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Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan
Okay, I follow all that. SF stories can be either type: They can absolutely depend on how the science works, and so you must explain it (Michael Crichton-type stories, for instance); and they can function independently of the science forming the background or trappings of the story, in which case, explaining the science is pointless. I can enjoy either.
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If the story depends on the science, you probably have to provide
some explanation, but you probably don't need to provide equations and engineering drawings. After all, the point of the science is what it lets the characters
do, so you need just enough explanation to provide a hook from which you suspend disbelief.
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Yeah... that's a good case for simply saying, "Aw, heck... it's all SF, it's all Fantasy, do what you wanna!"
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It occurred to me that I could classify it as steampunk, too. While it's set in what would be the 1960's, the technology level is roughly Victorian. Steam power is in full use, with locomotives and steamships. Gunpowder is certainly used, in rifles, pistols and cannons. (In one story, Darcy loses a treasured custom made pistol in the course of solving the crime. The King provides a replacement, with the stern admonition that it is to be
used as a tool of Darcy's trade, and if the King learns it's sitting in a display case "We will personally come over and take it back from you!". Magic provides long range communications, with the teleson performing the functions we use a telephone for. (But the teleson requires wires to connect the devices. Wireless transmission doesn't exist.) In one story, Darcy is provided with a top secret device being developed by government researchers, which we would think of as a battery operated flashlight. The people of Darcy's timeline are beginning to explore natural law to supplement what can be done via magic.
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Dennis