The “What If?” genre that is speculative fiction has been around for thousands of years. The genre has entertained us, terrified us, and pushed the boundaries of our imagination.
Sometimes, it made our wildest fantasies come true. If you were to travel back in time a few hundred years and told a carriage maker that one day we’d be riding in a horseless carriage run by electricity, they likely would have laughed in your face.
Speculative fiction covers both fantasy and science fiction and their subgenres. Fantasy is where the implausible parts of our imagination can run wild. While Science Fiction gives credibility to an imaginative world.
Both science and fantasy fiction have many subgenres that have specific troupes and overall world characteristics. In fantasy, it is expected that there will be some sort of superhuman powers, mystical creatures, and a lot of things that don’t exist in the real world. Science Fiction or Sci-Fi, on the other hand, contains a lot of futuristic or alternative realities where science and technology are advanced and may or may not currently exist, but could exist at some point, time travel, and aliens.
It all comes back to the “What If?” question. What if there was an alternate reality where humans were telepathic? What if Unicorns were real?
It’s a fun genre that I have always loved as a reader and I love exploring as a writer. I love both subgenre’s of speculative fiction and I have found that I have difficultly staying on one side of the wall or the other. That is why I write science fantasy. I love to pull epic fantasy troupes, but include advanced technology. It’s great if you can give a science explanation for the power a character uses.
I like a little science with my fantasy and a brief fantasy with my sci-fi. It’s probably why I love the Space Opera and Epic Fantasy equally. The two subgenres’ can be blended together so well. It’s why I am a fan of Glynn Stewart and S.G. Blaise. Both authors do a spectacular job of blending science fiction and fantasy together.
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