Is There Such a Thing as “Hard Fantasy?”

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We all know the term “hard science fiction,” but did you know there’s such a thing as “hard fantasy?”

It came up the other day when discussing the works of Brandon Sanderson. The Stormlight Archive is fantasy that reads oddly like science fiction, but does that make it hard fantasy?

Maybe.

What is the Definition of Hard Fantasy?

Hard fantasy is, in many ways, the opposite of fabulism. Let’s take, say, the wonderful work of Neil Gaiman. Gaiman is a fabulist. His worlds don’t have to make sense. They just have to be beautiful. (Yes, I’m a fan of Gaiman).

Hard fantasy is primarily used in two ways:

1. To refer to works that are primarily set in a rational world, but have elements of magic. The first use of the word was in reference to historical fantasy. If you write a historical story in which you do your research, are scrupulous about anthrological details, then have magic swords? That’s hard fantasy. One subset of hard fantasy is works like my own The Lay of Lady Percival where Arthuriana is shifted back to its “historical” context of the 4th century. Another example of this kind of hard fantasy would be the very slightly fantastical works of Rosemary Sutcliff.
2. To refer to works where, like The…