Fantasy Section

So? What is fantasy? Initially fantasy may be simply - the fantastic.

But this definition would include sci-fi. So, to distinguish fantasy from sci-fi we say that fantasy has no space-ships, no aliens and only one planet, usually refered to as "The World".

Fantasy has magic, witches and wizards, as you can see in the image on the right.

In place of aliens there are dragons, unicorns, elves, trolls and giants.

For me fantasy is also an opportunity to indulge my love of maps. My major fantasy, still in the process of being written is called "Dream's Edge".

This title stemmed from something that popped into my head - goodness knows where from! I dreamt about "going over the falls at Dream's Edge", even back then Dream's Edge was a real place to me.

I saw tall rainforest type trees from above, a warm mist rising up from the vale of Dream's Edge. Above the treetops was an escarpment and tumbling from the edge of the escarpment into the vale of Dream's Edge was a cascading mass of water of cataclysmic proportions.

I think I was clinging to the neck of a dragon at the time. Which could explain why that section of the map is from a different perspective to the rest of it.

There are different types of fantasy: Dark Fantasy - usually includes vampires, werewolves, and other stuff to do with blood-letting. Modern Fantasy - like Laurel K Hamilton's Anita Blake stories, where the story appears to be set in the America of today, yet there are differences; vampires, ghouls etc.

High Fantasy - seems to be the appelation for stories of magic, elves, scorcerors and dragons, usually set in a medieval era.

Then there's Alternative Fantasy - where everything is set on another world, where the sky may be different, the normal physical rules of our world may be suspended and replaced with different rules, the people may not even look like people.