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| Posted By : Ajax Plunkett - 5/9/2007 3:18 PM | | Under the guidelines section for work we are NOT looking for is something called slipstream/ literary fantasy. What is an indepth definition of this and some examples of this type of work?? |
| Posted By : Bill Ward - 5/9/2007 4:21 PM | Essentially contemporary, 'literary' stories with a bit of speculation/absurdism/fantasy thrown in for seasoning, though often also experimental in style or structure. There are probably some fine points of distinction between slipstream and magical realism and absurdism, etc., however I'm guessing if this market doesn't want one they don't want anything of the kind.
What is the market? If you mention what they are looking for its usually easier to gage what they don't want. |
| Posted By : Nik - 5/14/2007 1:23 PM | I classify this as "stuff I really don't choose to read but often pleasantly surprises me." In my opinoin, it's usually short on action, adventure, and character development and long on description, symbolism, experimentation, etc.
I prefer more of a balance of these elements. One story that treads perfectly the line between sword and sorcery/adventure fantasy and slipstream/literary fantasy is "Schwarze Madonna and the Sandalwood Knight," by Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold, in Realms of Fantasy. Simply superb.
Nicholas Ian Hawkins
Forthcoming
"Knowledge and Dust," in Magic & Mechanica (Ricasso Press)
"Relativity," in FLASHSHOT, September 28, 2007 |
| Posted By : Ajax Plunkett - 5/16/2007 12:25 PM | | Is it possible to have some of the trappings or motifs associated with Literary Fantasy ( or slipstream: still not sure what slipstream is? ) and implement them in Sword and Sorcery without being too "high brow" for the genre?
Is it the style of prose or ambition in story structure that seperates Literary Fantasy from classic Sword and Sorcery? Please respond, I'm very interested in this and the people here seem to really know there stuff.
Side note: Can any of you give me examples of S&S fantasy that is very ambitious and advanced ( progressive? ) from the norm of this sub-genre. Authors or titles of short stories etc. |
| Posted By : Nik - 5/16/2007 12:49 PM | Ajax Plunkett said...
Is it possible to have some of the trappings or motifs associated with Literary Fantasy ( or slipstream: still not sure what slipstream is? ) and implement them in Sword and Sorcery without being too "high brow" for the genre?
Side note: Can any of you give me examples of S&S fantasy that is very ambitious and advanced ( progressive? ) from the norm of this sub-genre. Authors or titles of short stories etc.
See my post above.
Nicholas Ian Hawkins
Forthcoming
"Knowledge and Dust," in Magic & Mechanica (Ricasso Press)
"Relativity," in FLASHSHOT, September 28, 2007 |
| Posted By : Bill Ward - 5/16/2007 1:30 PM | You should tell us the market, and that will put things in perspective. When a market lists what they want they aren't looking to provoke a nuanced discussion of genre classification, so if you tell us what they do want we can make an educated guess about what's appropriate.
I wouldn't worry too much about being too high brow, if you were to submit a well written piece of s&s that leaned more toward the literary to a market that accepts s&s in the first place (few and far between) they'd probably be happy to see it. When they say they don't want slipstream thay aren't talking about no literary elements at all, they specifically mean the kind of stories you get with slipstream (again, we need more to go on here, tell us the market and we can more easily gage what they are asking for). |
| Posted By : Nik - 5/16/2007 1:41 PM | Bill-
Have you read the story I mentioned above? I'd be curious what you thought of it.
-Nik
Nicholas Ian Hawkins
Forthcoming
"Knowledge and Dust," in Magic & Mechanica (Ricasso Press)
"Relativity," in FLASHSHOT, September 28, 2007 |
| Posted By : Bill Ward - 5/16/2007 2:22 PM | | No but I have a stack of unread Realms, what issue was it in? I may have it (somewhere). |
| Posted By : Nik - 5/16/2007 2:30 PM | It's in the June 2006 issue.
And hey - you may have noticed from my new avatar that my cat survived the surgery I told you about. Little bastard bled me dry, though!
Nicholas Ian Hawkins
Forthcoming
"Knowledge and Dust," in Magic & Mechanica (Ricasso Press)
"Relativity," in FLASHSHOT, September 28, 2007 |
| Posted By : Bill Ward - 5/16/2007 10:43 PM | | Glad to hear your cat is ok -- he looks a bit like one I used to have. I don't have that Realms issue, I checked. |
| Posted By : Nicholas - 5/17/2007 9:42 PM | Another definition of slipstream I've come across is a work that combines / mixes genres. So I suppose by this broader definition it could be a sci-fi detective story, a paranormal romance, Lovecraftian horror set in the gospels.
www.myspace.com/Ropespor
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| Posted By : Bill Ward - 5/18/2007 1:31 AM | | I've never really seen the term slipstream used like that -- it is an awfully amorphous concept obviously, I wonder if anyone really knows what they mean when they use it ;) |
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