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

[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.