Erik Reuter wrote: > >> My question is this: what makes a book/story SF? > > Simple. It should be fiction, and it should involve science or something > related to science in some major or minor way! > _Everything_ involves science or something related to science.
A friend of mine once defined SF as any story in the space-time. Gulliver would be SF. Lord of the Rings would be SF. A biography of Caligula would be SF. A description of the pre-columbian natives of Costa Rica would be SF. 60,000 km under the Sea would be SF. Which is a useless definition. I like Heinlein's definition of speculative fiction as stories that are based on a violation of a few known laws. SF would be those that have a scientific explanation. Hard SF would be those whose scientific explanation is scientifically valid. A biography of Caligula or the description of the natives would not be speculative fiction. Lord of the Rings would be speculative fiction but not SF. Gulliver would be SF, and part of it would be hard sf [according to science as known during that time]. 60,000 km under the Sea would be hard sf. Alberto Monteiro _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
