Poll

In my opinion, science fiction and fantasy are basically the same genre. Sci/fi just has more explanation behind the fantastical stuff. I feel like because they're so similar, you can't really combine them.

Fantasy author, here. While beneath the same broad category of speculative fiction (along with steampunk, cyberpunk, etc.), science fiction and fantasy aren't the same in the least. I do think you could combine them in way, though, much like a time slip.

Okay, it might not be a real genre but I think it SHOULD be. I’ve read and had ideas for several books that are both science fiction and fantasy. There’s no other way to describe them 😂

If we're going with the technical definition, sci-fi is definitely fantasy (just a subgenre of it). However, I generally say I like fantasy but don't really like sci-fi, and I think that's also valid. :)

I feel like sci-fi can INCLUDE fantasy, but they're just two different genres. I guess it could be a sub-genre? Idk XD

I guess you could just say it's a sub-genre speculative fiction...but I would say yes. (Although, I always called it science fantasy.) :D

I'd say, like Lily said, that sci-fi is fantasy (I believe that fantasy just means "the fantastical"... that which isn't real.) so they bleed over a lot.
Sorry to be unhelpful!
I get confused by labeling quite a bit. I read what I like or what piques my interest. XD

I guess with labeling fantasy and sci-fi I always think of fantasy being in a completely different world and sci-fi still having to do with reality. I don’t know if this is technically accurate but it’s how I categorize them in my head. lol
For example I’d consider Star Wars fantasy and Star Trek as sci-fi.

Fantasy author here as well. Although sci-fi and fantasy sometimes both fall under the broad category of speculative fiction, they are separate genres, at least in my mind. :)

I always thought that other readers would consider it as a subgenre (but from a skim look at the comments that’s not generally the case). For me, I think science fiction fantasy could be its own genre, but also it's hard to say that because often a lot of books that are science fiction have fantasy elements and fantasy books have science fiction elements. It's even more common seeing that with dystopian books, especially those in YA. The Lunar Chronicles is a perfect example of that. So I would say yes in general, though keep in mind that some science fiction fantasy are more soft than others in using either science fiction or fantasy elements. And it could confuse your audiences in saying it's a genre when the name really makes it appear as a subgenre, since it's combining two genres together. In my mind, it can be its own thing, but it also depends on how the worldbuilding is written on the page. Are you getting
more of a science fiction vibe or a fantasy one, or are the two so intertwined you can't decide? Hope that helps! :)

In the professional writing world, sci-fi and fantasy are two separate genres with two separate audiences and markets. They are different and have different writing styles, plot and world focuses, and genre/reader expectations. Though, as others have said, they do both fall under the same broader category of spec fic.

I’m confused how you can have sci-fi fantasy in the first place since fantasy means something made up, but sci-fi is also totally made up, so…??? Unless like by that you mean sci-fi about a made-up place, although I feel like that’s already part of sci-fi…?