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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 6129322" data-attributes="member: 177">Ah, be careful there.&nbsp; Take, for example, Greg Bear - well known, solid writer of some excellent SF.&nbsp; But, he did a fantasy duology - &quot;Songs of Earth and Power&quot;, in which a human falls into the fae realms.&nbsp; Clearly fantasy.&nbsp; But, it has a theme of 'what it means to be human&quot;.&nbsp; Any work that does a good examination of the contrast between humans and things that may or may not be human, will have that theme.&nbsp; Maybe that non-humans are aliens, maybe they are Greek Gods, fae, werewolves, vampires, or what have you.&nbsp; Heck, you can say that Gaiman's Neverwhere has that same theme, by way of comparing people in London Above with London Below, and they're all (well, almost all) human.Meanwhile, there's a strong argument that Doctor Who is really fantasy - replace &quot;Time lords&quot; with &quot;Sidhe lords&quot; and you might have a very similar story.&nbsp; Near human, nigh immortal, is better than a human at just about everything, but is nigh begging for contact/input from humans.&nbsp; His companions are essentially variations on Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer.&nbsp; Instead of sweeping people up in a wild hunt, he does so in a big blue box, into a world where time as they knew it has little meaning, and passes strangely...So, no, I don't think the &quot;what is it to be human&quot; theme is at all the differentiator.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 6129322, member: 177"] Ah, be careful there. Take, for example, Greg Bear - well known, solid writer of some excellent SF. But, he did a fantasy duology - "Songs of Earth and Power", in which a human falls into the fae realms. Clearly fantasy. But, it has a theme of 'what it means to be human". Any work that does a good examination of the contrast between humans and things that may or may not be human, will have that theme. Maybe that non-humans are aliens, maybe they are Greek Gods, fae, werewolves, vampires, or what have you. Heck, you can say that Gaiman's Neverwhere has that same theme, by way of comparing people in London Above with London Below, and they're all (well, almost all) human. Meanwhile, there's a strong argument that Doctor Who is really fantasy - replace "Time lords" with "Sidhe lords" and you might have a very similar story. Near human, nigh immortal, is better than a human at just about everything, but is nigh begging for contact/input from humans. His companions are essentially variations on Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer. Instead of sweeping people up in a wild hunt, he does so in a big blue box, into a world where time as they knew it has little meaning, and passes strangely... So, no, I don't think the "what is it to be human" theme is at all the differentiator. [/QUOTE]

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