Portal:Speculative fiction/Science fiction

Speculative Fiction Portal logo Main   Science fiction   Fantasy   Horror   People   Publications Science fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically established or scientifically postulated laws of nature (though some elements in a story might still be pure imaginative speculation). Exploring the consequences of such differences is the traditional purpose of science fiction, making it a "literature of ideas". Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternative possibilities. The settings for science fiction are often contrary to known reality. Following the Age of Enlightenment and the development of modern science itself, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels was one of the first true science fiction works, together with Voltaire's Micromégas and Kepler's Somnium. This latter work is considered by Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov to be the first science fiction story. It depicts a journey to the Moon and how the Earth's motion is seen from there. Another example is Ludvig Holberg's novel Nicolai Klimii iter subterraneum, 1741. (Translated to Danish by Hans Hagerup in 1742 as Niels Klims underjordiske Rejse.) (Eng. Niels Klim's Underground Travels.) The study of science fiction, or science fiction studies, is the critical assessment, interpretation, and discussion of science fiction literature, film, new media, fandom, and fan fiction. Science fiction scholars take science fiction as an object of study in order to better understand it and its relationship to science, technology, politics, and culture-at-large. The field has grown considerably since the 1970s with the establishment of more journals, organizations, and conferences with ties to the science fiction scholarship community, and science fiction degree-granting programs such as those offered by the University of Liverpool and Kansas University. Selected science fiction work The Time Machine is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells, first published in 1895 and later directly adapted into at least two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations. It indirectly inspired many more works of fiction in all media. This 32,000 word novella is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposefully and selectively. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now universally used to refer to such a vehicle. Wells introduces an early example of the Dying Earth subgenre as well. Wells had considered the notion of time travel before, in an earlier (but less well-known) work titled The Chronic Argonauts. He had thought of using some of this material in a series of articles in the Pall Mall Gazette, until the publisher asked him if he could instead write a serial novel on the same theme; Wells readily agreed, and was paid £100 on its publication by Heinemann in 1895. The story was first published in serial form in the New Review through 1894 and 1895. The book is based on the Block Theory of the Universe, which is a notion that time is a fourth space dimension. The story reflects Wells's own socialist political views and the contemporary angst about industrial relations. Other science fiction works of the period, including Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, and the later Metropolis, dealt with similar themes. Science fiction topics Creators Artists (list) · Authors · Editors Media Animation · Anime and manga · Comics · Films (list) · Games (board · role-playing · video) · Literature (magazines · novels · poetry · stories) · Opera · Radio · Television (films · list · sitcoms) · Theatre Subgenres Alternate history · Apocalyptic · Christian · Comedy · Cyberpunk (derivatives) · Dying Earth · Feminist · Hard · Human society · Libertarian · Military · New Weird · Planetary romance · Recursive · Social · Soft · Space opera · Sword and planet · Tech noir · Space Western Related genres Fantasy (Science fantasy) · Mystery · Horror · Slipstream · Speculative (Weird) · Superhero Themes Artificial intelligence · Extraterrestrials (First contact) · Floating city · Lost World · Planets · Politics (Utopia/Dystopia · World government) · Religion (ideas) · Resizing · Sex (gender · homosexuality · reproduction) · Simulated realities/Virtual worlds · Space warfare (weapons) · Superpowers · Timeline (Alternative future · Future history · Hyperspace · Parallel universes · Slipstream · Time travel) Subculture Fandom: By nationality · Conventions (list) · Organizations — Studies: Awards · Definitions · History · Journals · New Wave By Country Australia · Bangladesh · Brazilian · Canada · China · Croatia · Czech Republic · France · Japan · Norway · Poland · Romania · Russia/Soviet Union · Serbia · Yugoslavia Related Portals