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 The literature of change.  Sci Fi asks, “What if...”  It describes the impact of technology or science on people in the future.  It explores alternate realities.  Though it is a genre of fiction, it is connected with the principles of science. It can’t be totally unbelievable.  An oxymoron:  Science=true/provable  Fiction=false/created from the imagination  How can it be both true/false?

Science fiction typically removes the reader from the currently-known world. Instead it may be set in one of the following:  The future  In space  On a different world  In a different universe or dimension.

Science Fiction is also commonly known as the following  Speculative fiction  Futuristic fiction  A sub-genre of fantastics or fantasy fiction  Closely related to fantasy (magic is a central element), horror, and classical romance.

 1818: Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley  1864: Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne  1898: War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells  1932: Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley  1946: Anthem, by Ayn Rand (Ayn rhymes with mine  1949: 1984, by George Orwell  1953: Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury  1953: Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke  1974: House of Stairs, by William Sleator

 Hard Science Fiction: Stories often featuring believable scientists or scientific inventions. If the scientific elements are both important to the story and plausible, given today’s technology, it is hard science fiction.  Soft Science Fiction: Stories emphasizing the psychological or sociological sciences. Relationship, more than scientific inventions or principles, are the basis for the action.

 Alternate History: Stories in which history as we know it has been altered in some fundamental way, such as Napoleon winning at Waterloo, or Einstein never unlocking the secrets of atomic power. We see a different society because of such changed events.  Future History: Stories set in a distant time and containing a more or less worked out society reflecting the relationship among competing or cooperating species in that universe.

 Cyberpunk: Stories set in a computer-dominated environment, usually in the near future, and containing rebellious characters such as street punks.  Steampunk: Stories set in an alternate history when steam power was prominent, such as Victorian England. These stories usually show technology changed in some way by the addition of more modern inventions, and like cyberpunk, most have rebellious characters.

 Dystopia: Stories in which society is dominated by negative factors.  Utopia: Stories in which society’s ills have, for the most part, been cured and daily life is perfect, or nearly so.

 Fantastic Voyage: Stories where the heroes travel to unknown regions, encountering strange inhabitants.  Space Opera: Stories with outer space or other planets and galactic war as the center of the action. A soap opera played out in space.