Science FictionWhat is science fiction, exactly? A lot of people have tried to define it over the years, but it's a topic that—although it's often easily recognizable—comes in many flavors and means different things to different people. In some cases, it's easy to say, "Yes, that's science fiction." For example, most people would agree that authors such as H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein fall strongly into the category of science fiction writers. But in many cases, the lines aren't so clear-cut. Most people would say that Star Wars is science fiction. After all, it bears many of the trappings of the genre, such as alien life forms (Wookies, Hutts, Gungans, etc.), advanced technologies (lightsabers, faster-than-light space travel, etc.). At the same time, there's a strong argument to be made that Star Wars is as much fantasy as it is science fiction, due to the fact that one of its central concepts—the use of "the force"— is more mystical or magical than technological. Sometimes fantasy is considered a subset of science fiction. Magic or other supernatural powers just take the place of technology. That's why you'll sometimes find works like Tolkien's The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings classified as science fiction, even though there's little or no science involved at all. (At the bottom of this page are links to some science fiction reading lists, and Tolkien appears more than you might expect. The U.S. Library of Congress defines science fiction as a subset of fantasy, although what they consider fantasy might be better thought of as speculative fiction. If you think of all these genres as speculative fiction, you can make a strong case for dividing it up into more or less definable categories such as science fiction, fantasy and horror. But even then, works like Star Wars cross or blur the lines, and you have books or movies that are hybrids of these categories. Was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein science fiction, horror, or a bit of both? Is there such a thing as science horror? In this author's opinion, the movie Event Horizon, starring Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburne, was definitely science fiction, and definitely horror. Cross-genre blurring also gives us subcategories like horror-fantasy (often called dark fantasy), science-fantasy and many other subtle variations. So after all this discussion, what is science fiction? There are no hard and fast rules. But one of the best ways to gain a better understanding of the genre is to read it. Below are a few links to suggested reading lists, from more or less authoritative organizations and/or individuals in the sci-fi world. There's probably more there than the average person can read in a lifetime, but even a sampling of what's found on those pages will give you a solid understanding about what is science fiction.
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