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here some great fantasy websites:

Storm The Castle.com - Fantasy and creativity with an edge

Epic-Fantasy.com - website devoted to the genre of epic fantasy

The Fantasy Guide - The complete guide to fantasy on the web

The Heroic Dreams Fantasy blog - daily updates and info on the genre in movies books and more

The Heroic Dreams Forum - Come share your thoughts and opinions on the genre of fantasy

 

 

 

The Modern Day Classics of Epic Fantasy

What signifies a work of writing is an objective opinion and what signifies a work as a classic is also objective. Some may consider "Modern" to be something published within the last ten or twenty years but no more. This essay on Modern classics is a companinion work to the another essay on the History of Epic Fantasy and that essays shows the genre to be thousands of years old.

 

The Late 19th Century

So considering the genre to be very old we can consider that the modern era of Epic Fantasy to have begun a little over one hundred years ago with the works of William Morris.

If you are a fan of epic fantasy and you have never heard of William Morris then you are in for a real treat. It all started with the publication in 1892 of his novel The Well at the World's End (Well at the World's End)

Here is a quick synopsis of the novel : The youngest son of a king (Ralph of Upmeads) runs away from home and kingdom, but before he goes his godmother gives him a necklace with a bead on it. He overcomes many obstacles and challenges on the way to his destiny at the well at the world's end.

Does this sound familiar. It is a template that many have further expanded on and some of the more familiar modern day masters such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien have openly proclaimed homage to Morris.

Another classic epic fantasy tale by William is The Wood Beyond the World (Wildside Fantasy)This one is a tale of a hero named Walter and his epic sea voyage. This novel and The Well at the World's End are works that absolutely have to be in the collection of any fan of epic fantasy.

The Early Twentiety Century

Between the work of Morris in the late 19th century and th works of Lewis and Tolkien in the mid twentieth century lies one work of note is The Worm Ouroboros by E.R.Eddison. Published in 1922 it tell the tale of King Gorice of Witchland and his battles with the Demon Lords.

Also of note are the works of Lord Dunsany who predominantly wrote short fiction but is most famous in the genre for his novel The King of Elfland's Daughter (Del Rey Impact) which tell the tale of the hero Alveric who travels to elfland to marry the kings daugher Lirazel.

The Mid Twentiety Century

Now we move on top the big three authors of the mid twentieth century and it started with the publication of the T.H White novel The Sword in the Stone which is based on Thomas Malory's 15th century King Arthur story Le Morte d'Arthur (Modern Library) And although the setting is a traditional medieval world the story is one of epic proportions with the knights of the round table, excalibur, Lancelot and many grand quests including the quest for the holy grail.

The Sword in the Stone is the work that defines the modern day epic fantasy. It has all the ingredients and it is part of a quartet of works published by T.H. White. It was followed by The Queen of Air and Darkness--first published as The Witch in the Wood (1939)--The Ill-Made Knight (1940), and The Candle in the Wind (published in a composite volume

Learn more about The Sword in the Stone

, 1958). This quartet is called The Once and Future King and after White's death a conclusion to this series was published in 1977 as the book of Merlyn.

With the other two writers of the twentieth century the story moves into imaginitive fantasy lands inspired by William Morris.

Tolkien published The Hobbit: or There and Back Again in 1937 and The Lord of the Rings (Collector's Edition) in 1954 and 55 and these works comprise the realization of a complete and vivid world which included a detailed geography, races and languages including an epic battle against evil.

C.S. Lewis published The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia) in 1950 and it was the first installment of a series of seven The Chronicles of Narnia published between 1950 and 1956. The setting for this series is also a completely realized world where three children from our own world are mysteriously transported.

The Late Twentiety Century

It is here that the genre gets very crowded and there are many, many great works that have defined the modern state of the genre of epic fantasy but in 1968 Ursula K. LeGuin published A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1) the first novel in the yet uncompleted and evergrowing The Earthsea Quartet 'a Wizard of Earthsea','the Tombs of Atuan','the Farthest Shore','Tehanu.

A Wizard of Earthsea tells the story of a young boy with undiscovered magical talent who goes off to Wizard school to learn the craft of Wizardry. (Sound familiar?)

But the reinvigoration of the Epic Fantasy genre, which is molded after Tokien's Lord of the Rings, is generally credited with the publication of Terry Brooks' 1977 novel The Sword of Shannara It has received criticism for being very similar to The Lord of the Rings but it was exactly what a hungry for more epic fantasy public was looking for. It was also the first fantasy novel since The Lord of the Rings to make it onto the New York Times bestseller list. This novel is the first of fourteen novels that take place in the world of Shannara.

 

 

 


 

 

 

Books cited in this essay: