Science Fiction (Genre)

Science Fiction tends to be broken down into three subcatagories: Hard, Soft, and Science Fantasy
*Hard: Science or technology is central to the plot. Key pieces of science or technology obeying currently known scientific laws, theories, and constraints.
*Soft: Similar to Hard Science Fiction but there is far less explanation on how it works or if there is an explanation is more pseudo-science then anything else. It also involves stories involving the soft sciences such as sociology, psychology, and anthropology
*Science Fantasy: magic and the supernatural abound and/or currently known scientific laws, theories, and constraints are ignored.
Some point to Lucian of Samosata's A True Story (2nd century CE) as the first known example of Science Fiction.
It should be noted that as the framework of science changes where a story fall can change with time and the genres mix.
Jules Verne's novels were hard-soft fiction at the time they were written but some, such as From the Earth to the Moon, are per our currently known scientific laws Science Fantasy,
By contrast, H.G. Wells' novels were Science Fantasy at the time they were written.
== Proto Science Fiction ==
Early speculation on life on other worlds:
* 1622: Charles Sorel, Comical History of Francion
* 1634: Johannes Kepler, Somnium
* ca. 1670: anon., The Lunarians
* 1686: Bernard de Fontenelles, Entretiens sur la Pluralite des Mondes
* 1698: Christian Huygens, Cosmothereos
* 1758: Emmanuel Swedenborg, (De Telluribus in Mundo Nostro Solari, quæ vocantur planetæ: et de telluribus in coelo astrifero: deque illarum incolis; tum de spiritibus & angelis ibi; ex auditis & visis. aka Earths in the Universe)
* 1884: Camille Flammarion, Les terres du ciel
Early stories of alien visitors to the earth:
* 1775: Louis Guillaume de la Folie, Les Philosophie sans Pretention (electrical spaceship from Mercury)
* 1865: Henri de Parville, Un Habitant de la Planete Mars (features a fossilized Martian found in a meteorite that closely resembles the modern "grey")
* 1881: anon., The Comet's Tale
* 1887-1893: W.S. Lach-Szyrma, Letters From the Planets
* 1890: C.C. Dail, Wilmoth, the Wanderer
* 1891: H.M. Bien, Ben-Beor
* 1898: Kurd Lasswitz, Auf zwei Planeten
==Related Material==
*GURPS Adaptations
*GURPS Space
*Transhuman Space
*Classic: Traveller
*GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars
==References==
*Is it Science Fiction or Science Fantasy
*Why Aren't There Science Fiction Games?
Category:Setting Concepts
Category:SciFi