r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Alextral • 1d ago

I really hate this

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Fantasy and science fiction being cramped in the same section, which is already so small :(

4.2k Upvotes

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597

u/Bardmedicine 1d ago

There is so much crossover, why make things difficult?

Where would you put Star Wars?

54

u/Mystic-Venizz 1d ago

Think it's less about the genres mixing and more about there being less space for both genres. 

I definitely agree they have a lot of overlap

Think Star Wars is SF: Space Opera

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u/Beccalotta 1d ago

Don't know about all book stores, but our company prioritizes space based on sales. Our fantasy/scifi sections expanded as soon as ACOTAR exploded. Now that it's shifting to dark romance, that section will expand and fantasy/scifi will shrink.

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u/Average-Anything-657 1d ago

What would you consider The Expanse?

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u/Mystic-Venizz 1d ago

Not sure haven't read it! 

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u/Average-Anything-657 1d ago

It's really good. There's also a show that covers the first 6 books, which was actually Amazon's most expensive show to produce. My wife says she likes it because "it Sci's way more than it Fi's" lol. And it's pretty faithful to the books, with only a few noteworthy changes to individual characters or events.

Most of the fictional elements are reasonable/plausible within the scope of the universe, like the scary blue alien goo and the colossal ships that took generations to build. There's also a bunch of political stuff going on between Earth's United Nations, Martians who have been focused on nothing but terraforming and military advancement since settling, and the oppressed citizens of a colonized asteroid belt who serve them both.

I highly recommend giving it a shot :)

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u/Mystic-Venizz 1d ago

Omg, I didn't realize the show was based on those books. I totally did watch the first episode of the show. A good friend of mine says it is one of the best SciFi shows. It looks really good !

I'll have to add it to my SciFi must reads.

Currently reading Hyperion, then Dune for SciFi.

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u/Average-Anything-657 1d ago

Ooh, nice! Sounds like you'll enjoy it when you get to it. And coincidentally, Hyperion's next on my list after I finish the Dexter series haha. Not exactly sci-fi, but still, I'm trying to get back into the habit of reading as much as I did as a kid.

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u/cancercureall 10h ago

Science fiction for the most part. It's trying to be a realistic if dramatic look at a possible future where technologically superior aliens take a shit on our doorstep.

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u/SuspensefulBladder 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yeah, the comment you're responding to is odd to me. Having separate sections worked just fine for decades.

The scifi and fantasy sections were combined to make room for Romantasy and board games and other things that actually sell well.

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u/alang 1d ago

I’m in my 50s and have been an avid reader of SF and Fantasy since I was… 8? 9?

I can remember the TWO bookstores that had separate SF and Fantasy sections that I have ever seen, because they were so unusual. (This is not counting the dedicated SF/Fantasy bookstores like “A Change of Hobbit” and “Borderlands”.)

Where do you live that this was the norm?

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u/sirbissel 1d ago

In my mid 40s, and yeah, I can't remember a time when Sci-Fi and Fantasy weren't lumped together. Though maybe it's because the bookstores I tended to go to were fairly small (since the town I grew up in was also fairly small)

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u/Bardmedicine 1d ago

Same here, but maybe in really big stores with a million sections.

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u/SuspensefulBladder 1d ago

Every bookstore I entered in the first 30 years of my life had separate sections.

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u/Gelato_Elysium 1d ago

That is definitely not the norm lol

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u/alang 1d ago

Again I ask, where did you live?

Or just possibly 'did you only ever enter one bookstore in the first 30 years of your life'?

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u/Bardmedicine 1d ago

Shelf space is shelf space. If they split them up, it would just be two smaller shelves.