Sep 1, 2026 · 1 hr 15 min · 11 segments
“Fantasy is …when you take something either completely made up or something that starts in the real world and you add something to it.” …less of a technological fiction and more of a biological…
Karen BeckGuest
Seth HeasleyHost
Rachel YoungGuest
Um, you know, even the urban fantasy, uh, you know, where they take the United States and put it in the future, or even if it's the current, um, and they take a real place, then all of a sudden you've got werewolves or, um, the Faye or whatever.
So, uh, You know, any of those to me, anytime you take either something completely, totally made up or something that starts in the real world, and then you add something you came up with into it, that to me is fantasy.
So whether it's space or, you know, the United States or someplace in the world or a place that doesn't exist at all, to me, that's all fantasy.
But before I ever heard anyone say that, I always felt it was the other way around, that fantasy is a subgenre of sci-fi, because I think of sci-fi as anything that's not science facts.
So anytime you're imagining anything or putting anything that doesn't exist into a story, I feel like that qualifies as science fiction.
So there's space, future sci-fi, but fantasy is kind of like, less of a technological fiction and more of a biological fiction that you're like inventing races or, or magical abilities that some people have that don't actually exist.
And then, Another way to kind of separate it from other sci-fi is, you know, I'm also reading the book, Patricia A. McKillop and the Art of Fantasy Worldbuilding.
And then modern day fantasy includes elements that you find in mythology and legends and fairy tales and folktales that those elements kind of reappear there.
Um, you know, even the urban fantasy, uh, you know, where they take the United States and put it in the future, or even if it's the current, um, and they take a real place, then all of a sudden you've got werewolves or, um, the Faye or whatever.
So, uh, You know, any of those to me, anytime you take either something completely, totally made up or something that starts in the real world, and then you add something you came up with into it, that to me is fantasy.
So whether it's space or, you know, the United States or someplace in the world or a place that doesn't exist at all, to me, that's all fantasy.
But before I ever heard anyone say that, I always felt it was the other way around, that fantasy is a subgenre of sci-fi, because I think of sci-fi as anything that's not science facts.
So anytime you're imagining anything or putting anything that doesn't exist into a story, I feel like that qualifies as science fiction.
So there's space, future sci-fi, but fantasy is kind of like, less of a technological fiction and more of a biological fiction that you're like inventing races or, or magical abilities that some people have that don't actually exist.
And then, Another way to kind of separate it from other sci-fi is, you know, I'm also reading the book, Patricia A. McKillop and the Art of Fantasy Worldbuilding.
And then modern day fantasy includes elements that you find in mythology and legends and fairy tales and folktales that those elements kind of reappear there.
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