Sci-Fi Romance discussion

I know we've all noticed that both genres share some of the same monsters. I keep looking for more and more zombie novels. There's the voodoo zombie that's risen from the dead because of black magic or whatever, and the sci-fi zombie that was human that's been bitten and turned, or they inhaled some chemical or something and became a zombie. Then, there's the genetically engineered shape shifter, or the magical shape shifter. My question is this, does anyone feel that there should be more distance (for lack of a better word) between these two genre's?

I don't mind the similarities nor the cross overs. I think that the meeting of different genres can only generate new tropes and ideas, and is thus a good thing.

I like how you've divided it up here though, because so often books that are simply set in the future are defined as science-fiction, even when science has nothing to do with it. Still, it's not always easy.

The Psy-Changeling series for instance. It's set in the future, has both genetic shape shifters as genetic Psychic powered humans as regular humans.

Is this PNR? I'd argue not, because there's no magic involved whatsoever.
Is it SFR? I'd argue not, because the science isn't very important to the plot.

Is it Futuristic romance? Definitely so. So it can be filed under SFR.
Does it have humans who have a special power/are something beyond normal? Yes, so it falls under PNR.

There's just too many qualifiers for a book to be science-fiction or paranormal, so I think it's no wonder books can overlap when it comes to genres.

Well said Jan! The Psy-Changeling series is one of those series where I couldn't really decide where it fit in. After my last post, I went to Border's and racked on some more books. I bought books by C.J. Cherryh, and I'm thinking that she must be an author that writes sci-fi/ SFR that doesn't blend her writing with PNR.

I don't mind the blending of the two genre's, I just think that it's getting more difficult to tell the difference between the two for a sci-fi newbie such as myself.

So now I have another question:

Is there a difference between futuristic romance and sci-fi romance?

I think historically all things futuristic are always shelved under science-fiction, even when there is absolutely nothing science related in the story.

For instance, a lot of post-apocalypse fiction has no scientific plot whatsoever, but is still considered science-fiction (I think).

It's why I shelf everthing under speculative, and then specify further.

Jan wrote: "I think historically all things futuristic are always shelved under science-fiction, even when there is absolutely nothing science related in the story.

For instance, a lot of post-apocalypse fict..."

Oh. Now I get it. Futuristic novels don't always = science fiction, and for sci-fi, there needs to be some sort of scientific/ tech elements to the plot. Thanks Jan!