Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 4355315" data-attributes="member: 22779">I think you are drastically underestimating the pervasiveness of fantasy in mainstream.&nbsp; The idea that someone would not be able, within about 30 seconds, to figure out what a dragonborn, tiefling or eladrin are is pretty far fetched IMO.&nbsp; Gnome?&nbsp; Sure, people know what a gnome is.&nbsp; But, that's not necessarily a good thing. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue&nbsp; &nbsp; :p"&nbsp; data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />It's funny.&nbsp; You have no problems with humans living side by side with beings that are effectively immortal (elves), but, having scales tips the balance?Are you kidding?&nbsp; The whole spice thing?&nbsp; The fact that it's the effect of being able to determine the future is the whole point of the series?&nbsp; Dune is quintessential SF and completely falls under my definition.Curiosity, yep.&nbsp; Faith?&nbsp; Not so much.&nbsp; Read the book.&nbsp; Contact revolves around the idea that there is a super race somewhere out there that is contacting us.&nbsp; The fact that it's a scientist protagonist makes all the difference in the world.&nbsp; In a fantasy story, the protagonist would be a child - making it a much more Alice in Wonderland sort of story.I highly recommend reading some Gardner Dozois if you are truly interested in the subject.&nbsp; There are loads of critical books and essays that will much better explain this than I ever can.You are looking for the term speculative fiction when you wrap fantasy with SF.&nbsp; That covers both genres.&nbsp; And, yup, there's overlap.&nbsp; Of course there is.&nbsp; Genre is an art, not a science.&nbsp; But, the division most certainly is not simply setting.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 4355315, member: 22779"] I think you are drastically underestimating the pervasiveness of fantasy in mainstream. The idea that someone would not be able, within about 30 seconds, to figure out what a dragonborn, tiefling or eladrin are is pretty far fetched IMO. Gnome? Sure, people know what a gnome is. But, that's not necessarily a good thing. :p It's funny. You have no problems with humans living side by side with beings that are effectively immortal (elves), but, having scales tips the balance? Are you kidding? The whole spice thing? The fact that it's the effect of being able to determine the future is the whole point of the series? Dune is quintessential SF and completely falls under my definition. Curiosity, yep. Faith? Not so much. Read the book. Contact revolves around the idea that there is a super race somewhere out there that is contacting us. The fact that it's a scientist protagonist makes all the difference in the world. In a fantasy story, the protagonist would be a child - making it a much more Alice in Wonderland sort of story. I highly recommend reading some Gardner Dozois if you are truly interested in the subject. There are loads of critical books and essays that will much better explain this than I ever can. You are looking for the term speculative fiction when you wrap fantasy with SF. That covers both genres. And, yup, there's overlap. Of course there is. Genre is an art, not a science. But, the division most certainly is not simply setting. [/QUOTE]

Verification