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 ......
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 ......
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
-
I'm sure they'd be open to a sponsored "fantasy" section... I think the common factor is "Nerd's section". Just live with it and be grateful you have not been deported to the US for looking for evidence of UFOs...
-
Permalink Reply by Sapphireblue on
-
Dear John call me a nerd if you like... but please be accurate - fantasy fiction is not about UFOs or science fiction - you clearly did not read what I wrote and you therefore missed the point completely
-
-
It is me who is the nerd and reads from the sci-fi section occasionally. A famous Wood Green nerd has just been deported to the United States where they will "fry his ass" for hacking and I was a little upset at the world that oppresses nerds but is OK with greedy people. Sorry.
Perhaps Simon from The Big Green Bookshop might answer us but I suspect I'm right.
-
-
You see you are clearly a sci fi genre reader and I am a fantasy reader - we've got different tastes that;s all. Apology accepted It felt a bit harsh what you said. In fact I went in to the bookshop today and as a result of my discussion with Simon there ( yes first name terms now...) has split the sections into 'fantasy' and 'sci fi', and in fact he told me that 10 mins after completing this split in sections a Uni lecturer in some branch of Eng Lit came in and congratulated him on recognising the difference between the two genres in his display.
-
-
OMG. That is hilarious. I wonder if this will spread to bookshops around the world and you started it here?
-
-
Well I did (I'm afraid) let out a whoop and say (loudly) Yes! I make a difference!
I can be v embarrasing at times.....
-
Permalink Reply by Kake on
-
I prefer SF to fantasy and so, like you, would find it easier to browse in bookshops if the genres were separated out. I think the reason they're often shelved together is that they blend in to each other at the boundary, so it's often a personal judgement call as to whether a book is fantasy or SF.
-
-
this is a reply to Kake and 2 Casper Gordon - the latter is for some reason inot showing up on this discussion now...
Thanks very much for your interesting contributions but I still don't find myself agreeing with you. I think what you are talking about is fantasy with a small 'f' ie. fantasy in the sense of a blurring between imagination and reality. You could, in the same way, blur the distinctions between many different genres if one compared smaller areas of overlap.
I'm talking about the bigger differences, the ones that for me make the two types quite distinct. I think in terms of categories of genres Fantasy and Sci fi are quite different and have a quite different readership. People who read sci fi tend to like its rational, scientific, futuristic character, set in (as you say) possible rational futures where space travel is everyday and space technology is the backdrop for these stories.
People who like Fantasy like great epic stories set in worlds without any modern technology (usually), medieval landscapes, worlds of battles between the forces of good and evil, worlds where fantastical creatures exist (from dragons to trolls) from elves to dwarves)and worlds where magic forces are bubbling beneath the surface of ordinary peoples lives. You don't get any of that in sci-fi.
So the differences are much greater than the similarities and they should be recognised and categorised separately too. and it seems that some agree with me - see above!!!! Thanks again for taking the discussion forward.... PS is that a halo in your pic? Casper
-
Permalink Reply by CG on
-
Um... Sort of a halo! It's a combination of an optical effect called Newton's Rings - an interference pattern generated by light in a lens, and a vignette - a fading off of the background of a headshot picture like that.
Anyway, as far as the Fantasy debate goes I think the problem lies in the fact that the Fantasy label (Fantasy as in dragons and trolls Fantasy) has been poached and used to describe other less related sub-genres and SciFi sub-genres, because for various reasons no new terms were used to describe them. The same happened with R&B or Rhythm and Blues in music. R&B from the sixties or seventies, sounds VERY different from the Soul / urban offshoot that is called R&B today. I guess it must be some sort of Chinese whispers effect that has genre group titles be so badly handled such that they begin to be mis-applied, leading to distributor and sales people giving up and simply grouping many genres together. Not a bad thing if you read my final earlier point!
-
-
Re the halo - thanks for the technical explanation - it reminds me of the pics we had at my convent school of saints with halos to denote their saintly status around the convent walls. Perhaps, as we sometimes had to before the saints in church, I should genuflect when your saintly pic comes on line. and light a candle. what do you think?
Meanwhile, I guess we covered it on the sci fi /fantasy topic - we had a good debate though.. thanks for contributing...
-
-
Hm, not sure. There are books which by any traditional definition would be fantasy, but which share characteristics with science fiction. For example, the Incomplete Enchanter books, where the settings are clearly traditional fantasy, and science doesn't work but magic does — yet the magic obeys clear, rational, and almost deterministic rules. Contrast this with, for example, the Star Trek universe, which has a science fiction setting but uses plot devices (such as the universal translator) which are basically magical.
I'm not arguing that Star Trek should be classified as fantasy, but rather that there are more ways to divide the genres than "SF is spaceships and robots, Fantasy is bards and tankards of ale".
-
-
Thanks for yur contribution to the discussion, but my answer would be there are exceptions to every rule, this doesn't mean you can't categorise on broad lines and I know when I go to a bookshop /library that I am looking for fantasy NOT sci-fi.... the discussion continues...
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
