Science Fiction vs. Fantasy

[TempvsMortis]

I do see your point though. The "perpetual war" part wasn't necessarily a shock, but the "inter-species" part was. So then, maybe like this:

Shocks: World-trees, Magic with science, Grendels (that's what he calls 'em)

Issues: Theocracy, International Relations, Constant War

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

That sounds plenty bitchin' to me.

As it says in the book, though, start with a single Shock. Add them from one story to the next when you have to. That way, you don't overburden yourself with too many initial ideas and they can grow out of each other.

[TempvsMortis]

No I know. I was just speculating on utilizing Shock: for fantasy and whatnot.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Oh, indeed. I was responding to another question of yours here by accident.

[surecool73]

Easier - Science fiction and fantasy stories are make-believe tales. Fantasy stories are unlikely tales that have strange or imagined characters, places, or events. Science fiction stories are about life in the future or life on other planets.

Harder - Literature in the genres of fantasy and science fiction are closely related. Fantasies are stories that involve beings and events that do not exist in real life. These works may start on a realistic bent but they soon evolve into tales that could never really happen. Science fiction literature focuses on real or imagined developments in science or technology. All science-fiction and fantasy writers face a common challenge. They try to present worlds that are radically and intriguingly different from today's world. The basic themes of science fiction include time travel, space travel, marvelous inventions or discoveries, life in other worlds, and the invasion of Earth by beings from other planets.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Sorry, man, I don't buy those distinctions.

Easier: War of the Worlds (whatever version) takes place contemporarily, as do Jurassic Park, Frankenstein, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Alternate histories like The Difference Engine often take place in the past. They all take place here on Earth, except War of the Worlds, where the events precipitate on Mars, though we never see any action there; Mars is more of a thinking force of nature than an actual place with a culture. What they all have in common is that they deliberately look at the relationship between technology and the societies of their authors. The relationships are different, but that's why we have more than one story.

Harder: "Basic themes" don't really matter to me. Arthur C. Clarke's uses none of the "basic themes" you list, nor does it posit a development in science and technology and yet is definitely in the realm of Science Fiction. What it does do is question the Enlightenment project by pointing out the very real scale of the Universe and just how little we actually know. Any given earlier episode of The Twilight Zone (and lots of the later ones, but not as many) is similar.

An interesting case is Clive Barker's Imajica (and indeed, a lot of his fiction), where he's addressing personal issues that are made societal by the mores of his society, particularly homosexuality. Where Cabal is a story of personal discovery among monsters and obviously Fantasy, Imajica is both personal and societal. It's an interesting liminal case that makes theoretical categorization uninteresting in the face of its genuine goodness.