Questions About Science Fiction Romance, and a Little Poll

science fiction romance 12323271_sHello! I hope you had a good Labor Day weekend. Mine was quiet, with a little work and a lot of knitting and reading. Did you get to read any good books over the three-day holiday?

As many of you know, I like science fiction. I like to write it and read it. Some of my science fiction books are:

The Winner: Romantek

Charlotte & the Pirate: Romantek

Eddie, My Love: Romantek

Rescued by the Spy

and soon,

My Vacation in Rio: Romantek

Sonata’s Moon, Book One: Surface

Sonata’s Moon, Book Two: Sanctuary.

If science-fiction romance did better in the market, I would be tempted to go hard-over into writing it and only it, but I also like detective fiction, especially the hard-boiled private eye, noir books of the 50s and 60s. Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane are two of my favorite authors of all time.

Recently, I was given the opportunity to write an article for one of the biggest Science Fiction Romance blogs around, and I took it. My article will be on the difference between science fiction and futuristic fiction. I asked myself, is the difference only semantics? Is it the difference between a story set fifty years in the future versus three hundred years? Are there specific science fiction elements that do not happen in futuristic fiction or vice versa?

That leads me to this little poll, to get your opinion on what you prefer to read, or to find out if you think they’re the same thing. Please answer the simple question, and if you want to leave more info or have a question in turn, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll respond. Your answers in the “other” category will be added to the poll, so other respondents can vote on them as well. This poll will close with the next post that goes live, Thursday morning just before six o’clock.

Thanks, and have fun thinking about one of the finer points of fiction.

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7 Replies to “Questions About Science Fiction Romance, and a Little Poll”

  • PS, FWIW I don’t consider, for example, Lora Leigh’s Breed books to be science fiction, although there’s genetic engineering going on. I would categorise them as paranormal because of the shapeshifter element. It’s often quite challenging to select genres/shelves on Goodreads and elsewhere for some books!

  • Futuristic to me only denotes a period in time because, although set in the future, it doesn’t necessarily mean that humanity has made advances in technology that don’t exist in the present. Dystopias and post-apocolyptic stories are often futuristic but don’t all include science fiction elements. My preferred flavour of science fiction is space opera with spaceships, travelling through and inhabiting the universe, and humanoid aliens, cyborgs, synths, etc….plus the sexy/romance element, of course! There are exceptions where I love sci-fi stories set on earth either in the present or future, too, like for example Rebecca Zanetti’s Sin Brothers series (genetic engineering), but escaping the confines and reality of earth is my go-to escape mechanism. I think you’ve covered all the bases perfectly in your poll, Patricia :).

    • Well, there is that “future” word in “futuristic.” That definitely suggests a time element, whereas, “science fiction” strongly suggest that “science” is a leading element.

      I like space operas too, but my husband is the total expert on them. We have both read most Heinlein and others in the classical canon. My favorite sci-fi author is Larry Niven, but you couldn’t characterize his work as “space opera.”

      Thank you for your two comments. 🙂

  • I consider alternate history romance to be SFR if the changes in the alternate history were scientific (say they didn’t figure out how to make a nuclear bomb during WWII).
    Also, what Cara said!

  • There may or may not be a difference. It depends. I would say that futuristic novels are, by nature, sci-fi, but not all sci-fi books are futuristic. For example: Jurassic Park, Coma, Lora Leigh’s Breeds series. One could write a current sci-novel novel set on a space station.

    • Good points, Cara. Perhaps it’s the current era element which makes a story like Jurassic Park so terrifying.

      I wonder, though, how many people attribute those science elements to the future, perhaps a near future, rather than what might be in the realm of possibility today.

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