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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WayneLigon" data-source="post: 4355354" data-attributes="member: 3649">They would indeed. There's not nearly as much hard science fiction on the market, but rather science fantasy and space opera. Each of these have a fairly good definition as well. Hard science fiction - a particular emphasis on scientific detail and/or accuracy Soft science fiction - focus on human characters and their relations and feelings, while de-emphasizing the details of technological hardware and physical laws Social science fiction - concerned less with technology and space opera and more with sociological speculation about human society It's very hard to find 'hard' sf but very easy to find the other types. Herbert uses SF more as a parable in his work, so it's also important to be able to distinquish between what is a set dressing and what is actually SF. Star wars tells a tale with SF as it's set dressing and not as a central theme, so it's soft SF at best. Star Trek goes along the entire gamut from hard to non-existant science. However it's simply easier to say 'science fiction'. Don't confuse general shortcuts in coloquial language as being some sort of license to leave the barn door wide open. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy</a>Fantasy uses magic and the supernatural rather than technology in it's themes. Bookstores shelve things according to publisher desires, not according to any standard that has been set so don't go by what they do. (Also don't forget that most people who work there are just there to keep you from stealing, or to run the equipment; they have no interest or desire to correctly shelve books). Publishers set things into genres according to how they think they will sell. Burroughs gets shelves in 'literature' not 'SF' because it's old. Margaret Atwood gets shelved in 'General Fiction' even through she's written science fiction (even she seems confused about what she writes; it generally depends on who she's giving an interview to, ie, who she wants to suck up to to get sales). King gets put in general fiction because he sells well enough there and most stores don't have a 'horror' section.</blockquote>

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