Genre - Science Fiction

Defining the genre

1. A definition

Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations based on current or future science or technology.

In marketing contexts, science fiction can be synonymous with the broader definition of speculative fiction, encompassing creative works incorporating imaginative elements not found in contemporary reality; this includes fantasy, horror, and related genres.

Science fiction differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically established or postulated laws of nature (though some elements in a story might still be pure imaginative speculation).

Science fiction is largely based on writing entertainingly and rationally about alternate possibilities in settings that are contrary to known reality. These include:

 

i. A setting in the future, in alternative time lines, or in a historical past that contradicts known facts of history or the archeological record

 

 

ii. A setting in outer space, on other worlds, or involving aliens

 

 

iii.Stories that contradict known or supposed laws of nature

 

 

iv. Stories that involve discovery or application of new scientific principles, such as time travel or psionics, or new technology, such as nanotechnology, faster-than-light travel or robots, or of new and different political or social systems

 

Author and editor Damon Knight summed up the difficulty of defining sci-fi by stating that "science fiction is what we point to when we say it".

Vladimir Nabokov argued that were we rigorous with our definitions, Shakespeare's play The Tempest would have to be termed science fiction.

2. Main subgenres

a. Hard SF

Hard science fiction, or "hard SF", is characterized by rigorous attention to accurate detail in quantitative sciences, especially physics, astrophysics, and chemistry. Many accurate predictions of the future come from the hard science fiction subgenre, but numerous inaccurate predictions have emerged as well. For example, Arthur C. Clarke accurately predicted geosynchronous communications satellites, but erred in his prediction of deep layers of moondust in lunar craters.

b. Soft and Social SF

"Soft" science fiction is the antithesis of hard science fiction. It may describe works based on social sciences such as psychology, economics, political science, sociology, and anthropology.

The term can describe stories focused primarily on character and emotion although some writers blur the boundary between hard and soft science fiction

c. Cyberpunk

The Cyberpunk genre emerged in the early 1980s; the name is a portmanteau of "cybernetics" and "punk", and was first coined by author Bruce Bethke in his 1980 short story "Cyberpunk".

The time frame is usually near-future and the settings are often dystopian. Common themes in cyberpunk include advances in information technology and especially the Internet (visually abstracted as cyberspace), (possibly malevolent) artificial intelligence, enhancements of mind and body using bionic prosthetics and direct brain-computer interfaces called cyberware, and post-democratic societal control where corporations have more influence than governments. Nihilism, post-modernism, and film noir techniques are common elements, and the protagonists may be disaffected or reluctant anti-heroes.

d. Time Travel

Time travel stories have antecedents in the 18th and 19th centuries, and this subgenre was popularized by H. G. Wells's novel The Time Machine. Stories of this type are complicated by logical problems such as the grandfather paradox.

e. Alternate history

Alternate history stories are based on the premise that historical events might have turned out differently. These stories may use time travel to change the past, or may simply set a story in a universe with a different history from our own.

f. Military SF

Military science fiction is set in the context of conflict between national, interplanetary, or interstellar armed forces; the primary viewpoint characters are usually soldiers. Stories include detail about military technology, procedure, ritual, and history; military stories may use parallels with historical conflicts.

g. Other subgenres

Sci-Fi has spawned an infinite number of specialised subgenre, including:

 

i. Apocalyptic science fiction

 

ii. Post-apocalyptic science fiction

 

iii. Cosy catastrophe

iv. Biopunk

v. Dying Earth science fiction

 

vi. Mundane SF

 

vii. Steampunk

 

viii. Space colonization

 

ix. Space opera

x. Spy-fi

 

xi. Christian science fiction

 

xii. Clerical fiction

 

xiii. Feminist science fiction

 

xiv. Gay science fiction and Lesbian science fiction

 

xv. Libertarian science fiction

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