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in which the story takes place in the future (science fiction, right?), but no advanced technology or scientific concepts play a role (not science fiction, right?)? Furthermore, the speculative element of the story (aside from it being set in a future in which the world is very different than what it is today), is that someone has the ability to heal people by putting his hands on them, like magic (fantasy, right?) or a superpower (science fiction, right?). Where this character's power comes from and how it works are never discussed in the book. No explanation is given, either magical or scientific. He simply has the ability, and nobody knows how or why.
I don't really care about the nitty gritty specifics of what genre it is. What I really want to know (and what I'm not sure about), is do I send it to agents/publishers who want science fiction stories, or fantasy stories? Or both? Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated.
posted
I would tend to categorize that as Fantasy, simply because to me, Science Fiction is a subgenre of "Things that require suspension of disbelief", that happens to use plausible-if-not-actual science to explain its fantastic elements. If you're not trying to explain how this character does the healing, then it's simply an unexplained phenomenon that you're asking your reader to accept. Ergo, it's "magic" of a sort. Thus, fantasy.
My opinion is, of course, worth every cent you paid for it. Call it what you like. If you get rejected from a fantasy editor for it having been to "sciencey", then submit it to science fiction places.
posted
It sounds like magic realism. You've got a realistic world, except for this one guy who can heal people, and no one ever thinks about how odd that is. I just finished an entire class on magic realism, and your idea sounds like something I would have read.
[This message has been edited by TheOnceandFutureMe (edited December 21, 2007).]
posted
Oh, people definitely think about how odd that is...it's just that nobody ever knows what causes it.
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quote:What I really want to know (and what I'm not sure about), is do I send it to agents/publishers who want science fiction stories, or fantasy stories? Or both? Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated.
I think a better approach would be to find agents who have represented books like yours. While I think fantasy might be a better fit, you don't want to send it to an agent who does only high fantasy. Likewise, you don't want to query an agent who prefers hard sci fi.
When poking around, I've noticed a lot of agents who are willing to represent "fiction with a speculative element". I think that's the sort of thing you might go for. Also, magical realism is trendier these days (look at Haru Murakami's recent popularity). You might consider querying a straight literary or fiction agent.
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Science fiction isn't necessarily in the future. Star Wars starts off '..Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away..' Science fiction is fictionalized science, i.e. made up. The time frame is irrelevant, the science merely needs to sound plausible and its raison d'etre needs to make sense.
posted
I'm inclined not to consider a work science fiction just because it's set in the future. I remember reading the last chapter of The World According to Garp, which dealt with the lives of the characters years and decades after the end of the main story...but it was "Always 1975," as I like to phrase it. There's no trace or even sight of the future in the story. And, as we all know, the world of right now is as different from 1975 as 1975 was different from 1943.
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posted
I would call it science fiction because it is set in the future in a world that is different from our own, but a projection thereof. That is another big thing that scifi does -- it's not all tech stuff. A lot of scifi is social and political commentary on where we're headed. Case in point: "1984" is definitely science fiction but has no technology more advanced than a camera. It was a political/social/human nature story.
As for healing, whether you explain where it comes from or not, it is a recognized possibility in science fiction stories. Unless the healing has some kind of mystical feel to it (draw a pentagram and get out a voodoo doll) than I don't see any need to consider this as fantasy. If there is a mystical feel, it may be *somewhat* science fantasy however, from the brief description the scifi part is overwhelming.
When considering agents and publishers, I would focus on those that do both just because they are probably more open to this softer, less scientific story. I've really seen very few who do scifi without fantasy -- I would be careful about them and make sure that they are ok with "soft" or "social" science fiction.
quote:I think a better approach would be to find agents who have represented books like yours. While I think fantasy might be a better fit, you don't want to send it to an agent who does only high fantasy. Likewise, you don't want to query an agent who prefers hard sci fi.
This is excellent advise. There is a huge range of fantasy and science fiction. An agent that loves handles social science fiction might well never touch hard science fiction. You can research exactly what authors an agent handles. I recommend two sources. I have a subscription to Publisher's Marketplace which I think is a bit on the expensive side but well worth it for the database of who has sold what to whom. Also for free you can use a website called Query Tracker. (I think it's querytracker.net) They have extensive lists of which agents handle which authors. Find which ones handle books that are at least somewhat similar to yours in genre.
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