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Old 04-08-2012, 05:32 PM   #16
fjtorres
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Originally Posted by Namekuseijin View Post
you need to read more.

BTW, all fiction happens in some time frame. Time is not an interesting way to classify genres...
Especially when the story lasts long enough that the future becomes alternate history.
(UFO, anybody? SPACE 1999? 2001?)
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Old 04-08-2012, 05:39 PM   #17
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Especially when the story lasts long enough that the future becomes alternate history.
(UFO, anybody? SPACE 1999? 2001?)
Star Trek?
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Old 04-08-2012, 07:10 PM   #18
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I like some of the older classifications of SF. The ones that included "hard sci-fi", which focuses very tightly on the sciences aspect of science fiction. "Space opera", usually involving empires, lots of fighting and battles. I don't know if I'd read this somewhere, but I call "psychological SF" the kind that involves mind development, such as telepathy, telekinesis, or other mental feats. And there are blends of SF with fantasy, such as Heinlein's "Glory Road", and Niven's "The Magic Goes Away". I'm sure we could all come up with lots of classifications.

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Old 04-08-2012, 07:52 PM   #19
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Originally Posted by VicLavigne View Post
I like some of the older classifications of SF. The ones that included "hard sci-fi", which focuses very tightly on the sciences aspect of science fiction. "Space opera", usually involving empires, lots of fighting and battles. I don't know if I'd read this somewhere, but I call "psychological SF" the kind that involves mind development, such as telepathy, telekinesis, or other mental feats. And there are blends of SF with fantasy, such as Heinlein's "Glory Road", and Niven's "The Magic Goes Away". I'm sure we could all come up with lots of classifications.

Vic
Military Science Fiction.
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Old 04-08-2012, 11:55 PM   #20
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This is about the history of sci fi but I think it's also a nice breakdown of various genres:

http://www.wardshelley.com/paintings...HistSciFi2.jpg

eP
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Old 04-09-2012, 10:30 AM   #21
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This is about the history of sci fi but I think it's also a nice breakdown of various genres:

http://www.wardshelley.com/paintings...HistSciFi2.jpg

eP
Good golly, that looks like a gastro-intestinal sketch! A ton of data there.
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Old 04-09-2012, 01:28 PM   #22
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Star Trek?
Khan's World War. Yup.
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Old 04-09-2012, 02:24 PM   #23
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Don't forget survival fiction which often has some future science association.
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Old 04-09-2012, 03:12 PM   #24
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Khan's World War. Yup.
I'd almost forgotten the Eugenics Wars were supposed to have taken place in the 1990s...

I also think it's counter-productive spending time delving too deep into the various sub-genres of SF... breaking them down into just a few basic categories is usually the best way to go with the least headache involved.

I tend to think of SF as technological, social, psychological, violent or adventure, and let the sub-chips fall where they may.
Last edited by Steven Lyle Jordan; 04-09-2012 at 03:24 PM.
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Old 04-09-2012, 03:21 PM   #25
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I'd almost forgot the Eugenics Wars were supposed to have taken place in the 1990s...
Gary Seven really screwed up there, no?
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Old 04-09-2012, 03:28 PM   #26
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Gary Seven really screwed up there, no?
That's what happens when you pal around with shape-shifting cats (yeah, we know what was really going on there...).
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Old 04-09-2012, 03:34 PM   #27
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I see hard - in between - soft scale in some ways workable if you are into science side. Still, putting things in genres is hard as they can be member of many of them...
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Old 04-09-2012, 05:16 PM   #28
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"Star Wars" is like this - it is an adventure story that is set in the future, but whatever themes it has (honor? loyalty? growing up?) don't really have much to do with the setting.
IMO Star Wars isn't properly called scifi at all. It's fantasy (because it has magic) but it has borrowed a lot of scifi's wardrobe
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Old 04-09-2012, 10:03 PM   #29
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IMO Star Wars isn't properly called scifi at all. It's fantasy (because it has magic) but it has borrowed a lot of scifi's wardrobe
Star Wars is classic Space Opera -- it's hard to find a better fit for that class. Empires, battles, good vs evil, even the bit of swords & sourcery.

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Old 04-09-2012, 11:20 PM   #30
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Star Wars is classic Space Opera
Not just *Space* Opera - Star Wars even has an overture!
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