As an author, you often hear that you should pick a genre and stick with it. Does anyone else find this as impossible as I do? I love speculative fiction. ALL speculative fiction. And, going back to Thursday’s post, it’s
Where’s the Line Between Science Fiction and Fantasy?
Answer: is there one? Kit, you say, of course. One has aliens and the other has elves. Both of which are made-up creatures that have no basis in reality. So where’s the difference again? Kit, you say, one has space
Travel Between Worlds – Scifi or Fantasy?
Just to be clear, we’re not talking about getting on a spaceship and jetting about the galaxy. It’s pretty clear which that one is. (Unless the spaceship runs on unicorns and rainbows, I suppose. …and now I want to write
The Trend of Using Authors As Characters
I was tempted to have this post’s title rival Tuesday’s, but then I got lazy. Recently, I’ve noticed a trend of using real people – authors particularly – as characters in novels. I guess it was only a matter of
Why is Speculative Fiction More Acceptable for TV Than Books?
Aside from being an obnoxiously long title for a blog post, have you noticed this? You’re talking to someone about the latest big science fiction movie. They’re excited for it. So you’re like, oh, hey, a kindred soul, and ask
In Defense of Fantasy: Multiple Sentient Species
Let’s look at Earth. We have exactly one sentient species: us. Humans. (Although, it can be argued that other advanced species – elephants, gorillas, dolphins, whales – are sentient, depending on what particular factors one’s looking at. But, for the
In Defense of Fantasy: Magic vs. Technology
To go in a slightly different direction, this week we’ll be looking at aspects of fantasy that tend to get flak from readers. Unlike science fiction, of course, fantasy doesn’t need to conform to modern-day scientific knowledge, but that can
In Defense of Science Fiction: Utopias as Dystopias
This is more something that’s fallen out of favor as opposed to something that people argue scientifically against. A utopia, by definition, is a perfect society – everyone is happy, cared for, and no one wants for anything. Dystopias are
In Defense of Science Fiction: Aliens
Sure, aliens may not be as endangered in science fiction as time or interstellar travel, but they have their detractors as well. The possibility of there being other intelligent life in the galaxy is typically defined by Drake’s Equation, but