4 Fantasy Subgenres We Don't See Enough Of

Fantasy has been a genre for as long as humans have been telling stories. But despite this broad scope of history, the fantasy genre seems to have coagulated into a few standardized ideas. Whether it's vaguely European, vaguely medieval, or vaguely urban, there's a certain sense of monotony that creeps into certain works of fantasy. The very idea of fantasy - something that's meant to be exempt from many of the rules of the world we live in - being samey and stock-standard is bizarre. Here are some different twists on the fantasy genre that don't show up as often as they should.

1. Fantasy Western

The literary fantasy genre has roots in the frontier just as much as the cinematic western genre. Robert E. Howard, author of the Conan stories, spent most of his life in the rural town of Cross Plains, Texas, and the history of settlers on the frontier influenced the world of Conan. Just like Shane or the Man With No Name, Conan the Cimmerian walked the rim between civilization and wilderness, battling evildoers before returning to the untamed land in search of his next adventure. So why don't we bring the genres one step closer together and have dwarves laying down railroads, frontier towns with a wizard's tower in the center, or brave gunslingers facing down vicious dragons?

I plan to remedy this with my own novel, A Reckoning of Dragons, which is currently in rough draft stage. This novel will feature a fallen fantasy kingdom which human settlers with guns and trains seek to take back from the monsters that have claimed it.

2. Modern Fantasy

Urban fantasy is a popular genre, but many of these stories rely on keeping the urban elements separate from the fantasy elements via secrecy and disguise. And while this separation can generate conflict and story just fine, I can't help but wonder what it would look like if the urban and the fantasy blended shamelessly.

Imagine a world where some college students at the wizard academy go on a road trip to the shady fey city over spring break. A motorcycle gang composed of sword-and-spell adventurers ride across the country. A drug cartel hunts magical monsters to harvest their hallucinogenic venom for their product.

Final Fantasy and Shadowrun cross into this territory at times, but they also lean hard into science fiction, having cyborgs and megacorporations alongside wizards and dragons. Bright is the closest this subgenre has come to the western mainstream, but the mixed reception that film received means any studio executive that can read a chart won't be touching this subgenre for a long time.

3. Historic Fantasy

For as long as the Lord of the Rings has existed, there have been dime-a-dozen fantasy novels which imitate the same quasi-medieval somewhat European setting. Earlier I mentioned the idea of a fantasy western, but the American frontier in the 19th century is hardly the only alternative. Imagine fantasy stories set in the Bronze Age Greece, Great Famine-era Ireland, or pre-colonization America. These places all have their own unique cultures and mythologies that could be mined for ideas.

Imagine a world where the Great Famine was created by the Nuckelavee bringing pestilence and despair upon the land? Or a world where cultists of Dionysus threaten to cast budding civilization into madness? Because why should Hades always be the villain when you have a perfectly good ancient god of insanity and hedonism back before he was just 'the god of wine'?

4. Space Fantasy

Star Wars is sometimes referred to as science fantasy, due to the equal blend of starships and swordsmen, but wouldn't it be fun to cut out the science entirely? Imagine spacefarers in ships powered by magic. If magic is strong enough to chuck physics out the window entirely, what's to stop the elves from uprooting a giant tree and enchanting it to fly through space? Or what if there were no ships and people used rituals to teleport from planet to planet. Perhaps an order of magicians enforces a Prime Directive-like control over the ritual to keep barbarians from raiding the stars.

How many other sci-fi tropes suddenly take on new life when given a fantasy flair? What if instead of spacesuits, people wore magic amulets that shielded them from hostile atmospheres? Humanoid races, like elves and halflings, could be shown as aliens from other planets. Instead of blasters and laser swords, we could see how medieval weapons get altered to work in the absence of gravity, either by mundane means (strap your hilt to your wrist to keep your sword from floating off) or magical ones (spells that alter gravity or atmosphere). Use the fireball, Luke.

*****

Fantasy is a huge genre. Whether it's ancient mythology or modern novels, it's a genre that has stuck with us in many different forms. But that doesn't mean we should always tread in the tracks of what's been done before. The classics have endured for a good reason, but there's nothing wrong with trying new things, especially in a genre that's all about things being different.


What other genres deserve more attention? Let me know in the comments below.