Can You Mix Readers of Fantasy and Sci-Fi?

There are some nicely detailed answers here already, so I'll keep my response short:- of course you can blend the two. As long as you balance the main aspects of each, eg. magic and technology, then you will appeal to both audiences equally.

I'd recommend taking a look at Titansgrave: The Ashes of Valkana. This is a table-top RPG web series on YouTube, with a custom-designed universe, which is a perfect blend of sci-fi and fantasy; Technological remnants left behind after an apocalyptic war, mixed with the more primal magic that the inhabitants of the planet now draw upon.

posted about 8 years ago

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Skarik‭

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The only caveat I would offer to mixing SF and fantasy is not to scramble the level of technology.

We are all steeped in Papa Tolkien's example of fantasy, which is Middle Ages technology and pastoral Merrie Olde England settings. This level of industrial advancement doesn't mix well with Star Trek spaceships.

So there are a few things you could do to make the combination not so weird:

• Urban fantasy is magic in a contemporary setting. Most of today's vampire/werewolf/witch YA lit is urban fantasy. Push it another 100 years forward and you can reasonably add sci-fi tech to the setting.
• Set your story in a sci-fi setting (in space, another planet, far in the future) and establish that magical creatures also exist. There may be elves, but they aren't Legolas the archer, and if Merlin is still waiting for Arthur, the mighty sorcerer might be a professor or a researcher, or a sentient computer, not sporting a pointy hat and the latest Gandalf Lauren robes.
• Go in the other direction and deliberately play on the contrast. Have a spaceship crash-land in Middle Earth. How are the Sindarin going to get along with Vulcans? Would the dwarves pose a reasonable fighting challenge for Klingons whose disrupters are magically disabled? (I'm using shorthand, but you get the idea.)
• To lean on a different franchise, Jedi using the Force are referred to in-universe as magic and mysticism, but Star Wars is pretty clearly sci-fi (however soft). So you're starting with SF but adding in magical elements which aren't classic elves and dwarves but are absolutely beyond the explanation of science (midichlorians, oh please).

posted about 8 years ago

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Lauren Ipsum‭

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It is a historical fact that The Magazine of Fantasy started in 1949 changed its name to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction starting with the second issue and still uses the title today. No doubt the proportions of fantasy and science fiction vary over the decades.

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction - Wikipedia

And take a look at the contents of Fantastic Stories of the Imagination volume 13 # 4, April 1964. I have a copy of that issue packed away somewhere and remember some of the stories in it.

The cover story, "Centipedes of Space" is a space opera with a space fleet fighting an interstellar war. But the plot depends on a rather metaphysical speculation. "The Rule of Names" by Ursula K. Le Guin is an early Earthsea story with wizards and dragons. And "The Devil Came to our Valley" by Fulton T. Grant, didn't seem to have any science fiction or fantasy elements, although it is described as sort of a "lost race" story.

Fantastic Stories of Imagination, April 1964

Here are some more stories that mix science fiction and fantasy elements:

Krull (1983) mixes sword and sorcery and alien invasion of the planet Krull.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine mixes science fiction and space opera with the plotine of the protagonist becoming the emissary of the wormhole aliens/Prophets worshipped by the Bajorans and the Pagh wraiths.

Are At the Mountains of Madness, "The whisperer in darkness", and "The Shadow out of Time" fantasy, science fiction, mixed, or pure H.P. Lovecraft?

There are countless millions of people alive today who use the products of science and technology and believe that science and technology work and also believe in various supernatural aspects of their religions.

And so there are many millions of people who believe that just as science fictional airplanes, computers, atomic bombs, trips to the Moon, etc. have come true, many even more advanced science fiction elements will become real in the future, and ho also believe in the reality of supernatural beings of various types.

There are some people who would believe, for example, that a story about a benevolent god assigning an angel-like being to secretly stop a mad dictator from starting World War Three and killing hundreds of millions of persons was perfectly plausible.

A reader can enjoy a fantasy story equally ell if it is set on a flat Earth that is the center of the universe or if it is set on a spherical Earth that is one of gazillions of of planets in the universe. J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth is both a different times.

If a reader can believe that elves and dragons might exist alongside an ancient or medieval human society, he can believe they might continue to exist alongside an advanced star travelling human society.

If a religious reader can believe in science and technology existing in a world with the supernatural beings of his religion, he can accept a story in which science and technology exist in a world with fictional supernatural beings.

So it is possible but not guaranteed for stories that mix science fiction and fantasy elements to succeed.

posted over 7 years ago

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M.A. Golding‭

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I think it can work if done well. I read both Sci-Fi and fantasy and enjoy both so I'm perhaps your target audience as I see no reason that the two could not be mixed if there is a point to doing that. As long as the story supports the need for it and it's done in a logical and believable fashion then it should be fine.

You could also explore the effect of the discovery of real 'magic' on the advance sci-fi people. Maybe initial denial and attempts to scientifically explain it followed by a split in the culture caused by part of the population simply wanting to believe in the 'magic'. That might give your Elves an embedded force sympathetic to them and allow them to eventually win even if they were not initially superior to the high tech people on the battlefield.

On the other hand if you try and cram both into a single novel just as a means to try and double the potential audience then it will probably fall flat.

posted about 8 years ago

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Paul7926‭

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I am actually in the progress of writing a Sci-fi/Fantasy novel series myself. I did have the same question concerning the topic before finally finding the full motivation. I say combining the two genres is possible and it might even come out amazing if you know how to combine them. There are great examples of what these two genres could bring when they're combined.

Final Fantasy. One of my favorite series ever, even though it's a game/movie series. It's amazing, and although some of the endings were unsatisfying, this series is a great example of a Sci-fi/Fantasy

Avatar Another great example, with great descriptions of the technology and fantasy landscapes.

Star Wars It can also be categorized as a Sci-fi/Fantasy considering all of the technology used, like the Millenium Falcon and the unrealistic elements that can't be defined by science like The Force.

Although the one thing that made me write this genre was the fact that i'm writing this for myself, and hopefully other people would like it. So check your goal first, if you're aiming on some audiences, you should do some research on what kind readers you want.

I hope this helped.

posted almost 8 years ago

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Nadine Indrani‭

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