Talk:Speculative fiction

Not all correct

Not everything stated in this definition is correct.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 2005-05-09T17:38:49. (talk) 66.61.53.63 (talk)

Please define and describe what you see as wrong - otherwise why should your comment be considered?—Preceding unsigned comment added by Jackiespeel (talk • contribs) 2005-08-11T10:05:19

Let me try. The basic definition of speculative fiction as fiction that departs from reality is passingly odd. All fiction departs from reality; that is the very meaning of the word fiction. Indeed, to speculate means trying to take a step back and contemplate certain aspects of reality from a distant or detached vantage point. Subsequently, in the resulting fiction (which is inherently free of any slavish duty to strict accuracy or adherence to reality), those aspects of reality are presented in a heightened and often distorted form. The contemplative aspect may be one of delving into a substratum, or of a relating to universal archetypes, or of extrapolation; and typical results are, respectively, horror, fantasy, and sci-fi, although all of the above may occur in any combination. Both fears and dream fulfilment figure prominently. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A01:CB0C:CD:D800:6C58:E74F:F368:C5D9 (talk) 08:48, 24 March 2023 (UTC)

Examples of Speculative Fiction

I'm still a little confused what speculative fiction is and it would help greatly if this article gave examples of known books in this particular literary genre. It might help if someone can add a list of novels that are considered speculative fiction. Thanks! -User:noneforall —Preceding comment was added at 23:22, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Speculates something impossible actually being.

The term ‘speculative fiction’ was coined by Ellison to describe his own :writing because he knew what he wrote wasn't actually science fiction.

There was this thing called the space race going on, and real scientists :were being called on to write science based fiction, and excite the :imagination of the general public to want to explore space. They defined :science fiction as fiction which predicted future sciences which didn't :exist, but were likely to based on the science of today, and how it :might impact people or society. It was a progressive concept, meaning :that if someone else had already done it, it wasn't science fiction. And :if the the person writing didn't have a proper understanding of the :science involved, it was pure speculation. One didn't have to be a :scientist to write science fiction. You just had to do your research.

There is also a definition of speculative fiction as something very :similar to fantasy. It speculates what it would be like, given as fact :something which is, in reality, impossible. Super heroes, for instance. :They don't exist, are in fact outside the realm of possibility. They are :purely speculative, as are attempts to explain them. Yet they are given :a veneer of science fiction. So can you call them science fiction?

Of course not.

It's only natural that Ellison, of all people, should want to draw the :line between real science fiction and speculations along science :fictional lines. It's not just the space race. After all, he did, and :probably still does, a lot of work in film and television. The vast :majority of science fiction in those fields wasn't much better than Lost :in Space- that is, made by people who wouldn't know real science if it :bit them. Calling Plan 9 from Outer Space science fiction, when the :likes of Arthur C. Clarke were out there writing the real stuff, must :have seemed quite the mockery.

Today computers give SF movies such a degree of verisimilitude that :viewers naturally don't think about these things anymore, if they ever :did. And the general public seems to understand more of the science than :the ones making those films, but give it a miss because they know by now :that movies were never really accurate about that kind of thing. It's :called science fiction because it has always been called science :fiction.

In the meantime, literature abounds with true science fiction which has :gone unexplored, because Hollywood can't tell the difference. Nor, it :seems, can many writers. But the truth is that we only accept the :scientific inaccuracies because we've come to expect no better :treatment. Thetrellan (talk) 19:08, 18 October 2017 (UTC)

This is false in so many ways, including yet another in the semingly endless series of slanders upon Harlan Ellison by people not actually familiar with his work or his history in the field. --Orange Mike | Talk 23:27, 1 January 2018 (UTC)

Author Demographics?

This section seems irrelevant and largely contrived as a way to link to the editor's other article. The article should absolutely be included in the See Also section but is excessively tangential for other inclusion. Billyoffland (talk) 03:04, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

@Billyoffland: I moved it to the History section as it doesn't need its own section. I also moved the link to the {{Speculative fiction all}} template (as well as many of the links in the See also section). ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe · Join WP Japan! 18:49, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Article fails to define the difference between speculative fiction and fiction

I’m struggling to see from the definition on this page (and elsewhere to be fair) where the edges of speculative fiction lie. For example I’m sure everyone would say that Bridget Jones’ Diary wasn’t speculative fiction, yet it happens in a parallel world where things always turn out for the best in the end. Can someone explain why all fiction isn’t speculative?Talltim (talk) 22:49, 1 January 2018 (UTC) Talltim (talk) 22:49, 1 January 2018 (UTC)

That's basically a philosophical question. It has been argued for decades by members of science fiction fandom, albeit mostly tongue-in-cheek, that all fiction is fantasy/speculative fiction, because after all even the most drearily "realistic" of mimetic fictions is nonetheless something somebody made up one day, with all the limitations which that implies. Where you choose to draw the line is almost a matter of taste, really. --Orange Mike | Talk 23:10, 1 January 2018 (UTC)

Talltim is right. There's already a word for "just making stuff up" and that word is "Fiction". There are even words like "Fantasy" to include a wild and free disregard for the plausible real world. "Speculative" was used as a qualifier to refer to the subset of made up stuff that could actually happen or could have happened (political dystopias, yes (no "science" required!); wizards & ghosts: no.) But people don't get the difference between limited "speculation" and "just wildly make up anything", so they turn it back into a redundant word that means nothing more than "Fiction".

Words like "speculative", "guess", "conjecture" etc. do not just mean "make up anything." Asked "What's in this box?" Speculations might include "a pencil?" "a dirty bomb?" "an undiscovered Shakespeare manuscript?" But to say "a dragon's egg" or "superman's actual tights" would not be a *sincere* guess. A definition would be less nonsensical if it was required to include a list of the types of "Fiction" that are **not** "Speculative fiction", rather than the uselessly comprehensive: "broad category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist..." Give examples of where it's inadequate to call something by the long standing word "Fiction", and why it's (apparently?) necessary to **qualify** wizards for example as being "speculative" rather than simply being "Fiction". Do people think wizards are not simply made up fantasy but a subset that is more cautiously restrained and needs a more cerebral qualifier? DKEdwards (talk) 01:08, 12 September 2021 (UTC)

I don't think that the word doesn't meet a need. I for one have found that nearly all genres that don't interest me at all in literature or film are in the list of genres in this articles, and none in the list is of any interest to me. So, I guess I am a lover of "non-speculative fiction"? --Anvilaquarius (talk) 14:18, 3 November 2022 (UTC)

Horror fiction

The lead states that speculative fiction contains supernatural or futuristic elements, and that this unmbrella genre includes horror. Although most horror films include such elements, there are horror films which don't. These include: Psycho, The Wicker Man, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Silence of the Lambs, Scream, American Psycho, Saw, Hostel and Sorority Row. Are films in that category not speculative fiction, despite being horror? If so, the article should clarify that not all horror fiction is speculative fiction. Jim Michael (talk) 05:12, 7 March 2019 (UTC)

I've previously tried to change the lead to a more encompassing definition, but my edits were always reverted. - Alumnum (talk) 18:38, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

Incorrect information about Hippolytus

There is incorrect information about Hippolytus (play) either here or in the article about the play. Here it says, "Euripides (ca. 480–406 BCE) whose play Medea seems 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, and whose play Hippolytus, narratively introduced by Aphrodite, Goddess of Love in person, is suspected to have displeased his contemporary audiences because he portrayed Phaedra as too lusty."

First, this is not a sentence. There is no predicate in it; it's just one long subject. Second, according to Hippolytus (play), the play which offended Athenians has been lost, and we have no way of knowing whether Aphrodite was involved in it. There are two Hippolytus plays according to the article, the one by Euripides which we have, and a lost one that offended Athenians.

I don't know which is wrong, but in any case, this article doesn't explain how Hippolytus falls into the category of speculative fiction, only that it offended people. Is that really the most important thing? FideliaE (talk) 13:24, 6 July 2019 (UTC)

A Question on Horror Fiction within Speculative Fiction

I have a question rather than an edit. This is my first interaction with Wikipedia, so if I am off base in making a query, I apologize.

The article states that "This catch-all genre includes, but is not limited to, science fiction, fantasy, horror, slipstream," etc. My question relates specifically to horror. Is it considered that all horror fits within speculative fiction? For example, how do types of horror like Crime Horror, Survival Horror, Historical Horror, Slasher Horror, and Disaster Horror fit within speculative fiction? Does this depend on what the definition of the word "speculative" is? (This question is asked in the context of devising submissions language for an anthology that contains science fiction, fantasy, and horror). The direction of my thoughts at the moment is that Horror is its own super-genre (if that is a term) that contains within it many different horror types, some of which include speculative fiction and some which do not. All thoughts are welcome, especially from whoever moderates the article content.

(I see someone made a related statement under Horror fiction, but my goal is to gain clarification and insights from feedback, not to make a definitive statement.)

DreamForgeOne (talk) 00:48, 27 April 2024 (UTC)