genre fantasy n.

stories, novels, etc. that are explicity written or published in the genre of fantasy, as opposed to ones which contain fantastic or supernatural elements but are written or published as mainstream or in another genre

SF Criticism

Genre

  • 1977 M. Moorcock in Vortex Apr. 38/1 page image Michael Moorcock

    Writing genre fantasy is the way I earned my living for several years.

  • 1989 J. Tarr, S. Shwartz, L.S. Carl & K. Kerr Pandering, Evasions and Target Practice in Amazing Stories Jan. 118/1 page image

    We would define genre fantasy, simplistically, as literature in which magic works, as opposed to science fiction, in which science is the operative principle.

  • 1996 B. Stableford Third Generation Genre Science Fiction in Science-Fiction Studies Nov. 322 Brian Stableford

    It was, for instance, one of the factors involved in the dramatic displacement of genre sf by genre fantasy, because it is much easier for writers to construct in novelistic detail—and for readers to orientate themselves within—a Secondary World which is a straightforward Earth-clone than it is to create a world which is radically differentiated from our own along any of the axes typical of sf.

  • 2000 G. Dozois Michael Swanwick: Chameleon Eludes Net in Moon Dogs 14 Gardner Dozois

    Although his last few novels seemed to be taking him away from science fiction (and perhaps even away from conventional genre fantasy) toward that vaguely defined territory that might be described as ‘American Magical Realism,’ or perhaps ‘Postmodernism,’ I doubt that he will ever entirely abandon the field—at least some of his short fiction remains solidly centered here, and, in fact, falls under the heading of rigorous and ingeniously worked-out ‘hard science’…and his new novel, currently underway, features time-travelers and some very hungry dinosaurs, core SF themes…although no doubt, in Swanwick’s hands, they are due to have some unexpected changes rung on them!

  • 2002 G. K. Wolfe Malebolge, or Ordnance of Genre No. 39 415 Gary K. Wolfe

    This search for a usable past and respectable relatives continued well into the 1970s when genre fantasy, now established as a viable market segment in the wake of the Tolkien craze of the sixties, began to seek its own roots: the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, edited by Lin Carter from 1969 through 1974, reprinted works by William Morris, James Branch Cabell, and George Meredith together with classic genre and pulp writers; surely one of the irreproducible moments of the lingering 1960s was discovering a mass-market prose translation of Book I of Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso at the local newsstand in January of 1973.

  • 2003 D. G. Hartwell & K. Cramer in Year’s Best Fantasy 3 Introd. p. xiv Kathryn Cramer David G. Hartwell

    We believe that the best-written fantasy can stand up in the long run by any useful literary standard in comparison to fiction published out of category or genre, and furthermore, that out of respect for the genre at its best we ought to stand by genre fantasy and promote it in this book.


Research requirements

antedating 1996

Earliest cite

Brian Stableford in Science-Fiction Studies

Research History
Jeff Prucher submitted a 2003 cite from David Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer's introduction to their "Year's Best Fantasy 3".
Jeff Prucher submitted a 1996 cite from Brian Stableford in SF Studies.
Jeff Prucher submitted a 2000 cite from Gardner Dozois in Michael Swanwick's "Moon Dogs".
Jeff Prucher submitted a 2002 cite from Gary K. Wolfe in Conjuctions.
Jesse Sheidlower submitted a 1977 cite from Michael Moorcock in Vortex.
Jesse Sheidlower submitted a 1989 cite from several authors in Amazing Stories.

We would like cites of any date from other authors.

Last modified 2020-12-16 04:08:47
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.