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I've been reading a few free fiction (not science fiction) books from Amazon lately. The ones where the author has a six book series and gives the first one away as a promotion. Anyway, it's been jarring to see these 'modern' books that have no concept of a cell phone. Our character would get stuck in a broken down car and have to hike back for help, or would go searching for a pay phone to check in, etcetera.
Another jarring note recently occurred when re-reading a favorite Zelazny. The main character, a judo/fitness buff would light up a cigarette every few pages as he thought about something or another. Cigarette smoking is something I've run across several times in my 'older' books. It's just a bit jarring because it never (?) shows up in current books.
Finally, on the subject of SF, SciFi, Science Fiction (Hard, soft and space opera), and, dare I say it: Fantasy. I do recognize most of these distinctions, and if you and I sat down and discussed it we could probably even agree to common definitions. I'd even let you convince me of your definition. Now try to fit a list of books into those defined categories. The problem that I found is that even with a common definition people will disagree which category a particular book fits into. In many cases, the book will fit into multiple categories. For example, some people I know would put the Honor Harrington series into fantasy because she is an empath.
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