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Bangsian Fantasy
Bangsian fantasy is a fantasy genre which concerns the use of the afterlife as the main setting within which its characters, who may be famous preexisting historical or fictional figures, act and interact. It is named for John Kendrick Bangs (1862–1922), who often wrote it. Definition According to E. F. Bleiler, in his 1983 ''Guide to Supernatural Fiction'', "Bangs' most noteworthy achievement was a contribution to literary typology: the so-called Bangsian story, in which important literary and historical personalities serve humorously as characters in a slender plot line. Bangs did not invent this subgenre, but his work gave it publicity and literary status." Bleiler's definition does not take into account that some of Bangs' stories, including the definitive Associated Shades series whose characters reside in Hades, are set in the afterlife. Jess Nevins' 2003 definition (in ''Heroes & Monsters: The Unofficial Companion to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'') says it i ...
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Fantasy Genre
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century, it has expanded further into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga, animations and video games. Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the respective absence of scientific or macabre themes, although these genres overlap. In popular culture, the fantasy genre predominantly features settings that emulate Earth, but with a sense of otherness. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy consists of works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians from ancient myths and legends to many recent and popular works. Traits Most fantasy uses magic or other supernatural elements as a main plot element, theme, or setting. Magic, magic practitioner ...
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Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer (January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009) was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. Obituary. Farmer is best known for his sequences of novels, especially the ''World of Tiers'' (1965–93) and ''Riverworld'' (1971–83) series. He is noted for the pioneering use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for, and reworking of, the lore of celebrated pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonymous works written as if by fictional characters. Farmer often mixed real and classic fictional characters and worlds and real and fake authors as epitomized by his Wold Newton family group of books. These tie all classic fictional characters together as real people and blood relatives resulting from an alien conspiracy. Such works as ''The Other Log of Phileas Fogg'' (1973) and '' Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life'' (1973) are early examples of literary mashup novel. Literary critic Leslie Fiedler ...
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List Of Genres
This is a list of genres of literature and entertainment (film, television, music, and video games), excluding genres in the visual arts. ''Genre'' is the term for any category of creative work, which includes literature and other forms of art or entertainment (e.g. music)—whether written or spoken, audio or visual—based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. Literary genres Action An action story is similar to adventure, and the protagonist usually takes a risky turn, which leads to desperate situations (including explosions, fight scenes, daring escapes, etc.). Action and adventure are usually categorized together (sometimes even as "action-adventure") because they have much in common, and many stories fall under both genres simultaneously (for instance, ...
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Faction Paradox
''Faction Paradox'' is a series of novels, audio stories, short story anthologies, and comics set in and around a "War in Heaven", a history-spanning conflict between godlike "Great Houses" and their mysterious enemy. The series is named after a group originally created by author Lawrence Miles for BBC Books' ''Doctor Who'' novels. Overviews Originally a subplot in the Eighth Doctor Adventures, the War involves several characters and concepts evolved from the original ''Doctor Who'' set-up. In several cases, the ''Faction Paradox'' series still features these groups, albeit with names changed for reasons both literary (most of the groups or items mentioned are described from different perspectives) and legal (the Faction and the Enemy are Miles's creations, but other elements are not – thus the Great Houses are the Faction Paradox range's equivalent to ''Doctor Whos Time Lords). Faction Paradox themselves are ''not'' the enemy in this War, and play a neutral part, willing to act ...
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The City Of The Saved
The City of the Saved is a fictional setting originating within the Faction Paradox universe, created by Philip Purser-Hallard for ''The Book of the War'' and employed by him and others (including Simon Bucher-Jones, Kelly Hale, Stephen Marley, Lance Parkin, Ian Potter and Dale Smith) in various volumes. It has been described in ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' as a "cosmological hot-spot city located in a kind of safe zone between the end of this universe and the beginning of the next", and by a British Fantasy Society reviewer as "a wide-ranging and flexible format where almost anything can happen". The City is a self-contained location existing after the end of the universe, which takes the form of a city the size of a spiral galaxy. It is a secular, technological heaven in which all human dead have been resurrected, from the earliest sentient hominids to humanity’s distant posthuman descendants. The City is portrayed as a pluralist, pacifist utopia in which violen ...
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Philip Purser-Hallard
Philip Purser-Hallard (born 1971 as Philip Hallard) is a fantasy, science fiction and crime author described by the British Fantasy Society as "the best kept secret in British genre writing".The Pendragon Protocol by Philip Purser-Hallard.
Book review. 2014.
Purser-Hallard, Philip.
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Of The City Of The Saved
''Of the City of the Saved...'' is an original novel by Philip Purser-Hallard set in the Faction Paradox universe. Laura Tobin, who first appeared in the BBC Doctor Who books, is a major character in the novel. The full title, as given on the title page, is ''Of the City of the Saved... of its diverse citizenry and of its sundry divinities, with a disquisition on the protocols of history''. The novel won Best Book in the 2004 Jade Pagoda awards, voted on by members of a ''Doctor Who'' book mailing list. It has been described as "a stunning debut from Purser-Hallard and easily one of the best Doctor Who-related original novels published to date". ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' calls it "ambitious".Purser-Hallard, Philip.
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Richard Matheson
Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is best known as the author of '' I Am Legend'', a 1954 science fiction horror novel that has been adapted for the screen three times. Matheson himself was co-writer of the first film version, '' The Last Man on Earth'', starring Vincent Price, which was released in 1964. The other two adaptations were ''The Omega Man,'' starring Charlton Heston, and '' I Am Legend'' with Will Smith. Matheson also wrote 16 television episodes of ''The Twilight Zone'', including "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" and "Steel", as well as several adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories for Roger Corman and American International Pictures – '' House of Usher'', ''The Pit and the Pendulum'', ''Tales of Terror'' and ''The Raven''. He adapted his 1971 short story "Duel" as a screenplay directed by Steven Spielberg for the television film ...
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United States Of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo ...
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What Dreams May Come (Matheson Novel)
''What Dreams May Come'' is a 1978 novel by Richard Matheson. The plot centers on Chris, a man who dies then goes to Heaven, but descends into Hell to rescue his wife. It was adapted in 1998 into the Academy Award-winning film '' What Dreams May Come'' starring Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Annabella Sciorra. Matheson stated in an interview, "I think ''What Dreams May Come'' is the most important (read effective) book I've written. It has caused a number of readers to lose their fear of death – the finest tribute any writer could receive." In an introductory note, Matheson explains that the characters are the only fictional component of the novel. Almost everything else is based on research, and the end of the novel includes a lengthy bibliography. Background Matheson, primarily known for horror fiction, wanted to move away from the genre. "I was determined to fight against this image. Dammit, I never wrote 'real' horror to begin with! To me, horror connotes bl ...
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Janet Morris
Janet Ellen Morris (born May 25, 1946) is an American author of fiction and nonfiction, best known for her fantasy and science fiction and her authorship of a non-lethal weapons concept for the U.S. military. Background Writing Janet Morris began writing in 1976 and has since published more than forty novels, many co-authored with her husband Chris Morris or others. Her debut novel, written as Janet E. Morris, was ''High Couch of Silistra'', the first in a quartet of character-driven novels with a female protagonist. According to original publisher Bantam Books, the Silistra quartet had over four million copies in print when the fourth volume, '' The Carnelian Throne'' was published. Charles N. Brown, co-founder and editor of ''Locus'' magazine, is quoted on the Baen Books reissues of the series, noting that the stories featured "engrossing characters in a marvelous adventure." Morris has contributed short fiction to the shared universe fantasy series ''Thieves' World'', in ...
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Heroes In Hell
''Heroes in Hell'' is a series of shared world fantasy books, within the genre Bangsian fantasy, created and edited by Janet Morris and written by her, Chris Morris, C. J. Cherryh and others. The first 12 books in the series were published by Baen Books between 1986 and 1989, and stories from the series include one Hugo Award winner and Nebula nominee ("Gilgamesh in the Outback" by Robert Silverberg from ''Rebels in Hell''), as well as one other Nebula Award nominee. The series was resurrected in 2011 by Janet Morris with the thirteenth book and eighth anthology in the series, ''Lawyers in Hell'', followed by eight more anthologies and four novels between 2012 and 2022. Background The shared world premise of ''Heroes in Hell'' (also called ''The Damned Saga'') is that all the dead wind up together in Hell, where they pick up where they left off when still alive. Robert W. Cape Jr., in ''Classical Traditions in Science Fiction'' (Oxford University Press), wrote "...in the p ...
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