Imaginary land

The imaginary land fiction is a form of realistically-styled fantasy or alternate history. Their central defining feature is an "imaginary land" or "imaginary country", and typically include no other significant markers of fantasy or science fiction. (However, fantastic elements such as prophecies, supernatural steering, etc., pop up in these works as they do in so-called "realistic" fiction.)

The line between an "imaginary land" fantasy and a non-SFnal work often blurs. Whole countries, regions, and large cities are more of an imposition on the sense of reality, requiring more suspension of disbelief, and therefore fall more easily into the fantasy side of imaginary lands fictions. Thinly-disguised variants of real countries, disguised only for political purposes, or composite small towns, may fall more readily into the realistic side of imaginary lands fictions.

Examples

• Orsinia, the imaginary central European country that is the setting for Ursula K. Le Guin's Malafrena and Orsinian Tales