Portal:Speculative fiction

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Speculative fiction is an umbrella phrase encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, specifically science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history in literature as well as related static, motion, and virtual arts.

It has been around since humans began to speak. The earliest forms of speculative fiction were likely mythological tales told around the campfire. Speculative fiction deals with the "What if?" scenarios imagined by dreamers and thinkers worldwide. Journeys to other worlds through the vast reaches of distant space; magical quests to free worlds enslaved by terrible beings; malevolent supernatural powers seeking to increase their spheres of influence across multiple dimensions and times; all of these fall into the realm of speculative fiction.

Speculative fiction as a category ranges from ancient works to cutting edge, paradigm-changing, and neotraditional works of the 21st century. It can be recognized in works whose authors' intentions or the social contexts of the versions of stories they portrayed is now known. For example, Ancient Greek dramatists such as Euripides, whose play Medea (play) seemed to have offended Athenian audiences when he fictionally speculated that shamaness Medea killed her own children instead of their being killed by other Corinthians after her departure. The play Hippolytus, narratively introduced by Aphrodite, is suspected to have displeased contemporary audiences of the day because it portrayed Phaedra as too lusty.

In historiography, what is now called speculative fiction has previously been termed "historical invention", "historical fiction," and other similar names. It is extensively noted in the literary criticism of the works of William Shakespeare when he co-locates Athenian Duke Theseus and Amazonian Queen Hippolyta, English fairy Puck, and Roman god Cupid all together in the fairyland of its Merovingian Germanic sovereign Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In mythography it has been termed "mythopoesis" or mythopoeia, "fictional speculation", the creative design and generation of lore, regarding such works as J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Such supernatural, alternate history, and sexuality themes continue in works produced within the modern speculative fiction genre.

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Selected profile

Stevenson in 1893

Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped and A Child's Garden of Verses.

Born and educated in Edinburgh, Stevenson suffered from serious bronchial trouble for much of his life but continued to write prolifically and travel widely in defiance of his poor health. As a young man, he mixed in London literary circles, receiving encouragement from Sidney Colvin, Andrew Lang, Edmund Gosse, Leslie Stephen and W. E. Henley, the last of whom may have provided the model for Long John Silver in Treasure Island. In 1890, he settled in Samoa where, alarmed at increasing European and American influence in the South Sea islands, his writing turned from romance and adventure fiction toward a darker realism. He died of a stroke in his island home in 1894 at age 44. (Full article...)

Selected work

System Shock 2 is a 1999 action role-playing survival horror video game designed by Ken Levine and co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios. Originally intended to be a standalone title, its story was changed during production into a sequel to the 1994 game System Shock. The alterations were made when Electronic Arts—who owned the System Shock franchise rights—signed on as publisher.

The game takes place on board a starship in a cyberpunk depiction of 2114. The player assumes the role of a soldier trying to stem the outbreak of a genetic infection that has devastated the ship. Like System Shock, gameplay consists of first-person combat and exploration. It incorporates role-playing elements, in which the player can develop skills and traits, such as hacking and psionic abilities. (Full article...)

Selected quote


Kim Stanley Robinson (b. 1952), Interview, Locus (September 1997).[1]

More quotes from Wikiquote: science fiction, fantasy, alternate history

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Titans and giants in Hell
Titans and giants in Hell
Credit: Artist: Gustave Doré; Restoration: Adam Cuerden

Titans and giants imprisoned in Hell, in this engraving by Gustave Doré that accompanied Canto XXXI of an 1890 publication of Dante Alighieri's Inferno. The titan on the left is Ephialtes, a son of Poseidon. In Dante's Divine Comedy, he is one of four giants placed in the great pit that separates Dis from Cocytus, the Ninth Circle of Hell. (POTD)

Did you know...

Owl Island from The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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Selected article

Prop for the Doctor's TARDIS used between 2010 and 2017

The TARDIS (/ˈtɑːrdɪs/; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space") is a fictional hybrid of a time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its various spin-offs. While a TARDIS is capable of disguising itself, the exterior appearance of the Doctor's TARDIS typically mimics a police box, an obsolete type of telephone kiosk that was once commonly seen on streets in Britain in the 1950s. Paradoxically, its interior is shown as being much larger than its exterior, commonly described as being "bigger on the inside".

Due to the significance of Doctor Who in popular British culture, the shape of the police box is now more strongly associated with the TARDIS than its real-world inspiration. The name and design of the TARDIS is a registered trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), although the design was originally created by the Metropolitan Police Service. (Full article...)

On this day...

April 30:

Book releases

Film releases

Television series

Births

  • 1926 - Edmund Cooper (d. 1982), an English poet and prolific writer of speculative fiction, children books, essays, and one detective novel
  • 1930 - Bill Buchanan (d. ), an American songwriter best known for his science fiction songs
  • 1938 - Larry Niven, an American science fiction author
  • 1973 - Naomi Novik, an American historical fantasy and alternate history author

Deaths

  • 1981 - François Bordes (b. 1919), a French scientist, geologist, archaeologist, and science fiction author


Possible futures

Possible events in the future as suggested by science fiction:

  • Dr. Robotnik seizes control in 3224 of the planet Mobius, the name of the former planet Earth.
  • In 5000, the Filipino Army defeats the Alliance at the Battle of Reykjavik during the closing stages of World War V.
  • In the year 5,000,000,023, Humans have moved to a new planet in the galaxy M87.

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