Thursday, September 20, 2012




Science fiction normally sets in a different world we live in, and importantly it somehow involves science/technology. In Science fiction stories also has to have some kind of odd/advanced technology that could exist in the future and characters in Science fiction have supernatural power. There are many Science fiction works now-a-days and Ones that I know are Iron Man (2008), Avatar (2009) and The Time Machines (H. G. Wells, 1895)

Speculative fiction a subset of Science fiction, but in Speculative fiction, 'What if...' condition applies, and often Speculative fiction consists alternation of history. I would label speculative fiction as a broad literary genre encompassing any fiction with supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements. Examples of speculative fictions would be the final noel in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series, 'Mockingjay', and 'Surface Detail' which is written by Iain M. Banks.

The novel 'The Man in the High Castle' also has elements of Science fiction like the background different world. However in my opinion, 'The Man in the High Castle' goes under Speculative fiction category as PKD sets up a What if condition as what would have happened if Japan and Germany won the World War 2. Also PKD alternated history of World War 2, which is one of the element in Speculative fiction.


Reference
Newitz Annalee. (2011). The 15 Best Speculative Fiction Books of 2010. Retrieved from http://io9.com/5714039/the-14-best-speculative-fiction-books-of-2010

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5 comments:

  1. KarenSeptember 30, 2012 at 4:29 AM

    Nice answer - have you done some of the readings from the course reader though?

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    1. BoyoungOctober 4, 2012 at 4:17 PM

      Yes, but I find this weeks reader hard to understand the differences between Speculative fiction and Science fiction. so I did some extra research for this week.

      Delete
  2. mike johnsonOctober 4, 2012 at 4:50 PM

    'Philip alternates history and then elements of Science fiction appears like outer space and spaceship.'

    Please explain: I don't understand the sentence. Also refer to author by his second name, or, in this case, as PKD (which is how he was known).

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    Replies
    1. BoyoungOctober 4, 2012 at 5:36 PM

      I corrected the sentence as 'Also PKD alternated history of World War 2, which is one of the element in Speculative fiction.'

      Delete
  3. UnknownOctober 21, 2012 at 12:24 PM

    I thought the same idea, about it being speculative fiction. I actually thought of The Hunger Game series while I was writing my own as well!
    I definitely think the "What if?" idea applies here to make it more speculative.

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