James Paul Blaylock is an American fantasy author. He is noted for a distinctive, humorous style, as well as being one of the pioneers of the steampunk genre of science fiction. Blaylock has cited Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Dickens as his inspirations.
The Colour of Magic is a 1983 fantasy comedy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the Discworld series. The first printing of the British edition consisted of only 506 copies. Pratchett has described it as "an attempt to do for the classical fantasy universe what Blazing Saddles did for Westerns."
The Anubis Gates is a 1983 time travel fantasy novel by American writer Tim Powers. It won the 1983 Philip K. Dick Award and 1984 Science Fiction Chronicle Award. The plot concerns an English professor, who participates in a time travel experiment and ends up trapped in the 19th century. The novel was influenced by Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor and, to a lesser degree, the works of Charles Dickens.
Coin magic is the manipulating of coins to entertain audiences. Because coins are small, most coin tricks are considered close-up magic or table magic, as the audience must be close to the performer to see the effects. Though stage conjurers generally do not use coin effects, coin magic is sometimes performed onstage using large coins. In a different type of performance setting, a close-up coin magician will use a large video projector so the audience can see the magic on a big screen. Coin magic is generally considered harder to master than other close-up techniques such as card magic, as it requires great skill and grace to perform convincingly, and this requires much practice to acquire.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the debut novel by British writer Susanna Clarke. Published in 2004, it is an alternative history set in 19th-century England around the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Its premise is that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange. Centred on the relationship between these two men, the novel investigates the nature of "Englishness" and the boundaries between reason and unreason, Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Dane, and Northern and Southern English cultural tropes/stereotypes. It has been described as a fantasy novel, an alternative history, and a historical novel. It inverts the Industrial Revolution conception of the North–South divide in England: in this book the North is romantic and magical, rather than rational and concrete.
Paranormal romance is a subgenre of both romantic fiction and speculative fiction. Paranormal romance focuses on romantic love and includes elements beyond the range of scientific explanation, from the speculative fiction genres of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Paranormal romance range from traditional romances with a paranormal setting to stories with a science fiction or fantasy-based plot with a romantic subplot included. Romantic relationships between humans and vampires, shapeshifters, ghosts, and other entities of a fantastic or otherworldly nature are common.
The Prestige is a 1995 science fiction novel by British writer Christopher Priest. It tells the story of a prolonged feud between two stage magicians in late 1800s England. Its structure is that of a collection of diaries that were kept by the protagonists and later collated. The title derives from the novel's fictional practice of stage illusions having three parts: the setup, the performance, and the prestige (effect).
The Merlin Conspiracy is a children's fantasy novel by Diana Wynne Jones, published by HarperCollins in April 2003, simultaneously in Britain and America. It is a sequel to Deep Secret (1997).
The Amulet of Samarkand is a children's novel of alternate history, fantasy and magic. It is the first book in the Bartimaeus Sequence written by English author Jonathan Stroud. The first edition (paperback) was published in September 2003 by Doubleday in the United Kingdom. The book and series are about power struggles in a magical dystopia centred in London, England, and feature a mix of current and ancient, secular and mythological themes. The book is named after a magical artifact created in the ancient Asian city of Samarkand, around which the story revolves.
Krondor's Sons is a series of fantasy novels by American writer Raymond E. Feist. The books are part of The Riftwar Cycle and set on the fictional world of Midkemia. The two novels are set between riftwars and explores Midkemia beyond the borders of the Kingdom of the Isles. The main characters are the three sons of Prince of Krondor Arutha ConDoin, Borric, Erland, and Nicholas. According to Feist, the series was originally meant to be a trilogy, with The Return of the Buccaneer being the third volume. However, following The King's Buccaneer Feist changed publishers, and his new editors wanted a brand-new series rather than a continuation of the old one.
Mythago Wood is a fantasy novel by British writer Robert Holdstock, published in the United Kingdom in 1984. Mythago Wood is set in Herefordshire, England, in and around a stand of ancient woodland, known as Ryhope Wood. The story involves the internally estranged members of the Huxley family, particularly Stephen Huxley, and his experiences with the enigmatic forest and its magical inhabitants. The conception began as a short story written for the 1979 Milford Writer's Workshop; a novella of the same name appeared in the September 1981 edition of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
The Flying Sorcerers is a humorous 1971 science fiction novel by American writers David Gerrold and Larry Niven. It was originally serialized in 1970 as The Misspelled Magishun in If magazine.
Three Hearts and Three Lions is a 1961 fantasy novel by American writer Poul Anderson, expanded from a 1953 novella by Anderson which appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine.
A magician, also known as an archimage, mage, magus, magic-user, spellcaster, enchanter/enchantress, sorcerer/sorceress, warlock, witch, or wizard, is someone who uses or practices magic derived from supernatural, occult, or arcane sources. Magicians enjoy a rich history in mythology, legends, fiction, and folklore, and are common figures in works of fantasy, such as fantasy literature and role-playing games.
Lord Kelvin's Machine is a science fiction novel by American writer James P. Blaylock. It was released in 1992 by Arkham House in an edition of 4,015 copies. The author's first book published by Arkham House, the novel is the third in Blaylock's Steampunk series, following The Digging Leviathan (1984) and Homunculus (1986). The first part of the book was formed of an earlier novelette of the same name, which first appeared in the Mid-December 1985 issue of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
The Digging Leviathan is a science fiction novel by American writer James P. Blaylock. It was first published in 1984 by Ace Books. The source was Blaylock's first novel The Chinese Circus, which was never finished.
The Elfin Ship (1982) is a fantasy novel by American writer James Blaylock, his first published book. It is the first of three fantasies by Blaylock about a world peopled by elves, dwarves, goblins, and humans, as well as a smattering of wizards, witches, and other beings. The world has magic as well as pseudo-science. Scientific explanation depends on such tongue-in-cheek concepts as The Five Standard Shapes, The Three Major Urges, and The Six Links of Bestial Sciences. Many of the characters use hyper-polite, conciliatory language.
The Man in the Moon was James Blaylock’s first completed novel, however it remained unpublished for decades. It was meant to be the first of fantasy series about a world peopled by elves, dwarves, goblins, and normal people, as well as a smattering of wizards, witches, and other fanciful beings.
The Stone Giant (1989) is a fantasy novel by American writer James Blaylock, a prequel to his first published book, The Elfin Ship, and thus the end of a loose trilogy of comic fantasy novels including The Disappearing Dwarf.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fantasy:
