How many read both SF and Fantasy?

[BookStop]

I marked equal, and it's basically true, but I also read mystery, thriller, horror, the occasional chic lit, romance every once in a blue moon, historical fiction, nonfiction,...

 

[chrispenycate]

I'm essentially a hard-core science fiction reader, and tend to analyse fantasy books more than they were designed for (that's just how I read); still, I've read a fair amount of fantasy, and prefer it to "un-science" (insufficiently accurate) fiction.

 

[Happy Joe]

I, generally prefer hard core science fiction, however there is less and less of it being written, unfortunately.
Nothing wrong with fantasy though.
Enjoy!

 

[HappyHippo]

I read mainly fantasy, occasional excursions into SF, I also enjoy modern fiction, romance and chick-lit for brain detox, and I read Jean Auel's stuff at least once a year.

I have to agree with earlier comments, but it's not just SF and fantasy being dumbed down; I think it's literature in general. Taking Auel's works as an example - Clan of the Cave Bear was a bit of a groundbreaker, truly original, and as good as a time machine (IMO). Five books in, and they've become a travelogue with pauses to describe a meal (linden berries ahoy) and the many and vaired ways the two leads gt it on.

Is it our fault? I buy books by authors I've always liked, only to be disappointed, but then I buy the next book in the hope it'll be better... does this lead the editors and publishers to go, "Well done, more of the same please!" instead of asking for better quality? And is it only me, or are 'relationships' (in the Oprah/Jerry Springer sense, not real relationships) taking over books as well?

Ooops, ranting again. Night night!

 

[Werthead]

ideally i'd like to learn something tangible about humanity, natural law, the cosmos... stuff like that, in addition to enjoying a cracking-good read.

Hmm. Have you read Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun (which, okay, is an SF-fantasy hybrid rather than straight fantasy) or Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing Trilogy?

I find George RR Martin's point that you can take any genre story, tinker with it enough, and turn it into any other genre quite interesting. At its most simplistic, a story with vampires as the enemy is Horror. Change the vampires to orcs and it's Fantasy. Change the orcs to aliens and it's SF. But this can be applied to more sophisticated stories. The Hyperion Cantos is just a reworking of The Canterbury Tales with a common villain thrown in, for example, whilst Forbidden Planet being an SF reworking of The Tempest is well known.

If you turned Arrakis from a desert planet to a desert continent, with a few other continents dotted around it called Giedi Prime, Caladan and Kaitain and crossing the dangerous seas was only possible through the use of Navigators mutated by a spice grown on the Arrakis continent...well, it's a fantasy story now.

So I've never really taken note of the genre boundaries between SF, Fantasy and Horror as those boundaries are somewhat artificial and could, in most cases, be changed.

 

[gigantes]

Hmm. Have you read Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun (which, okay, is an SF-fantasy hybrid rather than straight fantasy) or Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing Trilogy?

i'd heard good things about the "new sun" series a long time ago and had it on my list, but sadly never got around to it.

when i was younger i tried to get my hands on as much SF and fantasy as possible and prolly read 2-4 books per week, but being older now i seem to lack that critical hunger. i feel somewhat ashamed that there's so much good stuff that i'll prolly never get around to, but then again i don't worry about it a great deal as i'm kind of focused in on other things.

I find George RR Martin's point that you can take any genre story, tinker with it enough, and turn it into any other genre quite interesting. At its most simplistic, a story with vampires as the enemy is Horror. Change the vampires to orcs and it's Fantasy. Change the orcs to aliens and it's SF. But this can be applied to more sophisticated stories. The Hyperion Cantos is just a reworking of The Canterbury Tales with a common villain thrown in, for example, whilst Forbidden Planet being an SF reworking of The Tempest is well known.

If you turned Arrakis from a desert planet to a desert continent, with a few other continents dotted around it called Giedi Prime, Caladan and Kaitain and crossing the dangerous seas was only possible through the use of Navigators mutated by a spice grown on the Arrakis continent...well, it's a fantasy story now.

So I've never really taken note of the genre boundaries between SF, Fantasy and Horror as those boundaries are somewhat artificial and could, in most cases, be changed.

that's a pretty cool point, but then again it will only take you so far.

you can certainly change all the nouns to other nouns, but when the core dynamics of the story change from something that has relevance to the real world to something that has too many fantasy principles in effect (for example, magic), then people like myself will lose interest.

opera is opera, no matter what the genre.

on the other hand, some stories, despite their genre, will strike a strong universal chord among all kinds of readers. those are prolly the stories that either come closest to the mythological archetypes that are buried deep within all of us and that we secretly hunger for, or are stories that we recognise immediately as being parallels to the world that we live in.

needless to say, those are the stories that have my greatest respect.

 

[tangaloomababe]

I orefer SF but occasionally I find a really good fantasy novel. Sadly they are few and far between.

 

[urchin]

I read fantasy exclusively, I've never been sure why two genres that are poles apart are so closely linked. This is just my opinion, I don't wanna fight anyone...

 

[Werthead]

To me, the two genres are inextricably linked, and at this time staples such as faster-than-light travel, teleportation, telepathy and downloading your brain into a computer are as unreachable and impossible as dragons and magic.

 

[Joel007]

Science-Fiction and Fantasy are both the same thing to me, one explains all the little details about why things are happening, and the other just tends to use the word "magic" to explain them, but they're both so similar in story that I treat them the same.

 

[Quokka]

It used be be almost solely fantasy and now its mainly SF, so about even overall with maybe another third of 'miscellaneous' mixed in. I often find now that I'll read a few SF in a row and then get the urge to read Fantasy to break it up or vice versa.

 

[Connavar]

I voted mostly SF.

I like fantasy, its just that i really like only two subgenres of fantasy and those are Heroic fantasy and Urban Fantasy. I prefer SF over it cause i like the many different types of SF.

Sure my fav writer is a a heroic fantasy writer but like 80% of the rest of my fav writers are SF writers.

I dont get urges to read Fantasy while i cant go a month without getting urges to read several SF stories.

 

[mwb]

A little bit from column A and a bit from column B.

Sometimes I shift between the two and sometimes I read one or the other exclusively - but my most common thing nowadays seems to be reading a novel in one and at the same time a collection of short stories from the other.

 

[Lensfire]

I started out just reading SF, but got into fantasy more in my twenties. I read both equally - SF for intellectual stimulation, fantasy to relax and chill out.

Of course, a lot of books straddle the divide - Perdido Street Station, John Varley's Titan, Dune, Saga of the Exiles, even the McCaffrey Dragon books. There is an entire strand of "science fantasy" - all the Moorcock Corum and Hawkmoon series, for example.

 

[Addy]

It's mostly SF for me, and a little Fantasy here and there, but it's usually older classics. I'm most at home when I can find a good crossover novel. A SF/F/Horror novel would be ideal.

 

[jackokent]

I do like SF but I sometimes find it a little technical for me. I always feel a bit like a fraud as many writer put so much realism into thier stories these days and it's all wasted on me because, having no appreciation of technology, I wouldn't have a clue if it was plausable or not.

 

[woodsman]

Mainly Fantasy, but a smattering of Sci-fi generally after I've watched a film. Strangely I much Prefer Sci-fi films to fantasy ones!

 

[Connavar]

It's mostly SF for me, and a little Fantasy here and there, but it's usually older classics. I'm most at home when I can find a good crossover novel. A SF/F/Horror novel would be ideal.

Older classics you mean you SF?

I enjoy the old classics of SF most. Havent found a modern SF that have the special feeling of a great SF.

After seeing you latest book haul with so many SF books of Dick. You reminded me i had planned to a buy a collection of his.


By the way have you read Jack Vance yet? Several of his works are SF/F.

I agree a good SF/F Horror would be awesome.

 

[Addy]

Older classics you mean you SF?

I enjoy the old classics of SF most. Havent found a modern SF that have the special feeling of a great SF.

After seeing you latest book haul with so many SF books of Dick. You reminded me i had planned to a buy a collection of his.


By the way have you read Jack Vance yet? Several of his works are SF/F.

I agree a good SF/F Horror would be awesome.

I've been trying to read a few more recent authors too, but yes I read mostly classic SF & F.

I've read Vance's The Last Castle only.

 

[Connavar]

Ooh let me know what you thought of it in Jack Vance thread.

Look out for my last Emphyrio post there are small spoilers in it.


Me too, i read more classic SF simply cause most of the authors i read makes me wanna read more of them.