I like both, but I've always leaned toward science fiction myself. I have an easier time finding deep and thought-provoking stories in the science fiction genre, and I tend to prefer its more emphasis on exploring what its possibilities mean and using them to examine ourselves.
both good
people who like scifi but not fantasy can't be trusted, they're in it for the wrong reasons
What reasons?
that was a very broad over generalisation and i didn't really mean it but -
both types of speculative fiction are best when they bring you to a better understanding of humanity, there are lots of hard sci-fi fans who won't read fantasy because the mechanism that makes the world of the story different to ours isn't rational or logical, they're more interested in the science part of things than the possibilities for fiction it opens up.
the mechanism shouldn't matter if it brings about something interesting. was thinking about it wrt jordan peele's us - had and seen a bunch of conversations where people were marking it down because the underground society doesn't make sense like 'how would they feed them? how did they get there?' sort of stuff. but why does the world of the story have to follow the logic of the real world? what are you afraid of?
Oh yeah definitely. Those types are often super critical of the "wrong" kind of sci-fi too.
"An endlessly moving post-apocalyptic train doesn't make sense!" Fuck you, trains are cool and Snowpiercer is a good movie
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yeah having a reason is good. being cool, or novel, or an interesting metaphor for something are all good reasons. like brainbeam says, uncritical support for the eternal capitalism hell engine film
I think this varies wildly on the type of scifi you're reading like le Guin and PKD often gave very little consideration to the particular scientific details. My favorite scifi novel is Shikasta by Doris Lessing, which admittedly blurs the lines between scifi and fantasy, but it doesn't bother explaining how the future tech works, because it's not important. The novel focuses instead on the impact and how the terraforming and bio-engineering is used, not the particular mechanisms.
defo. I love sci-fi and the best stuff isn't sciencey for science sake. but can't see a le guin fan being that type of sci-fi only dweeb - would miss out on her many beautiful fantasy novels for one.
shikasta sounds good I'll have to put it on the list. fucking love not knowing how things work. that's the best type of story - a world that feels fully realised but you have vey little idea what's going on.
I tend to love the first novel in a series and then get progressively less involved as the oblique and mysterious stuff gets clarified.
Shikasta is incredibly good because it feels like you're reading something intended for a completely different audience who would understand all the technical and religious stuff going on, but you're just a modern human so you have to piece together what's happening based on your own understanding. The novel is from the perspective of a highly advanced alien culture who have their own religion and values and etc, but none of that is explained explicitly. It's assumed you know all that already.
Like the aliens view obsessive individuality and greed as a kind of degenerative disease resulting from flawed biology. Being disconnected from a kind of universal harmony.
It's rad. Read it.
yeah that sounds exactly my shit. im all in
My beef with the "sci-fi only! No fantasy" people I've known and met IRL is they are often preoccupied with a power fantasy of sorts. The ones I knew didn't care about story or themes as much as "wow killer invincible weapon how many gigatons can it do" technical details. It put me off from trying some sci-fi series entirely.
Funny enough, I actually gravitate toward sci-fi for the opposite reason. Ordinary, working-class protagonists like Redrick Schuhart and Ellen Ripley always resonated more with me than any chosen hero with a special magic sword ever did.
Oh, I love those stories too. I mean the kind of stories that "fantasy sucks" absolutists that I met were into, that were more about how awesome the weapon technology was than anything character related.