Jump to content

Portal:Speculative fiction

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Speculative Fiction Portal logo
Speculative Fiction Portal logo


Main   Science fiction   Fantasy   Horror   People   Publications
Image of a galaxy.

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 below

Selected 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 which focused on science fiction. (Full article...)

Selected work

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy radio series primarily written by Douglas Adams. It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Radio 4 in 1978, and afterwards the BBC World Service, National Public Radio in the US and CBC Radio in Canada. The series was the first radio comedy programme to be produced in stereo, and was innovative in its use of music and sound effects, winning a number of awards.

The series follows the adventures of hapless Englishman Arthur Dent and his friend Ford Prefect, an alien who writes for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a pan-galactic encyclopaedia and travel guide. After Earth is destroyed in the first episode, Arthur and Ford find themselves aboard a stolen spaceship piloted by Zaphod Beeblebrox (Ford's semi-cousin and Galactic President), depressed robot Marvin, and Trillian, the only other human survivor of Earth's destruction. (Full article...)

Selected quote


Harry Harrison (b.1925), "The Time of the Other: Alternate History and the Conquest of America" in Strange Horizons (2002).
More quotes from Wikiquote: science fiction, fantasy, alternate history

Selected picture

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Credit: Artist: William Wallace Denslow

An illustration from the first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, depicting the scene where Dorothy meets the Cowardly Lion, the first time the four major characters of the novel come together. The book was originally published in 1900 and has since been reprinted countless times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz, which is the name of both the 1902 Broadway musical and the extremely popular, highly acclaimed 1939 film version. Thanks in part to the film it is one of the best-known stories in American popular culture and has been widely translated. Its initial success, and the success of the popular 1902 musical Baum adapted from his story, led to his writing and having published thirteen more Oz books. (POTD)

Did you know...

Arthur C. Clarke in 2005

  • ... that the 101 Dalmatians Musical has several performers working on 15" stilts to simulate a canine perspective, and uses 15 real Dalmatian dogs for several scenes?

Upcoming conventions

September:

October:

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 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards are given to works of science fiction, fantasy and horror that explore LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) topics in a positive way. Established in 1998, the awards were initially presented by the Gaylactic Network, with awards first awarded in 1999. In 2002 the awards were given their own organization, the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Foundation. The major award categories are for best novel, short fiction, and other works. The winners and short list of recommended nominees are decided by a jury. One of the most recognized authors, Melissa Scott has received the most awards overall, with five wins. She also holds the record for most nominations. Works of any format produced before the awards were first given were eligible to be inducted into the "Hall of Fame", although no work has been inducted since 2003. The list of award winners and Hall of Fame inductees has been called a "who's who of science fiction" by the GLBTQ Encyclopedia Project. This article lists the winners in each of the categories, and the inductees to the Hall of Fame. (Full article...)

On this day...

September 19:

Television series

Births


Possible futures

Possible events in the future as suggested by science fiction:

Things you can do...

Here are ideas for how you can help improve the coverage of speculative fiction topics on Wikipedia:

Join a WikiProject or task force:

Start a requested article:

  • Create an article which someone has requested.

Expand a stub:

Expand a new article:

  • Expand and update a new speculative fiction article from the following list:

Note: If no articles are shown below, please work on those found in the Archive. This list was generated from these rules. Questions and feedback are always welcome! The search is being run daily with the most recent ~14 days of results. Note: Some articles may not be relevant to this project.

Rules | Match log | Results page (for watching) | Last updated: 2024-09-18 22:07 (UTC)

Note: The list display can now be customized by each user. See List display personalization for details.

















Recognized content

Featured 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.

Science fiction
Featured articles
Featured lists
Fantasy
Featured articles
Horror
Featured articles

Speculative fiction topics

Creators: Artists (list· Authors (by nationality· Editors
Media: Animation · Anime and manga · Comics · Films (list· Games (board · role-playing · video· Literature (magazines (pulp· novels · poetry · stories· Opera · Radio · Television (films · list · sitcoms· Theatre
Subgenres: Alternate history · Apocalyptic · Biopunk · Comedy · Cyberpunk (derivatives· Dying Earth · Gothic · Hard · Human society · Military · Mundane · Planetary romance · Recursive · Social · Soft · Space opera · Spy-fi · Steampunk · Sword and planet · Tech-noir · Western (Space)
History: Films · Golden Age · New Wave · Scientific romance
Related genres: Fantasy (Science fantasy· Mystery · Horror · Slipstream · Speculative (Weird) · Superhero
Themes: Artificial intelligence · Extraterrestrials (First contact· Floating city · Hyperspace · Lost World · Planets · Politics (Libertarian · Utopia/Dystopia · World government) · Religion (Christian · ideas) · Resizing · Sex (Feminist · gender · homosexuality · reproduction· Simulated realities/Virtual worlds · Slipstream · Space warfare (weapons· Stock characters · Superpowers · Timeline (Alternate future · Future history · Parallel universes · Time travel)
Subculture: Fandom: By nationality · Conventions (list· OrganizationsStudies: Awards · Definitions · Journals · New Wave
By country: Australia · Bangladesh · Canada · China · Croatia · Czech Republic · France · Japan · Norway · Poland · Romania · Russia/Soviet Union · Serbia · Spain

Horror

Creators: Artists · Authors
Media: Anime and manga · Comics (US· Films (list· Games · Giallo · Grand Guignol · Magazines · Novels · Television
Subgenres: Body · Comedy (list · zombie comedy· Dark fantasy · Dark romanticism · Ero guro · Erotic · Ghost · Gothic · J-Horror · K-Horror · Lovecraftian · Monsters (Frankenstein · vampire · werewolf· Occult detective · Psychological · Religious (film) · Sci-fi (film) · Slasher (film) · Splatter/Gore (film) · Supernatural · Survival · Weird menace · Weird West · Zombie apocalypse
Related genres: Crime · Mystery · Speculative · Thriller
Others: Awards · Conventions · LGBT · Writers

Subcategories

Category puzzle
Category puzzle
Select [►] to view subcategories

Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:


Associated content
Science fiction

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Fantasy

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Horror

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Portal directory