Hard Sci-Fi vs Medieval Fantasy? - Magic vs Theoretical Science.

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Title.

  • Hard Science Fiction

    Votes: 41 53.9%

  • Medieval Fantasy

    Votes: 35 46.1%
  • Total voters
    76
Hmm. That is tough. I'd say Science-fiction, because it can be very gripping when it is well done. I'm more of a military science fiction guy, because its entertaining and deep most of the time.

Honor Harrington has already been mentioned, and I'd like to add Safehold and the Lost Fleet to that list.
Outside of that, Citizen of the Galaxy, by Robert Heinlein is also a very interesting analysis on what it means to be a human being through very different societies.
My favorite sci-fi short story is The Murmur of Caladan's Winds ( A part of the Dune universe, taking place during the fall of House Atreides ), because you never really know what the hell is truly happening.

Not to say that Fantasy is bad, absolutely not. On the contrary, good fantasy can also be gripping. I recently read Conan and felt my blood boil while reading. Gems like Fafhyr and the Grey Mouser ( "Stardock" being my favorite ).
also Temeraire ( Dragons during the Napoleonic Wars ) proves that fantasy can deliver blood boiling experiences.

As for recent fantasy series, well, I've lacked the time and the desire to read one.
 
jellycar said:
I don't know where to put this but I saw a video on Earthsea. I'm not familiar with it but I remember a magazine advertisement for the tv show starring the guy that played Iceman and Isabella Rosalini.

Are the books good? Easy to follow? Don't murder me for this but do they have any.....female protagonists? *cue gasps*
I appreciate LOTR but its such a sausagefest.
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Forgot to mention that I get her and Diana Wynn Jones mixed up
 
I kinda like a mix of the two. sometimes in the same book/film/game.
 
I find I greatly enjoy Hard Science Fiction a lot more than Medieval Fantasy as a consumer. Even somewhat mid-range SF is still more fun to watch or read than most Medieval Fantasy settings for me. Fantasy has always been a tough genre for me to get into because it has a lot of trouble staying within its own boundaries if you want to have any of the fun stuff like guns or magic, but if the setting stays strictly at the level of swords and spears then it gets pretty boring real fast.

On the flipside, I've found writing Medieval(ish) Fantasy to be far, far easier than writing SciFi, especially Hard SF. Science fiction requires a lot of front-loaded backstory and exposition even if you avoid technobabble. Medieval Fantasy makes that exposition more or less optional, but I've also found that common people seem to not mind reading Fantasy exposition where as they'll tune out SF exposition like 90% of the time. I'm not sure why complicated hierarchies of demons or convoluted backstories of how gods created the known universe are easier to swallow for people than some basic middle school level science, but the former is definitely what most people seem to enjoy reading more.
 
MAPK phosphatase said:
I made the image as a joke to annoy someone who expressed dislike towards magic systems that operate like programming languages, mostly those in the occasional amateur world-building projects. The Chad magic system itself isn't a reference to anything in-particular, however individual Chad points are.
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Bro
Go write a novel off that premise
 
Sci-fi in general tends to age poorly it's an inherently forward thinking genre, and author's don't know the future so no matter how "hard" or well researched a story is it ends up becoming outdated sooner or later. Not big on fantasy myself but stories set in the middle ages or antiquity can be interesting if they're well-researched and the author actually tries to represent the culture and period accurately.
 
BIONICLE 10127 1 said:
Sci-fi in general tends to age poorly it's an inherently forward thinking genre, and author's don't know the future so no matter how "hard" or well researched a story is it ends up becoming outdated sooner or later. Not big on fantasy myself but stories set in the middle ages or antiquity can be interesting if they're well-researched and the author actually tries to represent the culture and period accurately.
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Eh, decent SF is always fun. Don't need to think too hard about Asimov or Clarke or Heinlein. Hell, A. E. Van Vogt, PKD, and Vonnegut are all different types of fun.

I find fantasy to be hit or miss. It depends. Jack Vance and Fritz Leiber are good. Haven't tried much modern stuff outside of a little exposure to Joe Abercrombie and Howard Andrew Jones.
 
Cedric_Eff said:
I completely forgot I made this thread.

But yeah, It would be interesting to see a premise like that.
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Deadwaste said:
make the time
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No! Leave me alone! I have too many projects I'm neglecting already I can't take on another one!
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BIONICLE 10127 1 said:
Sci-fi in general tends to age poorly it's an inherently forward thinking genre, and author's don't know the future so no matter how "hard" or well researched a story is it ends up becoming outdated sooner or later. Not big on fantasy myself but stories set in the middle ages or antiquity can be interesting if they're well-researched and the author actually tries to represent the culture and period accurately.
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Good science fiction is timeless. Heinlein holds up perfectly well.
 
Difficult choice since i like both genres, but i would say Medieval Fantasy, part of it would be the attraction towards a setting where you don't need to make it too complex, and i especially like stories with a strong mythical element in it, so more of a Lord of the Rings than a Game of Thrones like setting.
 
I love hard scifi, but I also enjoy some medieval fantasy. Also medieval scifi with castles and lost scifi technology and such.
 
Problem with hard scifi literature I see is often that in an attempt to be as accurate as possible, it moves away from being relatable. For example characters end up being barely human and it gets difficult to care about them. Congratulations, Author, you did your research. Now I find your book boring. That balance between hitting the "hard" aspect of scifi and still write an engaging story is hard and few succeed.
 
Most hard scifi just sounds so drab and soulless.
Which is why its reddit's favourite also you can fill it to the brim with DEI shit.
Fantasy suffers from the same problem so its more of a modern writers thing.
But I like me my cavalry charges.
 
I would be interested in a fantasy setting where magic is not supernatural and obeys the laws of physics, but most fantasy novels and films involve wizards shooting lightning out of their hands.
 
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