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.

[Geoffrey S]

What's the difference? Personally, I've got favourites in both genres. One which crosses genres that I have to mention is Lord of Light by Zelazny. Stunning one to read again and again, noticing different layers each time.

[The_Doctor]

Sci-fi.

Don't get me started on fantasy...

Stupid elves, I hate them so much.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Gah! How can I choose one?

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

EDIT: Huh, exactly 6 votes for each option right now.

CR

[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!)

[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!

[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.

[Kanamori]

Close one. I went with Sci-fi.. though I really like the Wheel of Time, and have read some other fantasy books that I really liked too.

[Fragony]

Why not the ultimate, Starwars vs Lord of the Rings.

I say Starwars.

[CountArach]

Gah!

I prefer fantasy books, but I prefer Sci-Fi movies.

[Captain Fishpants]

There's no option here for "don't care which, as long as it's well written". That probably sums up my position rather well. For example "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" by Susanna Clarke is definitely fantasy, but it's a very good read. Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon and its sequels are definitely hardcore SF, but equally good books.

So can we have a fence-sitting voting option next time?

[sapi]

Although agreeing with Captain Fishpants does make me question my sanity , I'm going to have to do so in this case.

For me, the setting of a book isn't as important as how well written it is and how well it can hold my attention.

I've always liked fantasy books by authors such as Gemmell and a bunch of others whose names I can't remember offhand, but equally so with Sci-Fi books by a variety of authors and even ones set in the modern day.

[Marshal Murat]

I like Sci-fi.

Ben Bova, David Weber, Clarke.
Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, Star Trek.
They all create really good books, and give something to look forward to.
I'm not dissing Fantasy (Hobbit, Bible) but I favor SciFi.

[Beirut]

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

Oh fine, one-up me. Be like that.

My favorites of his were the Rama series, of course, Fountains of paradise, A Fall of Moondust, and Imperial Earth.

I tend to re-read good books. I've read most of his at least twice. I think I read Imperial Earth and Fountains of Paradise three or four times each.

A side note: My buddy in Costa Rica was reading the Rama series. When the last book came out years ago, he asked me to mail it to him. The book, hardcover, was over the standard weight limit and postage was about $25. I cut the book in half and mailed it to him in pieces. I think I saved about ten dollars. He didn't mind at all.

[Conqueror]

I like both, but if I had to choose I'd pick fantasy.

[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.

[doc_bean]

The reason I asked was because I traditionally kept away from sci-fi and have read quite a few fantasy books over the years (Hobb, Martin, Feist, ... don't care for Jordan much, but read three of the wheel of time books nonetheless, lots of pratchett, but he's more about comedy than fantasy ). But lately I feel like I've grown bored with them, I can only name a few books that i'd recommend to non-fantasy readers anyway (Feist Magician being one), most are formulaic and predictable. A lot of them are just badly written (imo) .

So I thought I'd give Sci-Fi another chance and picked up Dune, which is rather amazing.

My opinion at the moment is that good sci-fi is still leagues above good fantasy, in terms of character development and depth. Fantasy only really has LOTR as a true classic, and even that has it's obvious flaws (imo, it's still good of course). Sci-Fi has Dune, 1984, Brave New World, some of Asimov's and Arthur C Clarks works etc.
However, I think 'subtop' fantasy, the pulp which you read anyway because you like the genre, is probably better than pulp sci-fi, which can still be incredibly boring if the author decides to explain every damn tachyon-neutrino warp core...

[Mithrandir]

Tolkien, nuff said,

[Gregoshi]

doc, if you haven't already, give Orson Scott Card's Enders Game a read. Many people I've known have told me that it is the best or one of the best science fiction books they have ever read - and I agree with them.

Science fiction has had a couple of decades head start on fantasy. In the beginning it was viewed as juvenile before becoming "accepted". Fantasy will get there I'm sure. Books like Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series, Eddings' Belgariad and sequels and especially Rowlings Harry Potter in recent years have elevated the fantasy genre. Regardless of what one may think of Harry Potter, it has inspired millions of young readers. Maybe some of them will pick up the pen and elevate the fantasy genre.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I generally find science fiction far more satisfying than fantasy. While there is some good fantasy if you're willing to look for it, a lot of it is the standard dwarves and elves dross. SF just seems more conducive to thought provoking plots.

[Taedius]

I voted Fantacy, due to its applicability. But that raises the question; how do you define the two?

By most definitions, setting Star Wars against The Lord of the Rings doesn't work, since Star Wars is fantacy: An epic story about the struggle between good and evil. Sci-fi, on the other hand, tries to tell us something about ourselves and the time we live in. Analogy, if you will.

*Edit: I should have voted Gah! I haven't read much of any of them, really.

[Artificer]

I voted Gah!

It's just too difficult to pick one over the other. I've enjoyed too many good books in both genres to be able to absolutely say which trumps all.

However, that being said there does seem to be a surge recently of books that contain a fusion of both fantasy and science fiction. Two authors that can pull this off extremely well in my opinion are Neil Gaiman and China Meiville.

While Gaiman hasn't written a full length book that contains both genres, many of his short stories blend elements of sci-fi and fantasy wonderfully. Meiville is good. Really good. That man can describe snow in more ways than an eskimo. While the political messages in his books may leave something to be desired, I recommend all of his works to anyone who can appreciate deep novels where not everything is black and white.

[Mikeus Caesar]

Sci-fi, innit. Can't stand all that unrealistic fantasy tosh. Although i do enjoy Oblivion.

Conqueror - nice sig.

[Conradus]

I voted science-fiction, but it's a close one. To be honest, it's quite some time now, since I last read some sf, last months, it was mostly fantasy.
But when I read fantasy, it's mostly relaxing, no brains needed literature. I've read most of Feist's work, the entire WoT series (which I love!), Tolkien (of course), one of William's trilogies, Goodkind, Weiss and Hickman, ... And though most of them are great entertaining books, WoT is the only series of books I'm going to read again. The others were mostly entertainment.
And when reading sf, I always have the feeling I have to do a little more effort to understand everything, to see some of the 'pseudophilosophical' hidden meanings and such, or only stand in awe at the scope of what the authors could imagine.

My favorite sf is the Dune series, by F. Herbert. Especially Dune Messiah and God-Emperor of Dune are books I keep rereading. The human part in these books attracts me alot. (Too bad Brian Herbert messes his father's legacy up.) The other books of F. Herbert are worth reading too, in particular the Pandora Chronicles and 'The White Plague'.
I've read Asimov's Foundation-books and some of his robottales and other short stories, but I can't name him one of my favorite authors because he lacks development in his characters. Most of the time, they don't matter. The recent extension of Asimov's Robotseries by a new author (forgot the name) resulting in books as Caliban and Inferno was rather well though.
Another mustread sf is R. Heinlein. His books are among the few who made me laugh out. Especially 666, the number of the beast, Friday and Job are fantastic novels.
Orwell's 1984 which I read recently was quite a discovery. Truly an epic book!
And one short story I keep rereading is 'The Trap' by Howard Fast, really makes you contemplate things.
Unfortunately I have never read any books of Clarke, or some books of Herbert such as the Dosadi experiment,..., my library's so small