CompuServe Messages

Now _that_ sounds interesting. I never heard of Ambrose Bierce except in connection with the Devil's Dictionary – is 'The Damned Thing' a novel? A poem? Or a two-line graffito? Anyway, I'll walk into this one. I would say, yes, 'ultraviolet paint' is a concept (a pathetically weak one) of science fiction; and yes, Ring of Invisibility is a concept of fantasy. At least, that's how they strike me, I guess because the former attempts to explain itself in scientific terms; the latter makes no explanation at all (beyond: "This ring will make you invisible if you wear it because it has the property of making its wearer invisible".) Unlike a lot of people here, it seems, I'm not bothered by a fantasy's 'failure' to explain. In science fiction, the explanations can be a lot of fun, but will rarely either make or break a story. In fantasy, as in (say) Greek myth, or Macbeth, explanations are generally a waste of time, since the point is, perhaps, to extend the range of story-telling by admitting a few impossible premises, then for the sake of the story ignoring their impossibility. Nick