IF YOU LIKE |
AND YOU ENJOY |
YOU’LL LOVE … |
| Kim Stanley Robinson,
Orson Scott Card, |
Science fiction/Space opera/Cyberpunk — includes fast-paced adventures on exotic distant planets with human and alien races in alliances and wars; fusion between man and machine/internet SF/virtual reality; future science … extrapolations from science frontiers today. | Sean Williams & Shane Dix,
Charles Brown |
| J.R.R. Tolkien
Robert Jordan Terry Brooks |
Epic Fantasy — includes battles for rulership of a country, empire or world; struggles between good and evil; action and political intrigue; magic is usually an element in these stories. There is lots of action taking place over a wide area, usually involving many nations or groups of peoples. | Tony Shillitoe |
| Marion Zimmer Bradley
Bernard Cornwell Mary Gentle Susannah Clarke Elizabeth Kostova |
Historical Fantasy — looking at historical events from the point of view of the religious and mythical history prevalent at the time, i.e. the imaginative world in which people live in a particular time period. Can include major religious and ethical conflicts; historical events placed in a fantastic setting, not the ‘real’ setting; actual events bound with imaginary events through magic. This sub genre is able to look at functioning societies through metaphor and allegory, through spiritual and sacred lenses, whereas traditional historical fiction is containing by realism and the mundane, profane, world. | Sara Douglass |
| Kate Elliot
Laurell K. Hamilton Mercedes Lackey Holly Lisle |
Romantic Fantasy — fantasy with strong romance elements or sub-plots; traditional fantasy has strong characterisation and will include romance, but not as the driving force of the plotting, whereas romantic fantasy will usually have romantic relationships that drive the plot. | Fiona McIntosh |
| Marion Zimmer Bradley
Roger Zelazny Mary Gentle Anne McCaffrey |
Science Fantasy — hybrid worlds in which magic and science both work, either together or in opposition, or where science resembles magic via psychic powers and phenomena. Also includes stories where classic fantasy elements are used to tell a science fiction story, i.e. where there is no magic, but it feels as if there should be. | Jennifer Fallon
Sean Williams‘ Books of the Change series |
| Clive Barker | Horror/Dark Fantasy — includes traditional psychological horror and ‘gory’, physical horror; also fantasy elements combined to create horror in contemporary settings. | Jack Dann‘s Gathering the Bones |
| Stephenie Meyer
Kelley Armstrong Charlaine Harris Jim Butcher Laurell K. Hamilton |
Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Fiction — urban fantasy consists of magical novels and stories set in contemporary, real-world, urban settings – as opposed to ‘traditional’ fantasy set in wholly imaginary landscapes. The modern urban fantasy protagonist faces extraordinary circumstances as plots unfold in either open (where magic or paranormal events are commonly accepted to exist) or closed (where magical powers or creatures are concealed) worlds. Paranormal fiction includes elements beyond the range of scientific explanation, blending together themes from the genres of traditional fantasy, science fiction, or horror. Common hallmarks are romantic relationships between humans and vampires, shapeshifters, or fantastical beings. | Kim Harrison
Vicki Petterson Lynsay Sands Kerrelyn Sparks Kathryn Smith |
Voyager Online 
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