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Science fiction (SIGH-innss FICK-shun) is a type of literature that deals with inventive technologies, futurism, space travel and exploration, and other science-based components.
- Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, along with Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov, is...
- Stranger in a Strange Land
Below, we introduce ten short science fiction stories which offer the perfect way in to the imaginative wonders of science fiction.
- Alien: Alien is a word that has long been used to refer to something foreign, but when did it become the go-to term for a being from another planet?
- Android: Long before the invention of the word "robot," humans dreamed of mechanical beings. Clockwork artisans would construct all manner of automata—birds that flap their wings, monks that shuffle in silent prayer, dolls that pretend to serve tea or play the dulcimer.
- Ansible: Ursula K. Le Guin coined this word for a device for instantaneous communication across the vast distances of space in her 1966 novel Rocannon's World.
- Beam: While the word "beam" evokes visions of Captain Kirk saying, "Beam me up, Scotty," beam already refers to the transport of matter in the "Matter Transmitter" entry in the 1951 Dictionary of Science Fiction.
- Naming
- Abeyance
- Implication
- Literalism
- Pique Your Readers’ Interest
In this classic example from Butler, we first know the name of the viewpoint character: Doro. Later in the novel we’ll learn that Doro has many names, but Butler gives us the name by which he thinks of himself—and whenever we’re in Doro’s viewpoint that’s the only name used for him. Lesser writers might have kept changing the name of that viewpoint...
What else do we learn from Butler’s opening sentence? Doro didn’t intend to meet the woman. His purpose at the time was to see what was left of—what? A “seed village.” What in the world is a seed village? We don’t know what a seed village is. And Butler doesn’t tell us—because Doro, who knows perfectly well what a seed village is, wouldn’t stop and...
Butler is not being obscure; she is being clear. While the term "seed villages” goes unexplained, we are told that this is merely one of them and that Doro thinks of more than one seed village as “his.” Furthermore, “seed village” is not a wholly obscure term. We know what a village is; we know what seed means when it’s used as an adjective. Seed p...
The protocols of abeyance and implication, which give you a great deal of power, also remove one of the tools that mainstream writers rely on most heavily: metaphor. Especially at the beginning of a speculative story, all strange statements are taken literally. “Seed village” isn’t a metaphor, it’s what the village actually is. I think of a story b...
It’s important, especially at the beginning of your novel, to reveal information that promises your reader an interesting story to come. Those promises must be honest ones that you intend to keep. Because Doro is set up as the kind of character who can somehow “own” villages, we see him as a bit larger than life—Butler definitely will deliver on th...
Oct 2, 2014 · While some have seen extrapolation and speculation as opposites, others have seen them as sequential stages in an imaginative process, and still others have used the terms interchangeably, the distinctions between them blurred by differing conceptions of plausibility and of science.
Definition, Usage, and a list of Science Fiction Examples. Science Fiction often show technological advances, environmental issues, and space or time travels
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Dive deep into Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature with extended analysis, commentary, and discussion
