Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Fantasy v sci fi fiction

I really like Fantasy fiction. This genre usually has a story set in something like medieval times involving battles between good and evil and human interactions with those forces. There are aways elements of magic and mystery. The best writers are authors like David Gemmel, Terry Brooks, Philip Pulman and of course Tolkein. Technology, in these stories, is primitive, basic. They ,generally, don't have computers or mobile phones.

Science fiction focuses on stories set on other planets - they usually focus on science, advanced technologies, outer space, aliens, intergalactic battles etc

Completely different genres (in my mind). So why do bookshops and libraries shove them all together under one heading Sci-fi.
Fantasy fiction has very little to do with sci fi, if anything. I had a 'robust' discussion with the owner of the Big Green this eve as again I noticed fantasy fiction - prominent display of Robin Hobbs books(all set in medieval landscape) all under the heading of Sci Fi.......I've heard all the arguments (as to why)and I DISAGREE WITH ALL OF THEM, I think they're all 'hogwash'....I think people do care (I do), so should the bookshops, and they do want FANTASY FICTION recognised as a separate genre... so I'm hoping I'm not alone on this ......

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Permalink Reply by CG on September 5, 2008 at 1:39

I agree. The boundaries are blurred. I believe the long standing difference of SciFi to Fantasy is that in SciFi the events in the stories adhere to the laws of nature and are tales of events that haven't happened (yet), but could happen. In Fantasy the events within stories go beyond the laws of nature of this universe and into another (almost) parallel universe, if you like. However, many SciFi films and literature have aspects of them that deviate from the physical laws of nature, and much in the realm of Fantasy has elements of science to them. I culled this from Wikipedia:

"Science fiction differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically established or scientifically postulated laws of nature (though some elements in a story might still be pure imaginative speculation). Exploring the consequences of such differences is the traditional purpose of science fiction, making it a "literature of ideas". Science fiction is largely based on writing entertainingly and rationally about alternate possibilities in settings that are contrary to known reality."

And also from Wikipedia:
Rod Serling's definition is "fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science Fiction is the improbable made possible".
-And after a comment like that, I don't think the boundary can get much more blurred...

I think a good example of the confusion is the old Gerry Anderson TV series 'Space 1999'. Technically Science Fiction really - or is it? It would be physically impossible to accelarate the moon away from the Earth with a large nuclear explosion without blowing it to pieces first. So because of this 'other worldly / universe' impossibility you could say that Space 1999 was really in the Modern Fantasy sub-genre...

So with such blurred lines between SciFi and Fantasy and with so many now overlapping sub-genres, it would be foolhardy to try to categorize individual books or films into the different genres. And nobody wants to appear foolhardy of course, so they're usually grouped together. And I think you can 'over-categorize' and it makes it a real pain, especially when browsing for particular artistes in music shops. In fact the categorization problem now occurs mainly with music. With so much music cross-pollinated from other different music types now, categorization of any sort is fast becoming meaningless and misleading. I think people who desire a category for their own preferred specific genre or sub-genre (especially if it can't be defined properly for the above mentioned reasons) are actually making it harder for all of us, including themselves, to find what we are after. Besides, these days what with literature and music content spiralling madly outwards from a creative point of view, and encompassing so many aspects of the human experience in a single copy, I think the ideal bookshop or music emporium would be one that ONLY categorized by author or composer, A through to Z, and left it up to the customer as to what genre, or combination of genres, they felt their purchases could be best described as. The internet, periodicals and word-of-mouth are used to 'home in' on potential qualifying authors or composers who might interest us, as usual. Remember: An author's or composer's name (and alias, if they have one) is a FIXED entity and not subject to personal opinion. What their creative contribution to society, and what label it's filed under, is a matter of personal opion and is VARIABLE. Filing systems work best when the entries are fixed.

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Permalink Reply by Dee on September 5, 2008 at 11:47

I ve just given a lot of fantasy and sci-fi books away!!

Maybe there's scope for a book exchange, mm?

I think that back in the 1930s or 1950s -"Fantasy and science fiction" were lumped together as perhaps both were relatively small genres.

Indeed I remember in bookshops in Glasgow in the 70s it was "horror and sci-fi" lumped together.

You may know already but there is a massive second hand shop in Holloway Rd that specialises in sci fi and fantasy.

Regards

Dee

Fantasy v sci fi fiction

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