Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirtel
I read both and am perfectly ok with them grouped together. But I would be ok with them separated too. I just don't care one way or the other.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jhowell
I have always been fine with both together since I enjoy both genres.
How about relabeling the shelf Speculative Fiction.
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I agree with both of these, with a slight preference for having them together under a common name. There are lots of books which would be tricky to place if you had to pick either fantasy or SF, like:
- Charlie Jane Anders "All the Birds in the Sky", with a witch and a mad scientist as protagonists
- Steam punk book like Westerfeld's "Leviathan" series, which has no magic at all, but weird science that wouldn't work in the real world (the science is about as realistic as the science in "Frankestein")
- Books which take place in another world, but with no magic, like Brennan's "Lady Trent" series (with a Charles Darwin type protagonist in an alternative world where dragons exist, but are unmagical animals), or Kushner's "Tremontaine" books (swashbuckling books in another world)
In another thread I've argued for micro genres. I'm all for adding specific labels/tags to books when those tags can be
in addition to sorting in more well known genres. In online book stores and book databases like Storygraph and Goodreads, adding both micro and macro genres helps more people find books they'd like. In a physical book store or library, splitting books up on too many different shelves make it harder for people to find books which straddle genres.