Are SciFi (soft) and Fantasy genres able to crossover?

1093 Views 18 Replies 13 Participants Last post by geronl, Jun 2, 2015

L.B

Discussion Starter · Jun 1, 2015

So I'm writing a comedy series that is SciFi, space opera type stuff.

I'd like to start a fantasy series alongside it.

Do these fan bases crossover well enough to do this?

One thing in my favour is my books are comedy/humorous first and foremost, so I think I can get away with more...

Thoughts?

Dies anyone else cross these two genres with one name?

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

MonkeyScribe

· #2 · Jun 1, 2015

I cross all sorts of genre boundaries. I have historicals, contemporary suspense thrillers, fantasy, and space opera. Most don't cross over, but some do, and I've found it doesn't hurt me. Science fiction and fantasy, of course, have better crossover appeal than more divergent genres. The other key for you might be humor. If your blurbs have the same sort of voice and tone, and you can make this connection clear, then I think you'll improve your conversion rate.

NoCat

· #3 · Jun 1, 2015

Fantasy and SF have been filed on the same shelves in bookstores and libraries for a long time, so I think the readership is used to seeing them together and often crosses over. Since your SF and your fantasy are both funny/lighter toned series, I think you'd be fine using a single pen name for both.

L.B

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 1, 2015

Thanks Michael/Annie.

I thought this would be the case, but wanted to get people's opinions.

Trans-Human

· #5 · Jun 1, 2015

You can see the best example in comics.

While superheros are often associated with urban fantasy, they often are set in a soft sci-fi package too. You can check Marvel and DC comics. They entertain the strange, fantastical and paranormal a lot in their enormous extended universes, and there are often enough a lot of crossovers. And I mean - A LOT. So if both spaceships and technology can coexist with magic and deities there, I think you can bend and mix things as you please in your own fictional universe too.

L.B

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jun 1, 2015

Great call Gaulvinov. Now I'm actually thinking of doing something hybrid!

rowanc

· #7 · Jun 1, 2015

Most avid readers of sci-fi I know (including myself) also read fantasy. I think there is a small subset of sci-fi readers who may not, but I think the majority do.

Speaker-To-Animals

· #8 · Jun 1, 2015

I think the fact that its comedic means there won't be any problems. I think anyone who's going to get snippy about genre isn't going to be reading comedy sff anyway.

L.B

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 1, 2015

rowanc said:
Most avid readers of sci-fi I know (including myself) also read fantasy. I think there is a small subset of sci-fi readers who may not, but I think the majority do.

I'm one of them, but good to know I'm not the only one.

Speaker-To-Animals said:
I think the fact that its comedic means there won't be any problems. I think anyone who's going to get snippy about genre isn't going to be reading comedy sff anyway.

That's what I figured. My 'genre' is light comedy more than anything, so the others are more the subgenres.

Jacob Stanley

· #10 · Jun 1, 2015

There are a few really good series that blend fantasy and sci-fi to varying degrees with great success.

Roger Zelazny's Amber Chronicles, Stephen King's Dark Tower series. You could probably throw in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom books as well. A lot of the speculative fiction from the early pulp days (Lovecraft, Clarke Aston Smith) blends sci-fi and occult elements without hesitation.

I love this sort of blended up fiction myself.

There's probably a lot of stuff I'm forgetting, and I know there's plenty I've never got around to reading.

Sara C

· #11 · Jun 1, 2015

Normally I'd say no, mainly since all of the readers I know are either very, very into sci-fi, or very, very into fantasy, and not usually both, but I think the light-hearted, funny tone you mentioned might make the cross-over process run much more smoothly

. I'm a fantasy reader, but I know I would definitely try out a sci-fi if I knew it would have the same tone as a fantasy series I enjoyed.

Roby

· #12 · Jun 1, 2015

I think there's definitely crossover. Once a number of readers love an author's work, they will read the books without regard to genre. To me, there are prime examples of this: Le Guin is one of the best. The Left Hand of Darkness (SF) and The Wizard of Earthsea (fantasy) have the same audience--people who love Le Guin. Elizabeth Moon is another. Paksenarrion is fantasy; The Speed of Dark near-future SF. Etc.

I'd say go for it, and don't worry about the audience, because if they love you, they will not hesitate.

joyceharmon

· #13 · Jun 1, 2015

I think the only sci-fi readers who won't cross over into fantasy are the hard sci-fi readers, the ones who want you to tell them how the spaceship works and it had darn well better be plausible. Somewhere around here I have a button that reads, "The difference between fantasy and science fiction is that in fantasy the dragons can hover and in science fiction they cannot."

Trans-Human

· #14 · Jun 2, 2015

Barnaby Yard said:
Great call Gaulvinov. Now I'm actually thinking of doing something hybrid!

I'm glad you feel inspired

.

Other than mainstream comics, I forgot to mention some other interesting examples: Flash Gordon, the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers & He-Man & The Masters of the Universe.

All three very different examples, but all representing varying degree of mixture of both science fiction and fantasy. All three by today's standards are also very light, cheesy, funny, and comically entertaining (even though they haven't even tried when they came out). So, unless you go for the obvious comedy injections like Douglas Adams, you could take some pointers from these examples too.

Bravestarr would be another great example since it blends science fiction, fantasy, and even western! So these mixtures can happen and can draw a huge audience, depending on how you want to come off to your readers.

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L.B

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jun 2, 2015

Gaulvinov said:
I'm glad you feel inspired .

Other than mainstream comics, I forgot to mention some other interesting examples: Flash Gordon, the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers & He-Man & The Masters of the Universe.

All three very different examples, but all representing varying degree of mixture of both science fiction and fantasy. All three by today's standards are also very light, cheesy, funny, and comically entertaining (even though they haven't even tried when they came out). So, unless you go for the obvious comedy injections like Douglas Adams, you could take some pointers from these examples too.

Bravestarr would be another great example since it blends science fiction, fantasy, and even western! So these mixtures can happen and can draw a huge audience, depending on how you want to come off to your readers.

Ha ha! I loved Bravestar as a kid!

*Ponders doing Bravestar for the modern age...*

Becca Mills

· #16 · Jun 2, 2015

Sure, you can write both. Check out Mark E. Cooper's oeuvre: sci-fi, urban fantasy, epic fantasy. No problem. They hybridize well, too.

geronl

· #17 · Jun 2, 2015

I have a 10K story that is a cross-genre one SF/F that was rejected by The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. I am going to double the length and then release it as a novella. Making a cover might be tough. lol.

InkyLlama

· #18 · Jun 2, 2015

Even if there isn't a huge amount of crossover, I'd say go for it anyway! In the worst case you'll have written something you enjoyed writing, and will have an entirely new pool of readers, readers that perhaps might not have found you otherwise! If someone who usually only reads fantasy finds your fantasy book, falls in love with your writing, and checks out your sci-fi book, you may even create some converts.

geronl

· #19 · Jun 2, 2015

Once I finish my novella I'm going to make an ugly cover for it. lol.

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