[The Saucepan Man]

That was an interesting link, Turambar. It's a Sci-Fi site, and yet it lists both Sci-Fi and Fantasy literature in its "most influential" list. Also, very interesting that LotR comes out top.

Clearly, there is a point at which Sci-Fi and Fantasy (and also Horror) merge. For example, the Dune series (of which I have only read one) are very much Sci-Fi books, and yet the societies which they portray are often very similar to the kinds of societies which we might find in a Fantasy book. Similarly, Anne McCaffrey's Pern books (which I remember with great affection) were definately set in a Fantasy world, but had a Sci-Fi origin (in that the people of the world had arrived there by means of space travel).

So, I don't see any problem with the close association of these genres. They both rely, as a premise, on a fantastical world very diffferent from our own. Some (like LotR) fall squarely on the Fantasy side, while others (Asimov, Arthur C Clarke) are clearly at the Sci-Fi end of the literature spectrum.

Both (all three, including Horror) genres have their prizes and their boobies. I would be hard pushed not to rate Asimov's books as classics. So, it's not really the genre that counts, but the quality of the book. For example, Wuthering Heights is probably best defined as a work of romantic fiction. And so are the works of Barbara Cartland. I know which I would rather read ... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]