Science Fiction - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Science fiction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but moreor less plausible (or at least non-supernatural) content such as futuresettings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, andparanormal abilities. Exploring the consequences of scientificinnovations is one purpose of science fiction, making it a "literature ofideas".[1]

Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternativepossible worlds or futures.[2] It is similar to, but differs from fantasy inthat, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largelypossible within scientifically established or scientifically postulated lawsof nature (though some elements in a story might still be pureimaginative speculation).

The settings for science fiction are often contrary to known reality, butmost science fiction relies on a considerable degree of suspension ofdisbelief, which is facilitated in the reader's mind by potential scientificexplanations or solutions to various fictional elements. Science fictionelements include:

A time setting in the future, in alternative timelines, or in ahistorical past that contradicts known facts of history or thearchaeological record.A spatial setting or scenes in outer space (e.g., spaceflight), on

other worlds, or on subterranean earth.[3]

Characters that include aliens, mutants, androids, or humanoidrobots.Technology that is futuristic (e.g., ray guns, teleportation machines,

humanoid computers).[4]

Scientific principles that are new or that contradict known laws ofnature, for example time travel, wormholes, or faster-than-lighttravel.New and different political or social systems (e.g. dystopia, post-scarcity, or a post-apocalyptic situation where organized society

has collapsed).[5]

Paranormal abilities such as mind control, telepathy, telekinesis,and teleportation.

Contents [hide]

1 Definitions2 History

2.1 The term "sci-fi"2.2 Innovation

3 Subgenres3.1 Hard SF

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The Encyclopedia of ScienceFiction

3.2 Soft and social SF3.3 Cyberpunk3.4 Time travel3.5 Alternate history3.6 Military SF3.7 Superhuman3.8 Apocalyptic3.9 Space opera3.10 Space Western3.11 Other sub-genres

4 Related genres4.1 Speculative fiction, fantasy, and horror4.2 Fantasy4.3 Horror fiction4.4 Mystery fiction4.5 Superhero fiction

5 Fandom and community5.1 Awards5.2 Conventions, clubs, and organizations5.3 Fanzines and online fandom5.4 Fan fiction

6 Science fiction studies6.1 Science fiction as serious literature

7 Science fiction world-wide7.1 Africa and African diaspora7.2 Asia and the Middle East7.3 Europe

7.3.1 Germany and Austria7.3.2 France, other Francophone countries, and Qubec

7.4 Oceania7.5 North America7.6 Latin America

8 See also9 Notes and references

9.1 Notes9.2 References

10 External links

For more details on this topic, see Definitions of science fiction.

Science fiction is difficult to define, as it includes a wide range of subgenres and themes. Author andeditor Damon Knight summed up the difficulty by stating that "science fiction is what we point to whenwe say it",[6] a definition echoed by author Mark C. Glassy, who argues that the definition of sciencefiction is like the definition of pornography: you don't know what it is, but you know it when you seeit.[7] Vladimir Nabokov argued that if we were rigorous with our definitions, Shakespeare's play TheTempest would have to be termed science fiction.[8]

According to science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein, "a handy short definition of almost all sciencefiction might read: realistic speculation about possible future events, based solidly on adequateknowledge of the real world, past and present, and on a thorough understanding of the nature andsignificance of the scientific method."[9] Rod Serling's definition is "fantasy is the impossible made

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probable. Science Fiction is the improbable made possible."[10] Lester del Rey wrote, "Even thedevoted aficionadoor fanhas a hard time trying to explain what science fiction is", and that thereason for there not being a "full satisfactory definition" is that "there are no easily delineated limits toscience fiction."[11]

For more details on this topic, see History of science fiction.

As a means of understanding the world through speculation and storytelling, science fiction hasantecedents back to mythology, though precursors to science fiction as literature can be seen inLucian's True History in the 2nd century,[12][13][14][15][16] some of the Arabian Nights tales,[17][18]

The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter in the 10th century,[18] Ibn al-Nafis' Theologus Autodidactus in the13th century,[19] and Jules Verne's A Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Twenty ThousandLeagues Under the Sea in the 19th century.

A product of the budding Age of Reason and the development of modern science itself, JonathanSwift's Gulliver's Travels[20] was one of the first true science fantasy works, together with Voltaire'sMicromgas (1752) and Johannes Kepler's Somnium (16201630).[21] Isaac Asimov and Carl Saganconsider the latter work the first science fiction story.[22][23] It depicts a journey to the Moon and howthe Earth's motion is seen from there. Another example is Ludvig Holberg's novel Nicolai Klimii itersubterraneum, 1741. (Translated to Danish by Hans Hagerup in 1742 as Niels Klims underjordiskeRejse.) (Eng. Niels Klim's Underground Travels.) Brian Aldiss has argued that Mary Shelley'sFrankenstein (1818) was the first work of science fiction.[24]

Following the 18th century development of the novel as a literary form, in the early 19th century,Mary Shelley's books Frankenstein and The Last Man helped define the form of the science fictionnovel;[25] later Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story about a flight to the moon.[26] More examplesappeared throughout the 19th century.

Then with the dawn of new technologies such as electricity, thetelegraph, and new forms of powered transportation, writers like JulesVerne and H. G. Wells created a body of work that became popularacross broad cross-sections of society.[27] Wells' The War of theWorlds describes an invasion of late Victorian England by Martiansusing tripod fighting machines equipped with advanced weaponry. It isa seminal depiction of an alien invasion of Earth.

In the late 19th century, the term "scientific romance" was used inBritain to describe much of this fiction. This produced additionaloffshoots, such as the 1884 novella Flatland: A Romance of ManyDimensions by Edwin Abbott Abbott. The term would continue to beused into the early 20th century for writers such as Olaf Stapledon.

In the early 20th century, pulpmagazines helped develop a newgeneration of mainly American SFwriters, influenced by Hugo Gernsback,

the founder of Amazing Stories magazine.[28] In 1912 Edgar RiceBurroughs published A Princess of Mars, the first of his three-decade-long series of Barsoom novels, situated on Mars and featuring JohnCarter as the hero. The 1928 publication of Philip Nolan's original BuckRogers story, Armageddon 2419, in Amazing Stories was a landmarkevent. This story led to comic strips featuring Buck Rogers (1929),Brick Bradford (1933), and Flash Gordon (1934). The comic strips andderivative movie serials greatly popularized science fiction. In the late1930s, John W. Campbell became editor of Astounding ScienceFiction, and a critical mass of new writers emerged in New York City ina group called the Futurians, including Isaac Asimov, Damon Knight,Donald A. Wollheim, Frederik Pohl, James Blish, Judith Merril, andothers.[29] Other important writers during this period included E.E.

[edit]History

H. G. Wells

Jules Verne

Ting Vit

Walon



(Doc) Smith, Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Olaf Stapledon, A. E. van Vogt and StanisawLem. Campbell's tenure at Astounding is considered to be the beginning of the Golden Age ofscience fiction, characterized by hard SF stories celebrating scientific achievement and progress.[28]This lasted until postwar technological advances, new magazines like Galaxy under Pohl as editor,and a new generation of writers began writing stories outside the Campbell mode.

In the 1950s, the Beat generation included speculative writers like William S. Burroughs. In the 1960sand early 1970s, writers like Frank Herbert, Samuel R. Delany, Roger Zelazny, and Harlan Ellisonexplored new trends, ideas, and writing styles, while a group of writers, mainly in Britain, becameknown as the New Wave for their embrace of a high degree of experimentation, both in form and incontent, and a highbrow and self-consciously "literary" or artistic sensibility.[20] In the 1970s, writerslike Larry Niven and Poul Anderson began to redefine hard SF.[30] Ursula K. Le Guin and otherspioneered soft science fiction.[31]

In the 1980s, cyberpunk authors like William Gibson turned away from the optimism and support forprogress of traditional science fiction.[32] The Star Wars franchise helped spark a new interest inspace opera,[33] focusing more on story and character than on scientific accuracy. C. J. Cherryh'sdetailed explorations of alien life and complex scientific challenges influenced a generation ofwriters.[34] Emerging themes in the 1990s included environmental issues, the implications of theglobal Internet and the expanding information universe, questions about biotechnology andnanotechnology, as well as a post-Cold War interest in post-scarcity societies; Neal Stephenson'sThe Diamond Age comprehensively explores these themes. Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigannovels brought the character-driven story back into prominence.[35] The television series Star Trek:The Next Generation (1987) began a torrent of new SF shows, including three further Star Trek spin-off shows and Babylon 5.[36][37] Concern about the rapid pace of technological change crystallizedaround the concept of the technological singularity, popularized by Vernor Vinge's novel Marooned inRealtime and then taken up by other authors.[citation needed]

Forrest J Ackerman used the term sci-fi (analogous to the then-trendy "hi-fi") at UCLA in 1954.[38]As science fiction entered popular culture, writers and fans active in the field came to associate theterm with low-budget, low-tech "B-movies" and with low-quality pulp science fiction.[39][40][41] Bythe 1970s, critics within the field such as Terry Carr and Damon Knight were using sci-fi todistinguish hack-work from serious science fiction,[42] and around 1978, Susan Wood and othersintroduced the pronunciation "skiffy". Peter Nicholls writes that "SF" (or "sf") is "the preferredabbreviation within the community of sf writers and readers".[43] David Langford's monthly fanzineAnsible includes a regular section "As Others See Us" which offers numerous examples of "sci-fi"being used in a pejorative sense by people outside the genre.[44] The abbreviation SF (or sf) iscommonly used instead of "sci-fi".

While SF has provided criticism of developing and future technologies, it also produces innovationand new technology. The discussion of this topic has occurred more in literary and sociological thanin scientific forums. Cinema and media theorist Vivian Sobchack examines the dialogue betweenscience fiction film and the technological imagination. Technology impacts artists and how theyportray their fictionalized subjects, but the fictional world gives back to science by broadeningimagination. While more prevalent in the beginning years of science fiction with writers like Arthur C.Clarke, new authors still find ways to make the currently impossible technologies seem closer to beingrealized.[45]

For more details on this topic, see Science fiction genre.

A categorization of science fiction into various subgenres can be problematic, because thesesubcategories are not simple pigeonholes. Some works may overlap two or more commonly definedgenres, whereas others are beyond the generic boundaries, either outside or between categories.

[edit]The term "sci-fi"

[edit]Innovation

[edit]Subgenres



Moreover, the categories and genres used by mass markets and literary criticism differ considerably.One example that straddles science fiction subgenres is Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series, whichhas been described by many as military science fiction but also has elements of space opera.

Main article: Hard science fiction

Hard science fiction, or "hard SF", is characterized by rigorous attention to accurate detail inquantitative sciences, especially physics, astrophysics, and chemistry, or on accurately depictingworlds that more advanced technology may make possible. Many accurate predictions of the futurecome from the hard science fiction subgenre, but numerous inaccurate predictions have emerged aswell.[citation needed] Some hard SF authors have distinguished themselves as working scientists,including Gregory Benford, Geoffrey A. Landis and David Brin,[46][47] while mathematician authorsinclude Rudy Rucker and Vernor Vinge. Other noteworthy hard SF authors include Isaac Asimov,Arthur C. Clarke, Hal Clement, Greg Bear, Larry Niven, Robert J. Sawyer, Stephen Baxter, AlastairReynolds, Charles Sheffield, Ben Bova, Kim Stanley Robinson and Greg Egan.

Main article: Soft science fiction

The description "soft" science fiction may describe works based on social sciences such aspsychology, economics, political science, sociology, and anthropology. Noteworthy writers in thiscategory include Ursula K. Le Guin and Philip K. Dick.[28][48] The term can describe stories focusedprimarily on character and emotion; SFWA Grand Master Ray Bradbury is an acknowledged masterof this art.[49] The Soviet Union produced a quantity of social science fiction, including works by theStrugatsky brothers, Kir Bulychov, Yevgeny Zamyatin and Ivan Yefremov.[50][51] Some writers blurthe boundary between hard and soft science fiction.[citation needed]

Related to Social SF and Soft SF are the speculative fiction branches of utopian or dystopian stories;George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and Margaret Atwood'sThe Handmaid's Tale, are examples. Satirical novels with fantastic settings such as Gulliver's Travelsby Jonathan Swift may be considered speculative fiction.

Main article: Cyberpunk

The cyberpunk genre emerged in the early 1980s; combining cybernetics and punk,[52] the term wascoined by author Bruce Bethke for his 1980 short story "Cyberpunk".[53] The time frame is usuallynear-future and the settings are often dystopian in nature and characterized by misery. Commonthemes in cyberpunk include advances in information technology and especially the Internet, visuallyabstracted as cyberspace, artificial intelligence and prosthetics and post-democratic societal controlwhere corporations have more influence than governments. Nihilism, post-modernism, and film noirtechniques are common elements, and the protagonists may be disaffected or reluctant anti-heroes.Noteworthy authors in this genre are William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Neal Stephenson, and PatCadigan. James O'Ehley has called the 1982 film Blade Runner a definitive example of thecyberpunk visual style.[54]

Time travel stories have antecedents in the 18th and 19th centuries. The first major time travel novelwas Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The most famous is H. G. Wells's1895 novel The Time Machine, which uses a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposefullyand selectively, while Twain's time traveler is struck in the head. The term "time machine", coined byWells, is now universally used to refer to such a vehicle. Stories of this type are complicated bylogical problems such as the grandfather paradox.[55] Time travel continues to be a popular subjectin modern science fiction, in print, movies, and television such as the BBC television series DoctorWho.

[edit]Hard SF

[edit]Soft and social SF

[edit]Cyberpunk

[edit]Time travel

[edit]Alternate history



Main article: Alternate history

Alternate (or alternative) history stories are based on the premise that historical events might haveturned out differently. These stories may use time travel to change the past, or may simply set astory in a universe with a different history from our own. Classics in the genre include Bring theJubilee by Ward Moore, in which the South wins the American Civil War, and The Man in the HighCastle by Philip K. Dick, in which Germany and Japan win World War II. The Sidewise Awardacknowledges the best works in this subgenre; the name is taken from Murray Leinster's 1934 story"Sidewise in Time." Harry Turtledove is one of the most prominent authors in the subgenre and issometimes called the "master of alternate history".[56][57]

Main article: Military science fiction

Military science fiction is set in the context of conflict between national, interplanetary, or interstellararmed forces; the primary viewpoint characters are usually soldiers. Stories include detail aboutmilitary technology, procedure, ritual, and history; military stories may use parallels with historicalconflicts. Heinlein's Starship Troopers is an early example, along with the Dorsai novels of GordonDickson. Joe Haldeman's The Forever War is a critique of the genre, a Vietnam-era response to theWorld War IIstyle stories of earlier authors.[58] Prominent military SF authors include John Ringo,David Drake, David Weber, and S. M. Stirling. The publishing company Baen Books is known forcultivating military science fiction authors.[59]

Superhuman stories deal with the emergence of humans who have abilities beyond the norm. Thiscan stem either from natural causes such as in Olaf Stapledon's novel Odd John, and TheodoreSturgeon's More Than Human, or be the result of intentional augmentation such as in A. E. vanVogt's novel Slan. These stories usually focus on the alienation that these beings feel as well associety's reaction to them. These stories have played a role in the real life discussion of humanenhancement. Frederik Pohl's Man Plus also belongs to this category.

Main article: Apocalyptic fiction

Apocalyptic fiction is concerned with the end of civilization through war (On the Beach), pandemic(The Last Man), astronomic impact (When Worlds Collide), ecological disaster (The Wind fromNowhere), or some other general disaster or with a world or civilization after such a disaster. Typicalof the genre are George R. Stewart's novel Earth Abides and Pat Frank's novel Alas, Babylon.Apocalyptic fiction generally concerns the disaster itself and the direct aftermath, while post-apocalyptic can deal with anything from the near aftermath (as in Cormac McCarthy's The Road) to375 years in the future (as in By The Waters of Babylon) to hundreds or thousands of years in thefuture, as in Russell Hoban's novel Riddley Walker and Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s A Canticle forLeibowitz.

Main article: Space opera

Space opera is adventure science fiction set in outer space or on distant planets, where theemphasis is on action rather than either science or characterization. The conflict is heroic, andtypically on a large scale.

Space opera is sometimes used pejoratively, to describe improbable plots, absurd science, andcardboard characters. But it is also used nostalgically, and modern space opera may be an attemptto recapture the sense of wonder of the golden age of science fiction. The pioneer of this subgenre isgenerally recognized to be Edward E. (Doc) Smith, with his Skylark and Lensman series. The StarTrek television series franchise is often described as space opera that encourages this sense ofwonder, in that most of the scripts are generally about peaceful space exploration and examinationsof cultural differences rather than about conflict between civilizations. Alastair Reynolds's RevelationSpace series, Peter F. Hamilton's Void, Night's Dawn and Pandora's Star series, and Vernor Vinge'sA Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky are newer examples of this genre.

[edit]Military SF

[edit]Superhuman

[edit]Apocalyptic

[edit]Space opera



Main article: Space western

Space Western could be considered a sub-genre of space opera that transposes themes of theAmerican Western books and film to a backdrop of futuristic space frontiers. These stories typicallyinvolve "frontier" colony worlds (colonies that have only recently been terraformed and/or settled)serving as stand-ins for the backdrop of lawlessness and economic expansion that were predominantin the American west. Examples include the Sean Connery film Outland, the Firefly television series,and the film sequel Serenity by Joss Whedon, as well as the manga and anime series Trigun, OutlawStar, and Cowboy Bebop.

This section requires expansion.

Anthropological science fiction is a sub-genre that absorbs and discusses anthropology and thestudy of human kind. Examples include Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer, and Neanderthal by JohnDarnton.Biopunk focuses on biotechnology and subversives.Comic science fiction is a sub-genre that exploits the genre's conventions for comic effect.Feminist science fiction poses questions about social issues such as how society constructsgender roles, the role reproduction plays in defining gender and the unequal political and personalpower of men and women. Some of the most notable feminist science fiction works haveillustrated these themes using utopias to explore a society in which gender differences or genderpower imbalances do not exist, or dystopias to explore worlds in which gender inequalities are

intensified, thus asserting a need for feminist work to continue.[60] Joanna Russ's work, and someof Ursula Le Guin's work can be thus categorised.Science fiction poetry is an overlooked and under-discussed sub-category of science fiction. AsSeo-Young Chu remarks in her 2011 book Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep? A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation, science fiction is not often (enough) thought of as a genrerelated to lyric poetry. But as Chu points out, there are plenty of examples of science fiction poetryand verse by writers including Diane Ackerman, Emily Dickinson, Suzette Haden Elgin (whofounded the Science Fiction Poetry Association and authored The Science Fiction PoetryHandbook), Ruth Fainlight, Robert Frazier, Cathy Park Hong, Andrew Joron, and FrederickTurner, among many others. Chu also points out that lyricism is an overlooked yet overwhelming

presence in science fiction novels, stories, and films.[61]

Steampunk is based on the idea of futuristic technology existing in the past, usually the 19thcentury, and often set in Victorian era Englandbut with prominent elements of either sciencefiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G.Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at anearlier date. Popular examples include The Difference Engine by William Gibson and BruceSterling, as well as the Girl Genius series by Phil and Kaja Foglio, although seeds of the genremay be seen in certain works of Michael Moorcock, Philip Jose Farmer and Steve Stiles, and insuch games as Space 1889 and Marcus Rowland's Forgotten Futures. Machines are most oftenpowered by steam in this genre (hence the name).

For more details on this topic, see Speculative fiction.

The broader category of speculative fiction[62] includes science fiction, fantasy, alternate histories(which may have no particular scientific or futuristic component), and even literary stories that contain

[edit]Space Western

[edit]Other sub-genres

[edit]Related genres

[edit]Speculative fiction, fantasy, and horror



fantastic elements, such as the work of Jorge Luis Borges or John Barth. For some editors, magicrealism is considered to be within the broad definition of speculative fiction.[63]

Main article: Fantasy

Fantasy is closely associated with science fiction, and many writers have worked in both genres,while writers such as Anne McCaffrey, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Marion Zimmer Bradley have writtenworks that appear to blur the boundary between the two related genres.[64] The authors' professionalorganization is called the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).[65] SFconventions routinely have programming on fantasy topics,[66][67][68] and fantasy authors such as J.K. Rowling have won the highest honor within the science fiction field, the Hugo Award.[69]

In general, science fiction differs from fantasy in that the former concerns things that might somedaybe possible or that at least embody the pretense of realism. Supernaturalism, usually absent inscience fiction, is the distinctive characteristic of fantasy literature. A dictionary definition referring tofantasy literature is "fiction characterized by highly fanciful or supernatural elements." [70] Examplesof fantasy supernaturalism include magic (spells, harm to opponents), magical places (Narnia, Oz,Middle Earth, Hogwarts), supernatural creatures (witches, vampires, orcs, trolls), supernaturaltransportation (flying broomsticks, ruby slippers, windows between worlds), and shapeshifting (beastinto man, man into wolf or bear, lion into sheep). Such things are basic themes in fantasy.[71] Literarycritic Fredric Jameson has characterized the difference between the two genres by describingscience fiction as turning "on a formal framework determined by concepts of the mode of productionrather than those of religion" - that is, science fiction texts are bound by an inner logic based more onhistorical materialism than on magic or the forces of good and evil.[72] Some narratives are describedas being essentially science fiction but "with fantasy elements". The term "science fantasy" issometimes used to describe such material.[73]

Main article: Horror fiction

Horror fiction is the literature of the unnatural and supernatural,with the aim of unsettling or frightening the reader, sometimeswith graphic violence. Historically it has also been known as weirdfiction. Although horror is not per se a branch of science fiction,many works of horror literature incorporates science fictionalelements. One of the defining classical works of horror, MaryShelley's novel Frankenstein, is the first fully realized work ofscience fiction, where the manufacture of the monster is given arigorous science-fictional grounding. The works of Edgar AllanPoe also helped define both the science fiction and the horrorgenres.[74] Today horror is one of the most popular categories offilms.[75] Horror is often mistakenly categorized as science fictionat the point of distribution by libraries, video rental outlets, etc. Forexample, Syfy (distributed via cable and satellite television in theUnited States) currently devotes most its air time to horror filmswith very few science fiction titles.[citation needed]

Main article: Mystery fiction

Works in which science and technology are a dominant theme, but based on current reality, may beconsidered mainstream fiction. Much of the thriller genre would be included, such as the novels ofTom Clancy or Michael Crichton, or the James Bond films.[76] Modernist works from writers like KurtVonnegut, Philip K. Dick, and Stanisaw Lem have focused on speculative or existential perspectiveson contemporary reality and are on the borderline between SF and the mainstream.[77] According toRobert J. Sawyer, "Science fiction and mystery have a great deal in common. Both prize the

[edit]Fantasy

Frankenstein (1931) film poster

[edit]Horror fiction

[edit]Mystery fiction



intellectual process of puzzle solving, and both require stories to be plausible and hinge on the waythings really do work."[78] Isaac Asimov, Walter Mosley, and other writers incorporate mysteryelements in their science fiction, and vice versa.[citation needed]

Main article: Superhero fiction

Superhero fiction is a genre characterized by beings with much higher than usual capability andprowess, generally with a desire or need to help the citizens of their chosen country or world byusing his or her powers to defeat natural or superpowered threats. Many superhero fiction charactersinvolve themselves (either intentionally or accidentally) with science fiction and fact, includingadvanced technologies, alien worlds, time travel, and interdimensional travel; but the standards ofscientific plausibility are lower than with actual science fiction. Authors of this genre include Stan Lee(co-creator of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Hulk); Marv Wolfman, the creatorof Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics; Dean Wesley Smith(Smallville, Spider-Man, and X-Men novels) and Superman writers Roger Stern and Elliot S! Maggin.

For more details on this topic, see Science fiction fandom.

Science fiction fandom is the "community of the literature of ideas... the culture in which new ideasemerge and grow before being released into society at large".[79] Members of this community, "fans",are in contact with each other at conventions or clubs, through print or online fanzines, or on theInternet using web sites, mailing lists, and other resources.

SF fandom emerged from the letters column in Amazing Stories magazine. Soon fans began writingletters to each other, and then grouping their comments together in informal publications that becameknown as fanzines.[80] Once they were in regular contact, fans wanted to meet each other, and theyorganized local clubs. In the 1930s, the first science fiction conventions gathered fans from a widerarea.[81] Conventions, clubs, and fanzines were the dominant form of fan activity, or "fanac", fordecades, until the Internet facilitated communication among a much larger population of interestedpeople.

For more details on this topic, see List of science fiction awards.

Among the most respected awards for science fiction are the Hugo Award, presented by the WorldScience Fiction Society at Worldcon; the Nebula Award, presented by SFWA and voted on by thecommunity of authors; and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Noveland Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for short fiction. One notable award for science fiction filmsis the Saturn Award. It is presented annually by The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, andHorror Films.

There are national awards, like Canada's Aurora Award, regional awards, like the Endeavour Awardpresented at Orycon for works from the Pacific Northwest, special interest or subgenre awards likethe Chesley Award for art or the World Fantasy Award for fantasy. Magazines may organize readerpolls, notably the Locus Award.

For more details on this topic, see Science fiction conventions.

Conventions (in fandom, shortened as "cons"),are held in cities around the world, catering to alocal, regional, national, or internationalmembership. General-interest conventions coverall aspects of science fiction, while others focuson a particular interest like media fandom, filking,etc. Most are organized by volunteers in non-profit groups, though most media-oriented eventsare organized by commercial promoters. The

[edit]Superhero fiction

[edit]Fandom and community

[edit]Awards

[edit]Conventions, clubs, and organizations



convention's activities are called the "program",which may include panel discussions, readings,autograph sessions, costume masquerades, andother events. Activities that occur throughout theconvention are not part of the program; thesecommonly include a dealer's room, art show, and hospitality lounge (or "con suites").[82]

Conventions may host award ceremonies; Worldcons present the Hugo Awards each year. SFsocieties, referred to as "clubs" except in formal contexts, form a year-round base of activities forscience fiction fans. They may be associated with an ongoing science fiction convention, or haveregular club meetings, or both. Most groups meet in libraries, schools and universities, communitycenters, pubs or restaurants, or the homes of individual members. Long-established groups like theNew England Science Fiction Association and the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society haveclubhouses for meetings and storage of convention supplies and research materials.[83] The ScienceFiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) was founded by Damon Knight in 1965 as a non-profit organization to serve the community of professional science fiction authors,[65] 24 years afterhis essay "Unite or Fie!" had led to the organization of the National Fantasy Fan Federation. Fandomhas helped incubate related groups, including media fandom,[84] the Society for CreativeAnachronism,[85] gaming,[86] filking, and furry fandom.[87]

For more details on this topic, see Science fiction fanzine.

The first science fiction fanzine, The Comet, was published in 1930.[88] Fanzine printing methodshave changed over the decades, from the hectograph, the mimeograph, and the ditto machine, tomodern photocopying. Distribution volumes rarely justify the cost of commercial printing. Modernfanzines are printed on computer printers or at local copy shops, or they may only be sent as email.The best known fanzine (or "'zine") today is Ansible, edited by David Langford, winner of numerousHugo awards. Other fanzines to win awards in recent years include File 770, Mimosa, and Plokta.[89]Artists working for fanzines have risen to prominence in the field, including Brad W. Foster, TeddyHarvia, and Joe Mayhew; the Hugos include a category for Best Fan Artists.[89] The earliestorganized fandom online was the SF Lovers community, originally a mailing list in the late 1970swith a text archive file that was updated regularly.[90] In the 1980s, Usenet groups greatly expandedthe circle of fans online. In the 1990s, the development of the World-Wide Web exploded thecommunity of online fandom by orders of magnitude, with thousands and then literally millions of websites devoted to science fiction and related genres for all media.[83] Most such sites are small,ephemeral, and/or very narrowly focused, though sites like SF Site offer a broad range of referencesand reviews about science fiction.

For more details on this topic, see Fan fiction.

Fan fiction, known to aficionados as "fanfic", is non-commercial fiction created by fans in the settingof an established book, film, video game, or television series.[91] This modern meaning of the termshould not be confused with the traditional (pre-1970s) meaning of "fan fiction" within the communityof fandom, where the term meant original or parody fiction written by fans and published in fanzines,often with members of fandom as characters therein ("faan fiction"). Examples of this would includethe Goon Defective Agency stories, written starting in 1956 by Irish fan John Berry and published inhis and Arthur Thomson's fanzine Retribution. In the last few years, sites have appeared such asOrion's Arm and Galaxiki, which encourage collaborative development of science fiction universes. In

Pamela Dean reading at Minicon

[edit]Fanzines and online fandom

[edit]Fan fiction



some cases, the copyright owners of the books, films, or television series have instructed theirlawyers to issue "cease and desist" letters to fans.

For more details on this topic, see Science fiction studies.

The study of science fiction, or science fiction studies, is the critical assessment, interpretation, anddiscussion of science fiction literature, film, new media, fandom, and fan fiction. Science fictionscholars take science fiction as an object of study in order to better understand it and its relationshipto science, technology, politics, and culture-at-large. Science fiction studies has a long history datingback to the turn of the 20th century, but it was not until later that science fiction studies solidified asa discipline with the publication of the academic journals Extrapolation (1959), Foundation - TheInternational Review of Science Fiction (1972), and Science Fiction Studies (1973), and theestablishment of the oldest organizations devoted to the study of science fiction, the Science FictionResearch Association and the Science Fiction Foundation, in 1970. The field has grown considerablysince the 1970s with the establishment of more journals, organizations, and conferences with ties tothe science fiction scholarship community, and science fiction degree-granting programs such asthose offered by the University of Liverpool and Kansas University.

The National Science Foundation has conducted surveys of "Public Attitudes and PublicUnderstanding" of "Science Fiction and Pseudoscience".[92] They write that "Interest in science fictionmay affect the way people think about or relate to science....one study found a strong relationshipbetween preference for science fiction novels and support for the space program...The same studyalso found that students who read science fiction are much more likely than other students to believethat contacting extraterrestrial civilizations is both possible and desirable (Bainbridge 1982).[93]

Mary Shelley wrote a number of science fiction novels including Frankenstein, and is treated as amajor Romantic writer.[94] Many science fiction works have received widespread critical acclaimincluding Childhood's End and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (the inspiration for the movieBlade Runner). A number of respected writers of mainstream literature have written science fiction,including Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four, Anthony Burgess'A Clockwork Orange and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Nobel Laureate Doris Lessingwrote a series of SF novels, Canopus in Argos, and nearly all of Kurt Vonnegut's works containscience fiction premises or themes.

The scholar Tom Shippey asks a perennial question of science fiction: "What is its relationship tofantasy fiction, is its readership still dominated by male adolescents, is it a taste which will appeal tothe mature but non-eccentric literary mind?"[95] In her much reprinted essay "Science Fiction andMrs Brown,"[96] the science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin has approached an answer by first citingthe essay written by the English author Virginia Woolf entitled "Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown" in whichshe states:

I believe that all novels, deal with character, and that it is to express character notto preach doctrines, sing songs, or celebrate the glories of the British Empire, that theform of the novel, so clumsy, verbose, and undramatic, so rich, elastic, and alive, hasbeen evolved The great novelists have brought us to see whatever they wish us tosee through some character. Otherwise they would not be novelists, but poets,historians, or pamphleteers.

Le Guin argues that these criteria may be successfully applied to works of science fiction and soanswers in the affirmative her rhetorical question posed at the beginning of her essay: "Can ascience fiction writer write a novel?"

Tom Shippey[95] in his essay does not dispute this answer but identifies and discusses the essentialdifferences that exists between a science fiction novel and one written outside the field. To this end,he compares George Orwell's Coming Up for Air with Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth's The SpaceMerchants and concludes that the basic building block and distinguishing feature of a science fictionnovel is the presence of the novum, a term Darko Suvin adapts from Ernst Bloch and defines as "adiscrete piece of information recognizable as not-true, but also as not-unlike-true, not-flatly- (and in

[edit]Science fiction studies

[edit]Science fiction as serious literature



the current state of knowledge) impossible".[97]

In science fiction the style of writing is often relatively clear and straightforward compared to classicalliterature. Orson Scott Card, an author of both science fiction and non-SF fiction, has postulated thatin science fiction the message and intellectual significance of the work is contained within the storyitself and, therefore, there need not be stylistic gimmicks or literary games; but that many writers andcritics confuse clarity of language with lack of artistic merit. In Card's words:

...a great many writers and critics have based their entire careers on the premise thatanything that the general public can understand without mediation is worthless drivel.[...] If everybody came to agree that stories should be told this clearly, the professors ofliterature would be out of job, and the writers of obscure, encoded fiction would be, nothonored, but pitied for their impenetrability."[98]

Science fiction author and physicist Gregory Benford has declared that: "SF is perhaps the defininggenre of the twentieth century, although its conquering armies are still camped outside the Rome ofthe literary citadels."[99] This sense of exclusion was articulated by Jonathan Lethem in an essaypublished in the Village Voice entitled "Close Encounters: The Squandered Promise of ScienceFiction."[100] Lethem suggests that the point in 1973 when Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbowwas nominated for the Nebula Award, and was passed over in favor of Arthur C. Clarke'sRendezvous with Rama, stands as "a hidden tombstone marking the death of the hope that SF wasabout to merge with the mainstream." Among the responses to Lethem was one from the editor ofthe Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction who asked: "When is it [the SF genre] ever going torealize it can't win the game of trying to impress the mainstream?"[101] On this point the journalistand author David Barnett has remarked:[102]

The ongoing, endless war between "literary" fiction and "genre" fiction has well-definedlines in the sand. Genre's foot soldiers think that literary fiction is a collection ofmeaningless but prettily drawn pictures of the human condition. The literary guardconsider genre fiction to be crass, commercial, whizz-bang potboilers. Or so it goes.

Barnett, in an earlier essay had pointed to a new development in this "endless war":[103]

What do novels about a journey across post-apocalyptic America, a clone waitressrebelling against a future society, a world-girdling pipe of special gas keeping mutantcreatures at bay, a plan to rid a colonizable new world of dinosaurs, and geneticengineering in a collapsed civilization have in common?They are all most definitely not science fiction.Literary readers will probably recognise The Road by Cormac McCarthy, one of thesections of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway,The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson and Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood fromtheir descriptions above. All of these novels use the tropes of what most peoplerecognize as science fiction, but their authors or publishers have taken great pains toensure that they are not categorized as such.

Although perhaps most developed as a genre and community in the United States, Canada, and theUnited Kingdom, Science Fiction is a worldwide phenomenon. Organisations devoted to promotionand even translation in particular countries are commonplace, as are country- or language-specificgenre awards.

Masimba Musodza, a Zimbabwean author, published MunaHacha Maive Nei? the first science-fictionnovel in the Shona language,[104] which also holds the distinction of being the first novel in theShona language to appear as an ebook first before it came out in print. In South Africa, a movie titledDistrict 9 came out in 2009, an apartheid allegory featuring extraterrestrial life forms, produced byPeter Jackson.

[edit]Science fiction world-wide

[edit]Africa and African diaspora



Main articles: Bengali science fiction, Science fiction in China, and Japanese science fiction

Indian science fiction, defined loosely as science fiction by writers of Indian descent, began with theEnglish-language publication of Kylas Chundar Dutt's A Journal of Forty-Eight Hours in the Year 1945in the Calcutta Literary Gazette (June 6, 1835). Since this story was intended as a political polemic,credit for the first science fiction story is often given to later Bengali authors such as JagadanandaRoy, Hemlal Dutta and the polymath Jagadish Chandra Bose (see Bengali science fiction). Similartraditions exist in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and English.[105] In English, the modern era of Indianspeculative fiction began with the works of authors such as Samit Basu, Payal Dhar, Vandana Singhand Anil Menon. Works such as Amitav Ghosh's The Calcutta Chromosome and Salman Rushdie'sGrimus and Boman Desai's The Memory of Elephants are generally classified as magic realist worksbut make essential use of SF tropes and techniques.

Modern science fiction in China mainly depends on the magazine Science Fiction World. Manyfamous works were published in installments in it originally, including the most successful fictionThree Body, written by Liu Cixin.

Chalomot Be'aspamia is an Israeli magazine of short science fiction and fantasy stories. TheProphecies Of Karma, published in 2011, is advertised as the first work of science fiction by anArabic author, the Libanese writer Nael Gharzeddine.

Main articles: Science fiction in Croatia, Czech sciencefiction and fantasy, French science fiction, Norwegianscience fiction, Science fiction in Poland, Romanianscience fiction, Science fiction in Russia, Science fictionin Serbia, and Spanish science fiction

Current well-known SF authors from Germany are five-timeKurd-Lawitz-Award winner Andreas Eschbach, whosebooks The Carpet Makers and Eine Billion Dollar are bigsuccesses, and Frank Schtzing, who in his book TheSwarm mixes elements of the science thriller with SFelements to an apocalyptic scenario. The most prominentGerman-speaking author, according to Die Zeit, is AustrianHerbert W. Franke.

A well known science fiction book series in German isPerry Rhodan, which started in 1961. Having sold over one billion copies (in pulp format), it claims tobe the most successful science fiction book series ever written worldwide.[106]

Jules Verne is a 19th French novelist known for his pioneering science fiction works (TwentyThousand Leagues Under the Sea, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, From the Earth to theMoon ).

A particular trend in French literature of the 20th century has consisted of notorious French authorsreleasing science fiction works alongside their more classical production, and through the samechannels, refusing to endorse the science-fiction label, probably out of a mix of snobbishness andchauvinism (science-fiction being considered by most academics as an inferior genre from America).Among these lie famous novels and short stories by Ren Barjavel and Robert Merle, forexample.[citation needed] The genre has long been called "anticipation".

There is, nevertheless, a dedicated science-fiction scene in French literature: see main article.

In Belgian and French movies, science-fiction is represented, but not nearly as much as drama,comedy, or historical film. In Belgian and French comic books, on the other hand, science-fiction is,among other things, a well established (and often pessimistic) genre.[citation needed]

[edit]Asia and the Middle East

[edit]Europe

Soviet stamp, part of a 1967 seriesdepicting science fiction images. Thecaption runs "On the moon. Space sciencefiction", Russian pronunciation: tastk].

[edit]Germany and Austria

[edit]France, other Francophone countries, and Qubec



In the case of Canada's Qubec, lisabeth Vonarburg and other authors developed a related traditionof French-Canadian SF. The Prix Boreal was established in 1979 to honour Canadian science fictionworks in French. The Aurora Awards (briefly preceded by the Casper Award) were founded in 1980to recognize and promote the best works of Canadian science fiction in both French and English.Also, due to Canada's bilingualism and the US publishing almost exclusively in English, translation ofScience Fiction prose into French thrives and runs nearly parallel upon a book's publishing in theoriginal English. A sizeable market also exists within Qubec for European-written Francophonescience fiction literature.

Main article: Science fiction in Australia

Australia: David G. Hartwell noted that while there is perhaps "nothing essentially Australian aboutAustralian science-fiction", many Australian science-fiction (and fantasy and horror) writers are in factinternational English language writers, and their work is commonly published worldwide. This isfurther explainable by the fact that the Australian inner market is small (with Australian populationbeing around 21 million), and sales abroad are crucial to most Australian writers.[107][108]

Main article: Canadian science fiction

Although there is still some controversy as to when science fiction began in Latin America, theearliest works date from the late 19th century. All published in 1875, O Doutor Benignus by theBrazilian Augusto Emlio Zaluar, El Maravilloso Viaje del Sr. Nic-Nac by the Argentinian EduardoHolmberg, and Historia de un Muerto by the Cuban Francisco Calcagno are three of the earliestnovels which appeared in the continent.[109]

Up to the 1960s, science fiction was the work of isolated writers who did not identify themselves withthe genre, but rather used its elements to criticize society, promote their own agendas or tap into thepublic's interest in pseudo-sciences. It received a boost of respectability after mainstream authorssuch as Horacio Quiroga and Jorge Luis Borges used its elements in their writings. This, in turn, ledto the permanent emergence of science fiction in the 1960s and mid 1970s, notably in Argentina,Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Cuba. Magic realism enjoyed parallel growth in Latin America, with astrong regional emphasis on using the form to comment on social issues, similar to social sciencefiction and speculative fiction in the English world.

Economic turmoil and the suspicious eye of the dictatorial regimes in place reduced the genre'sdynamism for the following decade. In the mid-1980s, it became increasingly popular once more.Although led by Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, Latin America now hosts dedicated communities andwriters with an increasing use of regional elements to set them apart from English-language science-fiction.[110]

Fantastic artList of science fiction authorsList of science fiction filmsList of science fiction novelsList of science fiction television programsList of science fiction themesList of science fiction and fantasy artistsNon-Aristotelian logicuse in science fictionScience fiction libraries and museumsSense of wonderSkiffyTranshumanism (a school of thought profoundly inspired by SF)

[edit]Oceania

[edit]North America

[edit]Latin America

[edit]See also



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2. ^ Del Rey, Lester (1979). The World of ScienceFiction: 19261976. Ballantine Books. p. 5.ISBN 0-345-25452-x.

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8. ^ Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich (1973).Strong opinions. McGraw-Hill. pp. 3 et seq.ISBN 0070457379.

9. ^ Heinlein, Robert A.; Cyril Kornbluth, AlfredBester, and Robert Bloch (1959). "ScienceFiction: Its Nature, Faults and Virtues". TheScience Fiction Novel: Imagination and SocialCriticism. University of Chicago: AdventPublishers.

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11. ^ del Rey, Lester (1980). The World of ScienceFiction 19261976. Garland Publishing.

12. ^ Grewell, Greg: "Colonizing the Universe:Science Fictions Then, Now, and in the(Imagined) Future", Rocky Mountain Review ofLanguage and Literature, Vol. 55, No. 2 (2001),pp. 2547 (30f.)

13. ^ Fredericks, S.C.: "Lucian's True History asSF" , Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1(March 1976), pp. 4960

14. ^ Swanson, Roy Arthur: "The True, the False,and the Truly False: Lucian's PhilosophicalScience Fiction" , Science Fiction Studies,Vol. 3, No. 3 (Nov. 1976), pp. 227239

15. ^ Georgiadou, Aristoula & Larmour, David H.J.:"Lucian's Science Fiction Novel True Histories.Interpretation and Commentary" ,Mnemosyne Supplement 179, Leiden 1998,

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60. ^ Elyce Rae Helford, in Westfahl, Gary. TheGreenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fictionand Fantasy: Greenwood Press, 2005: 289-290

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67. ^ Steven H Silver (2000-09-39). "Programnotes" . Chicon 2000. Archived from theoriginal on December 10, 2000. Retrieved2001-01-16.

68. ^ Carol Berg. "Links, "Conventions and Writers'Workshops"" . Retrieved 2001-01-16.

69. ^ "The Hugo Awards By Category" . WorldScience Fiction Society. 2006-07-26. Retrieved2006-01-16.

70. ^ The American Heritage College Dictionary(New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1993), 494.

71. ^ Robert B. Marks (1997-05). "On IncorporatingMythology into Fantasy, or How to WriteMythical Fantasy in 752 Easy Steps" . Storyand Myth. Retrieved 2007-01-16.

72. ^ Jameson, Fredric (2007). Archaeologies ofthe Future: This Desire Called Utopia andOther Science Fictions. London and New York:Verso. pp. 589.

[edit]Notes and references

[edit]Notes



ISBN 90-04-10667-7, Introduction16. ^ Gunn, James E.: "The New Encyclopedia of

Science Fiction", Publisher: Viking 1988, ISBN978-0-670-81041-3, p.249 calls it "Proto-Science Fiction"

17. ^ Irwin, Robert (2003). The Arabian Nights: ACompanion. Tauris Parke Paperbacks.pp. 20913. ISBN 1860649831.

18. ^ a b Richardson, Matthew (2001). TheHalstead Treasury of Ancient Science Fiction.Rushcutters Bay, New South Wales: HalsteadPress. ISBN 1875684646. (cf. "Once Upon aTime" . Emerald City (85). September 2002.Retrieved 2008-09-17.)

19. ^ Dr. Abu Shadi Al-Roubi (1982), "Ibn al-Nafisas a philosopher", Symposium on Ibn al-Nafis,Second International Conference on IslamicMedicine: Islamic Medical Organization, Kuwait(cf. Ibnul-Nafees As a Philosopher ,Encyclopedia of Islamic World [2] )

20. ^ a b "Science Fiction" . EncyclopdiaBritannica. Retrieved 2007-01-17.

21. ^ "The Harmony of the Worlds". Creator andpresenter: Carl Sagan. Cosmos: A PersonalVoyage. PBS. 1980-10-12.

22. ^ "Carl Sagan on Johannes Kepler'spersecution" . YouTube. Retrieved 2010-07-24.

23. ^ Isaac, Asimov (1977). The Beginning and theEnd. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0385130882.

24. ^ Wingrove, Aldriss (2001). Billion Year Spree:The History of Science Fiction (1973) Revisedand expanded as Trillion Year Spree (withDavid Wingrove)(1986). New York: House ofStratus. ISBN 978-0755100682.

25. ^ John Clute and Peter Nicholls (1993). "MaryW. Shelley" . Encyclopedia of ScienceFiction. Orbit/Time Warner Book Group UK.Retrieved 2007-01-17.

26. ^ Poe, Edgar Allan. The Works of Edgar AllanPoe, Volume 1, "The Unparalleled Adventuresof One Hans Pfaal" . Retrieved 2007-01-17.

27. ^ "Science Fiction" . Encarta OnlineEncyclopedia. Microsoft. 2006. Retrieved 2007-01-17.

28. ^ a b c Agatha Taormina (2005-01-19). "AHistory of Science Fiction" . Northern VirginiaCommunity College. Retrieved 2007-01-16.

29. ^ Resnick, Mike (1997). "The Literature ofFandom" . Mimosa (#21). Retrieved 2007-01-17.

30. ^ "SF TIMELINE 19601970" . Magic DragonMultimedia. 2003-12-24. Retrieved 2007-01-

73. ^ Elkins, Charles (1980-11). "RecentBibliographies of Science Fiction andFantasy" . Science Fiction Studies. Retrieved2007-01-16.

74. ^ David Carroll and Kyla Ward (1993-05). "TheHorror Timeline, "Part I: Pre-20th Century"" .Burnt Toast (#13). Retrieved 2001-01-16.

75. ^ Chad Austin. "Horror Films Still Scaring andDelighting Audiences" . North CarolinaState University News. Archived from theoriginal on January 8, 2007. Retrieved 2006-01-16.

76. ^ "Utopian ideas hidden inside Dystopian sf" .False Positives. 2006-11. Retrieved 2007-01-16.

77. ^ Glenn, Joshua (2000-12-22). "Philip K. Dick(19281982)" . Hermenaut (#13). Retrieved2007-01-16.

78. ^ McBride, Jim (1997-11). "Spotlight On...Robert J. Sawyer" . Fingerprints (CrimeWrites of Canada) (November 1997). Retrieved2007-01-08.

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91. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of theEnglish Language . Houghton Mifflin



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Bridge between the Two Cultures" . TheEnglish Journal. Retrieved 2007-03-26.

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47. ^ Scientist science fiction authors48. ^ Hartwell, David G. (1996-08). Age of

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95. ^ a b Shippey, Tom (1991) Fictional Space.Essays on Contemporary Science Fiction, page2, Humanities Press International, Inc., NJ

96. ^ Le Guin, Ursula K. (1976) "Science Fictionand Mrs Brown," in The Language of the Night:Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction,Perennial HarperCollins, Revised edition 1993.in Science Fiction at Large, (Edited by PeterNichols) Gollancz, London, 1976in Explorations of the Marvellous, (Edited byPeter Nichols), Fontana, London, 1978in Speculations on Speculation. Theories ofScience Fiction, (Edited by James Gunn andMatthew Candelaria), The Scarecrow Press,Inc. Maryland, 2005

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100. ^ pp Lethem, Jonathan (1998)"CloseEncounters: The Squandered Promise ofScience Fiction," Village Voice, June.Also reprinted in a slightly expanded versionunder the title "Why can't we All Live Together?: A Vision of Genre Paradise Lost" in the NewYork Review of Science Fiction, September1998, Number 121, Vol 11, No. 1

101. ^ Van Gelder, Gordon (1998) "Editorial ,"Fantasy and Science Fiction,October/November v95 #4/5 #567

102. ^ Barnett, David. "Gaiman's choice: shouldn'tgood writing tell a story too? ," The Guardian,London, June 23, 2010,

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Barron, Neil, ed. Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction (5th ed.). Westport, Conn.:Libraries Unlimited, 2004. ISBN 1-59158-171-0.Broderick, Damien. Reading by Starlight: Postmodern Science Fiction. London: Routledge, 1995. Print.Clute, John Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1995. ISBN 0-7513-0202-3.Clute, John and Peter Nicholls, eds., The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. St Albans, Herts, UK: GranadaPublishing, 1979. ISBN 0-586-05380-8.Clute, John and Peter Nicholls, eds., The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: St Martin's Press,1995. ISBN 0-312-13486-X.Disch, Thomas M. The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of. New York: The Free Press, 1998. ISBN 978-0-684-82405-5.Jameson, Fredric. Archaeologies of the Future: This Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions.London and New York: Verso, 2005.Raja, Masood Ashraf, Jason W. Ellis and Swaralipi Nandi. eds., The Postnational Fantasy: Essays onPostcolonialism, Cosmopolitics and Science Fiction. McFarland 2011. ISBN 978-0-786-46141-7.Reginald, Robert. Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, 19751991. Detroit, MI/Washington, D.C./London:Gale Research, 1992. ISBN 0-8103-1825-3.Suvin, Darko. Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: on the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre. NewHaven : Yale University Press, 1979.Weldes, Jutta, ed. To Seek Out New Worlds: Exploring Links between Science Fiction and World Politics.New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. ISBN 0-312-29557-X.Westfahl, Gary, ed. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, andWonders (three volumes). Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2005.Wolfe, Gary K. Critical Terms for Science Fiction and Fantasy: A Glossary and Guide to Scholarship. NewYork: Greenwood Press, 1986. ISBN 0-313-22981-3.

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