Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that uses magic or other supernatural elements as a main plot element, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic and magical creatures are common. Fantasy is generally distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of scientific and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three, all of which are subgenres of speculative fiction.

In popular culture, the fantasy genre is predominantly of the medievalist form. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy comprises works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians, from ancient myths and legends to many recent and popular works.

Fantasy is studied in a number of disciplines including English and other language studies, cultural studies, comparative literature, history, and medieval studies. Work in this area ranges widely, from the structuralist theory of Tzvetan Todorov, which emphasizes the fantastic as a liminal space, to work on the connections (political, historical, literary) between medievalism and popular culture.

Fantasy (1938 magazine)

Fantasy was a British pulp science fiction magazine which published three issues in 1938 and 1939. The editor was T. Stanhope Sprigg; when the war started, he enlisted in the RAF and the magazine was closed down. The publisher, George Newnes Ltd, paid respectable rates, and as a result Sprigg was able to obtain some good quality material, including stories by John Wyndham, Eric Frank Russell, and John Russell Fearn.

Publication history

The first U.S. science fiction (sf) magazine, Amazing Stories, was imported into the U.K. from its launch in 1926, and other magazines from the U.S. market were also available in the U.K. from an early date. However, no British sf magazine was launched until 1934, when Pearson's launched Scoops, a weekly in tabloid format aimed at the juvenile market. Soon Haydn Dimmock, Scoops' editor, began to receive more sophisticated stories, targeted at an adult audience; he tried to change the magazine's focus to include more mature fiction but within twenty issues falling sales led Pearson's to kill the magazine. The failure of Scoops gave British publishers the impression that Britain could not support a science fiction publication.

Fantasy (Aldo Nova song)

"Fantasy" is the debut single by Canadian rock musician Aldo Nova and is his most popular work to date. Released on his eponymous debut album in 1981, the song climbed to #3 on the Mainstream rock chart, and #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The song was featured in a flashback sequence in the final episode of the popular television series Rob & Big. A cover version of the song, performed by Steel Panther, is the current theme song for the MTV show Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory.

VH1 listed it at #78 on its countdown for the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s.

Music video

The video shows Aldo performing with his band at a concert. It is best remembered for its intro, which starts out with a man holding an electric guitar and two bodyguards holding machine guns, waiting for someone. Then comes a helicopter, landing from the sky, and Aldo comes out in a very contoured leopard-print suit, being escorted to the stage. When they encounter a locked door, which the bodyguards can't open, Aldo grabs his guitar and fires a laser into the door and it opens.

Software (novel)

Software is a 1982 cyberpunk science fiction novel written by Rudy Rucker. It won the first Philip K. Dick Award in 1983. The novel is the first book in Rucker's Ware Tetralogy, and was followed by a sequel, Wetware, in 1988.

Plot summary

Software introduces Cobb Anderson as a retired computer scientist who was once tried for treason for figuring out how to give robots artificial intelligence and free will, creating the race of boppers. By 2020, they have created a complex society on the Moon, where the boppers developed because they depend on super-cooled superconducting circuits. In that year, Anderson is a pheezer a freaky geezer, Rucker's depiction of elderly Baby Boomers living in poverty in Florida and terrified because he lacks the money to buy a new artificial heart to replace his failing, secondhand one.

As the story begins, Anderson is approached by a robot duplicate of himself who invites him to the Moon to be given immortality. Meanwhile, the series' other main character, Sta-Hi Mooney the 1st born Stanley Hilary Mooney Jr. a 25-year-old cab driver and "brainsurfer", is kidnapped by a gang of serial killers known as the Little Kidders who almost eat his brain. When Anderson and Mooney travel to the Moon together at the boppers' expense, they find that these events are closely related: the "immortality" given to Anderson turns out to be having his mind transferred into software via the same brain-destroying technique used by the Little Kidders.

Software 2.0

Software 2.0 is a term derived from Web 2.0 used to describe a second generation of software development methodologies. Analogous to the term Web 2.0, Software 2.0 refer to hosted services which aim to facilitate users creativity to develop and share their own software applications online.

The term includes open source projects -where many developers collaborate in a software project and make the source code available to the end user- and generative programming and automatic programming - where software tools assist users to build customized software applications.

Following Web 2.0 design patterns, Software 2.0 services allow users to share their software applications on web-based communities such as GitHub.

Related concepts

  • Open source software development
  • Automatic programming
  • Code generation (compiler)
  • See also

  • User-generated content
  • GitHub
  • References

  • Report on free software 2.0
  • Podcasts:

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    Latest News for: Software fantasy

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    Former Texas Longhorn running star Will Nation eyes his first Statesman Capitol 10,000

    Austin American-Statesman 03 Apr 2025
    Sunday's Statesman Capitol 10,000 ... MORE ... Currently a software developer for FantasyPros, a fantasy football advice platform, Nation still gets in 80-85 miles a week of self-coached running — more than enough to knock out a solid 10K on the roads ... ...
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    Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Developers Were Inspired by Studio Ghibli’s Art and Music

    GamingBolt 31 Mar 2025
    Among many other things, the RPG is seemingly inspired by games like the classic turn-based Final Fantasy, with Meurisse specifically naming Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9 and 10 ... Definitely Final Fantasy and JRPGs are the preeminent gameplay heritage we have.
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    GUEST OPINION: Colorado statehouse\u2019s anti-AI housing bill misses the mark

    Colorado Springs Gazette 27 Mar 2025
    Woodrow believes such software amounts to collusion in the market, a fantasy invented by the anti-free market Biden White House masking the 21.6% average rent increase in Biden’s first three years in office.
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    Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 builds on a "heritage of JRPGs" like Final Fantasy 7, 8, ...

    Games Radar 19 Mar 2025
    Expedition 33 is a modern take on the classic JRPG formula that's stunned with its gorgeous visuals and obvious tribute to the turn-based Final Fantasy titles of old ... Definitely Final Fantasy and JRPGs are the preeminent gameplay heritage we have.
    Edit

    Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s Gameplay Was Inspired by Classic Final Fantasy Games and Sekiro

    GamingBolt 19 Mar 2025
    Speaking to GamesRadar at GDC 2025, Meurisse revealed that early Final Fantasy games, along with Sekiro ... “Those are big childhood games for Guillaume [Broche], our game director,” Meurisse said, talking about Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9, and 10.
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