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<blockquote data-quote="Ranes" data-source="post: 1883401" data-attributes="member: 4826">I've seen science fiction authors either struggle to define their genre or dodge the question altogether. Is Star Wars SF? No would be my answer. It isn't science fiction just because it has some of the trappings of science fiction. Look at it this way; the tale of Snow White and Rapunzel are not medieval histories, even though they have some of the trappings of medieval histories.&nbsp;The simple difference between SF and fantasy, to me, is that fantasy is the realm of 'no way'. SF is the realm of 'maybe'. The problems arise when your 'no way' is my 'maybe' or vice versa.&nbsp;Of course, in Hollywood and on television, anything with an alien, sentient robot, spaceship or even psychic power is SF but Hollywood and TV are for the masses and they like to keep it simple for that reason. And who can blame them when even serious SF authors cannot clearly delineate their own genre?&nbsp;As far as I'm concerned, Dante's Divine Comedy is proto-SF but he's never going to pick up a posthumous Hugo for it. Maybe a Nebula though...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ranes, post: 1883401, member: 4826"] I've seen science fiction authors either struggle to define their genre or dodge the question altogether. Is Star Wars SF? No would be my answer. It isn't science fiction just because it has some of the trappings of science fiction. Look at it this way; the tale of Snow White and Rapunzel are not medieval histories, even though they have some of the trappings of medieval histories. The simple difference between SF and fantasy, to me, is that fantasy is the realm of 'no way'. SF is the realm of 'maybe'. The problems arise when your 'no way' is my 'maybe' or vice versa. Of course, in Hollywood and on television, anything with an alien, sentient robot, spaceship or even psychic power is SF but Hollywood and TV are for the masses and they like to keep it simple for that reason. And who can blame them when even serious SF authors cannot clearly delineate their own genre? As far as I'm concerned, Dante's Divine Comedy is proto-SF but he's never going to pick up a posthumous Hugo for it. Maybe a Nebula though... [/QUOTE]

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