Speculative Fiction : Part 1
- "A genre of fiction that encompasses works in which the setting is other than the real world, involving supernatural, futuristic, or other imagined elements."
Speculative fiction is an umbrella term for lots of other fiction genres, as varied and diverse as any genre could be. In today’s first of two blog posts about this genre we want to look at what speculative fiction is, where it comes from as well as how long it has been gracing our bookshelves for and which sub genres belong to it. We then also look at famous speculative fiction authors and their stories which may inspire you to write your own Sci-Fi story.
What is speculative fiction?
According to Boyd (2021) speculative fiction “is a super-genre of fiction. In essence, it encompasses other genres of fiction. Namely, those containing elements that don’t exist in reality, recorded history, nature, or the present universe. The speculative genre also encompasses myriad themes, including supernatural, futuristic, and many other imaginative topics.” Some of the sub genres associated with this are “science fiction, fantasy fiction, horror fiction or superhero power story”, and more. Boyd (2021) also suggests that many attribute the term to Robert A. Heinlein, who wrote in 1949,
“Speculative fiction (I prefer that term to science fiction)
is also concerned with sociology, psychology, esoteric aspects of biology,
the impact of terrestrial culture on the other cultures we may encounter when we conquer space, etc., without end.”
One would be forgiven to think that speculative fiction is a relatively young genre. The thought of aliens, robots or other characters evokes a feeling that E.T., Transformers and Ironman were the forerunners of speculative fiction but Boyd (2021) suggests that there is evidence that “speculative fiction has been around for centuries; one could even consider Homer’s epic poems The Odyssey and The Iliad speculative works. After all, they involve fantastical creatures, like the cyclops, which do not exist. Similarly, William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream could also be considered an early example of speculative fiction. The famous play features a reality where characters move freely through time, space, and fairyland. As far as the origins of the term “speculative fiction” goes, while he is often given the credit, it’s debatable whether Robert A. Heinlein coined the phrase in his 1947 essay, “On the Writing of Speculative Fiction.”
Why the doubt? Because the first use of “speculative fiction” can be traced to 1887. That’s when the term first appeared in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine from the pen of M. F. Egan, who wrote, “Edward Bellamy, in ‘Looking Backward,’ and George Parsons Lathrop, in a short story, ‘The New Poverty,’ have followed the example of Anthony Trollope and Bulwer in speculative fiction put in the future tense.”
However, not everyone agrees. As Boyd (2021) suggests, there are various authors that hold different opinions. For example, Heinlein wrote in 1949: “Speculative fiction is not fantasy fiction, as it rules out the use of anything as material which violates established scientific fact, laws of nature, call it what you will, i.e., it must [be] possible to the universe as we know it. Thus, Wind in the Willows is fantasy, but the much more incredible extravaganzas of Dr. Olaf Stapledon are speculative fiction—science fiction.” More over, “Margaret Atwood says she considers speculative fiction and science fiction nearly interchangeable. In the book, Atwood cites fellow author Ursula K. Le Guin‘s opinion, saying that science fiction becomes speculative fiction when the story’s contents could happen. Those that couldn’t happen, Le Guin considers “fantasy.” (Boyd, 2021)
As mentioned above, speculative fiction is a broad term for a lot of sub genres and Boyd (2021) call it a super genre. He quotes the Speculative Literature Foundation which states that “Speculative literature is a catch-all term meant to inclusively span the breadth of fantastic literature, encompassing literature ranging from hard science fiction to epic fantasy to ghost stories to horror to folk and fairy tales to slipstream to magical realism to modern myth-making — and more. Any piece of literature containing a fabulist or speculative element would fall under our aegis, and would potentially be work that we would be interested in supporting.”
Subgenres of speculative fiction
There are many subgenres within speculative fiction, and we have researched some of them and bring you a summary of the writer’s community thoughts on sub-genres. Newman (2019) describes the genre of speculative fiction as multi-faceted and endless, but picks out the following as the most important subgenres:
“Hard science-fiction
Stories where real-world science is centre stage. Hard sci-fi stories typically explore the ideas surrounding a particular scientific idea or invention.
Soft science-fiction
In contrast to hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi is either focussed on the social sciences (anthropology instead of physics, for example), or is simply more concerned with telling a good story than with ensuring that everything is scientifically accurate.
Space opera
At the complete other end of the spectrum from hard sci-fi is space opera, which has very little to do with realism. Generally speaking, space operas include fantasy technology, improbable aliens, and epic plots. Think Star Wars, and you’ll be in the right general area.
Slipstream
Slipstream is a term that’s generally used to refer to fiction that crosses the boundary between genres. A slipstream story might have elements of several genres – the focus on character and mood of a literary story combined with a space opera setting, for example.
Post-apocalyptic
These are stories which revolve around survival in a world that has endured (or is currently enduring) some kind of all-consuming disaster.
Dystopian
Dystopian stories are distinct from post-apocalyptic ones. Usually, in a dystopian story, the world hasn’t ended, but may have changed into (or always have been) a warped and unsettling version of the real world.
Alternate history
Alternate history stories are exactly what they sound like. Rather than taking place in a totally fictional world, these stories go back in time and change something specific about real-world history, then explore the results.
Cyberpunk
One way of characterising cyberpunk is with the phrase “low life and high tech”. Cyberpunk stories often take place in gritty urban landscapes, usually dystopian, and feature crime, espionage, body-hacking and advanced technology.
[Other]-punk
Cyberpunk has inspired a raft of other movements with specific focusses. Solarpunk, for example, concentrates on worlds which make significant use of solar technology, while biopunk is all about biotech, and nanopunk explores the potential of nanorobots.”
Masterclass (2021) also suggests the following:
“Sci-fi fantasy fiction: sci-fi stories inspired by mythology, folklore, and fairy tales that combine imagined technologies with elements of magical realism.
Supernatural fiction: sci-fi stories about secret knowledge or hidden abilities including witchcraft, spiritualism, and psychic abilities.
Urban fantasy fiction: fantasy stories that take place in an urban setting in the real world but operate under magical rules.
Utopian fiction: stories about civilisations the authors deem to be perfect, ideal societies.
Apocalyptic fiction: stories that take place before and during a huge disaster that wipes out a significant portion of the world’s population. The stories centre around characters doing everything they can to stay alive—for example, running from zombies or trying to avoid a deadly plague.
Superhero fiction: stories about superheroes and how they use their abilities to fight super villains.”
As you can see, there are so many possible sub genres, one that will hold a story or world that you will be able to immerse yourself into. We are now looking at
Famous speculative fiction authors and stories
The list of speculative fiction authors that have shaken the world and changed storytelling and our bookshelves forever is longer than Rapunzel’s hair, and we have scoured book blogs and book bloggers to present a list to you that is a beginning, but by no means exhaustive.
QU Speculations (2016) suggests the following:
“The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
This series of three books, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mocking jay, depict the post-apocalyptic society given the name of Panem. This society is broken up into two parts, the Capitol and the 12 Districts. Living in the capital is the top of the social food chain, engaging in lavish lifestyles. While in the districts, the people face poverty and hardship. The futuristic society is put in place to keep a strict sense of order. Each year, to commemorate the war that prompted the dividing into two vastly different societies, a televised fight to the death (named the Hunger Games) is held to keep the inferior people under the control of the Capitol. The series follows Katniss Everdeen, a teenage girl from the 12th and poorest district, and her and her friends’ rebellion towards the Capitol.
Suzanne Collin’s series can fit into a variety of the speculative fiction genres and sub-genres. Some of these include science fiction, future, and dystopia. Because the time period is an unspecified time in the future, the books fit perfectly into the genre of a futuristic novel. The genre of dystopia can be argued, seeing as it goes hand in hand with utopia. Due to the viewpoint of the story being told by the oppressed people, their lives would make the plot a dystopian one. If the perspective were to be flipped to be from that of the Capitol, one could argue the idea that they live in a utopian society.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
This classic demonstrates the relationship between Dr. Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde, who represent the best and worst people in society, when referring to a moral sense. Jekyll is a giving and well loved doctor, who looks out for Hyde, a killer and sadist, for unknown reasons. The reader is taken on a journey of how a person’s desires are split between being classified as morally good or bad. It forces consideration of where responsibility lies within an individual and we then dictate where said responsibility lies. The relationship between Jekyll and Hyde also points to the feared reality of what human nature could very possibly be.
This fits into both horror and science fiction from the contexts of the novel. Hyde is created from Jekyll wanting to isolate human evilness, and an experiment that goes terribly wrong. This is a tell-tale sign of the science fiction genre, in which man tried to surpass god and ended up being subsequently punished for this. The horror aspect of this novel lies within its gothic roots focused on both isolation and the immoral section of human nature that society tries to keep hidden in the shadows.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial by Steven Spielberg
This old classic film illustrates the friendship between a young boy, Elliot, and an alien named E.T. who becomes stranded on Earth. Elliot keeps E.T’s existence hidden from his family as well as the government, all while trying to bring him back to his home planet. Elliot’s brother and sister find E.T. hidden in Elliot’s room, and the three of them work together to get E.T. back to his family. However, E.T. becomes sick and needs outside help in order to get better before returning home.
This film fits the category of both science fiction and fantasy. The friendship between a human and an alien from a foreign planet portrays the unrealistic interactions between a human and another species. This film allows us to imagine a different kind of friendship that doesn’t exist in the real world, and it makes the audience wish that they had this type of friendship. Additionally, throughout the movie there is a sense of curiosity from Elliot towards E.T’s homeland and his separate and mysterious life, which shows a sense of the unknown.
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R Tolkien takes place in a fictional world referred to as “Middle Earth.” In this series it is not uncommon for characters to have magical abilities. It is also commonplace to see fantastical creatures such as dwarves, elves, goblins, and even trees that can move. The main plot line of the movie follows the protagonist, Frodo, as he travels across Middle Earth in the hopes of destroying an all powerful ring that possesses the power to corrupt the minds of the weak.
One of the most relevant tropes of the fantasy genre is magic, a trope that can be easily seen within the Lord of the Rings series. The characters use magical abilities in order to free themselves from the many difficult and dangerous situations they find themselves in throughout the series. Another important aspect of fantasy is the idea of an epic journey.
Cinderella by Grimm Brothers
Cinderella by The Grimm Brothers is a classical version that holds all the gruesome details that disney has graciously left out. Cinderella’s mother dies and her father remarries and she unfortunately gets the short end of the stick. While they have taken over her house and her relationship with her father she was left to weep over her mother’s grave. A three-night festival comes up for the king to find his bride, but there was no chance of Cinderella going if her step mothers and two stepsisters were aware of this. Secretly Cinderella goes to her mother’s day each day to get a beautiful gown and slippers and makes her way to the ball. As she goes on hiding her identity from the Prince and their magical evenings, it doesn’t stay secretive for long.
The story fits the category of fairy tales very well. Cinderella lives a wonderful life until the evil stepmother swoops in and takes over, leaving Cinderella being the maid of her own house. While she weeps over her mother’s grave she has become friendly with the animals in the forest who come in to help her in her time of need especially when it is time to go to the ball and she has not one gown to go in. After being mistreated for so long, the evil ones got what they deserve and Cinderella gets her happily ever after, as do all fairytales end that way.
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Martian is about an astronaut named Mark Watney who gets left on Mars when his crew thinks he is dead. The book begins with how such a tragedy happened, then how Watney attempts to regain contact with Earth, and finally how to get back to Earth. The book is told in journal logs by Watney, third person narration for the crew and NASA, and a third person omniscient is written at times to explain certain disasters.
This novel is sci-fi because it uses a topic that could potentially happen if NASA continues to improve its technology. It explains all of the technology in depth and makes something that NASA is trying so hard to do today that could possibly happen, into a story that keeps readers entranced.”
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood’s best-selling dystopian novel deals with the control of a region in the United States under totalitarian control. In the country, Gilead, women are seen as property of the state and those that are fertile are used as Handmaids, who have to conceive, carry and give birth to babies that will be handed over to the ruling classes. Many of the couples of those classes are unable to have children themselves because of environmental and radiation issues, so those children are fathered by the men during ceremonies where the wives are present as the Handmaid is impregnated. The story is told from the view of Offred, a Handmaid whose life the story follows through her service to a ruling couple, and her quest to become pregnant in order to survive the regime in some way.
Margaret Atwood always maintained that her story is one of speculative fiction and that her ideas came from political developments not only in the United States back in the 1980s but also in other countries worldwide. The oppression of women around the world throughout history in a variety of ways inspired Atwood to write this work of speculative fiction.
Most of the above examples of speculative fiction from their various subgenres are written by men, although women are represented with often earth-shatteringly provoking and exceptional works, as the above examples show. In our next blog post we will investigate whether speculative fiction is a mainly male-dominated field or whether many women are simply not as well represented and show-cased as their male counterparts. We will also discuss the influences of speculative fiction to understand in more detail how imagination, psychology, history and current political and scientific events are linked to those stories.
References:
8 Subgenres of Science Fiction | Noble Newman | Pittsburgh Writer
What is Speculative Fiction: A Complete Guide to the Encompassing Genre (fictionphile.com)
Famous Examples of Speculative Fiction – QU Speculations (wordpress.com)
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