Science Fiction or Fantasy?

Science Fiction or Fantasy?

  • Science Fiction

    Votes: 19 54.3%
  • Fantasy

    Votes: 16 45.7%

  • Total voters
    35
For reading or movies -Sci-Fi; for pen and paper roll playing games -Fantasy
 
Far more even than I was expecting. I feel a new sense of hope for my beloved sci-fi (y).
My fear that I was writing for a diminishing audience and that I would have to jump ship, or at least hybridise, to reach a contemporary audience may have been unfounded.
 
Generally sci-fi edges it for me because it explores "the unknown" in which elements like time travel and multiple universes are being discussed and looked into today, whereas despite fantasy being limitless, it tends to focus more on the things we know to be imaginary and based on myth and lore

I prefer fantasy because I like the more medieval setting rather than a technological setting, I do like some science fiction books but overall I enjoy fantasy more.
I've finished writing a sci-fi novel in which all man-made technology has disappeared - so it is essentially a medieval (post-apocalyptic - cities are long gone) setting. Perhaps I can share the website link with you?
 
It's a tie : 11 - 11

So, whichever I choose, one half of this forum is going to ignore me forever and refuse to grace any of my future posts with a :love: or even an encouraging(y).
So be it.

Ladies & Gentlemen, I choose SF.
I do read Fantasy occasionally and have enjoyed several of them. But the uniformity of their settings dooms them to take the 2nd place, after SF, that can and does show a broad panorama of subjects, settings and wild ideas. Medieval times are interesting, no doubt, but you limit yourself right from the start when you choose such a world to tell your tale. Who wants this rightful heir on the Soapstone Throne anyway? Does not qualify.
The future however is a big unknown, both known and unknown. The variety of settings, topics and sub-genres is endless. And until we have found the right question to the answer 42, the quest goes on. Infinity is the limit.

Oh, and I like all things space.
 
Boo. Hiss.
Note the lack of energy in that. :)

I would say your characterization of fantasy, "But the uniformity of their settings dooms them to take the 2nd place, after SF, that can and does show a broad panorama of subjects, settings and wild ideas. Medieval times are interesting, no doubt, but you limit yourself right from the start when you choose such a world to tell your tale," is of one type of fantasy, and does not encompass all of the fantasy work of,
L. Frank Baum
Jonathan Carroll
H. P. Lovecraft
Clark Ashton Smith
Angela Carter
John Crowley
Ursula K. Le Guin
Peter Beagle
Ben Aaronovich
L. Sprague De Camp
Fred Brown
Charles Beaumont
Charles Finney
Theodora Goss

and I'll let someone else add to the list since it's time for me to close down and head to dinner.
 
Hm... good question. I think I prefer fantasy to SF, but sometimes I do enjoy the sci-fi. For example, I had just bought the whole set of Dune books (actually, finding space for that on my bookshelf will be... creative, to say the least, but I will manage... urgh, I hope xD). But yes, I would set fantasy before science fiction in my case. Most probably because when I was still a kid my parents bought me Hobbit and this was perhaps the most influential book of my life?

They also bought me Stanisław Lem shortly before or after that... I have the book, but I never finished reading it (but hey, Lem is not a good writer for a kid in elementary school. I wanted action from my books, not long and realistic descriptions of acceleration in space and its influence on human body... xD).

(In fact, I graduated from Stanisław Lem High School - the very first one we had in Poland, actually - and thus I have read Solaris in my adult life. It was... I still do not know what this book was about. I kinda feel like I only brushed the surface of what Lem wanted to plant in my head.)

Also, magic is so cool :3 I love it :3 UwU And dragons :3 Why there aren't more books about them? ÒwÓ
 
There are a few fantasy novels I look back at fondly but they are the exception rather than the rule. I generally prefer science fiction. I'll occasionally look at a fantasy novel to see if it interests me, but with all of the science fiction, non-fiction and memoirs/biographies I want to read I don't really have enough time to delve into something which hasn't resonated with me very often.
 
If watching, then usually SF, because there are not many fantasy films that depict the worlds as fantastically as I can imagine them ;)
Besides, visual SF seems to have an edge over the written one, when it comes to showing the greatness of the universe and the smallness of humanity, that blue speck within the great and empty expanse... It's much more monumental to me, when I see it as compared to reading about it. But maybe, I just haven't found the right SF author, while I found the wonderful SF creators/directors/producers :D
 
If watching, then usually SF, because there are not many fantasy films that depict the worlds as fantastically as I can imagine them ;)
Besides, visual SF seems to have an edge over the written one, when it comes to showing the greatness of the universe and the smallness of humanity, that blue speck within the great and empty expanse... It's much more monumental to me, when I see it as compared to reading about it. But maybe, I just haven't found the right SF author, while I found the wonderful SF creators/directors/producers :D

There is fantasy series you might find of interest

The Kane the Mystic Swordsman series by Karl Edward Wagner. 5 book dark gothic heroic fantasy series . Kane is a immortal heroic villain /antihero. The best starting point for the series is Bloodstone. :cool:
 
There is fantasy series you might find of interest

The Kane the Mystic Swordsman series by Karl Edward Wagner. 5 book dark gothic heroic fantasy series . Kane is a immortal heroic villain /antihero. The best starting point for the series is Bloodstone. :cool:
OK, now you I'm interested! Don't know if the popularity of antiheroes is a zeitgeist of just a brief fashion, but it's all the more deepth to the character. Unlike the more-righteous-than-thou, crystal-clear, flat characters.
 
Which do I prefer, both, but then am a greedy so and so!
Seriously I don't mind either as long as they are well written.
 
Another member in the Science Fiction camp. A spattering of horror, but i just cannot get into Fantasy.
 
I have read Solaris in my adult life. It was... I still do not know what this book was about. I kinda feel like I only brushed the surface of what Lem wanted to plant in my head.)

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I adore Tarkovsky's's film (which, by all accounts I've read, Lem hated) but can't make out what the hell the book is about at all.
 
What can I say? I'm a sucker for dragons so I'll have to say fantasy novels.

I do like sci-fi though and as I get older I find myself reading and enjoying more science fiction leaning books. I think I often struggle/d with far flung science fiction novels that have 'immersive' made up jargon you're just meant to pick up on which I am not a fan of, especially when it's used to describe environments.
 

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