Science Fiction or Dystopian?

[Heidi M Simone]

Here are a list of questions about this month's genre that we can discuss. I think this will be a great way to get to know each other better and might elicit some interesting conversations!

• Do you enjoy reading books that are strictly science fiction? Why or why not?
• Do dystopian novels excite you or bore you?
• When you hear the words, science fiction, what are your first thoughts?
• What do you visualize when someone says "dystopian"?
• Do you have a favorite dystopian and/or science fiction novel? Which one(s)?
• Which do you prefer to read - science fiction or dystopian? Can you share at least one reason why?

I'm so curious what others think about these genres!

[gali]

Here are a list of questions about this month's genre that we can discuss. I think this will be a great way to get to know each other better and might elicit some interesting conversations!

• Do you enjoy reading books that are strictly science fiction? Why or why not?
• Do dystopian novels excite you or bore you?
• When you hear the words, science fiction, what are your first thoughts?
• What do you visualize when someone says "dystopian"?
• Do you have a favorite dystopian and/or science fiction novel? Which one(s)?
• Which do you prefer to read - science fiction or dystopian? Can you share at least one reason why?

I'm so curious what others think about these genres!

I love science fiction/fantasy/dystopian novels! I also love space opera.

• I love all kinds of science fiction books, not just those which are strictly science fiction. I love reading stories that take place in distant worlds and are set far in the future. Not only do they make you think, but they also explore new and exciting concepts.
• Dystopian novels excite me when they are well-written.
• When I hear the words science fiction, my first thoughts are aliens and space.
• When someone says "dystopian" I visualize a futuristic universe with an oppressive totalitarian government.
• My favorite science fiction novel is The Martian by Andy Weir.
• My favorite dystopian novel is The Handmaid’s Tale by Atwood.
• I don't have a preference. I love both science fiction and dystopian as long as they are original.
  
  Thank you for the cool survey!

[Natalia Nazeem]

Here are a list of questions about this month's genre that we can discuss. I think this will be a great way to get to know each other better and might elicit some interesting conversations!

• Do you enjoy reading books that are strictly science fiction? Why or why not?
• Do dystopian novels excite you or bore you?
• When you hear the words, science fiction, what are your first thoughts?
• What do you visualize when someone says "dystopian"?
• Do you have a favorite dystopian and/or science fiction novel? Which one(s)?
• Which do you prefer to read - science fiction or dystopian? Can you share at least one reason why?

I'm so curious what others think about these genres!

- I do enjoy reading books that are strictly science fiction - it's great to see the writer imagining a futuristic world - whether it's utopian or dystopian, or somewhere in between. It's interesting to see which technology the writer thinks will take off, and how our world will be affected by that.
- Because dystopian literature is such a wide genre, it's difficult for me to have a solid opinion on the genre as a whole. I have read some very good dystopian books, like The Girl With All The Gifts by Mike Carey. Of course, I've also read some more forgettable dystopian books, ones that follow the same trope. The Hunger Games was really good, but the Divergent series felt too similar, and the Maze Runner series even more so.
- When I hear the words 'science fiction', I tend to think of space travel in particular - I think of HG Wells and Star Wars and Isaac Asimov stories.
- When I hear the word 'dystopian', I actually think of a world like the Hunger Games - a world where everyone is suffering at the hands of an elite few.
- My favorite sci-fi novel would be The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin.
- I would prefer to read sci-fi - because there's so many things that you can do with science fiction. Dystopian literature can fall under science fiction, and science fiction can also be more exploratory, and more observational, which is also quite fun to read. Dystopian literature has the tendency to fall into particular tropes, but sci-fi can be far more flexible, based on the type of technology that the writer chooses to explore - from space travel, to surveillance technology, to quantum mechanics and time travel, the list keeps changing as science progresses.

[Amanda Dobson]

I love to read almost everything.
- I will not restrict myself to just one genre because I feel that you then lose out on other great literary works by other authors.
-I wouldn’t say that dystopian books excite or bore me but rather cause me to think differently. I look at those books as a what could happen.
-My first thought when hearing Science Fiction is that it more likely involve aliens of some sort or space travel.
-I visualize when hearing a dystopian society is that to is the illusion of a perfect world. Dystopian society’s are about a certain groups ideal and forcing everyone else to follow it.
-I don’t have a favourite book in either genre but I have read Brave New World, The Handmaids Tale, Zona: The Forbidden Land and a few Star Wars Books.
-I don’t have a preference as I prefer to take each book as it’s own and let it tell me. I believe by making an opinion on the genre you are making assumptions about what the book should be.