You could call them both “pulp” or “penny dreadfuls,” but fantasy has a sense of wonder presupposing the supernatural, whereas science fiction has a nature of apotheosis, man trying to buck God while simultaneously becoming a god.
This, of course, opens the door for the question of what is the difference between Sword & Sorcery and Epic or High Fantasy. I'd put the Belgariad mostly in the Epic Fantasy camp. You've got the dark lord and epic stakes and powers like the Will and the Word. I'd say that Barak's arc is fairly Sword & Sorcery, but most S&S tales don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen.
Same for Dragonlance. It think Caramon is kind of an S&S character, and so is Raistlin, but the grand scope of things takes it into Epic Fantasy in the first series. Legends might be more S&S though.
Ah, the Gorean series. I read the first 5 or so in Middle School when I checked them out from the school library. I thought they were Burroughsian fun, only to be a little shocked as they took a very distinctive turn into something else. I might even say that they start as Planetary Romance then become Sword & Sorcery and eventually end up in Andrew Ouffut's other writing gig.
You could call them both “pulp” or “penny dreadfuls,” but fantasy has a sense of wonder presupposing the supernatural, whereas science fiction has a nature of apotheosis, man trying to buck God while simultaneously becoming a god.
Planetary Romance - The Gorean Series by John Norman.
Sword and Sorcery - David Eddings Belgariad, Wiess/Hickman Dragonlance, etc.
This, of course, opens the door for the question of what is the difference between Sword & Sorcery and Epic or High Fantasy. I'd put the Belgariad mostly in the Epic Fantasy camp. You've got the dark lord and epic stakes and powers like the Will and the Word. I'd say that Barak's arc is fairly Sword & Sorcery, but most S&S tales don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen.
Same for Dragonlance. It think Caramon is kind of an S&S character, and so is Raistlin, but the grand scope of things takes it into Epic Fantasy in the first series. Legends might be more S&S though.
Ah, the Gorean series. I read the first 5 or so in Middle School when I checked them out from the school library. I thought they were Burroughsian fun, only to be a little shocked as they took a very distinctive turn into something else. I might even say that they start as Planetary Romance then become Sword & Sorcery and eventually end up in Andrew Ouffut's other writing gig.