lin

Fantasies set in our time. Ooooo, yes. Christopher Moore. One of the three funniest writers alive, and definitely the weirdest imagination.

Try "Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story" or his latest "Dirty Job" or "Practical Demonkeeping" of the heartwarming Christmas story "The Stupidest Angel"

Definitely not science fiction, too funny to be horror. It is modern fantasy that will have you laughing out loud, guarantee it.

Also look into William Kotzwinkle best known for E.T. but a more typical bit would be like, "Elephant Bangs Train". Or Ishmael Reed...especially "Yellowback Radio Brokedown". I think you'd have to include Tom Robbins in this category. What else is "Another Roadside Attraction" or "Cowgirls Get the Blues" (He's the one who told me about Reed and Kotzwinkle.)
For a different kind of fantasy, Richard Brautigan.
"Coin Locker Babies" by Ryu Murakami if you like your current fantasy dark, bizarre, punkish and Japanesey.

Alex44

My advice is just write what you want to write. It will always come out original that way.

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in the face of his god would he tell the truth?'

'Don't let them fall if your grip's not strong'

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'Casting quarters into wells that hold our dreams
You won't believe me... I wouldn't if you told me so'

'Now you wanna kill me in the act of what could maybe, save us from sleep and what we are'

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Voodoo

Not quite, mate... good intentions have produced plagiarism before.

Leyline

There is plenty of modern fantasy out there. Check out Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series. Check out the various Years Best fantasy compilations. About 90 percent of it will be modern/urban fantasy.

LeGuin wrote mostly modern fantasy. Gaiman, as has already been mentioned. R. A. Lafferty (some of the best ever written, in fact).

The Dragons & Swords style usually goes under the generic label 'high fantasy' I can't abide the stuff myself. If it's based on actual historical situations and characters it's 'historical fantasy'.

Last and probably least, I myself write modern fantasy. My stories Tessellation and Stilled Life (as well as my work in progress The Woman Who Hitch Hiked With Cats) are examples of the genre. So is my novel (in second drafting at the moment) The Crumbler.

So yeah. It exists. And it sells.

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My stuff:
Stilled-Life The Liberators
Xangurl Tessellation
The Woman Who Hitch Hiked With Cats

Mike C

Fantasy is one area where cliché is used to good effect, as a mental shorthand for writers and readers alike. Does it progress your story to invent a new race who are quite a lot like elves, except that they wear blue hats and require 3 chapters of description? Probably not. Say 'elf' or 'orc' and it immediately puts your reader into that warm, comfortable place they recognise and love.

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lin

Yeah. Genre fiction, like genre music is generally marked by stock characters and situations. Westerns, romances, private eyes, tend to clump around what reader's like.
It doesn't seem weirder to see elves or orcs in a fantasy than to see horses in a western or pectorals in a romance. I can sort of see the thing with orcs having been invented by another writer.
My tendency would be want to create new gizmos with new names. It's fun to name things. I used to get paid to do it. Making up words is also fun. And a great reason to write science fiction.

Voodoo

I recall one of your posts where you called me an adolescent depressive. That was a laugh.

Mike C

Works for me.

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Foxee

Best news I've heard all day!

I'm scribbling a list of authors...thanks! I'll need to live a long time to read my whole list.

One that I tend to think of is Terry Pratchett...he's not 'modern' so much as 'wildly offbeat' and really, really funny. He uses some high fantasy elements as well as modern life thoughts and ideas but spoofs them, turns them on their heads and in general plays the stereotypes for all they're worth. It's satire worth reading.
A WF original. We are all proud.

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Hayden

Heaps of people write those sorts of stories, me included.

Fantasy isn't defined by swords and sorcery. Have you read or heard of Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones? That's a prime example of the good, non-sword and sorcery fantasy works around.

pangalactic

Have a look for anything by China Mieville. There's some truly original stuff going on there, and they're written by a gamer. Just goes to show that just because you play D&D doesn't mean you end up writing it.

Mike C

Mieville is outstanding. His 'King Rat' was probably the best (genre) debut novel I've read in years.

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Krim

I'm not sure, Mike. There were some great parts in the book (Anansi's web of ropes was an excellent idea), but some of it just fails. Few people like Iron Council, it seems, but I found it to be better than Perdido. I need to pick up The Scar; I bought it, read a few chapters, and then lost it. I've kept forgetting about it.

But Mieville's definitely worth a shot.

You know, Gaiman never 'touched' me the same way he has 'touched' others. I thought American Gods was fantastic, but face it...80% of that was filler. I could've done without the small town tangent that took up most of the book, and a detailed account of his time with Jackal and Ibis. The former seemed to be a short story/novella he mixed in to make the book longer, along with the short stories that have little to do with anything except fleshing out the world of the gods. The homosexual Arabian? Pretty pointless.

His other books are mediocre: Neverwhere, Anansi Boys, and Stardust are decent. Yet somehow he has garnered at least one of each of the most prestigious awards in his genre.

Urban fantasy. Yes. Unfortunately, a huge chunk of the genre is female authors writing about werewolf/vampire love stories. And fairies. That's pretty much the extent of the genre, barring a few diamonds in the rough.

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Beardedtroll

Have you tried his latest, Un-Lun-Dun? It's "Mieville goes Roald Dahl."

Gaiman's reknown is perhaps based more on his work in comic books than on his "straight" writing.

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Krim

I look for it when I browse the fantasy/sci-fi section in Barnes & Noble, but from what I've seen it's not out yet in America. I've heard of it and read the excerpt, though. It looks decent---from a technical standpoint Mieville has pretty much violated every guideline, and the writer in me twitched at the character infodumps in the excerpt. But it is a story meant for young children, right?

Yes, Gaiman did get a lot of his fans from Sandman, but Sandman didn't get him those awards, the books did. And most of his books aren't anything above average.

__________________
"A terrible energy and strength began to grow in him. It grabbed his emotions and forged them into a solid bar of anger with one word stamped on it: revenge." - Eragon by Christopher Paolini, an international bestseller