Sword and sorcery (S&S) or heroic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tales, though dramatic, focus on personal battles rather than world-endangering matters. The genre originated from the early-1930s works of Robert E. Howard. The term "sword and sorcery" was coined by Fritz Leiber in the 6 April 1961 issue of the fantasy fanzine Ancalagon, to describe Howard and the stories that were influenced by his works. In parallel with "sword and sorcery", the term "heroic fantasy" is used, although it is a more loosely defined genre.
William Sherman Pène du Bois was an American writer and illustrator of books for young readers. He is best known for The Twenty-One Balloons, published in April 1947 by Viking Press, for which he won the 1948 Newbery Medal. He was twice a runner-up for the Caldecott Medal for illustrating books written by others, and the two Caldecott Honor picture books, which he also wrote.
The Five Find-Outers and Dog, also known as The Five Find-Outers, is a series of children's mystery books written by Enid Blyton. The first was published in 1943 and the last in 1961. Set in the fictitious village of Peterswood based on Bourne End, close to Marlow, Buckinghamshire, the children Fatty, who is the leader of the team, Larry, Pip, Daisy, Bets and Buster, Fatty's dog, encounter a mystery almost every school holiday, always solving the puzzle before Mr Goon, the unpleasant village policeman, much to his annoyance.
Ace of Wands is a British fantasy children's television show broadcast on ITV between 1970 and 1972. Created by Trevor Preston and Pamela Lonsdale and produced by Thames Television, the series starred Michael MacKenzie as Tarot. It ran for two seasons of thirteen episodes, and a third season of twenty.
Alex Rider is a series of spy novels by the English author Anthony Horowitz. The novels revolve around a teenaged spy named Alex Rider and are primarily aimed towards young adults. The series currently comprises 14 novels, as well as six graphic novels, seven short stories, and a supplementary book.
Foofur is an American children's television series from Kissyfur creator Phil Mendez that was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions with SEPP International S.A. Airing on NBC from 1986 to 1988, the show was about the everyday misadventures of the skinny blue protagonist dog in Willowby. A comic book series based on the cartoon was produced by and released from Star Comics.
Rolie Polie Olie is an animated television series created by William Joyce, and is produced by Nelvana in co-production with French broadcaster La Cinquième/France 5, and was produced in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Disney Channel/Playhouse Disney in the United States. The show focuses on a robot boy and his family who are composed of several spheres and other three-dimensional geometric shapes. The show was one of the earliest series that was fully animated in CGI. The series was broadcast from October 4, 1998, to April 28, 2004, and was followed with two straight-to-video films titled The Great Defender of Fun and The Baby Bot Chase, in 2002 and 2003 respectively.
Duncan Ball is an American-born Australian author who has written the children's series Selby and Emily Eyefinger.
Steven Craig Banks is an American actor, musician, comedian, and writer of television, plays, books and cartoons, including CatDog, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, and SpongeBob SquarePants.
Murder Is Easy is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1939, and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in September the same year under the title Easy to Kill. Christie's Superintendent Battle has a cameo appearance at the end, but plays no part in either the solution of the mystery or the apprehension of the criminal. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6), and the US edition at $2.
Weather Wizard (Mark Mardon) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.
Children of the Red King is a series of ten children's fantasy, school and adventure novels written by British author Jenny Nimmo, first published by Egmont 2002 to 2010. It is sometimes called "the Charlie Bone series" after its main character. A series of five books was announced in advance, completed in 2006, and sometimes the books were called the "Red King Quintet" until its continuation.
Roland James Green was an American science fiction and fantasy writer and editor. He wrote as Roland Green and Roland J. Green; and had 28 books in the Richard Blade series published under the pen name 'Jeffrey Lord'.
The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby is an American children's novel by Dav Pilkey, created as a spin-off of Pilkey's Captain Underpants series. It was published on February 5, 2002. The plot of the book involves a baby named Billy who gains superpowers shortly after birth. Billy teams up with a super-powered dog, Diaper Dog, to fight Diaper Dog's former master, a sentient piece of feces named Deputy Dangerous.
Allan Stomann is an Australian cartoonist and illustrator. He is best known for illustrating children's books, notably the long-running and award-winning Selby the Talking Dog series by author Duncan Ball. His work reached a wide audience through the popular children's school songbooks published by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in the 1970s and 1980s, and cartoons in the Australian Women's Weekly in the early 1980s.
The immense popularity and wide recognition of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter fantasy series has led to its being extensively parodied, in works spanning nearly every medium. The franchise holds the record for the most fan fiction parodies, at over 900,000 Some self-described parodies have been targeted by Rowling and her publishers as plagiarism, while others have sold hundreds of thousands of copies without any threat of legal sanction. Misinterpretations of Harry Potter parodies have sparked at least two urban legends. Many Harry Potter parodies are self-published; others are put out as part of major comic productions, such as Mad, The Simpsons, South Park, Saturday Night Live and Robot Chicken, all of which have parodied Harry Potter several times. Rowling has also been parodied in a number of instances.
Larry S. Todd is an American illustrator and cartoonist, best known for Dr. Atomic and his other work in underground comix, often with a science fiction bent.
Cosmo the Space-dog is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Cosmo, a telepathic Soviet space dog, is the security chief of the space station Knowhere and a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. The character was created by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning as a reference to Laika and first appeared in Nova vol. 4 #8.
