The Many Faces of Fantasy
Posted by: Neil Hollands
Tomorrow, I’m giving a talk at the annual Virginia Library Association conference called “The Many Faces of Fantasy.” It’s a talk I’ve given in a previous form to the Connecticut Library Association as well.
Fantasy is a complex genre with enough different kinds of books to both please and annoy any individual reader. It’s not, as some mistakenly believe, a genre written only for the purpose of escape. In fact, the fantasy context is often a great place for writers to explore big concepts: love, revenge, the costs of war, bigotry, obsession, addiction, the battle between duty and desire and so on, all in a milieu that avoids treading on certain cultural senstivities. It’s also a genre that in its best instances blends many elements of good fiction writing: strong characters, detailed settings, intricate plotting, and elegant language. As a librarian, a reader, or a book group leader, it’s important to sort out differences between the subsets of the genre so you can pick the right books for the audience and get full enjoyment from your fantasy reading.
I don’t have space here to define the sixteen categories into which I divide the genre, but I thought it might be fun and useful to at least share part of my talk: the sixteen categories and three works–two familiar (to genre fans, at least) and one newer title or series–deserving your attention. In each case, I’ll list the newer work last. Any of these titles (or first books in the series listed) would make a good choice for a book group:
EPIC HIGH FANTASY
- J. R. R. Tolkien The Lord of the Rings
- Guy Gavriel Kay Tigana
- Patrick Rothfuss The Name of the Wind
COMING-OF-AGE FANTASY
- J. K. Rowling Harry Potter series
- David Eddings The Belgariad
- Michael Scott Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series
POLITICAL FANTASY
- Lois McMaster Bujold The Curse of Chalion
- Robin Hobb The Farseer Trilogy
- Daniel Abraham The Long Price Quartet
ALTERNATE HISTORICAL FANTASY
- Guy Gavriel Kay The Lions of Al-Rassan
- Susanna Clarke Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell
- Emma Bull Territory
“REALISTIC” EPIC FANTASY
- George R. R. Martin A Song of Ice and Fire series
- K. J. Parker The Engineer Trilogy
- David Anthony Durham Acacia
HEROIC FANTASY
- Fritz Leiber Lankhmar series
- Robert E. Howard Conan series
- David (and Stella) Gemmell Troy series
PARANORMAL ADVENTURE
- Jim Butcher Dresden Files series
- Rachel Caine Weather Warden series
- Rob Thurman Cal Leandros series
DARK FANTASY
- H. P. Lovecraft Cthulhu mythos
- Clive Barker Weaveworld
- Christopher Golden The Veil series
FANTASTIC ROMANCE
- Sherrilyn Kenyon Dark-Hunter series
- Mary Janice Davidson Undead (Queen Betsy) series
- Lois McMaster Bujold The Sharing Knife series
ROMANTIC FANTASY
- Jacqueline Carey Kushiel series
- Juliet Marillier Sevenwaters series
- Maria V. Snyder Yelena (Study) series
HUMOROUS FANTASY
- Terry Pratchett Discworld series
- William Goldman The Princess Bride
- Austin Grossman Soon I Will Be Invincible
LITERARY FANTASY
- John Crowley Little, Big
- Mark Helprin A Winter’s Tale
- Keith Donohue The Stolen Child
NEW WEIRD OR SLIPSTREAM
- China Mieville New Crobuzon novels
- Gene Wolfe Book of the New Sun
- Jennifer Stevenson Trash Sex Magic
FABLES
- Robin McKinley Beauty
- Ellen Datlow & Terry Windling most story anthologies
- Shannon Hale The Book of a Thousand Days
MYTHIC EXPLORATIONS
- Charles de Lint Newford series
- Neil Gaiman American Gods
- Catherynne M. Valente The Orphan’s Tales series
SCIENCE FANTASY
- Anne McCaffrey Dragonriders of Pern series
- Robert Silverberg Majipoor series
- S. M. Stirling Emberverse series
If you need help sorting out the books in any of the series listed and their sequence, Fantastic Fiction, http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk is a good resource.
