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TSiaSoS: Why Sci-fi?

why sci-fi

So why did Christopher chose to write a science fiction novel next? Why not another daring fantasy novel? The author sits down to explain just why To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is set in space. why sci-fi

Growing up, Christopher fell in love with science fiction as much as he did fantasy. To him, fantasy is the fiction of nostalgia and mythology, and science fiction is the fiction of the future—of optimism. And that’s what he wanted to capture with To Sleep in a Sea of Stars.

But even with a...

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Published on January 29, 2020 11:44
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message 1: by Zachary (new)
Jan 30, 2020 08:14AM

Zachary Coffin It is also arguable that while Sci-Fi and Fantasy are agreed to be separate genres today, that was not always so clear cut. Many authors found that Fantasy was not "mainstream," and Sci-Fi was nearly taboo. You can see this in the likes of Anne McCaffrey, who often had to hide her Sci-Fi novels in Fantasy settings.

And while you may say that is the past and we are writing in the current age of accepted Sci-Fi and Fantasy, especially as mainstream markets, but consider, what did we grow up reading? Many of us are of the era were the books available to us as children were only these older Fantasy/Sci-Fi novels that never got much attention.

So I say it is entirely natural for any Fantasy author also to be well versed in Sci-Fi or, at the very least capable of that genre.


message 2: by Julia (new)
Feb 02, 2020 10:04AM

Julia I think it is also fair to say that Sci-Fi now overlaps easily with dystopia. For instance, much of Ray Bradbury's work was considered Sci-Fi in its day, but nowadays we consider works such as Fahrenheit 451 to be dystopian.

As a huge fantasy fan myself, I read very little Sci-Fi, apart from Bradbury. But nowadays, many elements of Sci-Fi sneak their way into fantasy novels. Time-travel was very Sci-Fi, but then Harry Potter adopted it. In a series by Mari Mancusi, two major themes are dragons and time travel, which are themes of fantasy and Sci-Fi, respectively.

I agree that fantasy authors are capable of Sci-Fi, just because in today's literature, the genres are similar.


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