Is there room for Science Fantasy?

[Gospodin]

Tropes come and go and the zeitgeist is nothing if not fickle, but is there room for Science Fantasy today? It's what I'm currently writing and I'll be writing it regardless, but am I stoking anachronism? I grew up reading these kinds of stories - Anne McCaffrey's Pern, MZB's Darkover, Julian May's Pliocene Exile, in that vein. Never any magic, but occasionally some Clarke's Third Law. Perhaps the question is too big or amorphous?

Thoughts?

 

[pmmg]

Well, the easy answer is of course. Even if there is not room, if the story breaks through, space will be created.

Those first two things, they are symbiotic, we are both shaped and have a role in shaping tropes and the zeitgeist. You present something that gets attention, and the zeitgeist will move to accommodate.

 

[JBCrowson]

Tropes come and go and the zeitgeist is nothing if not fickle, but is there room for Science Fantasy today? It's what I'm currently writing and I'll be writing it regardless, but am I stoking anachronism? I grew up reading these kinds of stories - Anne McCaffrey's Pern, MZB's Darkover, Julian May's Pliocene Exile, in that vein. Never any magic, but occasionally some Clarke's Third Law. Perhaps the question is too big or amorphous?

Thoughts?

In today's world of the web with sites catering to every hue and shade, there is room for whatever you're writing for certain. It might be a small room with only you and one or two others in it, but there's room. As an aside Pliocene Exile was the only time I didn't finish a fantasy book, so I might not see you in your room, sorry, but don't let my taste (or lack of) put you off writing what you want.

 

[Jason]

I read MZB's Stormqueen as a kid too, and I recently debuted with a science fantasy - perhaps more of a fantasy science.
So, good luck to you and let me know when you find that small room.

 

[AlexArcter]

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic right? That's the approach I'm attempting to take.

 

[Ned Marcus]

It's not super popular, but there is demand. Star Wars and Dune have been pretty successful. My first series is science fantasy—science and magic together on a distant planet. I like reading and writing it, though I've switched more to contemporary fantasy recently.

 

[Prince of Spires]

I was going to point at Star Wars as well. They're definitely Science Fantasy. As flawed as the most recent movies were, they still made over 1 billion in Box Office sales world wide. What more do you want in terms of popularity?

Why are you thinking there isn't room for Science Fantasy?

 

[Gospodin]

Why are you thinking there isn't room for Science Fantasy?

It's not that I think there isn't, but rather that my reading habits are more than a bit anachronistic so I'm in doubt either way, yes or no. Much like music, I have an era of writing that feels comfortable and homey to me, and it's an era where Lost Colony trope is rampant, and stories that initially walk and talk like pure Fantasy turn out to actually be Science Fiction. And while I certainly do consider both Star Wars and DUNE to be good examples of Science Fantasy from two very different schools of thought, both are overtly Science Fiction first, with Fantasy elements introgressing. Pern and Darkover are initially Fantasy and then the layers peel back to reveal machinery, not magic, running the show. My intent is more to the latter of the two directions.

 

[Queshire]

Man, I sure hope there's room for science fantasy or I would have wasted quite a bit of time. =0

Thaaaaaaat said, when it comes to science fantasy I very much prefer elves in space ships to either something like Star Wars or Pern.

 

[Devor]

Honestly I think there's a big hole in the market for science fantasy. Star Wars doesn't quite fill it, while Warhammer 40k goes way too overboard. The opening, in my opinion, is when you take a world of fantasy and magic, then advance it to the space age. That's Humans plus elves plus orcs - or whatever fantasy things you want - working together against aliens with just as much fantasy of their own.

I say that, but the fact that there is this gap is kind of a problem for the average writer. It means there isn't as much of a market for it. Star Wars is more space than fantasy, and there's tons of examples where you see that (even Star Trek has telepaths). But when it's more fantasy than space, there aren't as many people who even think about it. The expected pattern here is that a few people will write it and struggle, until someone makes it big and flings open the gates.

Then again, just putting the words science and fantasy together could mean a million things, and I've only talked about one niche of what that could mean. So you know, it depends.

 

[Gurkhal]

For myself I consider Warhammer 40 000 to be Science Fantasy and there's certainly a lot of room for that in the pop culture.

 

[Aldarion]

If story is well written, it rarely matters what genre it is. And yes, there definitely is room for science fantasy. In fact, most popular sci-fi franchises tend to be science fantasy: Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate and obviously Warhammer 40 000 are all really science fantasy, despite being generally lumped into science fiction.

 

[skip.knox]

As others have said, the answer to your question is yes. But I'll suggest something else.

There isn't actually room for any genre. There are only readers, not room. Yes, I know you meant readers, but I think a shift in terms can remind us of the right focus. The question is, are there readers for this type of fiction?

The answer is of course. To be plural, you only need two. So, now what is the *real* question?

Are you asking if there are enough readers to make viable a career in writing? Enough to break even in self-publishing? Enough to get N number of reviews? I think that those questions are answerable, at least roughly. In this as in so much else, the key lies not in finding the right answer but in asking the right question.