A post by Jeff Ford reminded me that I’d been meaning to think through how science fiction genres could be converted into fantasy genres and vice versa.
Here’s my list, with acknowledgements to Wikipedia’s lists of subgenres (I added portal fantasy, which doesn’t have its own Wikipedia article). Asterisks (*) indicate something I’ve either tried myself or plan to try.
Science fiction subgenres for conversion to fantasy:
– Alien invasion (Fae or demons as aliens; intrusive fantasy)
– Anthropological or social SF (no magic, only social differences)*
– Apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic (magical or mythic apocalypse: the Old Ones return, or the magic goes away, or the magic comes as in the Kate Daniels books, or magical creatures invade)
– Biopunk (magical manipulation of living things)
– Cyberpunk (descent into a mythic realm where the real and the symbolic meet; possibly with a grittyness to the “real-life” part of the setting)*
– Dying earth (magic wears out, etc.)
– Hard SF (hard fantasy: the magical rules are clear, specific, and well understood)
– Military SF (military fantasy)
– Solarpunk (positive, utopian fantasy in which magic is used to build a better world)*
– Space opera (elements of voyage, battle, trading – could even be interplanetary, but with magically powered ships)*
Fantasy subgenres for conversion to SF:
– Bangsian fantasy (interactions of historical figures in the afterlife; SF version would use computer simulations of them, or something like the Philip Jose Farmer Riverworld books, where everyone is technologically reincarnated)
– High fantasy (epic tone and cosmic stakes)
– Contemporary fantasy (Nowpunk or contemporary SF – the science-fictionality of today’s life and technology; technothriller)*
– Dark fantasy (aliens substituted for vampires, etc.?)
– Fairy tale (supernatural beings and talking animals become AIs and uplifts; magicians become engineers)*
– Fantasy of manners (SF of manners, like Vance’s Araminta Station or Bujold’s A Civil Campaign; the social maneuverings are the focus, rather than the technology, etc.)
– Grimdark (some forms of dystopia; some kinds of cyberpunk)
– Heroic fantasy (the struggles of a hero in a science-fictional setting)
– Historical fantasy (alternate history)
– Mythic fiction/mythpunk (cosmic or metaphysical SF)
– Portal fantasy (alien or dimensional abduction)
– Sword and sorcery (planetary romance like C.L. Moore’s Northwest Smith stories)
Already on the borderline
Decopunk, dieselpunk, steampunk, clockpunk, etc. often already have fantasy elements in a pseudoperiod setting*
Psychic powers*
Science fantasy (obvs.) like Star Wars
Urban fantasy if it uses technomagic (like the “Elfpunk” of the 90s)*
Any thoughts on other subgenres that could be flipped, or on different ways in which the ones above could be flipped, from SF to fantasy or vice versa – or into something that’s both at the same time?
I like that you put steampunk and clockpunk on the borderline. It’s always bothered me that Amazon lists steampunk as science fiction. My own works in the genre fit better as fantasy.
Most do, in my opinion. I suppose it gets called SF because of the technology, and because often the feel is of Verne/Wells. But it’s very common for there to be an explicitly magical, or might-as-well-be-magical, thing driving the technology or intersecting with it.
I put psychic powers on the borderline too, because although they’re usually skinned as SF, they work like a form of magic (as does the Force in Star Wars).