Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
Theodore Sturgeon once commented that an SF story is one that could not exist without the science component. If yours can, maybe you aren't writing SF.
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I think this a little limiting. There are plenty of novels in the top 100 lists that could exist without their science component, and some simply have none at all.
In this class there is 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, The Man in the High Castle, A Clockwork Orange, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Handmaid's Tale, The Chrysalids, Flatland - and that's just what I can pick from what I've read on this list:
http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersy...oks_rank1.html
When it comes to science fiction, I prefer Damon Knight's definition - that it means what we point to when we say it.
I really don't think it's possible to make a list of do's and don'ts.