The joy of genre

When people ask me what kind of books I've published, I generally tell them 'fantasy,' toeing the party line of the marketing classification they were given by my publisher (and, not to single out Baen, probably would have been given by any publisher). But I often go on to explain that they aren't really fantasy, but science fiction, which no doubt leaves the impression that they're a sort of hybrid between two apparently inimical things, being as science fiction tends to be rationalistic and aimed at the left brain, and fantasy more symbol-oriented, allegorical and spiritual, aimed at the right.

I wouldn't call it a false dichotomy, but I would say that we all have both a left brain and a right. I will also say that anything that seems to transcend the divide I find totally fascinating, which is one reason I got into homeopathy, which is a whole other story I'll get into some other time. But let me give the definition I use to differentiate science fiction and fantasy. Since, as Arthur C. Clarke famously said, any sufficiently-advanced technology appears to be magic, and technology is advancing all the time so that yesterday's magic is today's routine use, the boundary isn't so clear. It can come down simply to what you think is possible or impossible, and that is an unsolvable and potentially extremely nasty argument (consider whether you think the existence of one or more spiritual beings is possible or not). You can read intelligent discussions by Lawrence Watt-Evans here and by Sally O. Odgers here.

But some writer, and I can't remember or find who else I'd quote and link, came up with a definition that I embrace, perhaps due to the elegance of its simplicity. It's this: science fiction rigorously postulates a chronological and causal connection to the real, existing world as we know it, extending into the future (extending into the past is the territory of historical fiction). Fantasy doesn't. That's it.

That means that not only is Lord of the Rings fantasy, since 'Middle-Earth' is deemed to be in the distant past but where and when exactly is vague, but so is Star Wars, set "a long time ago in a galaxy far far away."

Thus, the Chevenga books are science fiction. asa kraiya takes place in A.D. 4980, and there are some characters who actually know it's taking place in A.D. 4980 because one society has managed to keep the same calendar. Relics of the ancient technology are all over the place, from the Imperial Book to the moyawa, literal translation 'single wing', recognizable translation 'hang glider,' and legends and garbled memories abound.

However, that's a logical definition. The marketing definition, based on the projected tastes of readers, goes more like this: 'If the tech level is pre-gun so characters are running around with swords, and there are psi-powers, it's fantasy.' So that's the section of the bookstore Chevenga ended up in, for good or ill.

When it comes down to it, though, what fascinates me most is that which bridges the divide. So I am the sort of writer who, if I want to describe moonlight shining on the night of April 11, 4980, will check to see what the phase the moon actually will be in on that day (there's a website) and write accordingly; and I'm also the sort of writer who will go into altered states of consciousness (and not by taking anything), have spiritual experiences and bring the knowledge of "the other world" so gained into my work.

Considering how many other writers write both science fiction and fantasy, I don't think I'm alone in feeling that without both sides of the divide, we are incomplete.

Part of me, disillusioned with genre divisions entirely -- when it comes down to it, what culture other than the western, English-speaking one, draws a firm line between 'fiction' and 'fantasy'? ALL fiction is fantasy! -- just wants to make fun of it all, and perhaps leap on reigning genre trends for promotional reasons.

Fact is, Fifth Millennium is steampunk. Notice those goggles Chevenga's wearing in the pic, so as to protect his eyes from exploding laptop bits? More often he wears them while flying via moyawa. The mad scientist's cart of the inventor Diyadesai, the hand-cranked DC-generator the Haians use, the Great Press of Arko -- oh, the Great Press of Arko! Sneak preview description:

In a cavern in the cliff wall of Arko, by a rivulet that runs down through the rock and turns a huge wheel as in a mill, sits the great press of Arko, the first of all of them after the Fire, the only one for centuries. I have been there a few times, felt the sweltering heat, smelled the metallic air and the tang of ink, heard the booming and clicking and pinging of its works in rhythm more perfect than any human drummer can make. In the office where the scribes work, it is a deep thrumming that you feel through your feet more than hear, day and night, as if the Earthsphere itself had a racing heartbeat.

C'mon... how steampunk can you get?