Fantasy vs Science Fiction: A Poll

[AE35Unit]

I'd say there's an awful lot of SF in King's books. The Skeleton Crew is a collection of stories that begins with The Mist,recently filmed,and is definitely SF.
And of course Carrie employs Psi powers as the catalyst for the horror. The eponymous girl main character has Psychokinesis but King chose to use it in a horror context,at least in the film.

 

[Urien]

Supernatural horror is in my view a sub-genre of fantasy. When you're hunted by a vampire or werewolf then you're being hunted by a fantastic (non-existent) creature. Hence fantasy-horror or if you prefer horror-fantasy. If you're hunted by a human with a chain saw it's thriller-horror. If you're hunted by Frankenstein's monster it's science fiction-horror.

 

[AE35Unit]

Supernatural horror is in my view a sub-genre of fantasy. When you're hunted by a vampire or werewolf then you're being hunted by a fantastic (non-existent) creature. Hence fantasy-horror or if you prefer horror-fantasy. If you're hunted by a human with a chain saw it's thriller-horror. If you're hunted by Frankenstein's monster it's science fiction-horror.

And of the 3 horrors,supernatural is my favourite! Can't beat being scared witless,and yet it rarely happens in the movies!

 

[J-WO]

Ah, fantasy readers. They'll never understand the simple pleasures of watching a solar system explode...

 

[J-WO]

Then implode... Then EXPLODE AGAIN!!! Ha Ha HAAAAAAAA!!!

 

[ratsy]

Ah, fantasy readers. They'll never understand the simple pleasures of watching a solar system explode...

Close though... Raymond Feist destroys a planet in one of his books!

Also on the Stephen King note...I feel like most of the books I have read of his are kind of without a particular Genre. That is one of the things that makes King universally appealing. If you cross genres, in theory, you can catch a wider audience. SFF fans will read the Dark Tower and branch to his other stuff and vise versa.

(Eye of the Dragon was a great book...at least I thought so 10+ years ago when I read it, I have to find a copy of that)

 

[reiver33]

Push the boundaries of SiFi too far and you end up with Fantasy anyway. Definitions tend to create arbitary (and abstract) divisions which some prospective readers find off-putting.

It used to be said that SiFi dealt with un-realised worlds and Fantasy with imagined ones, but I recently re-read 'Metropolitan' and I would say its an easy amalgam of both.

A person likes what they like, regardless.

 

[Grimward]

In truth, I read both. I simply read more that are fantasy, and so align more in that direction. I find crossover situations, where magic and technology merge/overlap, interesting when done well. Would have been interested to see where (if anywhere) Zelazny went with Ghostwheel if he'd continued Amber.

 

[Kayla]

Personally Fantasy. Technological exploits are not my thing. Not that I don't find it entertaining I just prefer a sword to a ray gun.

In the end people who don't understand the difference between Sci-Fi and Fantasy always put them in the same category so we might as well start appreciating and liking the other genre.

 

[Ursa major]

I read far more SF than fantasy - and I wouldn't want to write fantasy - but when it comes down to it, a good book is a good book, whatever its genre.

(And the same goes for bad books).

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Ya!
Whoopee and Ya boo sucks!

SF is back on top
​

 

[Ursa major]

I thought everyone would realise that the future is SF.

 

[J-WO]

Ya!
Whoopee and Ya boo sucks!

SF is back on top
​

Just thought it was worth quoting again.

 

[Grimward]

Just lulling you into a false sense of security (not that it's in your nature to have such), your TEiNship sir...

 

[daveac]

Voted Science Fiction.

If Sub-poll - 'Hard SF' or 'Science Fiction involving Time Travel'

Cheers from newbe - daveac

 

[chongjasmine]

I am into fantasy.

 

[Granfalloon]

Just curious - Is there such a thing as "future fantasy"? (or would that just be another branch of SF?)

One of the main reasons I like SF is that I like to dream about what the future could be. I already know what the past was like, and Fantasy, although I don't hate it, always seems to be set in the past, or at least somewhere they don't have toasters and drive cars.

 

[Sparrow]

I've read SF almost my entire life, but I vote Fantasy.

Sorry, I think most of today's Science Fiction should be driven to the edge of town and rolled into a shallow ditch. I find both the writers and the sf community in general to be tired and uninspired. Perhaps the best sf is behind us. Certainly it seems a narrowing circle, left to the terminally nostalgic, the unsexed, the lonely, and worst of all, the conservative.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I note an element of incivility creeping in.

I suggest that anyone who doesn't perfectly recollect our Terms of Use, might wish to refresh his or her memory with a visit to our Forum Rules (particularly the section on Conduct) to be found in the bottom left-hand corner of the page.

For the most part, this has been an excellent thread, and I would hate to have to issue another warning or close it.

 

[Hilarious Joke]

Wow! I honestly thought after the success of the Race that fantasy would blow SF out of the water!

It's fascinating how close this is...

I voted fantasy, of course.