"Epic fantasy is mostly set in the past.  Urban fantasy is mostly set in the present.  What about the future?"

Well, obviously first off we quibbled with the description, since most epic fantasies are set in another world having no connection to our timeline.


To be sure, the parallels are generally to the medieval era so it's like it's in the past.  And some fantasy does take place in the future like Jack Vance's worlds.  And some of it gets blurry about the edges.  Gene Wolfe's Torturer series, for instance.

But there were some discussion of near future fantasy, and several side jaunts into how some forms of science fiction really are fantasy in that they are impossible -- chiefly revolving about fuel, because many things are possible only in small doses.

Star Wars is, of course, set a long long time ago even if you allow the Force to be fantasy.

Steampunk can get interesting into the future because it is also compatible with magic.