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[afterannabel]

Where do you draw the lines between sci-fi, horror and fantasy? Can you really separate them? Do some overlap and some not? I'm thinking of a few writers in particular. Ray Bradbury, HP Lovecraft, Stephen King.

EDIT: Also, superhero comics/tv/movies.

Comments

[vampedvixen]

I come from the Joss Whedon school of writing which firmly states that you should throw everything into the pot and see what comes of it.

[farmerandy]

fantasy involves supernatural elements, such as magic or angels. Sci-fi is about real elements being exploited in such a way as to create technology beyond current means (or possibly, through deliberate misunderstand of those natural elements, beyond reality). Horror seems to me not to be the same as either genre, as it is defined by intention instead of the content of the story's reality. Horror wants to horrify you, to make you jump, gross you out. It'll use anything towards that end. And of course the lines are blurry, none of those things are mutually exclusive. A sci-fi world working on science different to our own is fantastic. The twist of the fantasy novel can be an exposure of how the "magic" works, placing it in terms of science. Either can be horrifying.

[farmerandy]

in my humble opinion, I should add

[danielatlarge]

Science fiction requires the scientific method - experimentation, investigation, discovery. "Rappacini's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is my favorite example, as well as being a WAY better story of Mad Science than that Frankenstein guy.
Fantasy is the literature of that which does not exist in the world we live in.
Horror is a literary device designed to unsettle and frighten.

Each of the authors you have listed have written works in all three genres at different points in their careers.