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  1. Ion

    Ion New Member

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    Question About Scifi & Fantasy

    Discussion in 'Fantasy' started by Ion, Apr 3, 2011.

    Would a story with a focus on both science fiction/alternate history and fantasy elements be called fantasy or science fiction?

    I realize that urban fantasy as a genre blends a modern setting with fantasy, but would it still be called urban fantasy if the technology was different/more advanced compared to modern day? Personally I think it would be, but I'm not completely sure.
     
  2. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    Who cares what it's called? Write it, make it good, and leave it up to others to figure out what category it fits in, if any.

    If a story doesn't fit in a pre-existing category, it probably means it's pretty original. And that's good.
     
  3. funkybassmannick

    funkybassmannick New Member

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    I'd call it science-fiction/fantasy. The alternate history, to me (without knowing the exact context) seems to be an element of science fiction.
     
  4. Banzai

    Banzai One-time Mod, but on the road to recovery Contributor

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    Just call it speculative fiction and go with it. The boundaries of genre are remarkably porous.
     
  5. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Depends on the publisher you are trying to sell it to. Assuming it falls enough within that publisher's genre to be a candidate, label it according to how that publisher would label the story.

    If it's too close to call, call it sci-fi/fantasy. The publisher may recategorize it in any case.

    Genre crossovers can be harder to sell in any case.

    If you don't care about selling to a publisher, it doesn't matter one whit how you choose to categorize it.
     
  6. EdFromNY

    EdFromNY Hope to improve with age Supporter Contributor

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    I agree with Cogito. But in any event, I would not consider "alternative history" to be sci fi. Philip Roth's "The Plot Against America" was definitely alternative history, but it was definitely not science fiction.
     

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