Science Fiction

OtherConsciousness is a near-ubiquitous theme in SF. FrankenStein is often thought of as the original SF novel (although the term itself did not come into use until the 1930s). Slicing SF this way, the 1980s' CyberPunk? revolution was "just" an expansion of this OtherConsciousness exploration.

OtherPlaces? are also deeply rooted in SF - e.g. in BookShelved:EdgarRiceBurroughs ' Mars books could be taking place on PlanetEarth of we hadn't had such global interconnection by 1900. SpaceTravel is a big thing along these lines of course.

AlternateHistory? has become popular in recent years. Not sure how it fits in yet.

ReligionAndScienceFiction have an interesting relationship; also see this undergraduate degree program at the University of Glamorgan (in Wales) - http://www.glam.ac.uk/courses/detail2.php?id=1572 "concentrates on bridging the presumed cultural division between science and the humanities. This degree is an award about science, both historical and contemporary, as an integral part of the culture."

For a one-sentence, guaranteed to be broad enough definition, you can quote me thusly:

Science Fiction is that genre which attempts to prove false any definition suggested for it. --JohnAbbe

Others' definitions

Several - http://www.panix.com/~gokce/sf_defn.html

Mary Shelley gives a nice one at the beginning of FrankenStein. (Another early, even more self-aware genre-creator was Felix Bodin. See http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/reviews_pages/r47.htm and http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/14/angenot14art.htm )

JohnWCampbell? has a very strict definition, good for what we would now call "hard" SF: "Presuming adequate education (meaning, at least, a 4 year degree in one of the "hard" sciences...) on the part of the writer, it's SF if he honestly thinks it could happen, and fantasy if he does not."

Is ScienceFiction radical or ultra-conservative?

ScienceFiction is at it's best radical and ultra-conservative, looking at the today through a 180 degree view. --FozBaca

Miscellanea

DorisLessing has written some great SF, about ForcedEvolution (her term for what DavidBrin? calls UpLift).

In Croation, science fiction is Znanstvena Fantastika.

LarryNiven?'s short, well, i suppose you'd call it a non-fiction piece, detailing some of the obstacles to a "happy" Lois & Clark, is now on-line (with permission): Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex

Once upon a time, i acquired a great short short story, as a PalmOs file with no indication as to who the author was - now i know: http://www.terrybisson.com/meat.html

MaxHeadroom is still one of the best SF tv shows ever. DrWho is coming back (2005)! For some reason, i like BuckarooBanzai?, and Bryant did a RolePlayingGame? mashup for it -- http://popone.innocence.com/archives/2003/12/29/monday_mashup_21_buckaroo_banzai.php

Funny comic on Star Wars role-playing game: http://www.pvponline.com/archive.php3?archive=20020218

Locus indices to SF: http://www.locusmag.com/index/

PhilipDick? taking over the movies: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.12/philip.html

Early SF authors with WebLogs: Bruce Sterling, Neil Gaiman, tons more by now of course...

Help the OED get proper citations for science fictional terms: http://www.jessesword.com/SF/sf_citations.shtml

WorldCon is the big, annual science fiction convention. Votes for the Hugos. Much fun.

Helped start the HarvardRadcliffeScienceFictionAssociation back in college, and now it's growed up enough to start an alumni organization!

Also see

• BookShelved:ScienceFiction
• BookShelved:JohnAbbe (a list of my favorites).
• http://del.icio.us/johnabbe/sf
• http://www.sfbooklist.co.uk/
• http://www.sfreaders.org/ (Korean)
• If you like X, you may like Y - see A Reader's Guide to Science Fiction

A trip

To Mars

For 900

Empty jars

--BurmaShave?