Editing Sword and sorcery (section)

==Etymology==
The [[Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction]] records a chance example of "sword and sorcery" from 1953, where it appears in a headline of a review of an [[L. Sprague de Camp]] novel.<ref name="hdsf"/> American author [[Fritz Leiber]] re-coined the term in 1961 in response to a letter from British author [[Michael Moorcock]] in the fanzine ''Amra'', demanding a name for the sort of fantasy-adventure story written by [[Robert E. Howard]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Moorcock|first1=Mike|title=Putting a Tag on It|journal=Amra|date=May 1961|volume=2|issue=15|page=15}}</ref> Moorcock had initially proposed the term "epic fantasy". Leiber replied in the journal ''Ancalagon'' (6 April 1961), suggesting "sword-and-sorcery as a good popular catchphrase for the field". He expanded on this in the July 1961 issue of ''Amra'', commenting:

{{bquote|I feel more certain than ever that this field should be called the sword-and-sorcery story. This accurately describes the points of culture-level and supernatural element and also immediately distinguishes it from the cloak-and-sword (historical adventure) story—and (quite incidentally) from the [[cloak-and-dagger]] (international espionage) story too!<ref>[[Fritz Leiber]], ''Amra'', July 1961</ref>}}

The term "heroic fantasy" has been used to avoid the garish overtones of "sword and sorcery".<ref name=SFESandS/> This name was coined by [[L. Sprague de Camp]].<ref name="deCamp">{{cite book |last1=de Camp |first1=L. Sprague |title=Conan the Barbarian |date=1967 |publisher=Ace Books |page=13 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref> However, it has also been used to describe a broader range of fantasy, including [[High fantasy]].<ref name=Stableford>{{cite encyclopedia | last = Stableford | first = Brian | author-link = Brian Stableford | encyclopedia = The A to Z of Fantasy Literature | title = Heroic Fantasy| year = 2009 | publisher = Scarecrow Press | isbn = 9780810863453}}</ref><ref name=pg> {{cite book |last=Guran |first=Paula |date=2017 |title=Swords Against Darkness |publisher=Prime Books |pages=6-10 |chapter=Introduction: Knowledge Takes Precedence Over Death |isbn=1-60701-485-8}}</ref>