Twisted Kingdom

We don't pretend to know all about the Fantasy and Paranormal genre but we have been reading books in both categories for a long time so we though we should get a little guide going to help out the newbies.

Fantasy, much like any other genre, is divided into sub-categories. The more well-know, and the ones we read, are as follows:

*Urban Fantasy - this, as the name suggests, takes place in an urban setting in modern times. In this world there is probably magic or vampires or other creatures that co-exist with humans, whether they know it or not. The most famous example would be Emma Bull's War of the Oaks.

*Dark Fantasy - self explanatory as well. LOL. This usually is, well, dark and not afraid to show the violent side of the world where the events takes place. THE example would, of course, be Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles.

*High Fantasy - the most well-known and recognized of the sub genres. Of epic proportions usually involving a quest to save the kingdom from an evil which wants to take over the world, this is set in alternate universe, usually very different from our own. Obvious example is Tolkien's Lord of the Rings

*Faerie Tale Fantasy - as the title suggests, this is fantasy involving already established faerie tales and folklore from around the world. An example would be Robin McKinley's Spindle's End which is a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty faerie tale.

*Sword & Sorcery [also known as Heroic Fantasy] - a bit trickier to define, refers to heroes with swords [that plague the genre...don't these people have guns?!?! LOL.] and sorceress which are also another common theme/character found in these books. It tends to be not as grand and epic as High Fantasy and the story is focus more on the hero and his character changes, etc rather than on a quest to save the world. Think of it as the fantasy equivalent of the Adventure genre where swashbuckling heroes have to fight evil at every turn. The obvious example here would be Bradley's Sword and Sorceress series LOL.

*Alternate History - takes place in a world like our own but in which history has been altered in some way and which magic or other fantasy elements are present. An example would be Novik's Tremeraire series where Napoleon was never defeated and Dragons are used in the war to prevent his take over of Europe.

*Fantasy Steampunk - a sub genre of both the Fantasy and Steampunk genres and a sub-sub genre of Historical Fantasy. This is the trickiest to define. Well, at least it gives me a headache. LOL. Steampunk itself is a genre which uses steam powered devices but set in past history, usually Victorian times. Think of it as out-of-place technology more or less. Steampunk, like Fantasy, has many sub genres. The most well known would be Historical Steampunk in which you have titles such as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. You get the idea? OK, so then Steampunk Fantasy involves this steam-powered technology with fantasy elements. I told you it was a bit confusing. Let's not even get started on Steampunk's cousin of sorts Cyberpunk. That's a whole other blog. LOL. I can't think of any Fantasy Steampunk examples of the top of my head as I usually read regular Steampunk with no fantasy involved.

If you have any questions feel free to ask us and we will help best as we can. ^g^