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Fantasy and Science Fiction ~ What separates them from 'normal' literature?
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<blockquote data-quote="Wombat" data-source="post: 1920013" data-attributes="member: 8447"><p>The dividing line between what is fantasy/sci fi and what isn't is incredibly tenuous.</p><p></p><p>Consider these examples from a local Borders Books store:</p><p></p><p><em>One Hundred Years of Solitude </em> and <em>Dictionary of the Khazars </em> are both in General Fiction. Now both of these books are highly fantastical in their style, yet they are considered "normal fiction". On the other hand there is Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian trilogy, starting with <em>The Winter King</em>, which is in Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Oddly, no magic actually takes place in these books, although many characters believe it does. Even more oddly all the rest of Cornwell's books are in General Fiction, including his new series which involves, amongst other things, looking for the Holy Grail. At the same time Rosalind Miles' Guenivere & Isolde series are over in General Fiction, even though they are slightly more "magical" than Cornwell's. And T.H. White's The Once & Future King, despite magic, spells, unicorns, and the rest, is again in General Fiction. (Yeah, I have an Arthurian hang-up -- I trace down those books in Children's Lit, Mythology & Folklore, History, Philosophy/Religion, Romance, as well as the General Fiction and Sci-Fi/Fantasy.)</p><p></p><p>Other examples include <em>Dracula </em> being found both in General Fiction and in Horror, <em>Frankenstein </em> being in General Fiction, a collection of Ray Bradbury short stories (many taken from <em>R is for Rocket </em> and <em>The Martian Chronicles</em>, etc.) showing up General Fiction, while a book about Tolkein's experiences during WWI being in Sci-Fi/Fantasy.</p><p></p><p>Personally, I am not sure I could give an actual definition of what makes a book Sci-Fi/Fantasy as opposed to General Fiction. Any more I tend to prefer to the term "Speculative Fiction", mainly because there is an even hazier dividing line between Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Ultimately, I just read what I enjoy (or try to) and don't worry overly about labels. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Wombat, post: 1920013, member: 8447"] The dividing line between what is fantasy/sci fi and what isn't is incredibly tenuous. Consider these examples from a local Borders Books store: [I]One Hundred Years of Solitude [/I] and [I]Dictionary of the Khazars [/I] are both in General Fiction. Now both of these books are highly fantastical in their style, yet they are considered "normal fiction". On the other hand there is Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian trilogy, starting with [I]The Winter King[/I], which is in Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Oddly, no magic actually takes place in these books, although many characters believe it does. Even more oddly all the rest of Cornwell's books are in General Fiction, including his new series which involves, amongst other things, looking for the Holy Grail. At the same time Rosalind Miles' Guenivere & Isolde series are over in General Fiction, even though they are slightly more "magical" than Cornwell's. And T.H. White's The Once & Future King, despite magic, spells, unicorns, and the rest, is again in General Fiction. (Yeah, I have an Arthurian hang-up -- I trace down those books in Children's Lit, Mythology & Folklore, History, Philosophy/Religion, Romance, as well as the General Fiction and Sci-Fi/Fantasy.) Other examples include [I]Dracula [/I] being found both in General Fiction and in Horror, [I]Frankenstein [/I] being in General Fiction, a collection of Ray Bradbury short stories (many taken from [I]R is for Rocket [/I] and [I]The Martian Chronicles[/I], etc.) showing up General Fiction, while a book about Tolkein's experiences during WWI being in Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Personally, I am not sure I could give an actual definition of what makes a book Sci-Fi/Fantasy as opposed to General Fiction. Any more I tend to prefer to the term "Speculative Fiction", mainly because there is an even hazier dividing line between Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Ultimately, I just read what I enjoy (or try to) and don't worry overly about labels. :) [/QUOTE]
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