Fantasy Writers Guild Forum why "medieval"?

Y'know, I'm not sure how I feel about the fantasy stories posted to this group being limited to those with Medieval-ish settings.  While I'm grateful to have at least one group where vampire romances can't take over the group library, I'd prefer not to have some arbitrary rule like "If it doesn't look like Europe between 1066 and 1485 A.D. - plus magic, of course - it doesn't belong here."  Right now, I'm rereading (for about the hundredth time) the Windrose Chronicles by Barbara Hambly.  That setting is more-or-less a fantasy version of the early Industrial Revolution, complete with factories and firearms.  And it's a lot more fantasy than a lot of the stuff you'll find set in a pseudo-Middle Ages.

I agree.  The modern day fantasies interest me much more then midevil (However you spell that) fantasies.  Though, midevil fantasies are useful when you want to escape reality, of course.  But modern day fantasies make the story seem more real then midevil, since we can better relate to the characters and settings.

Perhaps the medieval settings can be construed to be more mythical, and that's why that tends to be the favoured time setting.  It certainly is for me.  My own writing has some technology in it, but it's arcane/magic technology, but it's otherwise has a time period of medieval merged with the renaissance.  Generally speaking you're talking 1400s-1700s sort of time.

I find that as soon as modern technology is brought into it, it becomes more science fiction, even if there are many fantasy elements to it.  The terms defining sci-fi and fantasy are hazy at best, as it means something different to varying groups of people.

I do not tend to relate whatsoever to a modern setting being fantasy.  I class it as sci-fi, but there are, however, a few exceptions.  There are several video-games (RPGs) I have played that cross the standard terms of sci-fi and fantasy very well.  Among them are Phantasy Star IV, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time and The Last Hope, the Final Fantasy franchise, and Skies of Arcadia.  However, they're games, not books.  I find it hard to engage with settings in books that merge both fantasy and sci-fi, but that doesn't make them any less valid.

Generally speaking, my mind is most often in the past, and I dislike the kind of world we live in these days.  I find most buildings ugly, the machines ugly, the kind of fashion mundane, and really, I find pretty much everything lacks flair.  Modern warships might be efficient, but when I look at those dull, boring, ugly grey things of these times against the likes of HMS Victory, I side with the tall sailing ships.  When I look at modern churches, I find them again, dull, boring and ugly.  When I look at a medieval cathedral, I look up and marvel at the sheer amount of detail in the architecture.   I look at modern housing and think the exact same thing, yet I look at tudor houses and feel much more content.  There's a great sense of majesty and grandeur about the things of the past.  I do not relate to modern things at all.  I relate to times long since passed, though inequality was and still is a major issue.

That's just how I feel on the subject, so I thought I'd share.