The Definitive Illustrated Guide to Fantasy

From the back cover: This comprehensive guide to the world of fantasy is packed with illuminating text and illustrations covering every aspect of this extremely popular genre. Learn about the development of fantasy from earliest times through to its current range of forms, including Fairy Tales, Sword & Sorcery and Shared Worlds. Examine fantasy's television and big screen manifestations in chapters packed with fascinating facts about all the important fantasy films and the central themes of the most popular series, serials, teleplays and TV movies. Discover the major fantasy authors, along with important figures from other media, in the context of their works and best-known creations. Meet a host of heroes, villains, companions, mythical beasts and other popular characters from across the whole field of fantasy. Uncover the world of DIY fantasy with a look at computer games, role-playing games, wargames, trading-card games, board games and game books. Step inside some of the most popular and enduring fantasy universes, including J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar, Robert Jordan's World of the Wheel, J. K. Rowling's Hogwarts and Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Written by a team of experts, Fantasy looks at the characters, worlds and people that go to make up the genre, through books, magazines, films, television and games. Illustrated with almost 200 pictures and containing a wealth of fascinating facts and background information, this book is the essential source of reference for every fantasy fan.