Fantasies

The Fantastic

Franz Kafka, 1883-1924
Jorge Luis Borges, 1899-1986
Italo Calvino, 1923-1985

Alternative Paths

Anne McCaffrey, Dragonriders of Pern, 1967
Ursula K. Le Guin, The Earthsea Cycle, 1968
N. K. Jemisin, The Inheritance Trilogy, 2014
Anne Leckie, The Raven Tower, 2019

Massive Fantasy

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, 1954
Robert Jordan, The Wheel of Time, 1990
G. R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire, 1991
Brandon Sanderson, Cosmere, 2005
Patrick Rothfuss, The Kingkiller Chronicle, 2008

Maximal Play

Isaac Childres, Gloomhaven, 2017
Monte Cook, Invisible Sun, 2018
Rob Daviau and Isaac Childres, Return to Dark Tower, 2020

Postmodern Fantasy

M. John Harrison, Viriconium, 1971
Samuel R. Delany, Return to Nevèrÿon, 1978
Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun, 1980
China Miéville, Bas-Lag, 2001
Brandon Sanderson, “Postmodernism in Fantasy,” 2010

Weird Fiction

Edgar Allen Poe, 1809-1849
Sheridan Le Fanu, 1814-1873
Eric Stenbock, 1860-1895
M. R. James, 1862-1936
Arthur Machen, 1863-1947
M. P. Shiel, 1865-1947
Robert Murray Gilchrist, 1867-1917
Algernon Blackwood, 1869-1951
William Hope Hodgson, 1877-1918
Lord Dunsany, 1878-1957
H. P. Lovecraft, 1890-1937
Clark Ashton Smith, 1893-1961

The New Weird