| ▲ | gavmor 2 days ago | |
It takes place on another planet, and isn't alien biology "science" speculation, enough? Besides, it's not even her best work. Looking forward to reading your story! You might consider Ted Chiang. | ||
| ▲ | romanows 2 days ago | parent [-] | |
Having something like another planet or alien biology is necessary but not sufficient to make something science fiction. There is some fuzzy amount of focus on science/technology, style, and tropes that are needed to make something more science fiction than fantasy or speculative fiction. The Left Hand of Darkness read more like fantasy to me, and I don't think it would have been any different at all if the setting was Middle Earth and the ambisexual species were Hobbits. I think I wouldn't have blinked if it had been described as "science fantasy" to me rather than "science fiction". I'll bump up Chiang on my reading list, I have heard a lot of good things! | ||