The Boundaries of SF and The Yiddish Policeman's Union

[Amy]

I'm in the middle of listening to Luke's non-review of The Yiddish Policeman's Union and I'm very sympathetic with Luke's confusion. I may still read the book; unlike Luke I like murder mysteries. Like Luke, I've had several recent incidents of reading a story labelled "science fiction" and trying to figure out why it's considered science fiction. Most of these case have involved short stories so no great loss of time but I still find it disconcerting. When the story's bad or not my cup of tea I feel cheated but even when it's good I feel vaguely deceived.

That said, I don't think I have a narrow definition of science fiction. YPU sounds like alternative history/murder mystery. Alternative history is generally not my cup of tea but I leave it to the author or publisher whether they want to advertise it as science fiction. And I like murder mysteries. I'm not interested in policing genre borders but that said at what point does the science fiction content become so slight that you're engaging in false advertising?