How much Sci-fi?

Thinking this week about sci-fi and fantasy, genres I generally don't enjoy made me wonder what is my tipping point. I loved Unwind. I never would have picked that book off the shelf with it's ominous cover of a fingerprint yet because it was my required book this week I dove in and couldn't put it down. What this story had was an amazingly deep premise that resonates with every human. Can someone decide if you are fit to live? What is life, really--just our bodies staying alive and intact? What do we do with the undesirable: unwanted babies, kids using state resources, trouble makers, criminals? What this story didn't have were many of the elements of sci fi that turn me off: mad scientists, technology running amuck, that type of thing. Other than being a futuristic society ( I enjoyed how they made reference to our time) and having a procedure to unwind people, it read like realistic fiction. There was no disc world, blue elephants, or other bizarre elements some of my classmates had to navigate.

Having just enjoyed New Moon with my daughter we were talking about the film. She said she really liked it, "except for the science fiction parts." Morphing into werewolves and vampires flying around fighting wasn't the story she was after--it was the love story.

So many of the stories we have looked at have elements of many different genres. If they are subtle, it often allows us to enjoy a genre outside of our normal comfort zone. That in turn might stretch our taste just a little to let in a bit more. Heck, before you know it, I just may be reading a book with a dragon on the cover.