Science Fiction

Science Fiction is a genre of the fantastic that is characterized by an interest in science, technology, and the future (or the past). It is popular in fiction, film, television, art, games, and comics. Science fiction is also an inspiration for fanart and other types of creative fanworks.
Also known as Speculative Fiction, and frequently abbreviated to SF or SciFi, science fiction as a genre is sometimes difficult to define, as it includes a wide range of subgenres and themes. It is closely related to the horror and fantasy genres. Some overlap exists between the three, particularly science fiction and fantasy -- in recent years, SFF has become a common catchall abbreviation for the two combined genres. Still, there are 80-90 years of controversy as to what makes "proper" science fiction. (See also Space Opera.)
==Terminology==
The terminology used to describe the genre can be a point of contention for fans.
===SF===
Common acronym for Science Fiction used by science fiction fans. "Regarded by fans as the proper 'serious' abbreviation for science fiction." Earliest usage: 1929. (Accessed 3 November 2022.)
===SFF===
SFF or SF/F are common acronyms for Science Fiction & Fantasy used by science fiction fans. The earliest usage found in the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction is 1981. (Accessed 3 November 2022.)
===Speculative Fiction===
"Speculative Fiction" was proposed by Robert A. Heinlein in 1948 as a more accurate description of the genre, but was later used by Judith Merril and other "New Wave" sf writers in the 1960s and 70s "to express dissatisfaction with the genre". Sometimes speculative fiction is used as a broader term that includes, but is not limited to, sf. [See Speculative Fiction article on Art and Popular Culture and Isaac Asimov, "The name of our field," in Asimov on Science Fiction (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981), 25-28.] 
===SFnal===
The term "sfnal" (or SFnal), short for "science-fictional", is sometimes used to describe something with an SF feel or background. Earliest usage: 1938. (Accessed 3 November 2022.)
===Sci-Fi===
About the usage of the term "sci-fi", Marion Zimmer Bradley remarked, "nobody in the actual field ever says 'sci-fi'..."Marion Zimmer Bradley, in Darkover Newsletter #61 (1993) 
Skiffy is an alternate spelling and deliberate mispronunciation of sci-fi. According to Fancyclopedia, 
From Datazine #6: "Sci fi is a dated term that identifies the user as being either a neo or a clinger to bygone days of former glory. Sci fi was coined by Forrest Ackerman around the time that hi-fi was also a new catch phrase. When the the next science fiction innovation (commonly referred to as 'New Wave') began to catch onAbout the mid-1970s., some readers complained justifiably that stories which had no science in them could not correctly be called science fiction. The generic title became, by more or less popular demand, speculative fiction, there after referred to as sf. It is reprehensible to the advocate of sf to use the term sci-fi as it is to the trekker to use the term trekkie."
From Southern Enclave #15: "About the only fannish word that bugs me is "sci-fi" which was created by Forrest J. Ackerman because didn't like "sf." Well, Forrie, I like sf, and only use sci-fi to describe grade Z sf movies such as "Plan Nine From Outer Space"! Actually, I've heard other fen pronounce sci-fi as "skiffy" when used in this way. I approve of that whole-heartedly."Harlan Ellison, in a blistering critique of Star Wars and the zillions of alleged "sci-fi" pictures it spawned, snapped "If you like peanuts, you'll love skiffy." "Luke Skywalker is a Nerd and Darth Vader Sucks Runny Eggs". In Harlan Ellison's Watching, Underwood, 1989. Originally in Los Angeles 1977, Gallery March 1978.
From Fancyclopedia 
From Henry Jenkins in 1994: 
====Use in Fanwork Titles====
* Sci-Fi/Fantasy Big Bang
* Sci-Fi Spotlight, Bjo Trimble's zine (1996)
* Irwin Allen Sci-Fi Journal (1977-)
===Scientifiction===
Hugo Gernsback invented the now-obsolete term "scientifiction" to describe the genre that later became known as science fiction. According to Fancyclopedia the term was in use in the 1930s. The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction lists 1916 as the earliest use and notes that it is "Now chiefly hist." (Accessed 3 November 2022.)
From a 1975 fanzine, Spaced Out:
== History ==
Some people have tried to claim Gilgamesh as the first science fiction story (though it's a better fit for the first fantasy story). There are ancient Greek works, such as Plato's descriptions of Atlantis, that have SF aspects. And Lucian's 2nd century satirical True History contains an interplanetary trip that certainly has aspects of science fiction or proto-science fiction.Wikipedia: History of Science Fiction Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, first published in 1818, is often mentioned as the first true sf novel and Jules Verne and H. G. Wells as the first true sf authors.See Isaac Asimov, "Science fiction and society," in Asimov on Science Fiction (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981), 103-111. But sf began in earnest in the early twentieth century.
Hugo Gernsback is credited by many with creating science fiction as a genre in its own right.See Hugo Gernsback: The man who invented the future by Michael A. Banks. He started publishing Amazing Stories, the first sf-only pulp fiction magazine, in 1926.
==Some Common Subgenres and Themes==
Professionally produced science fiction comes in a variety of flavors. Here are some of the most common elements that appear in sf pro works:
*Spaceflight (sub-genres: space opera, life on other planets, galactic empires)
*Aliens, Alien Contact, Alien Invasion
*Time Travel
*Alternate Reality, Alternate History, Parallel Universes
*Robots, Cyborgs, Artificial Intelligence
*Lost Colony
*Apocalyptic or Post-Apocalyptic Future
*Dystopia/Utopia
*Cyberpunk
*Steampunk
SF is sometimes split into "hard" and the less often used complementary category "soft." Hard science fiction is supposed to take the science of the narrative seriously, and does not engage in hand waving, whereas soft SF is more concerned with character development and narrative, like space opera. Soft SF is also defined as SF concerned with the "softer" sciencesFull record for soft science fiction n.. SF Citations for OED. (accessed March 22, 2009.) (anthropology, psychology, sociology, etc.), as well as cultural and social issues generally. This taxonomy has come under some criticism for the way that it seems to define male writers and concerns as hard, and female writers as soft; for example, Octavia Butler's Lilith's Brood stories may be considered soft by some, dealing as they do with biology, whereas Greg Bear's stories on the same subject or Asimov's Foundation stories on social engineering may be considered hard.
===Fanwork Tropes & Genres ===
Although all of the above standard subgenres can be used in fanworks, there are yet more fannish tropes and genres that are grounded in science fiction:
*Aliens Made Them Do It
*Mirror Universe
*Bodyswap
*Genderswap
*Doppelganger
*De-Aging
*Sedoretu
*Mpreg
*Alien Kink
*Space AU
==Science fiction in movies==
Some literary sf fans have claimed that Science Fiction and movies don't mix -- that all of the movies we think of as 'classic science fiction movies' are actually horribly watered down sf, with only the explosions remaining, or at best, "science fantasy" or "space fantasy", containing the markers for SF (machines, robots, spaceships), but none of the science that should animate it. Others believe that the visuals and effects of modern wide-screen movies are a natural fit for pictures of an otherwise unseeable future.
It does, however, seem that the runaway success of many sci-fi movies (Star Wars, The Terminator, Jurassic Park, etc.) has contributed to a new surge of popularity for science fiction; as a genre, it appears to have moved closer to the mainstream.
==Science Fiction and Fandom==
The genre of science fiction intersects with fans and fandom in several ways. The creation of the genre goes hand in hand with the advent of Science Fiction Fandom, which dates back to the 1920s. When Media Fandom branched off from SF fandom with the introduction of either Star Trek or The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (depending on who you ask), sf fandom could be characterized as focused on written sf, whereas media fandom was interested in television. SF fandom no longer exclusively concerns itself with written fiction, but it is still sometimes seen that way.
Although media fandom no longer focuses mainly on science fiction media, its roots in sf live on in recurring themes and tropes in fanworks for non-sf media fandoms. For example, while fanfiction and fanart with robots are consistent with Battlestar Galactica canon, Robot AUs can just as easily turn up in American Idol or Due South fandoms. All the above subgenres are used in fanworks as well as professional works.
Anime Fandom also frequently intersects with sf. Many anime and manga series are in either the sf or fantasy genres.
One place to read lengthy fannish discussion about the cross-pollination of sf fandom and Star Trek fandom is in the pages of the letterzine The Halkan Council.
Fancake, a multifandom recommendations community on Dreamwidth, has had rounds for Science Fiction, Apocalypse/Dystopia, and In Spaaaace.
=== Fanworks ===
==== Challenges ====
* Sufficiently Advanced
==Meta==
*‘We was cross-dressing ‘afore you were born!’ Or, how sf fans invented virtual community, a 2004 academic article by Helen Merrick/Anglean
* Why I like what I like... by Leia Fee (early 2000s)
* Why is Sci-Fi so gay? by Scott Dagostino (June 2006)
* The Science Fiction Museum 1990-1997
==Offsite Links==
*The Science Fiction Encyclopaedia is an authoritative source on most aspects of SF, with entries on authors, SF culture, etc. and several thousand illustrations.
*The Science Fiction Foundation is a British academic foundation specializing in SF studies, primarily in written SF.
*The Science Fiction Oral History Association maintains an archive of audio and video recordings related to SF and fantasy and its fandom.
*The European Science Fiction Society promotes SF in Europe and European SF worldwide, and coordinates the Eurocon SF convention. Its site has links to SF groups etc. throughout Europe.
==References==
Category:Fandoms by Canon Type
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Category:Pages that need more points of view