Difference between Sci Fi v Non-Human

[HeyAll]

Difference between Sci Fi & Non-Human

I'm sure there are plenty of authors here who have written in either category. So what's the fundamental difference? And how important is sex, if at all?

I'm interested in a writing a short sci-fi story about a man & robot, with no sex. It feels like it should go in NonHuman. But I want a Sci Fi feel to it. But it seems like Sci Fi readers here expect sex in it.

Thoughts?

 

[oggbashan]

I'm sure there are plenty of authors here who have written in either category. So what's the fundamental difference? And how important is sex, if at all?

I'm interested in a writing a short sci-fi story about a man & robot, with no sex. It feels like it should go in NonHuman. But I want a Sci Fi feel to it. But it seems like Sci Fi readers here expect sex in it.

Thoughts?

My views:

Robots are Sci-Fi. Non-Human are mythical creatures such as dragons, fairies, centaurs.

Alien species can be Sci-Fi if you meet them in space, Non-Human if they
appear on Earth.

This is Literotica. The readers expect sex with everything. I sometimes disappoint them.

Sex can happen with anyone or anything except those under 18, and real animals. Talking animals are OK.

 

[StrangeLife]

My first wife and her lawyer would not fit in Sci Fi...

 

[johneb87]

My first wife and her lawyer would not fit in Sci Fi...

"Thank you ladies and gentlemen, I'm here 'till Thursday. Be sure to tip your waitress."

 

[lovecraft68]

From this point forward I vote any story revolving around politicians goes into non human.

They're little more than talking animals no one can believe in.

 

[johneb87]

From this point forward I vote any story revolving around politicians goes into non human.

They're little more than talking animals no one can believe in.

My friend, comparing politicians to animals is an insult to animals.

 

[ProxyAccount]

An honest politician = a fictional being

Well, it's better than insulting unicorns... because there might be a world where they exist.

 

[lovecraft68]

My friend, comparing politicians to animals is an insult to animals.

But talking animals really don't exist. Insult avoided.

 

[lovecraft68]

An honest politician =a fictional being

Well, it's better than insulting unicorns... because there might be a world where they exist.

As well as a great example of an oxymoron.

 

[PayDay]

My views:

Robots are Sci-Fi. Non-Human are mythical creatures such as dragons, fairies, centaurs.

Agreed.

Alien species can be Sci-Fi if you meet them in space, Non-Human if they
appear on Earth.

I don't believe Sci-Fi is limited to space; movies for obvious reference: the Matrix or Minority Report.

I would lump time travel in with this as well when done with machinery and not magic. I think it's the technology and science that sway it one way or the other regardless of location. Magic stuff tends to fall into Non-Human.

The middle ground is something like Pern or Star Wars or anything from TSR involving gnomes going to the moon.

..or this bit with the man and robot.
If he intercourses the robot, I'd say Non-Human, though I don't know if it would apply to androids.
If he talks to the robot about it without using penetration, Sci-Fi: Like if he's teaching it how to innuendo or pick gender or something. Anything not involving sexing up the robot would be Sci-Fi.

No sex? Who cares? Just throw a disclaimer in the beginning or something.

I would consider Iron Giant Sci-Fi and it was a cartoon and it took place in the past.

Sex can happen with anyone or anything except those under 18, and real animals. Talking animals are OK.

Ask me how I know

 

[MSTarot]

From this point forward I vote any story revolving around politicians goes into non human.

They're little more than talking animals no one can believe in.

I would have figured any story about politicians would have to go in Anal.

That way you have their point of view, where they are a pain in, and what they are full of, all covered at the same time.

 

[3113]

How about the non-erotic category?

I'm interested in a writing a short sci-fi story about a man & robot, with no sex. It feels like it should go in NonHuman. But I want a Sci Fi feel to it. But it seems like Sci Fi readers here expect sex in it.

There are three categories for "fantasy" stories: sci-fi/fantasy, non-human and erotic horror.

Sci-fi stories can be in the here and now, or in the future (or past) but what they contain can be explained by a change in science—our tech make aliens able to find us, our space flight makes us able to find them. Or we have the science to create new life forms, etc. Robots included.

Fantasy stories mean not only things that happen by magic, but usually happen in a fantasyland—not in the here and now. So there are castles and knights and dragons.

Erotic horror can be in this world or another, but whatever the fantasy creature, there must be something scary about them. The ghost is creepy, the vampire dangerous (if sexy), the monster monstrous.

Non-Human are for stories that take place in our world (past or present) and the tale is about something supernatural but benign. Like an encounter with an angel, or a friendly ghost. The discovery that wood nymphs are real and are great at sex, or a meeting with cupid, himself. This is where you'd put "The Ghost & Mrs. Muir" type romance.

As for expecting sex—if your story hasn't sex in it, then put in the "non-erotic" category. Otherwise, either reader in either category is going to expect sex. And, yes, a robot story is sci-fi, not "non-human." Non-human is having sex with a talking tree not your iPod.

 

[Hypoxia]

"Thank you ladies and gentlemen, I'm here 'till Thursday. Be sure to tip your waitress."

Isn't waitress-tipping illegal, like cow-tipping or dwarf-bowling?

But I digress. My BRIDE OF KONG series has 4 chapters -- actually, 3 chapters, plus a collection of alternate endings. CH.01 is definitely Group Sex, involving various humans. CH.02 is Sci-Fi because it involved advanced cloning technology. CH.03 *could* have been Non-Human because a true human had sex with human hybrids, but I put it in Novellas, to gain wider exposure. CH.04 is in Non-Human because humans have sex with a talking hybrid great ape, a mini-Kong. No chimerae, Chihuahuas, demons, angels, aliens, robots, AI's, unicorns, nor basilisks made their appearance.

I don't foresee writing any fantasy here, nor supernatural non-human, but maybe some Sci-Fi -- because I've always been a hard-SF person, not a fantasist. To me, fantasy is like 3rd-person omniscient, just to easy to cheat with. (Authorial cheating, not sexual.) Different strokes. YMMV.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

One of my first stories posted here was Sci-Fi. It had a small amount of sex. I received comments that they would have voted a 5 even if there was no sex.

Most Sci-Fi readers want Sci-Fi, alien cultures, space battles, battles on other planets, future history, time travel. If there is sex, then it is only a small part of what they are looking for.

 

[PennLady]

Most Sci-Fi readers want Sci-Fi, alien cultures, space battles, battles on other planets, future history, time travel. If there is sex, then it is only a small part of what they are looking for.

You touch on some good points. To me, science fiction is something that extrapolates from known science to make something new -- feasibility isn't necessarily important to me -- and explore how that affects the characters. So yes, space exploration, future history, time travel, colonization of other planets, are all part of it.

But it can be smaller-scale, too. A good example of this is the ...In Death series by Nora Roberts, writing a JD Robb. The books are set in 2058 and forward (she's up to 2060 or so by now) and it's a changed but recognizable world. There are still cars, but they can travel vertically as well as along the road. There are police devices that identify a person, their race(s), time of death, etc., far faster than we can now. Video calls are common, things like that.

There can certainly be overlap between nonhuman and scifi. However, if you have a story set in contemporary times and the only difference is you have werewolves or vampires or something, then to me you're pretty set in nonhuman.

If you had an android, then to me it would depend on how much the science plays into the story. I wrote a romance called "Make a Wish" that involved a genie, but to me the fantasy element was pretty minimal, so I put it in Romance and not SF/Fantasy.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

You touch on some good points. To me, science fiction is something that extrapolates from known science to make something new -- feasibility isn't necessarily important to me -- and explore how that affects the characters. So yes, space exploration, future history, time travel, colonization of other planets, are all part of it.

But it can be smaller-scale, too. A good example of this is the ...In Death series by Nora Roberts, writing a JD Robb. The books are set in 2058 and forward (she's up to 2060 or so by now) and it's a changed but recognizable world. There are still cars, but they can travel vertically as well as along the road. There are police devices that identify a person, their race(s), time of death, etc., far faster than we can now. Video calls are common, things like that.

There can certainly be overlap between nonhuman and scifi. However, if you have a story set in contemporary times and the only difference is you have werewolves or vampires or something, then to me you're pretty set in nonhuman.

If you had an android, then to me it would depend on how much the science plays into the story. I wrote a romance called "Make a Wish" that involved a genie, but to me the fantasy element was pretty minimal, so I put it in Romance and not SF/Fantasy.

And I have written several pieces that I consider Sci-Fi that occur just a scant twenty years into the future. The world hasn't changed much, physically, but the political, economically and socially it has. A dark future history if you will. Then again some of them also include time travel, so they have that going for them.

 

[johneb87]

I also feel like story comes into it as well, along with variety of characters. In my series, I have a few scenes where the main character (human) has a few encounters with a humanoid dragoness. He also has an encounter with a half-lycan and a succubus. But the focus is not on the fact that those characters are not human, but the focus is on the story which takes place in this fantasy world.

So I feel like if you're focusing on the fact that it's an inter-species sexual encounter, then it would be Non-human. To add a further twist to this thread, the Erotic Horror section contains lots of stories about human/non-human encounters. But the difference is that they usually end in death or the threat of it, or some other unfortunate way.

 

[Handley_Page]

My first wife and her lawyer would not fit in Sci Fi...

I never thought of that. My Ex certainly would.

From this point forward I vote any story revolving around politicians goes into non human.
They're little more than talking animals no one can believe in.

They might talk, but it's not exactly "understandable", is it?

An honest politician = a fictional being
Well, it's better than insulting unicorns... because there might be a world where they exist.

I'm confident there is. . . .

 

[robertreams]

enter it in non-erotic

 

[ScouriesWorld]

Difference between Sci Fi & Non-Human?

Who cares... Neither category belongs on this site.

And please remember that A.I.R. does not accept any story posted in these categories in their contests.

Thanks...​