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Hard Fantasy
Hard fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literature that strives to present stories set in (and often centered on) a rational and knowable world. Hard fantasy is similar to hard science fiction, from which it draws its name, in that they all aim to build their respective worlds in a rigorous and logical manner. Origins Jane Lindskold, whose writing has been called hard fantasy, in 2009 attributed the origin of this term to an unnamed radio interviewer. Brian Stableford traces the term origins to 1980s as proposed by unnamed writers of historical fantasy. Definition The definition of hard fantasy is amorphous in practice. Marie Brennan remarked in 2008 that "the term has been around for a while without anybody ever achieving consensus on what it refers to" and proposed a broad definition that "it's any story that treats magic like science" or fantasy stories that "are concerned with ''how stuff works, and why''". Brian Stableford in ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'' concurred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subgenre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a Category of being, category of literature, music, or other forms of art or entertainment, whether written or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria, yet genres can be aesthetic, rhetorical, communicative, or functional. Genres form by conventions that change over time as cultures invent new genres and discontinue the use of old ones. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. Stand-alone texts, works, or pieces of communication may have individual styles, but genres are amalgams of these texts based on agreed-upon or socially inferred conventions. Some genres may have rigid, strictly adhered-to guidelines, while others may show great flexibility. Genre began as an absolute classification system for ancient ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurence Yep
Laurence Michael Yep (; born June 14, 1948) is an American writer. He is known for his children's books, having won the Newbery Medal, Newbery Honor twice for his ''Golden Mountain'' series. In 2005, he received the biennial Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for his career contribution to American children's literature. Life, education, and career Yep was born in San Francisco, California, in Chinatown, San Francisco, Chinatown to Thomas (Gim Lew) Yep and Franche Lee Yep. His father was a first-generation American born in China who had moved to San Francisco as a boy and grown up with an Irish friend in Irish Hill (San Francisco), his neighborhood. His mother was a second-generation Chinese Americans, Chinese American, was born in Ohio and raised in West Virginia where her family ran a Chinese laundry. After struggling through the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depression, Yep's family moved to a multicultural but predominantly African American neighborhood.Goodreads aut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December 19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy and science fiction. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the ''Mistborn'' series and ''The Stormlight Archive'', are set. Outside of the Cosmere, he has written several young adult and juvenile series including ''The Reckoners'', the '' Skyward'' series, and the ''Alcatraz'' series. He is also known for finishing Robert Jordan's high fantasy series ''The Wheel of Time'' and has created several graphic novel fantasy series including ''White Sand'' and ''Dark One''. He created Sanderson's Laws of Magic and popularized the idea of "hard magic" and "soft magic" systems. In 2008, Sanderson started a podcast with author Dan Wells and cartoonist Howard Tayler called ''Writing Excuses'', involving topics about creating genre writing and webcomics. In 2016, the American media company DMG Entertainment licensed the movie rights to Sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mistborn
''Mistborn'' is a series of epic fantasy novels written by American author Brandon Sanderson and published by Tor Books. The first trilogy, published between 2006 and 2008, consists of ''The Final Empire'', ''The Well of Ascension'', and ''The Hero of Ages''. A second series was released between 2011 and 2022, and consists of ''The Alloy of Law'', ''Shadows of Self'', ''The Bands of Mourning'' and ''The Lost Metal''. A third series will follow them, which is likely to be released yearly from 2025 to 2027. A fourth trilogy is also planned. Sanderson also released a novella in 2016, '' Mistborn: Secret History''. The first Mistborn trilogy chronicles the efforts of a secret group of Allomancers who attempt to overthrow a dystopian empire and establish themselves in a world covered by ash. The first trilogy was a huge success and it pushed Sanderson to further develop his fictional universe, the Cosmere, which also includes ''The Stormlight Archive''. Set about 300 years after the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Jon Williams
Walter Jon Williams (born October 28, 1953) is an American writer, primarily of science fiction. Previously he wrote nautical adventure fiction under the name Jon Williams, in particular, ''Privateers and Gentlemen'' (1981–1984), a series of historical novels set during the Age of Sail. Career Writing as Jon Williams, he designed the wargame ''Tradition of Victory'' and role-playing game ''Promotions and Prizes'', which were republished by Fantasy Games Unlimited as ''Heart of Oak'' (1982) and ''Privateers and Gentlemen'' (1983). A role-playing game sourcebook for ''Cyberpunk'' called ''Hardwired'' (1989) was licensed by R. Talsorian Games, based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Williams. Williams was born in Duluth, Minnesota and graduated from the University of New Mexico, where he received his BA degree in 1975. He currently lives in Valencia County, south of Albuquerque in New Mexico. In 2006, Williams founded the Taos Toolbox, a two-week writer's workshop for fantas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metropolitan (novel)
''Metropolitan'' is a fantasy novel by American writer Walter Jon Williams, first published in 1995. A sequel, '' City on Fire'', was published in 1997. Setting ''Metropolitan'' is set on an unnamed world where, in the distant past, some agency or agencies enclosed the planet in a barrier known as the ''Shield''. The Shield emits light and heat, incinerates all matter that rises above a certain altitude, and absorbs all electromagnetic energy directed into it. As a result, the world has no day, night, or seasons (although it does have weather phenomena like clouds and rain). Its inhabitants divide time into "shifts", which appear to correspond to about eight hours (as they are referred to as "work", "service", and "sleep" shifts). The nature of who placed the Shield around the world, and why, is a major part of the theology of the world's many religions. Over the millennia the population of the world has grown and all available land surface has been covered with a single city, di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tad Williams
Robert Paul "Tad" Williams (born March 14, 1957) is an American fantasy and science fiction writer. He is the author of the multivolume ''Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn'' series, ''Otherland'' series, and ''Shadowmarch'' series as well as the standalone novels '' Tailchaser's Song'' and The War of the Flowers. Most recently, Williams published ''The Bobby Dollar'' series. Cumulatively, over 17 million copies of Williams's works have been sold. Williams's work in comics includes a six issue mini-series for DC Comics called ''The Next''. He also wrote '' Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis'' issue #50 to #57. Other comic work includes ''Mirrorworld: Rain'' and '' The Helmet of Fate: Ibis the Invincible #1'' (DC). Williams is collaborating on a series of young-adult books with his wife, Deborah Beale, called ''The Ordinary Farm Adventures''. The first two books in the series are ''The Dragons of Ordinary Farm'' and ''The Secrets of Ordinary Farm''. Early life and career Robert Paul "Tad" Wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Memory, Sorrow, And Thorn
''Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn'' is a trilogy of epic fantasy novels by American writer Tad Williams, comprising ''The Dragonbone Chair'' (1988), ''Stone of Farewell'' (1990), and ''To Green Angel Tower'' (1993). ''Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn'' takes place on the fictional continent of Osten Ard, comprising several united countries. Williams used several characters, both protagonist and antagonist, as point of view characters throughout the novels, presenting the reader with an assortment of disparate and subjective viewpoints. A novelette set in the world of Osten Ard, ''The Burning Man'', was released in 1998 and later published as a graphic novel. A sequel trilogy, ''The Last King of Osten Ard'', began publication in 2017, following 2017's ''The Heart of What Was Lost''. A prequel to the entirety of Osten Ard, ''Brothers of the Wind'' was published in 2021. Plot synopsis ''Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn'' takes place on the fictional continent of Osten Ard, home to several united races ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patrick Rothfuss
Patrick James Rothfuss (born June 6, 1973) is an American author. He is best known for his duology ''The Kingkiller Chronicle'', which has won him several awards, including the 2007 Quill Award for his debut novel, ''The Name of the Wind''. Its sequel, ''The Wise Man's Fear'', topped The New York Times Best Seller list, ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list. Early life Patrick Rothfuss was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and received his B.A. in English from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point in 1999. He contributed to ''The Pointer'', the campus paper, and produced a widely circulated parody warning about the Goodtimes Virus. He taught part-time at Stevens Point. In 2002, he received a master's degree in arts and English from Washington State University. He won the Writers of the Future 2002 Second Quarter competition with "The Road to Levenshir", an excerpt from his then-unpublished novel ''The Wise Man's Fear''. Career Writing In 2006, Rothfuss sold his novel '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Kingkiller Chronicle
''The Kingkiller Chronicle'' is a fantasy trilogy by the American writer Patrick Rothfuss. The first two books, ''The Name of the Wind'' and ''The Wise Man's Fear'', were released in 2007 and 2011. The books released in the series have sold over 10 million copies. The series centers on a man named Kvothe, an infamous adventurer and musician telling his life story to a scribe. The book is told in a " story-within-a-story" format: a frame narrative relates the present day in which Kvothe runs an inn under an assumed name and is told in omniscient third person. The main plot, making up the majority of the books and concerning the actual details of Kvothe's life, is told in the first person. The series also contains metafictional stories within stories from varying perspectives that tie to the main plot in various ways. Synopsis ''The Kingkiller Chronicle'' tells the life story of a man named Kvothe. In the present day, Kvothe is a rural innkeeper, living under a pseudonym. In the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lord Of The Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'', but eventually developed into a much larger work. Written in stages between 1937 and 1949, ''The Lord of the Rings'' is one of the best-selling books ever written, with over 150 million copies sold. The title refers to the story's main antagonist, the Dark Lord Sauron, who, in an earlier age, created the One Ring to rule the other Rings of Power given to Men, Dwarves, and Elves, in his campaign to conquer all of Middle-earth. From homely beginnings in the Shire, a hobbit land reminiscent of the English countryside, the story ranges across Middle-earth, following the quest to destroy the One Ring mainly through the eyes of the hobbits Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin. Although often called a trilogy, the work was intende ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Randall Garrett
Gordon Randall Phillip David GarrettGarrett, Randall in ''''; edited by and John Grant; published 1997 (December 16, 1927 – December 31, 1987) was an American and |
