Subgenres! Just like the title says. I was wondering, what subgenres do you make distinctions among in your SFF?
Fantasy subgenres:
Urban fantasy - Magic happening in the real world. Examples: Jim Butcher's Dresden files, Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series, Mercedes Lackey's SERRAted Edge books, Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse books, Touch the Dark by Karen Chance, etc.
Dark fantasy - Fantasy that has dark themes--vamps, demons etc. and presents them in a sympathetic light. A lot of urban fantasy these days is dark urban fantasy, and has traits of both. Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy is a good example of dark fantasy, without the urban element. Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series are dark urban fantasy. (I don't consider Harry Dresden to be dark urban, because, at least at this point in time, Harry is still striving to be Good, and for the most part fights against Evil.) This genre can also include horror/fantasy crossover work.
Comic fantasy - fantasy set on a world that's largely made up to be funny and/or poke fun at fantasy. Terry Pratchett's Diskworld, Piers Anthony's Xanth, Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles
Fantasy (aka Low Fantasy) - Not all people make this distinction, but Low Fantasy, for me, is fantasy that has all the trappings of fantasy, but doesn't quite have the Epic-ness of Epic/High fantasy. Difficult to explain. Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series is here for me, so is Jim Butcher's Codex Alera books (I know some will disagree, but Harry Dresden feels more Epic then Codex Alera does to me).
Epic fantasy (aka High Fantasy) - Fantasy that's...Epic!
Fantasy that has over-reaching world-affecting plots. If the good guy doesn't kill the bad guy, the world WILL be destroyed. Swords and sorcerers. Fate of the world depending on the choice of one man. That type of thing, in a way that makes you, the reader,
believe it's true. Examples: Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Raymond E. Feist's Riftware books. Harry Dresden seems to have a good dollop of this too, but not quite enough to make me firmly catagorize it. I may change my tune after book 23!
Paranormal romance - Fantasy where the main theme is romance. Distinct from fantasy where romance is a sub-plot. I can't think of any true blue examples right now, but the Luna imprint caters to this.
Paranormal erotica - Fantasy where the main theme is sex between paranormal/supernatural beings. Distinct from paranormal romance. Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series is an example of this, as is post-Obsidian Butterfly Anita Blake. You could also probably put in Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series here. There's probably more examples I'm not aware of.
Zombie fantasy - fantasy that has died but still is ALLLLLIIIIIIVVVVEEE! Ok, this isn't a real genre, but one of the series that belongs in here DOES have zombies...technically...but I won't name names. Fantasy that is still going on even though the series is dead, dead, dead and the author should stop molesting the corpse. Often applies to Epic fantasys that keep on going...and going...and going...
Sci-Fi subgenres:
(Note...some people object to the word "sci-fi", as opposed to "science fiction". I personally make no distinction between the two.)
Science Fantasy - Stories set on worlds that technically were settled by a sci-fi starships-from-earth manner, but for whatever reason degressed in technology to an often pre-industrial culture. Anne McCaffrey's Pern, Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover, C. S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy, Joan D. Vinge's Summer Queen and Snow Queen books, Robert Silverburg's Majipoor books.
Space Opera - sci-fi that focuses more on inter-character conflicts then the technology. (It's a play on "soap opera".) Anne McCaffrey's Tower and Hive series (The Rowan, Damia, etc.). Some of Robert A. Heinlein's stuff.
Hard Science Fiction - sci-fi that focuses on the science. Stephen Baxter's Evolution (or generally almost anything by Stephen Baxter). Pretty much anything by Issac Asimov. Some of Robert A. Heinlein's stuff.
Military Sci-Fi - sci-fi that focuses on the military. I don't read much of this, so bear with me if my examples suck. Karen Lowachee's Warchild series. Anne McCaffrey's Sassinack books (sp?). The publisher Baen puts out a lot of military Sci-fi (I hate the coverart though so I generally don't read Baen books. Shallow, I know.).
I'm sure there's some subgenres that I'm forgetting about...let me know what they are.
While we're talking about Baen...What trends have you seen in the SFF publishing houses/imprints, as in what they tend to publish?
Baen - Baen is an independant publisher, as in, they're not an imprint of an international book publishing company giant (most SFF publishers are). They tend to put out a lot of military sci-fi, and they use the same coverartists for nearly all of their books, so it's easy to spot a book put out by them. I don't know the quality of their books; the coverart puts me off so I don't buy them. Heh.
Tor - Tor is the BMW/Mercedes Benz/famous luxury car maker of the SFF publishing world. They're damn hard to get accepted by, and the books they publish always show a very good command of both writing in general, and writing SFF in particular. Their authors tend to be top-tier. Orson Scott Card is published though them, Jacqueline Carey's first Kushiel trilogy is through them, Joan D. Vinge goes through them, etc. They take pretty much any type of fantasy and sci-fi, so long as it's written very well. I think, due to the popularity of Jacqueline Carey's Kuahiel series, they're looking for similar books, but that could be a lie, and a few years out of date to boot.
Roc - Roc's quality is uneven; they tend to take chances on authors much more then Tor does. Some books they put out are really good, some mediocre. They have been putting out a lot of good dark, and urban, fantasy lately, though. I think Harry Dresden is put out through Roc? Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy was put out by Roc. Also Alan F. Troop's Dragon Delasangre books.
DelRey - lots of old Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey books were put out by them. I haven't seen any significant new series put out by them, though, so I'm unsure what they're looking for these days.
Ace - I don't know too much about Ace these days, either. The Codex Alera series is put out by Ace. I also see Patricia Briggs, and Charlaine Harris when I look at my incomplete bookshelf (I moved recently; most of my books aren't here at home). They seem to me a lot like Roc, in that they like urban fantasy, and the quality can be uneven from author to author, except they're not as dark.
Spectrum - Spectrum has Robin Hobb, David Brin, and a lot of other good authors. They tend to put out high-level and polished SFF...or at least I don't recall books I really disliked from them.
Daw - not sure what they're putting out recently
Aspect / Warner Aspect - Karin Lowachee came out through them, as did Jacqueline Carey's second Kushiel trilogy. Octavia Butler as well. Seem to have good quality books.
Luna - Heh, this is a new romance/sff crossover imprint put out by Harliquen (sp? More known in the Romance section). Quality is VERY iffy...some books are good, some not so good. I read one series I liked a lot, but a friend hated. Then I read another book which I hated and never finished. Which is a pity, because I like a bit of romance in my SFF.
Did I miss any major imprints? Anyone else have more/better info to add?