curious than I was about Monte Cooks's book then. Those books have some really great ideas mixed in with some really awful ones, but I'm sure Monte would tend towards taking more of the former...lior_shapira said:I think Arcana Unearthed is a really fresh take on fantasy, It takes a lot of basic concepts of fantasy and changes them. For example no alignments, no hobbits, no elves...
Monte Cook specifies several sources of inspiration for AU but one of them seems to me to be really influential and is also one of my favorite fantasy books
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