What Makes for “The New’ in Epic Fantasy?

Since The Gathering Of The Lost was shortlisted for the Gavid Gemmell Legend Award, the whole award process has got me thinking about a number of topics that keep coming up in fora and Q&A. Last week I asked one of the most fundamental questions, i.e. What Makes Fantasy Epic?

In the subsequent discussion we talked about some of the enduring and consistent elements of the (sub)genre, so of course that immediately sparked another question: “What makes an epic fantasy seem new and/or fresh for re...