Science Fiction

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Lemmy World Rules

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Question: should this be a fantasy-free zone? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca to c/sciencefiction@lemmy.world

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I read a lot of both SF and fantasy. Most communities I've dealt with have commingled the genres, in part because the line between them can be blurry. Is this community supposed to be strictly SF, or are discussions of fantasy also okay?

I was going to post my mini review of Days of Shattered Faith, by Adrian Tchaikovsky, but it's clearly fantasy (though Tchaikovsky writes quite a lot of SF), so I thought I should ask.

Edit: it seems like I've had pretty good response to the question, and the vast majority would prefer to be more inclusive rather than draw a line. I'll go ahead and continue posting both, though note that so far a moderator hasn't weighed I in, and that could change things.

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[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I think the line between fantasy and SF is blurry enough that there's no value in trying to find it.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I tend to agree - anytime you draw a crisp line, there's going to be an example just on one side or the other that prime will argue about. On the other hand, there are things that no one will disagree about. No one of going to because whether The Lord of the Rings is SF or fantasy. The book I was considering posting a review of has magic and gods in it, though there's a major faction in the series that's trying to end all that and replace it with technology.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

A lot of sci-fi has magic and gods. The gods are frequently not omniscient omnipotent bodiless entities, but they're still gods, and the magic is often given a reason it exists, but it's still magic.

Basically everyone agrees that the Dune series is sci-fi, but it's got effectively magic, and effectively gods (with them even using those terms in the story IIRC —they at least use "god"), and they're usually fighting with swords. It's, by all reasonable arguments, fantasy. They aren't mutually exclusive.

[–] Sibbo@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 month ago

Exactly. This is not a problem worth solving.