You won't believe how often people come into my room, look at my bookcases, register that I am a Serious Reader (note: they don't generally notice the pre-20th century stuff at first, so this is based on just the 20th c fiction), and say in astonishment, "I wouldn't have expected you to have sci-fi!" We're talking about the likes of Ursula Le Guin and Primo Levi here. (I think they'd faint if they realised how many silly audiobooks I listen to, never mind the TV series we watch.) Sometimes you have to point out gently to the poor dears that works like 1984 are sci-fi, too. People have very odd misconceptions about sci-fi. Not to mention the myth that if you enjoy "classic" literature at all, then you must be a puritan who considers herself to be a Higher Being and who would never touch ordinary stuff. I think that's why they're SHOCKED, I tell you, that I like sci-fi.

If I have one complaint about a lot of sci-fi film and TV series, actually, it's that we could do with a bit more "nature red in tooth and claw" and a bit less grey. Either the space ships are grey, or the aliens' skins are grey, or the military uniforms are grey, or everyone's wearing grey because we all know that in the future, the chic colour will be grey. It's terribly boring to look at.