SciFi elements in "Gravity's Rainbow"?

[Tom Beshear]

What if magic exists? That's a speculative question; millionaires have been 
made answering it.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Monroe" <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
To: <kelber at mindspring.com>
Cc: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2011 12:51 PM
Subject: Re: SciFi elements in "Gravity's Rainbow"?


On Sun, Aug 21, 2011 at 11:38 AM,  <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:

> I've never understood why fantasy and sci-fi are lumped together. They 
> both fall under the "speculative fiction" umbrella, and there's sometimes 
> overlap. But what (in hell!) do Game of Thrones and books of that ilk have 
> in common with science-based fiction? I'm interested in speculations about 
> where technology is leading us, the nature of intelligence and its place 
> in the universe. It doesn't follow that I should be interested in dragons 
> and medieval-ish knights and battling elves.

... me, I wouldn't call fantasy, sword + sorcery, whatever,
"speculative" (though The Sword of Shannara et al. have
postapocalyptic SF trappings).  "Speculating" on what?  What if the
supernatural was natural?