From: Walter Miles <walter at nova.org>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 12:53:11 -0400
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Who said: SF is fantasy with nuts and bolts painted on?
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

Well, my Sci-Fi (pronounce Sigh... Fie! <thanks Joe>) idea is:  "What
if we were astronauts who had crash-landed on a planet where there was
absolutely no such thing as introspection?"

MB> That link's author claims it was Terry Prachet.  I'd say he seems to have
MB> missed a great deal of SF, along with its main point.  It may be a
MB> political statement based on the "camp" he belonged to I suppose (isn't
MB> most of his stuff pretty much clearly Fantasy?)

MB> IMHO the difference between Fantasy and SF is that Fantasy is about wish
MB> fulfillment while SF is about problem exploration.  Both may in the end be
MB> about getting what you want, but Fantasy just hands it to you, while SF
MB> treats it as an engineering problem and makes you work for it.

=========================================
Walter A. Miles, Jr.    walter at nova.org
217 Spring Avenue, Takoma Park, MD  20912