Sci-Fi versus Fantasy

[doc_bean]

Books, movies, tv shows,....

Which do you prefer ?

[HoreTore]

Gah!

The 16th-19th century owns all! Musketeers, cannons, dragoons, battleships, what more do you need?

[Don Corleone]

I go back and forth on this one. Sometimes I feel futuristic, somtimes swords and spells seem like just the ticket.

I think it's a function of how long it's been since my last exposure to a Boris Vallejo illustration.

[Andres]

When I look at my personal library, I see tons of fantasy books: Raymond E. Feist, Weis & Hickman, Robert Jordan, Robin Hobb, Katharine Kerr, J.R.R. Tolkien, ...

So it should be obvious.

But then, I see Frank Herberts' Dune Saga. Only 6 books.

Gah!

Yup, I am obliged to vote "Gah!", because there isn't a "Fantasy and Frank Herbert" option...

[Beirut]

Science Fiction.

Namely, Sir Arthur C. Clarke. I have about twenty-five of his books. Fantastic stuff. The Rendezvous with Rama series was stunning.

[Samurai Waki]

I'm with Don, its really either-or depending on what I'm craving.

[Gregoshi]

Namely, Sir Arthur C. Clarke. I have about twenty-five of his books. Fantastic stuff. The Rendezvous with Rama series was stunning.

Clarke is my favourite too. I counted 26 of his books on my shelf.

Regarding Asimov, I loved the Foundation Trilogy. I eventually read his robot books and enjoyed them. What really blew me away about Asimov though was when I realized how many of his books create a galactic timeline of sorts. From I, Robot to the Galactic Empire series to the Robots and Empire series through the Foundation series (15 books), they all tell the history of the same galaxy. That is way cool.

Having said that, I almost voted "Gah!" because I couldn't decide. But upon further review, I voted "fantasy" as that is what I read the most of in the past decade or so. I read mostly science fiction when I was younger, then switched over to mostly fantasy later.

[Kralizec]

When I look at my personal library, I see tons of fantasy books: Raymond E. Feist, Weis & Hickman, Robert Jordan, Robin Hobb, Katharine Kerr, J.R.R. Tolkien, ...

So it should be obvious.

But then, I see Frank Herberts' Dune Saga. Only 6 books.

Gah!

Yup, I am obliged to vote "Gah!", because there isn't a "Fantasy and Frank Herbert" option...

Go read Asimov's Foundation series v

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Fantasy. I never found science fiction interesting, to tell the truth.


Tolkien nerds of the world, UNITE!

[Geoffrey S]

Go read Asimov's Foundation series v

Foundation is really good, but I thought it rather trailed off towards the last few books, with that whole wacky Gaia thing.

Edit: oh, and I've seen a fair few mentions of Dune. May I suggest the Dosadi Experiment? That's a book I thoroughly enjoyed.

[The Wizard]

When I look at my personal library, I see tons of fantasy books: Raymond E. Feist, Weis & Hickman, Robert Jordan, Robin Hobb, Katharine Kerr, J.R.R. Tolkien, ...

So it should be obvious.

But then, I see Frank Herberts' Dune Saga. Only 6 books.

Gah!

Yup, I am obliged to vote "Gah!", because there isn't a "Fantasy and Frank Herbert" option...

I feel your pain. I glance at the bookshelves containing my latest purchases and I see George R. R. Martin, R. Scott Bakker, Steven Erikson, Stephen R. Donaldson, Robert E. Howard, Weis & Hickman, and even Tolkien and Jordan (I stopped after WoT's second book, however, and LotR took me three years to complete; I'm never going through that again)... but Dune is also very good.

I also hear that GRRM's old scifi books are as great as his A Song of Ice and Fire (kudos to Ser Clegane for getting me hooked on that baby), and I wouldn't mind checking out Starship Troopers, either.

GAH!

And then, of course, there's the awesome power of GAH! to consider. So... I voted GAH!

[Martok]

I had to vote for GAH! While sci-fi outnumbers fantasy in both my book and movie collections, I still have sufficient quantities of the latter that I can't really say I prefer one over the other. (This is particularly true given that the vast majority of my sci-fi media is Star Trek.) The simple fact is that I enjoy both sub-genres too much to pick just one.

Gah! How can I choose one?

I think of Asimov and lean towards sci-fi, then I remember Tolkien and lean towards fantasy.

Exactly! I'm huge fans of both authors -- in fact, I have an entire shelf devoted just to those two men. (The Robot, Empire & Foundation super-series rules!)

[macsen rufus]

Sorry, I just had to push GAH! up into the lead. I like both genres, as someone else said, so long as it's well written! There is genius and cack to be found in both camps.

And I can well endorse a lot of other people's favourites: Gaiman, Mieville, Orson Scott Card, Julian May, Tolkien...

(I quite agree with Masamune about Julian May - an excellent writer who straddles both categories -- the Pliocene Sagas are mostly based on Celtic mythology, btw. And Orson Scott Card I'd recommend to anyone -- he's a very human and humane writer, with great insight, and he's given me a lot of understanding and respect for Mormon history, too).

Both genres have the huge advantage that they make great grounds for experimentation with what-ifs and isolating philosophical questions from the constraints of reality. The sort of fantasy I like is that which has its roots in traditional mythologies, for it can often develop themes and shed some light on the traditions, and renew them for modern times. Mythology can contain a lot of truth that can be forgotten if it seems "outdated" by social and technological change. But the big issues of human identity, values, our place in the universe etc are pretty much timeless and the insights of preceding generations are no less worthwhile than our own, indeed can remind us of things we've overlooked or misplaced in our development. So power to fantasy writers for keeping that alive. In particular I like Charles de Lint and Terry Windling. Doc Bean mentions Hobb - is that Assassin's Apprentice series? Really enjoyed that one, too....

Sci-fi, however, helps us to examine what we are doing and where we are going. Arthur C Clarke is a classic example, envisioning geostationary satellites and a few other developments in literature before they occured in reality. (I also loved the Rama series ) Although I haven't revisitied Asimov for a couple of decades, I thought he got a lot of mileage out of the "Laws of Robotics". A E van Vogt was another who raised some interesting ideas (eg "The Weaponshops of Isher" should be read by anyone with an interest in the gun control debate). And Philip K Dick was a genius (if somewhat twisted at times )

And there's so much more to Allen Dean Foster than "Alien", as well... okay better stop there, before I rant on for the whole afternoon

[doc_bean]

Doc Bean mentions Hobb - is that Assassin's Apprentice series? Really enjoyed that one, too....

Yep, one of the few fanatasy writers I thought wrote something totally original. Also one of the best written fantasy series out there imo. I tend to find anything more than a trilogy overkill.

[Blodrast]

..lots of good stuff...

Very well said.

[Orb]

George. R. R. Martin.

The guy is a genius. The A Song of Ice and Fire series is by far the single best series I have read, and it continues to be good.

Otherwise,I find a lot of fantasy bland. Sci-fi I'm iffy on as I haven't read enough.

[Rilder]

Both.

[Sjakihata]

sci-fi for movies, fantasy for books (disregarding a few obvious exceptions)

[Mithrandir]

sci-fi for movies, fantasy for books (disregarding a few obvious exceptions)