Have you ever had a scene that is in such bad shape that it just makes you want to flail incoherently? Yeah, me too. But, in other news (I totally wrote “noises,” which I credit to my in-laws watching a
Is it Worth it to Know About Sub-genres?
If you’ve been around here for awhile, Squiders, you remember we spent about a year going through different science fiction and fantasy subgenres. As might be expected from going through such an activity, I sometimes find myself being really particular
Looking Again at Genre (A Rebuttal to Root Beer)
Early on in this blog’s life, I wrote a post about how genre is like root beer. Long story short, it seems like every story has some element that stuffs it into a genre, no matter what else is included
Subgenre Study: Mythic Fantasy
Ah, mythic fantasy, where Gods walk the Earth (or…not-Earth), where heroes are born, and where magic imbues the world around us. A simplistic definition is that mythic fantasy is fantasy that weaves mythology into the world. Usually each story focuses
Subgenre Study: Comedic Fantasy
Like we talked about a few weeks ago, comedic fantasy is a subgenre that can be combined with other subgenres. It defines the tone, not the setting, location, etc. You can have comedic epic fantasy, comedic urban fantasy, or even
Subgenre Study: Quest Fantasy
I would argue that this is not a subgenre, but apparently in some circles it is considered one, so here we are. I would say that the Quest is a plot point, not a subgenre, but I suppose it is
Subgenre Study: Historical Fantasy
Hello? Hello? Hey, is this thing on? If you have managed to stumble here on this, the most commercial of days, I hope that if you ventured outside into the consumerism that you met nice, friendly people full of holiday
Sungenre Study: Arthurian Fantasy
Arthurian Fantasy can be considered a subgenre of the subgenre of Mythic Fantasy (how’s that for getting somewhat meta?). Mythic Fantasy (which we have yet to get to), involves weaving mythological elements into a story’s world or plot. Arthurian Fantasy
Subgenre Study: Dying Earth
The Dying Earth subgenre is very similar to the apocalyptic fiction subgenre we explored earlier. The key difference between the two is that apocalyptic fiction tends to deal with some major catastrophe that is threatening all life, whereas in Dying
Subgenre Study: Time Travel
Squiders, I am bringing this to you even though I have overdosed on candy and may die. That’s how dedicated I am. Time Travel is generally considered a subgenre of science fiction, but there’s been some controversy lately. You see,
