Whacky, wise, or wondrous, wizards play an important role in fantasy and fantasy-derived genre fiction. Along with the young hero on a quest and the evil overlord, wizards are one of the most common archetypes of fantasy fiction. Let’s get a good list going, and make use of the PhD in geekology our parents spent so much money on giving us.

One of the most popular genres in recent years has been Urban Fantasy. In this installment of Defining the Genre, I discuss its definitions and major themes as well as how it fits in with other subgenres of Fantasy.

High Fantasy is probably one of the most recognizable subgenres of Fantasy. It may go by a few names — Epic Fantasy or the Hero’s Quest — but in the end most people can name at least a series or two from this subgenre.

An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat features ten of Glen Cook’s fictional short stories, all of which are set in the Dread Empire, a gritty world of “larger-than-life plots, nation-shattering conflict, maddening magic, strange creatures, and raw, flawed heroes” in which a number of Cook’s full-length novels take place.

I really wanted to love this book. For the first half I did, then it was just “OK, I like this, but is it over yet?” Now, this could just be me and my attention span for fantasy, but as far as fantasy goes, this has a lot going for it.

Don’t forget that today is your last chance to enter our contest to win a big bundle of fantasy books from Harper Collins!

This week we’re giving away a big bundle of fantasy novels, courtesy of Harper Collins!

BioWare has officially hooked me with this one. Since I bought my copy in November, I’ve not only spent 60+ hours on my first run-through of the game, I think I’ve bought one of every piece of merch BioWare has for this game (including the Collector’s Edition 360 version).

The team behind this venture obviously has a great amount of enthusiasm and love for the story they’re trying to tell. If you’re into fantasy/action with a pinch of steampunk, or interested in seeing what you can possibly do if you’re resourceful and willing to put in the effort with your own web series, Riese is definitely worth checking out.

Earlier we explored 10 Science Fiction Pulps that were significant to their genre, but fantasy needs its due as well. By exposing new audiences to the genre and new authors to the field, they are one of the many stepping stones the genre has had to take to reach legitimacy. Today, we’re embracing fantasy’s past with these five fantasy pulps.