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. Jump to a specific section belowSelected profile Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction author and a multiple recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship. Born in Pasadena, California, Butler was raised by her widowed mother. Extremely shy as a child, Butler found an outlet at the library reading fantasy, and in writing. She began writing science fiction as a teenager. Butler attended community college during the Black Power movement. While participating in a local writer's workshop, she was encouraged to attend the Clarion Workshop, then held in Pennsylvania, which focused on science fiction. ( Full article...)Selected work
The Last of Us is a 2013
action-adventure game developed by
Naughty Dog and published by
Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control
Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl,
Ellie, across a
post-apocalyptic United States. The Last of Us is played from a
third-person perspective. Players use firearms and
improvised weapons and can use
stealth to defend against hostile humans and
cannibalistic creatures
infected by a mutated fungus. In the
online multiplayer mode, up to eight players engage in
cooperative and competitive gameplay.
Development of The Last of Us began in 2009, soon after the release of Naughty Dog's previous game, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. For the first time in the company's history, Naughty Dog split into two teams; while one team developed Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, the other half developed The Last of Us. The relationship between Joel and Ellie became the focus, with all other elements developed around it. Actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson portrayed Joel and Ellie, respectively, through voice and motion capture, and assisted creative director Neil Druckmann with the development of the characters and story. The original score was composed and performed by Gustavo Santaolalla. ( Full article...) Selected quote
— Brian Aldiss (b.1925), Billion Year Spree: The True History of Science Fiction (1973). Selected picture "The Punishment of Loki", by Louis Huard. ( CPOTD) Did you know...
Upcoming conventionsJune:
July:
Dates can usually be found on the article page. See also these convention lists: anime, comic book, furry, gaming, multigenre, and science fiction. Selected article
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (usually referred to as F&SF) is a U.S.
fantasy and
science fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of
Lawrence Spivak's
Mercury Press. Editors
Anthony Boucher and
J. Francis McComas had approached Spivak in the mid-1940s about creating a fantasy companion to Spivak's existing mystery title,
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. The first issue was titled The Magazine of Fantasy, but the decision was quickly made to include science fiction as well as fantasy, and the title was changed correspondingly with the second issue. F&SF was quite different in presentation from the existing science fiction magazines of the day, most of which were in
pulp format: it had no interior illustrations, no letter column, and text in a single-column format, which in the opinion of science fiction historian
Mike Ashley "set F&SF apart, giving it the air and authority of a superior magazine".
F&SF quickly became one of the leading magazines in the science fiction and fantasy fields, with a reputation for publishing literary material and including more diverse stories than its competitors. Well-known stories that appeared in its early years include
Richard Matheson's "
Born of Man and Woman", and
Ward Moore's
Bring the Jubilee, a novel of an
alternative history in which the South has won the
American Civil War. McComas left for health reasons in 1954, but Boucher continued as sole editor until 1958, winning the
Hugo Award for Best Magazine that year, a feat his successor,
Robert Mills, repeated in the next two years. Mills was responsible for publishing
Flowers for Algernon by
Daniel Keyes,
Rogue Moon by
Algis Budrys,
Starship Troopers by
Robert Heinlein, and the first of
Brian Aldiss's
Hothouse stories. The first few issues mostly featured cover art by
George Salter, Mercury Press's art director, but other artists soon began to appear, including
Chesley Bonestell,
Kelly Freas, and
Ed Emshwiller. (
Full article...)
On this day...Television series
Births
Deaths
Possible futuresPossible events in the future as suggested by science fiction:
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Recognized contentFeatured articles are considered to be the best on Wikipedia, as determined by Wikipedia's editors, and Good articles are those which are considered to be of good quality but which are not yet featured article quality. If you see one that should be listed here, please add it or post on the talk page and let us know so we can add it for you. Speculative fiction topicsCreators:
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