Science Fiction

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Science Fiction
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Science Fiction

• Extrapolates from current scientific trends
  explores scientific possibilities
• Technology may be the driving force of the story
  or the setting
• Tends to predict or define the future
• If this, then what?

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Science Fiction

• Imaginary elements are possible within
  established or postulated laws of nature
• Although
• Sometimes its difficult to draw the line
  between what is scientifically possible and what
  is not

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Science Fantasy

• A Wrinkle in Time (Madeline LEngle) Fantasy?
• Or, because time travel is theoretically
  possible, is it science
  fiction?

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Light Science Fiction

• Relies on technological advances to create the
  story
• Jane Yolens Commander Toad series
• Betsy Duffys Alien for Rent
• Involves adventure foremost

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Deeper Science Fiction

• Science fiction for older readers offers the
  same kind of
• DEEP QUESTIONING
• that fantasy offers, but the questions relate to
  scientific possibilities

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How do you know its Science Fiction?

• A setting in the future or alternative time line
• A setting in outer space or involving aliens or
  unknown civilizations
• The discovery or application of new scientific
  principles
• Political or social systems different from those
  of the known present or past

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Categories of Science Fiction

• SPECULATIVE FICTION
• Catch-all term for sci fi fantasy
• Refers to novels that focus less on advances in
  technology and more on issues of social change
• Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
• George Orwell's 1984
• Lois Lowrys The Giver
• www.sfsite.com

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Categories of Science Fiction

• CYBERPUNK
• Explores fusion between man machine
• Perfection of the Internet and virtual reality
  technology
• Characters experience and interact with computers
  in a 3D graphic environment that feels physically
  real
• The society tends to be urban and anarchic
• www.sfsite.com

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Categories of Science Fiction

• MILITARY SCI FI
• Basically, the armed forces in space.
• PARALLEL/ALTERNATE UNIVERSE
• For every decision made or event that occurs,
  there is another place where the decision or the
  event went differently
• SPACE OPERA
• High adventure in space
• Used to be serialized in movies and pulp
  magazines popular in the first ½ of
  the century
• Hallmarks include encounters with beautiful
  women bug-eyed monsters
• Flash Gordon is vintage space opera
• Star Trek
• Battle Star Galactica

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Major themes in Sci Fi

• Mind Control
• Communication across time space through
  technology, telepathy, or medical advances
• Consider Feed The Giver
• Life in the Future
• Anthropological and sociological aspects of life
• Questions of individual commitment /ethical
  behavior
• Often, the result of aggression and competition
  in an overly crowded world

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Major themes in Sci Fi

• Survival
• Both gloomy and hopeful views of the future
• Post nuclear holocaust books
• Louise Lawrence Children of the Dust
• Other catastrophic problems events
• Overcrowding
• Pollution
• Extinction of animal and plant life
• Inadequate food supply

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What Makes Good Science Fiction?

• Promotes new ways of looking at human
  consequences related to
• industrialism
• evolutionary theory
• relativity
• computers
• the big bang
• human presence on the moon
• the possibility of alien intelligence
• And on and on

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Elements of Good Science Fiction

• Story world is detailed believable within the
  context of the story
• Story events are imaginative, yet logically
  consistent within the story world
• Characters are multidimensional with consistent,
  logical behavior
• Vivid images and solid, understandable structures
• Meaningful themes cause readers to think about
  life.

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Good Science Fiction Will

1. Make us consider the emotional, psychological and
   physical effects of futuristic ideas, conflicts,
   and change
2. Encourage us to keep an open mind
3. Provoke questions about other forms of life and
   thereby bring our own into perspective

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Good Science Fiction Will

• Stimulate curiosity and the capacity for
  invention
• Present readers with moral and ethical dilemmas
  that correspond to the real world