Science Fiction and Fantasy - Threat or Menace?

[Sablesword]

I like fantasy and science fiction. It's what I do. It gives me scope. And it allows for not only interesting new tickle-methods (that can't or can't-yet be used in real life) - but it also allows for interesting new reasons for tickling.

Yet I have to wonder: How many readers are there here who don't care for science fiction & fantasy. Who don't "get" it, the way I don't "get" the attractions of fan-fic? Who would rather see more tickle fiction in a real-world setting?

I won't change for such people. I don't think I could. But I would like to know who I'm missing.

 

[Cbarton]

Always a difficult balance. My new series will be a drift into spiritual fantasy of sorts. Will be interesting to see the responses you get, if any.

 

[Carnivore]

Wow, its like Sablesword runs this section of the forum. At any rate, having read through your stories, I'm for the most part with you. I like sci-fi and fantasy settings, they're fun. Although to be honest, sometimes it puts me off. I'm trying to think of why, and it may be when the characters aren't 'human' formed. I never really cared for the centaurs or hobbits the same way as cat aliens, elves, orcs, etc. An elf or a catgirl are 'exotic' people with a hint of monster in them, and I can understand them as human characters. On the other end, tentacle creatures and such are almost all 'monster' with a hint of cognition. They aren't really 'characters as much as obstacles. But for some reason there's a middle ground I don't like, as though I can't empathize or care about the characters. Perhaps for centaurs its because their so dichotomous: 100% human top, 100% horse bottom, as opposed to blended, more holistic features.

Not sure if this is the spirit of your question, but hopefully a worthwhile comment. I enjoy your stories, Sablesword, always fun to see more!

 

[skull108]

i guess it all depends on the readers personal taste and point of vieuw.To me i like all settinsg , from caveman age to the space and beyond.

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

I love sci-fi and fantasy (and horror), but for some reason I can't quite pinpoint, I don't bother with reading tickle-fiction with those settings. Now, you(Sablesword) are an excellent writer, and if I WAS going to read tickling-fantasy, your stuff would be right up my alley.

I dunno, just prefer more real-world(possible) settings, if I'm going to bother reading tickling-fic at all. I agree that fantasy/sci-fi offer up wondrous potential for otherwise impossible scenarios, though. I think that, at least in terms of, say, sword & sorcery scenarios, when the threat of being gobbled for breakfast by a pterodactyl(for instance) is on the table, being ruthlessly tickled just seems rather underwhelming.

 

[Sablesword]

OK, but just to be annoying: In real-world fiction, the threat of being rubbed-out by the mafia, or "disappeared" by some government agency, or even just being run over by a truck, is on the table. So why is it that the prospect of being ruthlessly tickled in a mainstream setting doesn't seem underwhelming to you?

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

OK, but just to be annoying: In real-world fiction, the threat of being rubbed-out by the mafia, or "disappeared" by some government agency, or even just being run over by a truck, is on the table. So why is it that the prospect of being ruthlessly tickled in a mainstream setting doesn't seem underwhelming to you?

Well, that's not really a fair comparison, because all of those things could conceivably happen in your fantasy setting, too. Replacing the truck with a cart and so on. It's just that, when I think of high fantasy & sci-fi, it's usually big adventure. Dragons, sorcerers and so forth. Tickling might make an interesting interlude, as, say, an adventurer has a lighter situation traveling through a magical forest, getting tickle-pestered by pixies or something, or even in a dungeon setting in some circumstances. As the worst torment imaginable that the adventuring party might face in a land of menacing creatures, powerful magic, and undead witch-kings? Eh, not for me.

 

[Sablesword]

OK, I guess I don't necessarily think of fantasy & science fiction as necessarily being "big adventure." And I definitely don't like to use tickling as the Worst Torment Ever (TM) in any case. In fact one of the reasons why I like using fantasy & SF is that it does make it easier to work up reasons for tickling other than "tickling is a diabolically effective form of torture."

One trope I use a lot is "tickling as a faux torture, used to cleverly avoid having to apply a real torture." (See my "Centaur Tickling" stories, for example.) In the "tee-pod" stories, the aliens use tickling to pacify/tranqualize the human POWs, and consider doing so to be much more civilized & respectful of the POWs dignity than herding them in with barbed wire and machine guns (or the ray-gun equivalents). I've used tickling as a way to shut down the magic power of sorceresses, or to modify them. I'm working on a story where "the tickle cure" is used as an analogy to the "water cure" of historical spas and baths. There are stories where tickling pulls out psychic or quasi-psychic energies, useful for making starships go.

And there are all the stories I want to see (even if I have to write them myself) where tickling is used as an interrogation technique in ways other than the cliche "tickling used as straight-up torture." Most of which require some sort of fantasy or science fiction thingie to make them go.

But yeah, tickling is going to be a false note in a "big adventure" story, whether high fantasy, science fiction, or a real-world war, spy, crime, etc. story.

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

Excellent points. Yeah, I think it has as much to do with me overcoming my own deep-seated cliches in looking at fantasy/sci-fi more than anything else.

 

[Cosmo_ac1]

me, i love fantasy/sci-fi tickling. Wish we had more.

 

[the_jimmy_james]

It's only cool if the spaceships are interesting, the heroes bold, and the villains cheesily over-the-top.

Like, if someone tried something based on that gawd-awful 2000s do-over of "Battlestar Galactica," it would reek of suck as much as the bland show. Why? Because the power of any fantastic setting is only as good as the creativity behind it.

And brother, there's been a total lack of creativity in the fantastic genres during the last decade. If you're going to do it, do it right. Nobody wants to see "modern people against unusual phenomena" because that sucks, and is boring. The failures of "Heroes," "Flash-Forward" and the do-over of "V" prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt, while the brilliantly-made "Merlin" grows and grows and grows in popularity. Why? Because nobody in it is "out of their element," or "faced with a changing world," or any of the other shitty buzzwordish things they try to throw into shows these days.

So, make your setting something something awesome, filled with creatvity, shovel in a nice load of shlock, and you'll do great!

 

[Logi47]

Failure to appreciate Battlestar Galactica severely damages the credibility of any other claims one makes.

Heroes was a superb show for nearly a season, and its failure had nothing to do with setting. The problem was that the writers never bothered to create a story arc, and just started making crap up. And in so doing, destroyed the relationship between Peter and Nathan that was initially the strongest part of the series.

In short: treat science fiction/fantasy like any other genre, and you'll do well. If you write a good series, you'll have a good series. If you just use the setting as an excuse to gloss over the story or characters, you won't.

 

[Sablesword]

I think a distinction needs to be made between the different media. There is more to science fiction & fantasy than just TV & movies. There's written SF too, and not just TV/movie tie-ins, either.

And since this is the story section for written tickle-stories... how many science fiction or fantasy books have you read recently? How many of them were something other than tie-ins to the moving-picture stuff?