Topic summary
Heroic fantasy
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Sword and sorcery.
Sword and sorcery (S&S), or heroic fantasy, is a sub-genre of fantasyliterature characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tales, though dramatic, focus on personal battles rather than world-endangering matters. The genre originated from the early 1930s works of Robert E. Howard. In parallel with "sword and sorcery", the term "heroic fantasy" is used, although it is a more loosely defined genre. Science fiction author Isaac Asimov once stated in his own Science Fiction Magazine that "The contemporary Sword-and-Sorcery tale owes its existence to the imagination of Robert Howard and his invention of the Conan stories."