Emma Bilz
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Hello! New reader here, really enjoy your books. Since you have written books of both the fantasy and sci-fi genres I was wondering if it was possible to combine the two? Would you have to minimise the magical element to it or just make magic follow a certain set of rules such as other forces do?
Lois McMaster Bujold
Other writers certainly have combined the genres; perhaps the commenters could chime in below with favorite examples.
I happen to think that genres are a continuum, rather than discrete boxes. (Actually, I think the world of books is an amorphous mass over which we drop assorted organizing and varyingly arbitrary mental grids. Also the world of people, but that's another discussion.) Speaking only for myself as a writer, I would classify anything as "fantasy" in the genre sense if the supernatural, in the book-world, is something real. This does not capture the dozens of subgenres that have other kinds of elements of unreality, from FTL travel to alternate history to, for that matter, fictional characters. But that's a much broader and less useful definition of "fantasy".
And then there's the numinous, of which the SFnal version is probably "sense of wonder". Which is not about rules, but about evoking an emotion of awe in the reader. Which is another slice through it altogether.
Ta, L.
Other writers certainly have combined the genres; perhaps the commenters could chime in below with favorite examples.
I happen to think that genres are a continuum, rather than discrete boxes. (Actually, I think the world of books is an amorphous mass over which we drop assorted organizing and varyingly arbitrary mental grids. Also the world of people, but that's another discussion.) Speaking only for myself as a writer, I would classify anything as "fantasy" in the genre sense if the supernatural, in the book-world, is something real. This does not capture the dozens of subgenres that have other kinds of elements of unreality, from FTL travel to alternate history to, for that matter, fictional characters. But that's a much broader and less useful definition of "fantasy".
And then there's the numinous, of which the SFnal version is probably "sense of wonder". Which is not about rules, but about evoking an emotion of awe in the reader. Which is another slice through it altogether.
Ta, L.
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TrixM
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I just found my account was hacked, so that might explain some of the garbage appearing randomly under reviews (assuming my account is not the only one to be hacked). Some of the other "questions" are patently there to get people to click on their profile names even if no links are embedded. Goodreads' security options are lacking - e.g. we don't have to approve "friends". And authors have no ability to approve Qs?
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