Western themed fantasy fiction?

I've been wondering lately why exactly almost every fantasy fiction i know of pretty much exclusively uses Tolkein style, midieval erra? This goes for books, movies, games, everything that is popular and mainstream. The only thing i can't really speak on is manga and anime. I don't pay attention to any of that enough to know otherwise but i'm curious if there is any western-type fantasy fiction from anywhere that is popular? And why exactly writers and artists don't use western / industrial era themes more often for their stories?

Have you tried China Mieville?

Westworld. Basically the Terminator and Jurassic Park, pre- Terminator and Jurassic Park... with the Terminator being a cowboy.

Doesn't get much better than that.

Also, sex robots.

You mean like urban fantasy? I quite like Jim Butcher's Dresden Files myself. Yeah, it's a bit mainstream but they're still quite enjoyable and not one of those series that everybody recommends because they think it makes them look deep =P

@korvus:

When i say "western, fantasy fiction", i'm basically talking about Tombstone with wizards.

You know, badge carrying sheriffs, gun-slinging outlaws, cattle herding cowboys, gold rush miners... that sort of thing. This culture practically dominated the film industry during Clint Eastwood's younger years if i'm not mistaken. I'd like to spark a discussion and hear others' thoughts on why no one uses that theme for their stories. It's all pretty much exclusively gothic-midieval.

I think one of the major obstacles is the conflict between firearms and magic. They just don't mix very well and one defeats the purpose of the other. In order for it to work, one would have to completely scrap the concept of a gun and redesign it to properly incorporate a magical element. It would have to be quite a bit different from anything we've seen and it would have to also fundamentally change combat all together in order to accommodate this new style of weapon.

I think this may also help explain why fiction lore can stretch thousands of years and we'll never see any sort of technological advancement that mirrors real history. Technology is a can of worms writers / game creators don't want to deal with perhaps because its a mess that requires a lot of work to properly explain to an audience. What are people's thoughts on this?

@amillionhp: Oh, sorry, you meant that sort of western. I took it as you meaning "non asian" for some reason (pay me no mind...I think I've been seeing one too many threads about anime in here lately =P)

Yeah, whenever I try to write something that includes a world with both technology and magic the sort of hoops I have to jump through and the amount of loopholes that pop up are so ridiculously off-putting that more often than not I just end scrapping the idea altogether, although I have done it once or twice (I'm actually doing that now for a sequel to a dark fantasy trilogy I wrote). The thing is, if you want to do that it needs to be a core part of the story and not some afterthought like many books seem to make it.

But in general terms you're right, unless big alterations are made to the way we know things to work, stuff like guns and magic seem pointless together. Although in my case it's a futuristic setting, so I'm afraid I can't help you there; never been interested in westerns.

@korvus:

Futuristic settings are a bit easier because technological advancements are already partially fictional so the audience gets the message that they will not perfectly understand everything as it is anyway. Plus you can take magic and technology in a lot of different directions when considering an advanced civilization.

With a western... well there is the pistol, rifle and shotgun. Those three things must be redesigned. A lightsaber for the western era basically. I mean that figuratively of course, just to compare it with science fiction.

@amillionhp: Yeah, futuristic is simpler but it doesn't necessarily mean it'll be good just because you can get away with it. The whole "infuse guns with magic" approach is quite cheap and unless it's not a focal point of the universe you're creating it'll end up sucking more often than not =P

Probably because, just like with the films, western fiction become less appealing than other genres.

Something just has have a grain of believability to make it work. It doesn't need to be completely redesigned.

@amillionhp:

@airshocker:

Tough to capture that grain of believability though when you consider how a gun fight works between 2 to a handful of people. There is no blocking, evading, or swinging involved. Its all very straight forward. Getting shot is generally instant death. A classic western quick draw is over as quickly as it started. There isn't time and opportunity to even implement any degree of magic into this process. I think in order to really include magic without compromising the classic elements and feel of a western shoot out, some additional mechanics need to be added that would prolong the fight providing an excuse for people to survive attacks.

This is of course more of an obstacle to film and literature rather than games. Games have completely ignored reality using HP and arbitrary defensive stats.

I disagree. There is cover, there is most certainly evasion(getting out of the targeted area), and melee is quite often incorporated into a gunfight, especially when escape isn't an option. There are plenty of ways to implement magic and gunfighting. I think you're just not thinking outside the box enough.

Sounds like you're looking for something along the lines of steampunk?