GC 2014: Wild Sheep anuncia WiLD

High fantasy tends to be characterized by common, powerful magics and magical beings. Wizards, magical items, and utilitarian magics are common enough that while they might be of note, they don't cause people to bug out. There also tend to be lots of types and numbers of non-human races: elves, dwarves, uglach, whatever. Heroes tend to be very good, go on quests, search to improve themselves and the world, etc. Earthdawn was fairly high fantasy, as are the Forgotten Realms, and books like the Deeds of Pakisnarion or Earthsea.

Swords and Sorcery tends to be based around the adventures of skilled human heroes, in a world where magic is present but mysterious, often evil, and generally slow and ritual in nature. Rare, dark adepts linger on mysterious mountain tops or the like, but would never be encountered walking down the street and never have anything like a guild. Humans make up the majority of characters, with non-humans being either monsters or aliens beyond comprehension. Heroes tend to be heroes only because they are cooler than normal men, and are often a bit vicious, amoral, and given to kicking others down without a thought to things like self-improvement. Classical S&S is Howard's Conan, Smith's Hyperboria, and Lieber's "Swords Against..." series.

Epic Fantasy:

Progenitor text: Tolkien – Lord Of The Rings (1954-55)
First wave – emergence as a commercial subgenre: Brooks – Shanara (1977-85), Eddings – Belgariad (1982-84) and Weis and Hickman -Dragonlance Chronicles (1984-85)
Second wave – bestsellers within a mature subgenre: Jordan (1990-), Goodkind (1994-) and Martin (1996-)


Sword And Sorcery:

Progenitor text: Howard – Conan (1933-35)
First wave – emergence as not quite a subgenre: Leiber – ‘Fafhrd And Gray Mouser’ (1939-) and Anderson – Broken Sword (1954)
Second wave – deconstruction and subversion: Moorcock – Elric (1965-75) and Wagner – Kane (1970-78)

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