Science Fiction or Fantasy?

Science Fiction or Fantasy?

  • Science Fiction

    Votes: 19 54.3%
  • Fantasy

    Votes: 16 45.7%

  • Total voters
    35
I read both; however, my shelves are full of mostly what look like Science Fiction. I say look like, because many of those might best qualify as fantasy in the long run. I also think that when you start getting into things like Star Wars; Stargate; Farscape; Alien; and even some elements of Star Trek--those tend to fall closer to the classification of fantasy than some people would think.

Also today's Science Fiction might tomorrow be closer to fantasy, because of the nature of some if-y elements.

This gets us back to defining what Science Fiction is and what Fantasy is, which argument I prefer to avoid.

I remember back in the early 60's reading ERB's Martian and Venus series and thinking--at the time--that they were science fiction; on later examination I relegated them to fantasy because there were too many elements that just didn't seem all that plausible.

The same thing happened with Flash Gordon and Buck Rodgers.

Back then there were even elements that seemed science fiction-y in the Dick Tracy Sunday comics.

On the other hand what I relegated as fantasy--at that time--were stories that contained some impossible scenarios that had elements of sword fights and honor codes and strange impossible creatures on equally impossible planets or in imaginary kingdoms. Men were either misogynistic hero's or evil incarnate and women were mostly objectified. I mostly steered away from those books.

So, yeah, I've got weird notions of those two genre and tried to stick mostly with the science fiction.
 
I probably read 10 times as much science fiction as fantasy and a lot of stuff called SF I don't like. I avoided Hitchhiker's Guide for 20 years. When I finally broke down and read it, it was even sillier than my instincts warned me.

I tried the Pillars of Reality series by Jack Campbell and was pleasantly surprised. It qualifies as science fantasy I presume.
 
I like them both - separately, in combination, hybridized, weird - and can't choose one or the other.

I'm generally not super interested in alt-history, horror, or time travel type stories if you really want something I dislike.
 
I voted for science fiction. The "imaginative literature" that I prize most is a handful of works of fantasy, rather than science fiction (I have said here that I would give up all non-Inklings science fiction rather than give up "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"), but I'm far more tolerant of an ordinary level of achievement in science fiction than in fantasy. I love a few great works of fantasy more than any sf, but I can read a lot of sf with pleasure while a great deal of fantasy has no appeal whatever for me.
 
I voted for science fiction. The "imaginative literature" that I prize most is a handful of works of fantasy, rather than science fiction (I have said here that I would give up all non-Inklings science fiction rather than give up "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"), but I'm far more tolerant of an ordinary level of achievement in science fiction than in fantasy. I love a few great works of fantasy more than any sf, but I can read a lot of sf with pleasure while a great deal of fantasy has no appeal whatever for me.
Great Iron Maiden song
 
Love both, recently been slightly more into sci-fi as long as it doesn't go too heavy into technical details. Both genres can be enhanced with a little horror in my opinion :D
 
S.F. by a mile. I probably read 100 SF books (at least if you count soft SF) to 1 Fantasy. That I read any Fantasy at all is a result of having spent so much time on the Forum.
 
It never ceases to amaze me that some people will pedant you to death over some quirk of acceleration forces or oxygen levels in your sci fi then happily accept utter drivel about wizzard schools, spells and magic swords in fantasy. (You know who you are! ;) )
 
It never ceases to amaze me that some people will pedant you to death over some quirk of acceleration forces or oxygen levels in your sci fi then happily accept utter drivel about wizzard schools, spells and magic swords in fantasy. (You know who you are! ;) )
Allowances have to be made for admitted fantasies. They don't allow Vulcan editors.
 
Science Fiction for me, with Space Opera being my favourite sub-genre.
 
I prefer both if there is a novel with both science fiction and fantasy genre in it. I would gladly read novels of any genre as long as I'm interested to try reading it
 
I tend to go in cycles . There will be long periods where I read fantasy and then, I will go back to reading science fiction .
 
I like them both - separately, in combination, hybridized, weird - and can't choose one or the other.

This is pretty much me, too. I like the exploration and problem solving of s.f., but I think fantasy is generally better written. Naturally, there are many, many exceptions both ways (well-written s.f.; poorly written fantasy). I'm not fond of s.f. that gets too much into the nuts'n'bolts, though. I still want the story to be about people I can understand rather than machines or physics.
 
Mostly Science Fiction because I really find it hard to deal with the inherent, ingrained racism in most 'Fantasy'. All orcs are evil? All elves are mystical fey artists. What? NO elf ever wanted to be a bricklayer? (Broad generalisations I know. Details change, but The One Psyche Fits Whole Race template is pretty well universal.) And I find it hard to accommodate a world in which many sentient species evolve simultaneously, in parallel on one planet. It's so improbable that 90% of my stock of suspension of disbelief required to read a work of fiction has been used up by the time two dwarfs and an elf have sat down together in some jolly inn to quaff a foaming brew in the opening chapter. By the time they're three pints down and comparing dark rumours it's at breaking point.

And before the nitpickery starts, a lot of what is labelled SF or 'Sci-Fi' (a term I loathe) is fantasy but with science fictional dressup. Star Wars being the prime example. And yes the same kind of broad brushstroke racism / speciesism appears in a lot of SF too but it's not (usually) the CORE of the thing.
 
Tbh I find myself preferring each in different medias. I tend to read more fantasy novels over Sci-Fi, but watch more sci-fi movies and tv series rather than fantasy ones. It's not like I try to, that's just what tends to happen
 

Back
Top