Are Science Fiction and Fantasy the Same Genre?

[@saschafeld5528]

Stay together . There are a lot of books like Warhammer 40K or Shadowrun where you find elements of both genres. You can never absolutly separat them.

[@rahulbinov1987]

Ngl I randomly came across this video and didn’t even look at the subscriber count or views, but I instantly assumed this was a quality account based on how good the audio quality, writing, and your individual personality and voice are. You have the makings of a great lore account 🙏🏽

[@soundandfury2680]

Thanks for watching

[@wolf3794]

Anne McCaffery's Pern novels are Sci-Fi. Set in the future with advanced technology took humans to a new world where society broke down after they'd genetically engineered Dragon's to save them from a threat. But they also read like Fantasy, because there's dragons and almost medievel level technology, until they uncover the super-advanced computer from their forefathers that helps them overcome the threat forever...

[@soundandfury2680]

Thanks for mentioning those books. I've been aware of them for a while and have been meaning to give them a read! Thanks for watching.

[@StrawhatOtakuDrew]

I have always believed that the two genres are more different than they are the same, and I feel they should be classified separately. In my adulthood, I have a deep love of both fantasy and science fiction, but even so I still would prefer them separated just for the sake of convenience. When I'm in the mood for some good old fashioned sword and sorcery adventures, I don't want to have to sift through a bunch of space travel and techno babble. Conversely, when I'm craving high tech alien action, I don't want to sort through a bunch of noble swordsmen and overpowered wizards to find something that will scratch that itch. Yes, the two have some commonalities, but that doesn't mean that the fandom will always overlap, and shouldn't the top priority of sellers and providers be the convenience of their customers? Also, regarding the label of "speculative fiction," I have indeed heard that before, but never applied to either science fiction OR fantasy. I have always heard that classification applied to a very specific branch of fiction that is more of a "what if." "Ehat if the United States never won independence from Britain?" "What if Germany won World War II?" "What if the Confederacy won the Civil War?" "What if JFK wasn't assassinated?" Things like that where the world would be at a similar stage of development to our own, but circumstances could be vastly different because of some key divergence in history that makes the author and audience "speculate" what the world would be like under those conditions.

[@soundandfury2680]

Alternative historical fiction is an interesting topic. I hadn't considered that genre. You make some good points. Thanks for watching.

[@norbertlauret8119]

And what about science fantasy ? ;) (Marion Zimmer Bradley and Anne Mac Caffrey come to mind...)

[@psikeyhackr6914]

Separated out and the term Speculative Fiction is worthless. We need a new term say, H-Spec. Speculative Fiction as Robert Heinlein originally meant the term. Not all science fiction qualifies as H-Spec. David Brin's *The Practice Effect* and Ursula K LeGuin's *Lathe of Heaven* might slide by as science fiction for some people but it doesn't qualify as H-Spec.

[@Carewolf]

Speculative is just another way of saying fictional. So fictional fiction. It is pointless, all fiction is speculative fiction.

[@soundandfury2680]

Speculative fiction is a type of fiction that takes place in a world that doesn't actually exist whereas other kinds of fiction are set in the real world.

[@Carewolf]

@@soundandfury2680 Yes, I know what it means. Just not necessarily a huge fan of the term, as it can come of rather tautological