Science Fantasy 

    Some sci-fi books, shows etc. are strictly creating a scientific fictional environment. Think Ringworld by Larry Niven or Star Trek and I must give kudos to the Trek writers for doing their homework. The show is as close to real science as the concepts can be. But sci-fi and fantasy needn't be separate genres walled off from each other. I prefer some whimsy in my sci-fi.

    The best examples of this type of hybrid are The Chronicles of Amber book series by Roger Zelazny and Final Fantasy video game series. They combine things like machines with monsters and sword fighting. To make these settings plausible you need some sort of explanation as to how magic works. There's often a scientific one like FFVII's materia. In the future I plan to have my own Signature series.

    One pet peeve of mine though is why use swords when guns are superior on so many levels? Guns exert more force with less effort, greater range, speed and take up less space than swords. Most works that share the two have to make guns considerably less powerful or give villains the aim of storm troopers. 

    In my novel I address this issue by having swords be a multi-use tool that can change shape. You might have noticed the orbs on the back hands of my characters in sketches; these act as energy firing weapons. I like practical tools, at least for the characters of this dimension...

    Anyway, I recommend everything mentioned, as always, so check it out if you're interested. Please comment on what types of sci-fi you prefer.