A Guide to Retropunk - Part Three, and A Guide to Fantasy!

[espanolbot]

The last part in my look at Retropunk, there are a few I've missed (Cyberfunk: 70s themed, Candlepunk: Medieval themed) which I might come back to later, but I tried to keep it to things that I could think of at least three examples for. Cyberfunk being a term created and used entirely by the creators of Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorperated, for example, and I couldn't think of any other examples off the top of my head.

With a break from SF, I think I'll do different versions of Fantasy next...

Comments

[venatosapiens]

I'm not really sure that Song of Ice and Fire counts as dark fantasy---it's more extremely like low fantasy going through a rough phase. Anything by Joe Abercrombie, though, would absolutely count. That shit is bleak.

[lieut_kettch]

The High Fantasy 'toon reminds me of Oglaf's Kronar, Son of Man.

[stubbleupdate]

Are the spelling and grammar mistakes for effect, in a Strongbad Email way?

[espanolbot]

Ah damn, not they're more the result of a faulty keyboard and my not catching them first time. XP

[akodo_rokku]

I look forward to Not Harry Dresden when you get to Modern Fantasy.

[espanolbot]

Don't you mean Not!John Constantine? ^^

[cainofdreaming]

What about Not!John Sinclair?

[akodo_rokku]

SOME scruffy dude in a trenchcoat anyway.

[donnblake]

Constantine always came off as more horror/supernatural than modern fantasy to me.

[espanolbot]

Reboot DC doesn't seem to think so, he even seems to have a semi-reoccurring role in Gemworld of all things...

[arilou_skiff]

Yah, not agreeing with the fantasy designations.

Dark Fantasy I've always seen as more borderline horror, or rather, horror elements with the intent being not to scare, if that makes sense.

Heroic fantasy and Sword & Sorcery are very, very different genres: One of the points of S&S is that the hero is often entirely self-interested, after all.

[nezchan]

I agree on that last part, wouldn't something like LotR be considered Heroic Fantasy?

[philippos42]

Or High Fantasy, I think.

[nezchan]

Oh right, I'd forgot about that subgenre. Although I always mix up heroic and high fantasy in general, but I guess there isn't exactly a bright, clear line.

[donnblake]

Dark Fantasy is tricky in that it appears to have two separate origins. It was used by horror writers to describe a type of horror focused more on fantastical elements than blood and intestines, and by fantasy writers to describe morally ambiguous or anti-heroic fantasy. So you could define anything from Moorcock to Lovecraft to George R. R. Martin as 'dark fantasy' and plausibly get away with it.

[philippos42]

Of course, Moorcock's Elric stories have all of that.

[nezchan]

I would imagine The Chronicles of Lord Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever would be considered Dark Fantasy, partly due to the overall tone, partly due to the fact that the protagonist and villain were both total assholes. Actually, I think Covenant himself was actually worse than the villain, certainly he was more self-absorbed and annnoying.

[espanolbot]

Is that the Objectivist one where they're menaced by a chicken at one point?

[nezchan]

I don't remember a chicken, but it's not really the sort of series you retain. It's the sort of series that you survive.

[darkblade]

That's Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series.

[metanewsmods]

Hi, can I link this at metanews?

[espanolbot]

If you like. :) Hopefully the grammar isn't too horrific.