WTF Populi, WTF Dei

I'm trying to communicate here, and one of the biggest hurdles in communication is selecting words improperly or not defining them clearly enough. To this end, I asked a bunch of people on the internets about what does the phrase "post fantasy" mean to them as a genre, with no prior context of the term.

The results were, shall we say, not very accurate, but rather thought provoking. Slightly edited, the most interesting of them are listed below. 

I keep thinking Post Fantasy is a next step from Urban Fantasy to somewhere. If Urban fantasy was bringing fantasy to modern context, maybe post fantasy is about taking to the fantasy context somewhere else? Or something.

-- Shader

post fantasy?

no associations other than, maybe reality?

-- Dirian

Post fantasy? My guess would be that it's an "artsification" of urban fantasy, so drowning in metaphor, high-literary influences and kind of masturbatory about its own literary value.

 -- Thanaeon

Immediately? For some reason, gritty-futurism with fantasy elements, be it cyberpunk or post-apocalyptic. I mean, I know that's probably WRONG, but that was what popped into my head. Like images of grey streets and black skies and dim streetlamps.
^_^: Sort of like noir?
Yeah, but with muted tones of elves and orcs and GRIT.
^_^: Kinda like punk-fantasy.
Yeah. A game where no one is happy.
^_^ :( That's a bit too far, I think?
It's REAL LIFE YO.

^_^: I'm now getting the vibe that Dark Sun MIGHT be post fantasy.
Dark Sun is kind of post-fantasy, sure. 

-- Gemini

Fiction informed by the fantasy genre without necessarily being part of it. So... I dunno. A Song of Ice and Fire? Maybe magic realism? Or possibly fiction that takes fantasy and makes it mundane.
^_^: wouldn't that be framed as a bad thing?
I dunno. So, like, a crime procedural set in a universe with magic where the magic is entirely unremarkable.So the book is part of the crime genre, and it just has fantasy trappings without taking on the themes and ideas of fantasy. Maybe?

-- Snoof

WoW. Scantily clad ladies. Bright colors everywhere. Maybe some Final Fantasy games? Most artwork kinda oriental looking. 

-- Augustas

Post fantasy to me suggests a setting in which the elves have died out, the dwarves have buried themselves in the mountains and only humans remain.
- and/or -
A sexual fetish involving poor defenceless fence posts.

-- Djones



Feel free to provide your own definitions in the comments section.



Oh, and one more for the finishing move:

Post Fantasy - a sort about the magical adventures that a mail deliveryman gets up to.

-- Moxiane