There is nowhere in literature where the wistful longing of High Fantasy marries with the revolutionary spirit quite like what's known as either Gunpowder or Flintlock Fantasy.
Its themes are as varied as its worlds, and the tales are dramatic and bold. The unifying theme to the genre is the technologies of the time upsetting the powers that be. Flintlock for the guns and cannons, but also the cities and industry, and the growing power of the common folk.
The genre is a fairly recent creation, although guns and gunpowder in Fantasy is as old as the genre. Gunpowder made an appearance in Lord of the Rings, had a dramatic entrance at the tail end of The Wheel of Time, and was lamp-shaded in Terry Pratchet's work. But only in recent years has the genre come into its own, finding its voice alongside other rising genres of fiction, such as its close cousin Steampunk.
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It's current champions include Django Wexler's Shadow Campaigns series, Brian McCellan's Powder Mage, Brandon Sanderson's The Alloy of Law, and Naomi Novak's Temeraire. Wattpad hosts some dramatic offerings, often fused in with its Steampunk stories.
The stories in this genre are often very different, at least thematically, from classic High Fantasy. These are not the tales of the Once and Future King, and the Dark Lord in the lands of shadow is eerily familiar to the masters who once ruled our world. Lords and kings, masters of industry and ambitious men sit in the thrones that were once occupied by elder gods and fallen spirits of light.
Be they pirates on the seas or revolutionaries in dark basements, the spirit of independence and self-determination flavour the stories that this genre gives rise to. Our heroes are often pirates and highwaymen, soldiers or throne-less princes, bold and brave characters who embrace the changing world they belong to.
The settings for such fantasy stories are as varied as the genre they spring from. Mirrors of our own history are as common as enslaved dwarves and gnomes rising up against their elvish masters. Dramatic tales on the high seas, or wars with dark lords.
