Fantasy vs. Science Fiction, part II

Fantasy and science fiction went their separate ways in the middle of the 20th century, but it wasn't until the fantasy boom of the late 70s and 80s that the two genres finalized their divorce. And fantasy, which up until that point was still a very wide-ranging, diverse genre, became fixated on Tolkien pastiche and, later on, subversion and deconstruction of all the tropes of the 'epic fantasy' story. Conan, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Lovecraft, and Burroughs were tossed to the side in favor of sweeping epics and door-stopper book series. The genre of fantasy ossified until the accepted wisdom was that Tolkien had invented fantasy; his predecessors were ignored or altogether forgotten.

Meanwhile, science fiction had gained widespread boosting by two particular franchises: Star Trek in the 60s, and Star Wars in the 70s. Like fantasy, science fiction largely fell into the category of 'epic space stuff', although it never became as ghettoized as fantasy did; other types of science fiction still held sway, such as near-future cyberpunk, alternate history, and post-apocalyptic (especially those damn zombies). But for the average person on the street, sci-fi meant warp drive and lightsabers.

And while the two genres had once been linked with a common fandom of 'weird adventure stories', now there was actual disdain and even rivalry between the two; fantasy was its own separate thing, and you couldn't mix the two. This, despite Star Wars being an obvious mixing of the two genres; the Jedi were basically wizards, after all, complete with a dark overlord (first Vader, then the Emperor). But too many people of my generation saw the two genres as bein utterly and inevitably distinct from each other.

Frankly, it's time that stopped. Science fiction needs to be fantastic to be entertaining, and fantasy needs at least a grounding in a believable setting to be relatable. And there is plenty of middle ground to be covered where the two can mix. Fortunately, that re-merging of the genres has already begun; there are countless writers in Indie publishing who are mixing the two again, with space crews meeting alien wizards, and wizards and paladins running into high technology in their travels. And that is a good thing.

Fantastic adventure fiction is, and should be, about the stories, not the settings. The settings can be really cool, and lots of fun, but the most important thing is the story has to be entertaining. If the story is boring, the setting really doesn't matter, because people won't want to read it.

For an example of how science fiction and fantasy can be merged, you can take a look at Awakening, the first book of the Gilded Age series, in which magic and science combine to create a brave new world where people can suddenly do things beyond mortal capabilities. It's available at an Amazon location near you.