Science fantasy: Difference between revisions
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{{for|the magazine|Science Fantasy (magazine)}} |
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| unreferenced = March 2007 |
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| original research = September 2007 |
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| tooshort = July 2008 |
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{{Fantasy}} |
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'''Science fantasy''' is a mixed [[genre]] of story which contains some [[science fiction]] and some [[fantasy]] elements. |
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==Science fantasy vs. science fiction== |
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A definition, offered by [[Rod Serling]], is that "science fiction makes the implausible possible, while science fantasy makes the impossible plausible." The meaning is that science fiction describes unlikely things that ''could possibly'' take place in the real world under certain conditions, while science fantasy gives a veneer of realism to things that simply could not happen in the real world under any circumstances. Another interpretation is that science fiction does not permit the existence of [[supernatural]] elements; science fantasy does. Even the usage of this definition is difficult, however, as some science fiction makes use of apparently supernatural elements such as [[telepathy]]. |
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For many users of the term, however, "science fantasy" is either a science fiction story that has drifted far enough from reality to "feel" like a fantasy, or a fantasy story that is attempting to be science fiction. While these are in theory classifiable as different approaches, and thus different genres (fantastic science fiction vs. scientific fantasy), the end products are sometimes indistinguishable. |
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[[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s dictum that "[[Clarke's Law|any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic]]" indicates why this is so: a writer can write a fantasy using magic of various sorts, and yet turn the story into science fiction by positing some highly advanced technology, or as-yet-unknown but ultimately thoroughly provable science, as an explanation for how the magic can occur. Another writer can describe a future world where technologies are so advanced to be invisible, and the effects produced would be classified as magical if they were only described as such. A world might include magic which only some people (or only the reader) know to be in fact technological effects. |
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There is therefore nothing ''intrinsic'' about the effects described in a given story that will tell you whether it is science fiction or fantasy. The classification of an effect as "fantastic" or "science fictional" is a matter of convention. Hyperspace, time machines and scientists are conventions of science fiction; flying carpets, magical amulets and wizards are [[Trope (literature)|tropes]] of fantasy. This is an accident of the historical development of the genre. In some cases they have overlapped: teleportation by matter-transmitter-beam is science fiction, teleportation by incantation is fantasy. A hand-held cloaking device that confers invisibility is science fiction; a hand-held Ring of Power that confers invisibility is fantasy. Mind-to-mind communication can be "psionics", or it can be an ancient elvish art. What matters is not the effect itself (generally scientifically impossible, though not always believed to be so by the authors) but the wider universe it is intended to evoke. If it is one of space travel and proton-pistols, it gets classified as "science fiction", and the appropriate terms (cloaking device, matter-transmitter) are used; if it is one of castles, sailing ships and swords, it gets classified as "fantasy", and we instead speak of magic rings and travel by enchantment. In short, science fiction uses technology to explain impossible phenomena while fantasy employs magic. For the most part, SF will attempt to explain its effects using known physical laws or reasonable extensions of them. Science Fantasy will generally ignore physical laws (i.e., magic) or invent its own structure of laws which have no necessary connection to known laws. SF is also more likely to take the time to delineate the laws or extensions involved, while Science Fantasy will provide a more meager structure of its invented rules. |
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Drawing the line between science fiction and fantasy is not made any clearer by the fact that both of them can use invented worlds, non-human intelligent creatures (sometimes, in sf as well as fantasy, based on myth: consider [[C. L. Moore]]'s ''[[Northwest Smith|Shambleau]]'' and ''Yvala''), and amazing monsters. It is, to a large extent, authorial fiat that tells us that [[C. S. Lewis]]' ''[[Narnia]]'' books are set in a fantasy world rather than on another planet. |
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Even archaism, one of the strongest conventional marks of fantasy, is not an infallible distinguishing characteristic: an archaic world of edged weapons and battlemented fortresses could simply be another planet that has entered a stage of barbarism, or has never emerged from it. Some of [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]]'s [[Darkover]] books represent just such a world, complete with technology-indistinguishable-from-magic. (It is this, as much as the "dragons", that leads some readers to perceive McCaffrey's Pern series as fantasy, in spite of the science-fictional setting established in the first paragraphs of the first book.) |
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==Historical view== |
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The label first came into wide use after many science fantasy stories were published in the [[pulp magazine]]s, such as [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''Magic, Inc.'' and [[L. Ron Hubbard]]'s ''Slaves of Sleep''. [[Fletcher Pratt]] and [[L. Sprague de Camp]] produced the [[Harold Shea (fictional series)|Harold Shea]] series. All were relatively [[rationalism|rationalistic]] stories published in [[John W. Campbell, Jr.]]'s ''[[Unknown (magazine)|Unknown]] Magazine''. These were a deliberate attempt to apply the techniques and attitudes of Science Fiction to traditional fantasy and legendary subjects. ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction]]'' published, among other things, all but the last of the ''[[Operation Chaos (novel)|Operation]]'' series, by [[Poul Anderson]]. |
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[[Henry Kuttner]] and [[C. L. Moore]] published novels in ''[[Startling Stories]]'', alone and together, which were far more [[romanticism|romantic]]. These were closely related to the work that they and others were doing for outlets like ''[[Weird Tales]]'', such as Moore's [[Northwest Smith]] stories cited above. |
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Early science fiction book publisher [[Gnome Press]] published [[Robert E. Howard]]'s ''Conan the Conqueror'' in hardback in 1950 with the book clearly labeled "science fantasy" on the dustjacket. |
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[[Ace Books]] published a number of books as science fantasy during the 1950s and '60s. Many of them, such as [[Leigh Brackett]]'s Mars stories, are still regarded as such. ''Conan the Conqueror'' was published as an [[Ace Double]] with Brackett's ''Sword of Rhiannon''. Others, such as [[Andre Norton]]'s [[Witch World]] books, are now considered outright fantasy. [[Mercedes Lackey]] has discussed this period in her recent introduction to an omnibus edition of the first three Witch World books. In the U.S. at that time, these were almost the only stories which used that label. |
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==Subgenres of science fantasy== |
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===Dying Earth=== |
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{{Main|Dying Earth subgenre}} |
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[[Jack Vance]]'s [[Dying Earth]] stories are sometimes classed as science fantasy because the cosmology used is not compatible with that conventionally accepted by science fiction. Other stories in the [[Dying Earth subgenre]] such as [[M. John Harrison]]'s [[Viriconium]] novels or [[Gene Wolfe]]'s ''[[The Book of the New Sun|Book of the New Sun]]'' are usually classed as science fantasy. |
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===Planetary romance=== |
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{{Main|Planetary romance}} |
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The planetary romance, a story set primarily or wholly on a single planet and illustrating its scenery, native peoples (if any) and cultures, offers considerable scope for science fantasy, in the sense of fantasy rationalized by reference to science-fictional conventions. |
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[[David Lindsay (novelist)|David Lindsay]]'s ''A Voyage to Arcturus'', published in 1920 is one of the earliest examples of the type, although it differs from most of them in not assuming a science-fictional background of interplanetary or interstellar travel; it is rather a philosophical romance, which uses an alien planet as a background for exploring philosophical themes. [[C. S. Lewis]]' ''[[Out of the Silent Planet]]'' (1938) is an example of the same type of story, though in its case the preoccupations are theological. In both cases the magical elements are barely rationalized, and in Lewis' case stand in stark contrast to the pseudo-scientific machinery that frames the story. |
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C. L. Moore's [[Northwest Smith]] stories fall squarely into the fantasy/horror camp, but utilize a [[space opera]]–like frame and various pseudo-scientific rationalization: god or monster as powerful alien for instance. |
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Some of Leigh Brackett's stories set on Mars and Venus might be regarded as science fantasy, especially those which occur in distant and barbarous parts of the planets, such as ''People of the Talisman'' and ''The Moon that Vanished''. Other stories set on the same worlds contain far more science fictional tropes. All of Brackett's stories imply that a rational, scientific explanation for such things as mind-transmission and the ability to create visible illusions is available somewhere, but the explanations are generally assumed rather than attempted. |
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[[Frank Herbert]]'s [[Dune universe|Dune]] novels are also classed by some as science fantasy, probably because his [[Arrakis]] dispenses with many (but not all) of the technological ornaments that conventionally mark a story as "science fiction"; however, his scientifically impossible concepts (like prescience and genetic memory) were staples in mainstream science fiction for many years. The use of swords and other bladed weapons was explained because of the [[Holtzman effect]]: when a lasgun is fired at an energy shield in the Dune universe it results in a sub-atomic explosion, potentially taking out both parties. Also, most personal shields are attuned to only keep out high speed moving objects like bullets and can be penetrated by slow moving ones such as a melee weapon. |
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Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels and Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover novels are persistently but falsely branded as examples of science fantasy, the former largely because of its use of a creature called by the name of the fantasy-icon "dragon" at the center of the stories, the latter because psionic powers regarded by the locals as a form of magic are a central element. Both are based firmly on standard science fiction themes, and both share the concept of long-lost Earth expeditions that had peopled their respective planets, and over time had regressed to a quasi-medieval state of life. |
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Some examples of this type of science fantasy deliberately blur the already vague distinction between science fictional paranormal powers and magic; for instance, Poul Anderson's ''The Queen of Air and Darkness'', in which aliens use psionic powers of illusion to imitate earthly myths of fairies—who are themselves traditionally regarded as magical illusionists. |
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===SF otherworlds=== |
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Some science fantasies use fantasy worlds with the thinnest veneer of science fictional trappings, only distinguishable with difficulty from standard fantasy. An early example of this type is [[Eric Rücker Eddison]]'s ''[[The Worm Ouroboros]]'', nominally set on the planet Mercury, but a Mercury that is indistinguishable in any way from a fantasy Earth. This work may be considered a borderline case. |
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In Andre Norton's Witch World series, the fantasy world is excused as a [[Parallel universe (fiction)|parallel universe]]. There are a few science fictional elements in the earlier stories of this series, which are absent from the later novels. |
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[[Terry Brooks]]' [[Shannara]] books represent the fantasy world as the far future of a lost technological civilization. |
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===Space opera=== |
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{{Main|Space opera}} |
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Space opera is not normally thought of as science fantasy, but some examples of space opera invoke vaguely explained, or completely unexplained paranormal powers, common in science fiction, which some think approximate magic closely enough to make the story fantastic. These include [[George Lucas]]' ''[[Star Wars]]'' franchise. Magic plays a major role in the ''[[Outlaw Star]]'' [[anime]] series. |
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[[E. E. Smith]]'s ''[[Lensman]]'' series, which some might call science fantasy, historically was never considered other than science fiction, since (unlike Lucas) Smith gave its paranormal mental powers a carefully rationalized scientific veneer and, in addition, they were completely in accord with accepted conventions of science fiction. |
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===Sword and planet=== |
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{{Main|Sword and planet}} |
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Many works by [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] fall into this category, as well as those of his imitators such as [[Otis Adelbert Kline]], [[Kenneth Bulmer]], [[Lin Carter]], and [[John Norman]]. They are largely classed as "science fantasy" because of the presence of swords and, usually, an archaic aristocratic social system; Burroughs' own novels are, however, skeptical in spirit and almost free of any non-rationalized "fantastic" element (other than the never-explained mechanism by which John Carter gets to Mars). |
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===Other subgenres=== |
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Science fantasy is sometimes used to refer to a fantasy story in which the fantastic elements are presented as compatible with real-world science, in contrast to fantasies in which the fantastic only needs to have its own internal logic. Classic examples are Poul Anderson's ''[[Three Hearts and Three Lions]]'', in which petrification means danger because turning carbon to silicon results in a [[Radionuclide|radioactive isotope]], and his ''[[Operation Chaos (novel)|Operation Chaos]]'', where werewolves and other lycanthropes are the same size in human and animal form, owing to conservation of mass. |
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An example of science fantasy in television is the cartoon ''[[Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light]]'', which combined alien fiction, sword and sorcery, magic, technology and the superhero genre—all of them rolled into one coherent vision. Another example is the worlds depicted in the ''[[Masters of the Universe]]'' franchise. |
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Science fantasy is also a popular subject for role-playing games, of both [[role-playing games|pen-and-paper]] and [[computer role-playing game|computer]] varieties. Examples include the ''[[Rifts (role-playing game)|Rifts]]'', ''[[Fading Suns]]'', ''[[Mutant Chronicles]]'', ''[[Shadowrun]]'' and ''[[Dragonstar]]'' role-playing games, a number of Square Enix/[[Square Co.]] games, and the ''[[Phantasy Star]]'' series. |
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One of the earliest pen-and-paper games to reference the term, science fantasy, was [[Gamma World]] published by TSR in 1980 (the same company that originated [[Dungeons and Dragons]]). |
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==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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{{science fiction}} |
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[[Category:Fantasy genres]] |
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[[Category:Science fiction genres]] |
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[[Category:Literary genres]] |
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[[Category:Speculative fiction]] |
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[[Category:Science fantasy| ]] |
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[[da:Science fantasy]] |
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[[de:Science Fantasy]] |
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[[fa:فانتزی علمی]] |
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[[fr:Science fantasy]] |
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[[it:Science fantasy]] |
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[[pt:Fantasia científica]] |
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[[ru:Технофэнтези]] |
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[[sq:Science fantasy]] |
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[[sv:Science fantasy]] |
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