(Redirected from Science Fiction)
'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. Science fiction is found in books, art, television, movies, games, theater, and other media.
Science-fiction books, magazines, film, TV, gaming and fannish material
In organizational or 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.
[1]
Science fiction differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within established or postulated laws of nature (though ''some'' elements in a story might still be pure imaginative speculation).
Science fiction often involves one or more of the following elements:
★ A setting in the future or in an alternative time line.
★ A setting in
outer space or involving
aliens or unknown civilizations.
★ The 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.
★ Political or social systems different from those of the known present or past.
Exploring the consequences of such differences is the traditional purpose of science fiction, making it a "literature of ideas".
[2]
What is science fiction?
Definitions
Science fiction is difficult to define, as it includes a wide range of
subgenres and themes. Author and editor
Damon Knight summed up the difficulty by stating that "science fiction is what we point to when we say it".
[3] Vladimir Nabokov argued that were we rigorous with our definitions,
Shakespeare's play ''
The Tempest'' would have to be termed science fiction.
[4]
According to SF writer
Robert A. Heinlein, "a handy short definition of almost all science fiction might read: realistic speculation about possible future events, based solidly on adequate knowledge of the real world, past and present, and on a thorough understanding of the nature and significance of
the scientific method."
[5] Rod Serling's stated definition is "fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science Fiction is the improbable made possible."
[6]
A common saying is that SF (or hard SF) is based on the question 'What if?' That is, SF asks what the possibilities could be under a certain set of circumstances. For example, a story could explore the questions 'What if aliens visited Earth?' or 'What if humans colonised other worlds?'
Forrest J. Ackerman publicly used the term "sci-fi" at UCLA in 1954,
[7] though
Robert A. Heinlein had used it in private correspondence six years earlier.
[8] As science fiction entered
popular culture, writers and fans active in the field came to associate the term with low-budget, low-tech "
B-movies" and with low-quality
pulp science fiction.
[9][10][11] By the 1970s, critics within the field such as
Terry Carr and
Damon Knight were using "sci-fi" to distinguish hack-work from serious science fiction,
[12] and around 1978, Susan Wood and others introduced the pronunciation "
skiffy." Peter Nicholls writes that "SF" (or "sf") is "the preferred abbreviation within the community of sf writers and readers."
[13] David Langford's monthly fanzine ''
Ansible'' 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.
[14]
Related genres and subgenres
Authors and filmmakers draw on a wide spectrum of ideas, but marketing departments and
literary critics tend to separate such literary and cinematic works into different categories, or "
genres", and subgenres.
[15] These are not simple ; works can overlap into two or more commonly-defined genres, while others are beyond the generic boundaries, either outside or between categories, and the categories and genres used by mass markets and literary criticism differ considerably.
Speculative fiction, fantasy, and horror
The broader category of
speculative fiction[16] includes science fiction, fantasy,
alternate histories (which may have no particular scientific or futuristic component), and even literary stories that contain fantastic elements, such as the work of
Jorge Luis Borges or
John Barth. For some editors,
magic realism is considered to be within the broad definition of speculative fiction.
[17]
Fantasy is closely associated with science fiction, and many writers, including
Robert A. Heinlein,
Poul Anderson,
Larry Niven,
C. J. Cherryh,
Jack Vance, and
Lois McMaster Bujold have worked in both genres, while writers such as
Anne McCaffrey and
Marion Zimmer Bradley have written works that appear to blur the boundary between the two related genres.
[18] The authors' professional organization is called the
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
[19] SF conventions routinely have programming on fantasy topics,
[20][21][22] and
fantasy authors such as
J. K. Rowling and
J. R. R. Tolkien (in
film adaptation) have won the highest honor within the science fiction field, the
Hugo Award.
[23] Some works show how difficult it is to draw clear boundaries between subgenres, for example
Larry Niven's
The Magic Goes Away stories treat magic as just another force of nature and subject to natural laws which resemble and partially overlap those of physics.
However, most authors and readers make a distinction between fantasy and SF. In general, science fiction is the literature of things that might someday be possible, and fantasy is the literature of things that are inherently impossible.
6 Magic and
mythology are popular
themes in fantasy.
[24]
''Dracula'' (1979) movie poster
It is common to see narratives described as being essentially science fiction but "with fantasy elements." The term "
science fantasy" is sometimes used to describe such material.
[25]
Horror fiction is the literature of the unnatural and
supernatural, with the aim of unsettling or frightening the reader, sometimes with
graphic violence. Historically it has also been known as "weird fiction." It commonly deals with the nature of
evil, psychological, technological, and . Undead and supernatural creatures like
vampires and
zombies are popular horror motifs. Classic works like ''
Frankenstein'' and ''
Dracula'' and the works of
Edgar Allan Poe helped define the genre,
[26] and today it is one of the most popular categories of
movies.
[27]
Related genres
Works in which science and technology are a dominant theme, but based on current reality, may be considered mainstream fiction. Much of the
thriller genre would be included, such as the novels of
Tom Clancy or
Michael Crichton, or the
James Bond films.
[28]
Modernist works from writers like
Kurt Vonnegut,
Philip K. Dick, and
Stanisław Lem have focused on speculative or
existential perspectives on contemporary reality and are on the borderline between SF and the mainstream.
[29]
According to
Robert J. Sawyer, "Science fiction and mystery have a great deal in common. Both prize the intellectual process of puzzle solving, and both require stories to be plausible and hinge on the way things really do work."
[30] Isaac Asimov,
Anthony Boucher,
Walter Mosely, and other writers incorporate mystery elements in their science fiction, and vice versa.
Subgenres
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 inaccurate predictions have also come from this category:
Arthur C. Clarke accurately predicted
geosynchronous communications satellites,
[31] but erred in his prediction of deep layers of moondust in lunar craters.
[32] Some hard SF authors have distinguished themselves as working scientists, including
Robert Forward,
Gregory Benford,
Charles Sheffield, and
Vernor Vinge.
[33] Noteworthy hard SF authors, in addition to those mentioned, include
Hal Clement,
Joe Haldeman,
Larry Niven,
Jerry Pournelle and
Stephen Baxter.
"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. Noteworthy writers in this category include
Ursula K. Le Guin,
Robert A. Heinlein, and
Philip K. Dick.
[34][35] The term can describe stories focused primarily on character and emotion; SFWA Grand Master
Ray Bradbury is an acknowledged master of this art.
[36] Some writers blur the boundary between hard and soft science fiction - for example
Mack Reynolds's work focuses on politics but anticipated many developments in computers, including
cyber-terrorism.
Another branch of speculative fiction is the
utopian or
dystopian story. Satirical novels with fantastic settings may be considered speculative fiction; ''
Gulliver's Travels'', ''
The Handmaid's Tale'', ''
Nineteen Eighty-Four'', and ''
Brave New World'' are examples.
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".
[37]
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. Noteworthy authors in this genre are
William Gibson,
Bruce Sterling,
Pat Cadigan, and
Rudy Rucker. The 1982 film ''
Blade Runner'' is commonly accepted as a definitive example of the ''cyberpunk'' visual style.
[38]
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''. Time travel stories are complicated by logical problems such as the
grandfather paradox.
[39] Time travel stories are popular in novels, television series, and as individual episodes within more general science fiction series (for example, "
The City on the Edge of Forever" in '', "
Babylon Squared" in ''
Babylon 5'', and "The Banks of the Lethe" in ''
Andromeda''.
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. Classics in the genre include ''Bring the Jubilee'' by Ward Moore, in which the South wins the
American Civil War and ''The Man in a High Castle'', by Philip K. Dick, in which Germany and Japan win
World War II. The
Sidewise Award acknowledges the best works in this subgenre; the name is taken from
Murray Leinster's story "Sidewise in Time".
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. Heinlein's ''
Starship Troopers'' is an early example, along with the
Dorsai novels of
Gordon Dickson. Prominent military SF authors include
David Drake,
David Weber,
Jerry Pournelle,
S. M. Stirling, and
Lois McMaster Bujold.
Joe Haldeman's ''
The Forever War'' is a critique of the genre, a
Vietnam-era response to the
World War II-style stories of earlier authors.
[40] Baen Books is known for cultivating military science fiction authors.
[41] Television series within this subgenre include ''
Battlestar Galactica'', ''
Stargate SG-1'' and ''.
History
Isaac Asimov with typewriter
As a means of understanding the world through speculation and storytelling, science fiction has antecedents back to mythology, though precursors to science fiction as literature began to emerge during the
Age of Reason with the development of
science itself, Voltaire's
Micromégas was one of the first.
[42] 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 fiction novel;
[43] later
Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story about a flight to the moon.
[44] More examples appeared throughout the 19th century. Then with the dawn of new technologies such as
electricity, the
telegraph, and new forms of powered transportation, writers like
Jules Verne and
H. G. Wells created a body of work that became popular across broad cross-sections of society.
[45] In the late 19th century the term "
scientific romance" was used in Britain to describe much of this fiction.
''Astounding'', Oct. 1939
In the early 20th century,
pulp magazines helped develop a new generation of mainly American SF writers, influenced by
Hugo Gernsback, the founder of ''
Amazing Stories'' magazine.
In the late 1930s,
John W. Campbell became editor of ''
Astounding Science Fiction'', and a critical mass of new writers emerged in
New York City in a group called the
Futurians, including
Isaac Asimov,
Damon Knight,
Donald A. Wollheim,
Frederik Pohl,
James Blish,
Judith Merril, and others.
[46] Other important writers during this period included
Robert A. Heinlein,
Arthur C. Clarke, and
A. E. Van Vogt. Campbell's tenure at ''Astounding'' is considered to be the beginning of the
Golden Age of science fiction, characterized by hard SF stories celebrating scientific achievement and progress.
34 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 1960s and early 1970s, writers like
Frank Herbert,
Samuel R. Delany,
Roger Zelazny, and
Harlan Ellison explored new trends, ideas, and writing styles, while a group of writers, mainly in
Britain, became known as the
New Wave.
42 In the 1970s, writers like
Larry Niven and
Poul Anderson began to redefine hard SF.
[47] Ursula K. Le Guin and others pioneered soft science fiction.
[48]
In the 1980s,
cyberpunk authors like
William Gibson turned away from the traditional
optimism and support for progress of traditional science fiction.
[49] '' helped spark a new interest in
space opera,
[50] focusing more on story and character than on scientific accuracy.
C. J. Cherryh's detailed explorations of
alien life and complex scientific challenges influenced a generation of writers.
[51][52]
Emerging themes in the 1990s included
environmental issues, the implications of the global Internet and the expanding information universe, questions about
biotechnology and
nanotechnology, as well as a post-
Cold War interest in
post-scarcity societies;
Neal Stephenson's ''
The Diamond Age'' comprehensively explores these themes.
Lois McMaster Bujold's ''
Vorkosigan'' novels brought the character-driven story back into prominence.
[53] The television series '' began a torrent of new SF shows,
[54] of which
Babylon 5 was among the most highly acclaimed in the decade.
[55][56] A general concern about the rapid pace of technological change crystallized around the concept of the
technological singularity, popularized by
Vernor Vinge's novel ''
Marooned in Realtime'' and then taken up by other authors. Television shows like ''
Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and movies like ''
The Lord of the Rings'' created new interest in all the speculative genres in films, television, computer games, and books. According to Alan Laughlin, the ''
Harry Potter'' stories have been wildly popular among young readers, increasing literacy rates worldwide.
[57]
Innovation
While SF has provided criticism of developing and future technologies, it also produces innovation and new technology. The discussion of this topic has occurred more in literary and sociological than in scientific forums.
Cinema and media theorist
Vivian Sobchack examines the dialogue between science fiction film and the technological imagination. Technology does impact how artists portray their fictionalized subjects, but the fictional world gives back to science by broadening imagination. While more prevalent in the beginning years of science fiction with writers like
Isaac Asimov,
Robert A. Heinlein, and
Frank Walker, new authors like
Michael Crichton still find ways to make the currently impossible technologies seem so close to being realized.
[58]
This has also been notably documented in the field of
nanotechnology with
University of Ottawa Professor
José Lopez's article "Bridging the Gaps: Science Fiction in Nanotechnology." Lopez links both theoretical premises of science fiction worlds and the operation of nanotechnologies.
[59]
Ideas
This is a short list of common
themes in science fiction.
★
Aliens
★
★
Elder race
★
★
Energy beings
★
★
First contact
★
★
UFOs
★
Anti-gravity
★
Antimatter
★
Biotechnology
★
★
Cloning
★
★
Genetic engineering
★
★
Mutation
★
★
Organlegging
★
Computers
★
★
Artificial intelligence
★
★
Virtual reality
★
Energy weapons (e.g. disruptors,
phasers)
★
Force fields
★
Psionics and
telepathy
★
Robots,
cyborgs, and
androids
★
★
Nanomachines
★
Space travel
★
★ FTL (
faster-than-light) travel,
warp drive,
hyperdrive,
jump drive
★
★
Interstellar civilizations
★
★
Starships
★
Superhumans
★
Time travel
★
★
parallel universes
The following is a short list of common
jargon in science fiction and fandom.
★
Fanspeak
★ "
fen" used as plural of "fan" (i.e. a fannish synonym for "fans")
★
Grok
★
Skiffy
★
Technobabble
★
Wetware
Literature
References to the most noteworthy science fiction books and authors are included here.
Authors
''External link:''
Locus 1977 All-Time Best Author Poll
Novels and shorter literary forms
★
List of science fiction novels
★
Hugo Award for Best Novel
★
List of science fiction short stories
★
Hugo Award for Best Novella
★
Hugo Award for Best Novellette
★
Hugo Award for Best Short Story
Non-fiction, anthologies, and magazines
★
Hugo Award for Best Non-Fiction Book
★
Hugo Award for Best Related Book
★
Critical Assessments and Reading Lists
★
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America - their "Suggested Reading" page
★
The Complete Review - reviews of select speculative-fiction authors and works
★
The Scriptorium - reviews of eminent speculative-fiction authors
★
Classics of Science Fiction - lists, with various breakdowns
Media and culture
As
special effects,
visual effects,
computer-generated imagery, and other technologies make it possible to visually realize the imaginary worlds of science fiction, SF dominates the audiovisual media, including films, television, and computer games.
Films and Television
Most of the best-selling films of all time have been in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
Examples of early silent SF
films include
Georges Méliès's ''
A Trip to the Moon'' in 1902 and
Fritz Lang's ''
Metropolis'' in 1927. Many of the
movie serials of the 1940s and 1950s were science fiction, and led into early science-fiction television programming. Following the success of in 1977, there was an explosion of new SF films.
[60] Science-fiction films also explore more serious topics and can aim for high artistic standards, especially following
Stanley Kubrick's influential '' in 1968 and ''
A Clockwork Orange'' in 1971, as well as
Ridley Scott's ''
Blade Runner'' in 1982, and Scott's other influential SF hit, ''
Alien'' in 1979. Contemporary filmmakers have found science fiction to be a useful genre for exploring political, moral and philosophical issues, for example ''
Gattaca'' on the question of genetic engineering, ''
Starship Troopers'' as a satire of
militarism and
fascism and ''
Minority Report'' on the questions of
civil liberties and free will.
]]
Science-fiction television dates from at least 1938, when the
BBC staged a live performance of the science-fiction play ''
R.U.R.''
[61] The first regularly scheduled science-fiction series to achieve a degree of popularity was ''
Captain Video'' and his Video Rangers in 1949.
[62] ''
The Twilight Zone'', originally broadcast in the United States from 1959-1964, was the first successful speculative fiction series intended primarily for adults.
[63] The
TV serial ''
Doctor Who'' first aired on BBC in 1963 and continues through to the present (with a hiatus from 1989 to 2004). ''
Star Trek'' aired from 1966 to 1969, creating a new explosion of fan interest. Popular shows including ''Star Trek,'' ''Doctor Who,''
[64] and ''
Stargate SG-1'' have spun off related series, while ''
Battlestar Galactica'' has inspired a "
re-imagining".
[65] A number of shows have later become the basis for films, among them ''Doctor Who'', ''Star Trek'', and ''
Firefly''. Television science fiction has exploited a variety of SF and fantasy traditions; ''
Quantum Leap'' and ''Doctor Who'' are examples of time travel, ''
Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is one of the best-known horror or
dark fantasy series, and ''
Mystery Science Theater 3000'' is one of the few comedy SF series. With the growing popularity of SF on television, dedicated channels have emerged to meet audience demand, such as
Sci-Fi in the United States and in Canada.
Art
Science fiction has a long history of visual art. Artwork depicting a particular scene, setting, or character is known as illustration, which is used on book and magazine covers,
movie posters, web sites, and other media, as well as inside books, comics, and games.
WSFS has recognized science fiction art since the 1940s.
A short list of the most prominent SF artists includes:
★
Julie Bell
★
Chesley Bonestell (for whom the
Chesley Award was named)
★
Jim Burns
★
Bob Eggleton
★
Ed Emshwiller
★
Frank Kelly Freas
★
Jack Gaughan
★
Don Maitz
★
Rick Sternbach
★
Arthur Suydam
★
Darrell K. Sweet
★
Boris Vallejo
★
Michael Whelan
Games, comics, other media
''Buck Rogers'' comic book
Beginning in the 1970s, the earliest
role-playing games (or "RPGs"), such as ''
Dungeons & Dragons'' and ''
Traveller'', had science fiction and fantasy settings,
[66] and speculative settings continue to form the basis for the majority of RPGs up to the present.
[67]
In the 1980s,
computer and video games adopted speculative settings and themes, either from original works or based on existing works. The virtual-reality nature of computer games, allowing game algorithms to simulate behavior impossible in reality lend themselves to science fiction characters and technological options within the game world.
[68]
SF motifs and story lines have long been prominent in
comic strips,
comic books, and
graphic novels. ''
Buck Rogers'' first appeared in 1929, followed by ''
Flash Gordon'' in 1935 and ''
Superman'' in 1938. Since then, the
superhero genre, in which an individual or team of characters with enhanced or
superhuman abilities deals with challenges beyond the capability of ordinary people, has played a large role in the comics field.
Early radio serials adapted ''
Flash Gordon'' and ''
Buck Rogers'' stories to radio, followed by other serials and radio magazine shows.
Orson Welles's famous dramatization of ''
The War of the Worlds'' in 1938 panicked American listeners who believed the story was real.
[69] ''
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a famous
BBC radio serial that was later adapted to television and film. There have been radio adaptations of the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy and ''
The Lord of the Rings.''
Science fiction and fantasy has been performed as live theater since the 1930s; a live musical version of ''The Lord of the Rings'' appeared in Toronto in 2006 and will soon be performed in
London.
[70] Vinyl albums have recorded science fiction performances,
[71] and
audiobooks on
compact disc are growing in popularity,
[72] available now in most bookstores. There have been SF
ViewMaster reels, notably ''Sam Sawyer's Trip to the Moon''.
Fandom and community
Science fiction fandom is the "community of the literature of ideas... the culture in which new ideas emerge and grow before being released into society at large."
[73] Members of this community, "
fans", are in contact with each other at
conventions or clubs, through print or online
fanzines, or on the Internet using web sites,
mailing lists, and other resources.
SF fandom emerged from the letters column in ''Amazing Stories'' magazine. Soon fans began writing letters to each other, and then grouping their comments together in informal publications that became known as fanzines.
[74] Once they were in regular contact, fans wanted to meet each other, and they organized local clubs. In the 1930s, the first
science fiction conventions gathered fans from a wider area.
[75] Conventions, clubs, and fanzines were the dominant form of fan activity, or "fanac", for decades, until the Internet facilitated communication among a much larger population of interested people.
Awards
Among the most respected awards for science fiction are the
Hugo Award, presented by the
World Science Fiction Society at Worldcon, and the
Nebula Award, presented by SFWA and voted on by the community of authors.
There are national awards, like Canada's
Aurora Award, regional awards, like the
Endeavour Award presented at Orycon for works from the
Pacific Northwest, special interest or subgenre awards like the
Chesley Award for art or the
World Fantasy Award for fantasy. Magazines may organize reader polls, notably the
Locus Award.
Conventions, clubs, and organizations
Pamela Dean reading at Minicon
Conventions (in fandom, shortened as "cons"), are held in cities around the world, catering to a local, regional, national, or international membership. General-interest conventions cover all aspects of science fiction, while others focus on a particular interest like
media fandom,
filking, etc. Most are organized by volunteers in
non-profit groups, though most media-oriented events are organized by commercial promoters. The convention's activities are called the "program", which may include panel discussions, readings, autograph sessions, costume masquerades, and other events. Activities that occur throughout the convention are not part of the program; these commonly include a dealer's room, art show, and hospitality lounge (or "con suites").
[76] Conventions may host award ceremonies;
Worldcons present the
Hugo Awards each year.
SF societies, referred to as "clubs" except in formal contexts, form a year-round base of activities for science fiction fans. They may be associated with an ongoing science fiction convention, or have regular club meetings, or both. Most groups meet in libraries, schools and universities, community centers, pubs or restaurants, or the homes of individual members. Long-established groups like the
New England Science Fiction Association and the
Los Angeles Science Fiction Society have clubhouses for meetings and storage of convention supplies and research materials.
[77]
The
Science Fiction 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.
19
Fandom has helped incubate related groups, including
media fandom,
[78] the
Society for Creative Anachronism,
[79] gaming,
[80] filking, and others.
Fanzines and online fandom
The first science fiction fanzine, "The Comet", was published in 1930.
[81] Fanzine printing methods have changed over the decades, from the
hectograph, the
mimeograph, and the
ditto machine, to modern
photocopying. Subscription volumes rarely justify the cost of commercial printing. Modern fanzines 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 numerous Hugo awards. Other fanzines to win awards in recent years include ''
File 770,'' ''
Mimosa,'' and ''Plotka''.
[82]
Artists working for fanzines have risen to prominence in the field, including Brad W. Foster, Teddy Harvia, and the late Joe Mayhew; the Hugos include a category for
Best Fan Artists.
82
The earliest organized fandom online was the
SF Lovers community, originally a mailing list in the late 1970s with a text
archive file that was updated regularly.
[83] In the 1980s,
Usenet groups greatly expanded the circle of fans online. In the 1990s, the development of the
World-Wide Web exploded the community of online fandom by orders of magnitude, with thousands and then literally millions of web sites devoted to science fiction and related genres for all media.
77 Most such sites are small, , and/or very narrowly focused, though sites like
SF Site offer a broad range of references and reviews about science fiction.
Fan fiction
Fan fiction, known to aficionados as "fanfic", is
non-commercial fiction created by fans in the setting of an established book, movie, or television series.
[84]
This modern meaning of the term should not be confused with the traditional (pre-1970s) meaning of "fan fiction" within the community of
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 include the Goon stories by
Walt Willis.
See also
★
SF Site
★
Digital library projects: science fiction
★
Skiffy
Notes and references
Notes
1. What is Speculative Fiction? N. E. Lilly
2.
Science Fiction: The Literature of Ideas Marg Gilks, Paula Fleming and Moira Allen
3.
In Search of Wonder: Essays on Modern Science Fiction, , Damon Francis, Knight, Advent Publishing, Inc., , ISBN 0911682317
4.
Strong opinions, , Vladimir Vladimirovich, Nabokov, McGraw-Hill, , ISBN 0070457379
5.
6.
7. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, , , , Houghton Mifflin Company, ,
8. www.jessesword.com/sf/view/210
9. Neo-Fan's Guidebook, , Terry, Whittier, , ,
10. The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies, , John, Scalzi, , ,
11. "Harlan Ellison's responses to online fan questions at ParCon"
12.
13.
14. Ansible
15. An Interview with Hal Duncan
16. Science Fiction Citations
17. Aeon Magazine Writer's Guidelines
18. Anne McCaffrey
19. Information About SFWA
20. Student Science Fiction and Fantasy Contest Peggy Rae Sapienza and Judy Kindell
21. Program notes Steven H Silver
22. Links, "Conventions and Writers' Workshops" Carol Berg
23. The Hugo Awards By Category
24. On Incorporating Mythology into Fantasy, or How to Write Mythical Fantasy in 752 Easy Steps, Robert B. Marks, , , Story and Myth,
25. Recent Bibliographies of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Elkins, Charles, , , Science Fiction Studies,
26. The Horror Timeline, "Part I: Pre-20th Century", David Carroll and Kyla Ward, , , Burnt Toast,
27. Horror Films Still Scaring – and Delighting – Audiences Chad Austin
28. Utopian ideas hidden inside Dystopian sf
29. Philip K. Dick (1928-1982), , Joshua, Glenn, Hermenaut,
30. Spotlight On... Robert J. Sawyer, , Jim, McBride, Fingerprints,
31. Arthur C. Clarke, 1917-
32. A Fall of Moondust, , Tony, Chester, Concatenation,
33. Teaching Astronomy with Science Fiction: A Resource Guide, , Andrew, Fraknoi, Astronomy Education Review,
34. A History of Science Fiction Agatha Taormina
35. Age of Wonders, , David G., Hartwell, Tor Books, ,
36. Ray Bradbury: Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy, , Wendy, Maas, Enslow Publishers, ,
37. It was later refined by William Gibson's book, Neuromancer which is credited for envisioning cyberspace.
Published in the November 1983 issue of ''Amazing Science Fiction Stories'';
Cyberpunk
38. SCI-FI MOVIE PAGE PICK: BLADE RUNNER - THE DIRECTOR'S CUT James O'Ehley
39. Time Travel and Modern Physics
40. Joe Haldeman, 1943- Henry Jenkins
41. Website Interview with Toni Weisskopf on SF Canada
42. Science Fiction Encyclopedia Britannica
43. Mary W. Shelley Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
44. The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Volume 1, "The Unparalleled Adventures of One Hans Pfaal", , Edgar Allan, Poe, , ,
45. Science Fiction Encarta® Online Encyclopedia
46. The Literature of Fandom, , Mike, Resnick, Mimosa,
47. SF TIMELINE 1960-1970
48.
49. Future Visions: New Technologies of the Screen, Philip Hayward, , , British Film Institute, ,
50. Exploding Worlds! Allen Varney
51. Beholder's Eye (review) T. M. Wagner
52. Intriguing Links to Fabulous People and Places... Vera Nazarian
53. Shards of Honor
54. Star Trek: The Next Generation Scott Cummings
55. Dead Man Walking, David Richardson, , , Cult Times,
56. The Dream Given Form, , Joe, Nazarro, TV Zone Special,
57. Harry Potter helps lift school literacy rates Linda Doherty
58. Science Fiction: Bridge between the Two Cultures Sheila Schwartz
59. Bridging the Gaps: Science Fiction in Nanotechnology Jose Lopez
60. Science Fiction on Film Agatha Taormina
61. Rossum's Universal Robots
62. Captain Video and His Video Rangers Suzanne Williams-Rautiolla
63. The Twilight Zone Tise Vahimagi
64. Ratings Update for ''Doctor Who'' (BBC) (Retrieved 05.05.2005).
65. scifipulse.net/Interviews/SciFiPulse_RDMInterviewAug2006.html
66. The History of Role-Playing, Astinus, , , Places to Go, People to Be,
67. State of the Industry 2005: Another Such Victory Will Destroy Us Kenneth Hite
68. Making Sense of Software Ted Friedman
69. War of the Worlds, Orson Welles, And The Invasion from Mars
70. Toronto to host debut of musical 'Lord of the Rings'
71. The Barrons: Forgotten Pioneers of Electronic Music Susan Stone
72. Loud, Proud, Unabridged: It Is Too Reading!, , Amy, Harmon, The New York Times,
73.
74. The World of Fanzines, , Fredric, Wertham, Carbondale & Evanston: Southern Illinois University Press, ,
75. Fancyclopedia I: C - Cosmic Circle
76. What Are Science Fiction Conventions Like? Lawrence Watt-Evans
77. Is Your Club Dead Yet?, Mike Glyer, , , File 770,
78. History of sf Fandom Robert Runte
79. Origins of the Middle Kingdom
80. History Ken St. Andre
81. British Fanzine Bibliography Rob Hansen
82. Hugo Awards by Category
83. History of the Net is Important Keith Lynch
84. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, , , , Houghton Mifflin Company, ,
References
★ Barron, Neil, ed., ''Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction'', 5th ed. (Libraries Unlimited, 2004) ISBN 1-59158-171-0.
★
Clute, John,
Peter Nicholls, eds., ''
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (St. Martin's Press, 1995) ISBN 0-312-13486-X.
★
Disch, Thomas M., ''The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of'' (Touchstone, 1998).
★ Weldes, Jutta, ed., ''To Seek Out New Worlds: Exploring Links between Science Fiction and World Politics'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) ISBN 0-312-29557-X.
★ Westfahl, Gary, ed., ''The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders'' (three volumes) (Greenwood Press, 2005).
★ Wolfe, Gary K., ''Critical Terms for Science Fiction and Fantasy: A Glossary and Guide to Scholarship'' (Greenwood Press, 1986) ISBN 0-313-22981-3.
External links
★
SF Hub - resources for science-fiction research
★
List of science fiction and fantasy E-zines
★
Locus Online - Extensive reference site covering a broad range of science fiction literature, awards, and activities.
★ The
SF Page at
Project Gutenberg of Australia
★ The
SF Bookshelf at
Project Gutenberg (USA)
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