Editing Science fiction

{{Short description|Literary genre}}
{{Redirect|Scifi|other uses|Science fiction (disambiguation)|and|Scifi (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
[[File:Imagination cover December 1952.jpg|thumb|Cover of ''[[Imagination (magazine)|Imagination]]'', an American science fiction and fantasy [[pulp magazine]] (1952)]]
{{Speculative fiction sidebar}}{{Literature}}
'''Science fiction''' (often shortened to '''sci-fi''' or abbreviated '''SF''') is a [[genre]] of [[speculative fiction]] that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts include [[information technology]] and [[robotics]], [[biological]] manipulations, [[space exploration]], [[time travel]], [[Parallel universes in fiction|parallel universes]], and [[extraterrestrials in fiction|extraterrestrial life]]. The genre often explores human responses to the consequences of projected scientific advancements. 

Science fiction is related to [[fantasy]] (together abbreviated [[wikt:SF&F|SF&F]]), [[Horror fiction|horror]], and [[superhero fiction]], and it contains many [[#Subgenres|subgenres]]. The genre's precise [[Definitions of science fiction|definition]] has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers. Major subgenres include [[hard science fiction|''hard'']] science fiction, which emphasizes scientific accuracy, and [[soft science fiction|''soft'']] science fiction, which focuses on social sciences. Other notable subgenres are [[cyberpunk]], which explores the interface between technology and society, and [[climate fiction]], which addresses environmental issues.

Precedents for science fiction are claimed to exist as far back as antiquity, but the modern genre arose primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when popular writers began looking to technological progress for inspiration and speculation. [[Mary Shelley]]'s ''[[Frankenstein]]'', written in 1818, is often credited as the first true science fiction [[novel]]. [[Jules Verne]] and [[H. G. Wells]] are pivotal figures in the genre's development. In the 20th century, the genre grew during the [[Golden Age of Science Fiction]]; it expanded with the introduction of [[space operas]], [[dystopian]] literature, and [[pulp magazines]].

Science fiction has come to influence not only literature, but also film, television, and culture at large. Science fiction can criticize present-day society and explore alternatives, as well as provide entertainment and inspire a [[sense of wonder|''sense of wonder'']].

==Definitions==
{{Main|Definitions of science fiction}}
According to [[Isaac Asimov]], "Science fiction can be defined as that branch of literature which deals with the reaction of human beings to changes in science and technology."<ref name=IANH>{{Cite journal |title=How Easy to See the Future! |journal=[[Natural History (magazine)|Natural History]] |last=Asimov |first=Isaac |date=April 1975|issue=4 |volume=84 |pages=92 |via=Internet Archive |publisher=[[American Museum of Natural History]] |location=New York |issn=0028-0712 |url=https://archive.org/details/naturalhistory84newy/page/n379/mode/1up?view=theater}}</ref> 

Science fiction writer [[Robert A. Heinlein]] stated that "A handy short definition of almost all science fiction might read: realistic speculation about possible future events, based solidly on adequate [[knowledge]] of the real world, past and present, and on a thorough understanding of the nature and significance of the [[scientific method]]."<ref name="heinlein def"/>

American science fiction author and editor [[Lester del Rey]] wrote, "Even the devoted aficionado or fan—has a hard time trying to explain what science fiction is," and no "full satisfactory definition" exists because "there are no easily delineated limits to science fiction."<ref name="The World of Science Fiction 1926–1976" />

Another definition is provided in ''The Literature Book'' by the publisher [[DK (publisher)|DK]]: "scenarios that are at the time of writing technologically impossible, extrapolating from present-day science...[,]...or that deal with some form of speculative science-based conceit, such as a society (on Earth or another planet) that has developed in wholly different ways from our own."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Canton |first1=James |title=The Literature Book |last2=Cleary |first2=Helen |last3=Kramer |first3=Ann |last4=Laxby |first4=Robin |last5=Loxley |first5=Diana |last6=Ripley |first6=Esther |last7=Todd |first7=Megan |last8=Shaghar |first8=Hila |last9=Valente |first9=Alex |publisher=[[DK (publisher)|DK]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-4654-2988-9 |location=New York |page=343}}</ref>

There is a tendency among science fiction enthusiasts to be their own arbiters in deciding what constitutes science fiction.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Menadue|first1=Christopher Benjamin|last2=Giselsson|first2=Kristi|last3=Guez|first3=David|date=1 October 2020|title=An Empirical Revision of the Definition of Science Fiction: It Is All in the Techne . . .|journal=SAGE Open|language=en|volume=10|issue=4|page=2158244020963057|doi=10.1177/2158244020963057|s2cid=226192105|issn=2158-2440|doi-access=free}}</ref> David Seed says that it may be more useful to talk about science fiction as the intersection of other more concrete subgenres.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Seed|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zUOFPjeUcF8C&q=hard+soft+science+fiction&pg=PP1|title=Science Fiction: A Very Short Introduction|date=23 June 2011|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-955745-5|language=en}}</ref> [[Damon Knight]] summed up the difficulty, saying "Science fiction is what we point to when we say it."<ref name="In Search of Wonder: Essays on Modern Science Fiction"/>

===Alternative terms===
{{Further|Skiffy}}
[[Forrest J Ackerman]] has been credited with first using the term ''sci-fi'' (reminiscent of the then-trendy term [[hi-fi|''hi-fi'']]) in about 1954.<ref>{{cite news |date=7 December 2008 |title=Forrest J Ackerman, 92; Coined the Term 'Sci-Fi' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/06/AR2008120602021.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022130847/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/06/AR2008120602021.html |archive-date=22 October 2017 |access-date=17 December 2015 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> The first known use in print was a description of ''[[Donovan's Brain (film)|Donovan's Brain]]'' by movie critic Jesse Zunser in January 1954.<ref>{{cite web |title=sci-fi n. |url=https://sfdictionary.com/view/210/sci-fi |website=Historical [[Dictionary]] of Science Fiction |access-date=31 March 2022}}</ref> As science fiction entered [[popular culture]], writers and fans in the field came to associate the term with low-quality [[Pulp magazine|''pulp'']] science fiction and with low-budget, low-tech [[B movie|''B m''ovies]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Neo-Fan's Guidebook |year=1987 |last=Whittier |first=Terry }}{{full citation needed|date=December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/003672.html|last=Scalzi|first=John|title=The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies|year=2005|isbn=978-1-84353-520-1|publisher=Rough Guides|access-date=17 January 2007|archive-date=2 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090402140935/http://scalzi.com/whatever/003672.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last = Ellison | first = Harlan | year = 1998 | url = http://harlanellison.com/text/parcon.txt | title = Harlan Ellison's responses to online fan questions at ParCon | access-date = 26 April 2006 | archive-date = 22 May 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150522223829/http://harlanellison.com/text/parcon.txt | url-status = live }}</ref> By the 1970s, [[critics]] in the field, such as Damon Knight and [[Terry Carr]], were using ''sci fi'' to [[distinguish]] hack-work from serious science fiction.<ref name="wood skiffy"/> 

[[Peter Nicholls (writer)|Peter Nicholls]] writes that ''SF'' (or ''sf'') is "the preferred abbreviation within the community of sf writers and readers."<ref name="nicholls sf"/> 

[[Robert Heinlein]] found the term ''science fiction'' insufficient to describe certain types of works in this genre, and he suggested that the term [[speculative fiction|''speculative fiction'']] be used instead for works that are more "serious" or "thoughtful".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.openculture.com/2016/09/sci-fi-icon-robert-heinlein-lists-5-essential-rules-for-making-a-living-as-a-writer.html|title=Sci-Fi Icon Robert Heinlein Lists 5 Essential Rules for Making a Living as a Writer|date=29 September 2016|website=Open Culture|language=en-US|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330082035/http://www.openculture.com/2016/09/sci-fi-icon-robert-heinlein-lists-5-essential-rules-for-making-a-living-as-a-writer.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==History==
{{Main|History of science fiction|Timeline of science fiction}}
[[File:Bacon 1628 New Atlantis title page wpreview.png|thumb|upright|The novel ''[[New Atlantis]]'' (1626) by [[Francis Bacon]]]]
Some scholars assert that science fiction had its beginnings in [[ancient times]], when the distinction between [[myth]] and [[fact]] was blurred.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.news.gatech.edu/features/out-world|title=Out of This World|website=www.news.gatech.edu|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404030543/https://www.news.gatech.edu/features/out-world|url-status=live}}</ref> Written in the 2nd century&nbsp;CE by the [[satirist]] [[Lucian]], the novel ''[[A True Story]]'' contains many themes and tropes that are characteristic of modern science fiction, including travel to other worlds, [[extraterrestrial life]]forms, interplanetary warfare, and [[Artificial life form|artificial life]]. Some consider it to be the first science fiction novel.<ref>{{Cite web|title=S.C. Fredericks- Lucian's True History as SF|url=https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/8/fredericks8art.htm|access-date=29 December 2022|website=www.depauw.edu}}</ref> Some stories from the folktale collection ''[[One Thousand and One Nights|The Arabian Nights]]'',<ref name="The Arabian Nights: A Companion"/><ref name="Richardson" /> along with the 10th-century fiction ''[[The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter]]''<ref name="Richardson"/> and [[Ibn al-Nafis]]'s 13th-century novel ''[[Theologus Autodidactus]]'',<ref name="Roubi"/> are also argued to contain elements of science fiction.

Several books written during the [[Scientific Revolution]] and later the [[Age of Enlightenment]] are considered true works of [[science-fantasy]]. [[Francis Bacon]]'s ''[[New Atlantis]]'' (1627),<ref name="The Harmony of the Worlds" /> [[Johannes Kepler]]'s ''[[Somnium (novel)|Somnium]]'' (1634), [[Athanasius Kircher]]'s ''Itinerarium extaticum'' (1656),<ref>{{cite journal|author=Jacqueline Glomski|title=Science Fiction in the Seventeenth Century: The Neo-Latin Somnium and its Relationship with the Vernacular|journal=Der Neulateinische Roman Als Medium Seiner Zeit|editor1=Stefan Walser|editor2=Isabella Tilg|publisher=BoD|year=2013|isbn=978-3-8233-6792-5|page=37|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VdP6AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA37|access-date=4 June 2020|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415223242/https://books.google.com/books?id=VdP6AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA37|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Cyrano de Bergerac]]'s ''[[Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon]]'' (1657) and ''[[The States and Empires of the Sun]]'' (1662), [[Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne|Margaret Cavendish]]'s "[[The Blazing World]]" (1666),<ref>{{cite journal|last=White|first=William|title=Science, Factions, and the Persistent Specter of War: Margaret Cavendish's Blazing World|journal=Intersect: The Stanford Journal of Science, Technology and Society|volume=2|issue=1|pages=40–51|date=September 2009|url=http://ojs.stanford.edu/ojs/index.php/intersect/article/view/53|access-date=7 March 2014|archive-date=27 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227215240/http://ojs.stanford.edu/ojs/index.php/intersect/article/view/53|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Michael|last=Murphy|title=A Description of the Blazing World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLDFLYFi8LYC|year=2011|publisher=Broadview Press|isbn=978-1-77048-035-3|access-date=7 November 2015|archive-date=6 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506051153/https://books.google.com/books?id=SLDFLYFi8LYC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://skullsinthestars.com/2011/01/02/margaret-cavendishs-the-blazing-world-1666/ |title=Margaret Cavendish's The Blazing World (1666) |publisher=Skulls in the Stars |date=2 January 2011 |access-date=17 December 2015 |archive-date=12 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151212132331/http://skullsinthestars.com/2011/01/02/margaret-cavendishs-the-blazing-world-1666/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Robin Anne Reid|author-link=Robin Anne Reid|title=Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy: Overviews|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jKr0jWY8FLkC&pg=RA1-PA59|year=2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-33591-4|page=59}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> [[Jonathan Swift]]'s ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'' (1726), [[Ludvig Holberg]]'s ''[[Niels Klim's Underground Travels|Nicolai Klimii Iter Subterraneum]]'' (1741) and [[Voltaire]]'s ''[[Micromégas]]'' (1752).<ref>[[Lee Cullen Khanna|Khanna, Lee Cullen]]. "The Subject of Utopia: Margaret Cavendish and Her Blazing-World". ''Utopian and Science Fiction by Women: World of Difference''. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 1994. 15–34.</ref> 

[[Isaac Asimov]] and [[Carl Sagan]] considered Johannes Kepler's novel ''[[Somnium (novel)|Somnium]]'' to be the first science fiction story; it depicts a journey to the Moon and how the Earth's motion is seen from there.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAVeTFin0mU |title=Carl Sagan on Johannes Kepler's persecution |date=21 February 2008 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=24 July 2010 |archive-date=29 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111129015805/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAVeTFin0mU&gl=US&hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Beginning and the End | first=Isaac| last=Asimov | publisher=Doubleday | location=New York | year=1977 | isbn=978-0-385-13088-2}}</ref> Kepler has been called the "father of science fiction".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/leading-figures/kepler-the-father-of-science-fiction/|title=Kepler, the Father of Science Fiction|date=16 November 2015|website=bbvaopenmind.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.themarginalian.org/2019/12/26/katharina-kepler-witchcraft-dream/|title=How Kepler Invented Science Fiction and Defended His Mother in a Witchcraft Trial While Revolutionizing Our Understanding of the Universe|first=Maria|last=Popova|website=themarginalian.org|date=27 December 2019 }}</ref>

Following the 17th-century development of the novel as a [[Literary genre|literary form]], [[Mary Shelley]]'s ''[[Frankenstein]]'' (1818) and ''[[The Last Man (Mary Shelley novel)|The Last Man]]'' (1826) helped to define the form of the science fiction novel. [[Brian Aldiss]] has argued that ''Frankenstein'' was the first work of science fiction.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.sfhomeworld.org/exhibits/homeworld/scifi_hof.asp?articleID=62 |title=Mary W. Shelley |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |first1=John |last1=Clute |first2=Peter |last2=Nicholls |name-list-style=amp |publisher=Orbit/Time Warner Book Group UK |year=1993 |access-date=17 January 2007 |archive-date=16 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061116075255/http://www.sfhomeworld.org/exhibits/homeworld/scifi_hof.asp?articleID=62 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Billion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction (1973) Revised and expanded as [[Trillion Year Spree]] (with David Wingrove)(1986) |first=Aldriss|last=Wingrove|publisher=House of Stratus|location=New York|year= 2001 |isbn=978-0-7551-0068-2}}</ref> [[Edgar Allan Poe]] wrote several stories considered to be science fiction, including "[[The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall]]" (1835) about a trip to the Moon.<ref>Tresch, John (2002). "Extra! Extra! Poe invents science fiction". In Hayes, Kevin J. The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 113–132. {{ISBN|978-0-521-79326-1}}.</ref><ref name="poe moon" /> 

[[Jules Verne]] was noted for his attention to detail and scientific accuracy, especially in the novel ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas]]'' (1870).<ref name="Roberts48">{{citation|last=Roberts |first= Adam |isbn =978-0-415-19205-7|title= Science Fiction|publisher=Routledge|location=London |year= 2000|page=48}}</ref><ref>{{citation|first=Maurice|last=Renard|url=http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/documents/renard.htm|title=On the Scientific-Marvelous Novel and Its Influence on the Understanding of Progress|journal=Science Fiction Studies|volume=21|issue=64|date=November 1994|pages=397–405 |doi=10.1525/sfs.21.3.0397 |access-date=25 January 2016|archive-date=12 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112033252/https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/documents/renard.htm|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="thomas196112">{{Cite magazine |last=Thomas |first=Theodore L. |date=December 1961 |title=The Watery Wonders of Captain Nemo |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v20n02_1961-12_modified#page/n42/mode/1up |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction |pages=168–177 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/2014/04/submarine-dreams |title=Submarine dreams: Jules Verne's ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' |work=New Statesman |author=Margaret Drabble |date=8 May 2014 |access-date=9 May 2014 |author-link=Margaret Drabble |archive-date=11 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140511122753/http://www.newstatesman.com/2014/04/submarine-dreams |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1887, the novel ''[[El anacronópete]]'' by Spanish author [[Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau]] introduced the first [[time travel|time machine]].<ref>La obra narrativa de Enrique Gaspar: El Anacronópete (1887), María de los Ángeles Ayala, Universidad de Alicante. Del Romanticismo al Realismo : Actas del I Coloquio de la S. L. E. S. XIX, Barcelona, 24–26 October 1996 / edited by Luis F. Díaz Larios, Enrique Miralles.</ref><ref>El anacronópete, English translation (2014), www.storypilot.com, Michael Main, accessed 13 April 2016</ref> An early French/Belgian science fiction writer was [[J.-H. Rosny aîné]] (1856–1940). Rosny's masterpiece is ''Les Navigateurs de l'Infini'' (''The Navigators of Infinity'') (1925) in which the word ''astronaut (astronautique'' in French) was used for the first time.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Suffolk|first1=Alex|date=28 February 2012|title=Professor explores the work of a science fiction pioneer|url=https://www.highlandernews.org/2016/professor-explores-the-work-of-a-science-fiction-pioneer/|access-date=25 January 2023|website=Highlander|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>Arthur B. Evans (1988). [https://scholarship.depauw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=mlang_facpubs Science Fiction vs. Scientific Fiction in France: From Jules Verne to J.-H. Rosny Aîné (La science-fiction contre la fiction scientifique en France; De Jules Verne à J.-H. Rosny aìné)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228155211/https://scholarship.depauw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=mlang_facpubs |date=28 December 2022 }}. In: ''Science fiction studies'', vol. 15, no. 1, p. 1-11.</ref>

[[File:The War of the Worlds by Henrique Alvim Corrêa, original graphic 15.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Alien invasion]] featured in the novel ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'' (1897) by [[H. G. Wells]], illustrated by [[Henrique Alvim Corrêa]] in 1906]]

Many critics consider H. G. Wells to be one of science fiction's most important authors,<ref name="Roberts48" /><ref>{{cite book | last= Siegel| first= Mark Richard| year=1988 | title=Hugo Gernsback, Father of Modern Science Fiction: With Essays on Frank Herbert and Bram Stoker | publisher=Borgo Pr | isbn=978-0-89370-174-1}}</ref> or even "the [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] of science fiction".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wagar|first1=W. Warren |title=H.G. Wells: Traversing Time|date=2004|publisher=Wesleyan University Press|page=7}}</ref> His novels include ''[[The Time Machine]]'' (1895), ''[[The Island of Doctor Moreau]]'' (1896), ''[[The Invisible Man]]'' (1897), and ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'' (1898). His science fiction imagined [[alien invasion]], [[biological engineering]], [[invisibility]], and [[time travel]]. In his [[non-fiction]] [[futurologist]] works, he predicted the advent of [[airplane]]s, [[military tank]]s, [[nuclear weapon]]s, [[satellite television]], [[Spaceflight|space travel]], and something like the [[World Wide Web]].<ref>{{cite news|title=HG Wells: A visionary who should be remembered for his social predictions, not just his scientific ones|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/hg-wells-a-visionary-who-should-be-remembered-for-his-social-predictions-not-just-his-scientific-a7320486.html|newspaper=The Independent|date=8 October 2017|access-date=2 February 2018|archive-date=18 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200318183227/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/hg-wells-a-visionary-who-should-be-remembered-for-his-social-predictions-not-just-his-scientific-a7320486.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s novel ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'', published in 1912, was the first of his thirty-year [[planetary romance]] series about the fictional [[Barsoom]]; the novels were set on Mars and featured [[John Carter of Mars|John Carter]] as the [[hero]].<ref>Porges, Irwin (1975). Edgar Rice Burroughs. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press. {{ISBN|0-8425-0079-0}}.</ref> These novels were predecessors to [[Young adult fiction|young-adult fiction]], and they drew inspiration from European science fiction and American [[Western fiction|Western]] fiction.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica">{{Cite web |title=Science fiction |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/science-fiction |access-date=24 April 2023 |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |language=en}}</ref>

One of the first [[dystopia]]n novels, [[We (novel)|''We'']], was written by the Russian author [[Yevgeny Zamyatin]] and published in 1924.<ref>[[#Translations|Brown]], p. xi, citing Shane, gives 1921. Russell, p. 3, dates the first draft to 1919.</ref> It describes a world of harmony and conformity within a united [[totalitarianism|totalitarian state]]. The novel influenced the emergence of dystopia as a [[literary genre]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Orwell |first1=George |title=Review of ''WE'' by E. I. Zamyatin |journal=Tribune |date=4 January 1946 |location=London |url=https://www.orwell.ru/library/reviews/zamyatin/english/ |via=Orwell.ru}}</ref>

In 1926, [[Hugo Gernsback]] published the first American [[science fiction magazine]], ''[[Amazing Stories]]''. In its first issue, he provided the following definition:

{{bquote|By 'scientifiction' I mean the Jules Verne, H. G. Wells and Edgar Allan Poe type of story—a charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision... Not only do these amazing tales make tremendously interesting reading—they are always instructive.  They supply knowledge... in a very palatable form... New adventures pictured for us in the scientifiction of today are not at all impossible of realization tomorrow... Many great science stories destined to be of historical interest are still to be written... Posterity will point to them as having blazed a new trail, not only in literature and fiction, but progress as well.<ref>Originally published in the April 1926 issue of ''[[Amazing Stories]]''</ref><ref name="stableford">Quoted in [1993] in: {{cite encyclopedia|last=Stableford|first=Brian|author-link=Brian Stableford|author2=Clute, John |author3-link=Peter Nicholls (writer)|author3=Nicholls, Peter|year=1993|title=Definitions of SF|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Science Fiction|pages= 311–314|editor=Clute, John |editor2=Nicholls, Peter|publisher=[[Orbit Books|Orbit]]/[[Little, Brown and Company]]|location= London|isbn=978-1-85723-124-3|author2-link=John Clute}}</ref><ref>Edwards, Malcolm J.; Nicholls, Peter (1995). "SF Magazines". In John Clute and Peter Nicholls. ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''(Updated ed.). New York: St Martin's Griffin. p. 1066. {{ISBN|0-312-09618-6}}.</ref>}}

In 1928, [[E. E. "Doc" Smith]]'s first published novel, ''[[The Skylark of Space]]'' (co-authored with [[Lee Hawkins Garby]]), appeared in ''Amazing Stories''. It is often described as the first great [[space opera]].<ref name="Dozois">{{cite book|last1=Dozois|first1=Gardner|author-link=Gardner Dozois|last2=Strahan|first2=Jonathan|author-link2=Jonathan Strahan|title=The New Space Opera|date=2007|publisher=Eos|location=New York|isbn=978-0-06-084675-6|edition=1st|page=[https://archive.org/details/newspaceopera2al00gard/page/2 2]|title-link=The New Space Opera}}</ref> That same year, [[Philip Francis Nowlan]]'s original story about [[Buck Rogers]], ''[[Armageddon 2419]]'', also appeared in ''Amazing Stories''. This story was followed by a Buck Rogers [[comic strip]], the first serious [[Science fiction comics|science fiction comic]].<ref name="guide">{{Cite encyclopedia|author=Roberts, Garyn G. |year=2001 |title=Buck Rogers |editor=Browne, Ray B. |editor2=Browne, Pat |encyclopedia=The Guide To United States Popular Culture |location=Bowling Green, Ohio |publisher=Bowling Green State University Popular Press |page=120 |isbn=978-0-87972-821-2}}</ref>

''[[Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future]]'' is a [[future history|''future hist''ory]] novel written in 1930 by the British author [[Olaf Stapledon]]. A work of innovative scale in the science fiction genre, it describes the fictional history of humanity from the present forward across two billion years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/books/last-and-first-man-of-vision/161949.article|title=Last and first man of vision|publisher=Times Higher Education|date=23 January 1995|access-date=1 October 2014}}</ref>

In 1937, [[John W. Campbell]] became the editor of ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]'' magazine; this event is sometimes considered the beginning of the [[Golden Age of Science Fiction]], which was characterized by stories celebrating scientific achievement and progress.<ref name="sf history nvcc" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Nichols |first1=Peter |last2=Ashley |first2=Mike |title=Golden Age of SF |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/golden_age_of_sf |access-date=17 November 2022 |date=23 June 2021 |publisher=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction}}</ref> The "Golden Age" is often said to have ended in 1946, but sometimes the late 1940s and the 1950s are included in this period.<ref>Nicholls, Peter (1981) ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'', Granada, p. 258</ref>

In 1942, [[Isaac Asimov]] began the [[Foundation (book series)|Foundation]] series of novels, which chronicles the rise and fall of galactic empires, and also introduces the concept of [[psychohistory (fictional)|''psychohistory'']].<ref name="From Robots to Foundations" >{{cite book|last1=Codex|first1=Regius|title=From Robots to Foundations |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |date=2014|location=Wiesbaden/Ljubljana|isbn=978-1-4995-6982-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title= In Joy Still Felt: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1954–1978|last= Asimov|first= Isaac|date= 1980|publisher= Doubleday|location= Garden City, New York|isbn= 978-0-385-15544-1|at= [https://archive.org/details/injoystillfelt00isaa/page/ chapter 24]|url= https://archive.org/details/injoystillfelt00isaa/page/}}</ref> The series was later awarded a one-time [[Hugo Award]] for "Best All-Time Series".<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1966-hugo-awards/| title=1966 Hugo Awards| publisher=[[Hugo Award]]| website=thehugoawards.org| date=26 July 2007| access-date=28 July 2017| archive-date=7 May 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507072919/http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1966-hugo-awards/| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.nesfa.org/data/LL/Hugos/hugos1966.html| title=The Long List of Hugo Awards, 1966| access-date=28 July 2017| publisher=[[New England Science Fiction Association]]| archive-date=3 April 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403182439/http://www.nesfa.org/data/LL/Hugos/hugos1966.html| url-status=live}}</ref> [[Theodore Sturgeon]]'s novel ''[[More Than Human]]'' (1953) explored possible future [[human evolution]].<ref>"Time and Space", ''Hartford Courant'', 7 February 1954, p.SM19</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Reviews: November 1975|url=https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/birs/bir7.htm|access-date=29 December 2022|website=www.depauw.edu}}</ref><ref>Aldiss & Wingrove, ''[[Trillion Year Spree]]'', [[Victor Gollancz]], 1986, p.237</ref> In 1957, the novel ''[[Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale]]'' by the [[Russians|Russian]] writer and [[paleontologist]] [[Ivan Yefremov]] presented a view of a future interstellar [[Communism|communist]] civilization; it is considered one of the most important Soviet science fiction novels.<ref name="sps">{{cite web |website=Serg's Home Page |url=http://www.astro.spbu.ru/staff/serg/interests/literature/efremov/list.html |title=Ivan Efremov's works |access-date=8 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030429172915/http://www.astro.spbu.ru/staff/serg/interests/literature/efremov/list.html |archive-date=29 April 2003 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://rusf.ru/abs/int0099.htm|title=OFF-LINE интервью с Борисом Стругацким|date=December 2006|publisher=Russian Science Fiction & Fantasy|access-date=29 February 2016|language=ru|trans-title=OFF-LINE interview with Boris Strugatsky|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032338/http://www.rusf.ru/abs/int0099.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>  

In 1959, [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s novel ''[[Starship Troopers]]'' marked a departure from his earlier juvenile stories and novels.<ref name="gale196010">{{Cite magazine |last=Gale |first=Floyd C. |date=October 1960 |title=Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v19n01_1960-10#page/n71/mode/1up |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction |pages=142–146}}</ref> It is one of the first and most influential examples of [[military science fiction]],<ref name="Mcmilllan">{{cite news|last1=McMillan|first1=Graeme|title=Why 'Starship Troopers' May Be Too Controversial to Adapt Faithfully|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/starship-troopers-may-be-controversial-adapt-faithfully-944083|access-date=8 May 2017|work=Hollywood Reporter|date=3 November 2016|archive-date=10 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510151832/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/starship-troopers-may-be-controversial-adapt-faithfully-944083|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Liptak">{{cite news|last1=Liptak|first1=Andrew|title=Four things that we want to see in the Starship Troopers reboot|url=https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/3/13511716/starship-troopers-reboot-things-we-want-to-see|access-date=9 May 2017|work=The Verge|date=3 November 2016|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308213929/https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/3/13511716/starship-troopers-reboot-things-we-want-to-see|url-status=live}}</ref> and it introduced the concept of [[powered armor]] [[exoskeleton]]s.<ref name="Intersections">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zao2IFNhvQkC|title=Intersections: Fantasy and Science Fiction Alternatives|date=1987|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|isbn=978-0-8093-1374-7|location=Carbondale, Illinois|pages=210–220|last1=Slusser|first1=George E.|access-date=3 February 2018|archive-date=22 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322195108/https://books.google.com/books?id=Zao2IFNhvQkC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Mikołajewska|first1=Emilia|last2=Mikołajewski|first2=Dariusz|date=May 2013|title=Exoskeletons in Neurological Diseases – Current and Potential Future Applications|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229012056|journal=Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine|volume=20|issue=2|pages=228 Fig. 2|access-date=3 February 2018|archive-date=3 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200403142703/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229012056_Exoskeletons_in_Neurological_Diseases-Current_and_Potential_Future_Applications|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20010630/bob8.asp| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060116201552/http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20010630/bob8.asp| archive-date=16 January 2006| title=Dances with Robots| publisher=Science News Online| access-date=4 March 2006| first=Peter| last=Weiss}}</ref> The German space opera series ''[[Perry Rhodan]]'', written by various authors, started in 1961 with an account of the first [[Moon landing]];<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perrypedia.proc.org/wiki/Unternehmen_Stardust|title=Unternehmen Stardust – Perrypedia|website=www.perrypedia.proc.org|language=de|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330062254/https://www.perrypedia.proc.org/wiki/Unternehmen_Stardust|url-status=live}}</ref> the series has since expanded in space to multiple universes and in time by billions of years.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perrypedia.proc.org/wiki/Der_Unsterbliche|title=Der Unsterbliche – Perrypedia|website=www.perrypedia.proc.org|language=de|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330062247/https://www.perrypedia.proc.org/wiki/Der_Unsterbliche|url-status=live}}</ref> It has become the most popular book series in science fiction to date.<ref>Mike Ashley (14 May 2007). Gateways to Forever: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1970–1980. Liverpool University Press. p. 218. {{ISBN|978-1-84631-003-4}}.</ref>

During the 1960s and 1970s, [[New Wave science fiction|New Wave]] science fiction was known for embracing a high degree of experimentation (in both form and content), as well as a highbrow and self-consciously "literary" or "artistic" sensibility.<ref name="McGuirk">{{cite book|title=Fiction 2000|first=Carol|last=McGuirk|section=The 'New' Romancers|editor1-first=George Edgar|editor1-last=Slusser|editor2-first=T. A.|editor2-last=Shippey|publisher=University of Georgia Press|year=1992|isbn=978-0-8203-1449-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fiction2000cyber0000unse/page/109 109–125]|url=https://archive.org/details/fiction2000cyber0000unse/page/109}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Generation Starship in Science Fiction|first=Simone|last=Caroti |publisher= McFarland|year=2011|isbn=978-0-7864-8576-5|page=156}}</ref> 

In 1961, [[Stanisław Lem]]'s novel ''[[Solaris (novel)|Solaris]]'' was published in Poland.<ref>Peter Swirski (ed), The Art and Science of Stanislaw Lem, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2008, {{ISBN |0-7735-3047-9}}</ref> The novel dealt with the [[Theme (arts)|theme]] of human limitations, as its characters attempted to study a seemingly intelligent ocean on a newly discovered planet.<ref>Stanislaw Lem, ''[[Science Fiction and Futurology|Fantastyka i Futuriologia]]'', Wedawnictwo Literackie, 1989, vol. 2, p. 365</ref><ref>''Benét's Reader's Encyclopedia'', fourth edition (1996), p. 590.</ref> Lem's work anticipated the creation of [[Microrobotics|microrobots]] and [[micromachinery]], [[nanotechnology]], [[smartdust]], [[virtual reality]], and [[artificial intelligence]] (including [[swarm intelligence]]); his work also developed the ideas of ''necroevolution'' and artificial worlds.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://solaris.lem.pl/o-lemie/artykuly/60-artykuly/232-artykul-fialkowski|title=Stanisław Lem czyli życie spełnione|first=Tomasz|last=Fiałkowski|publisher=Lem.pl|website=solaris.lem.pl|language=pl|access-date=2024-09-28|archive-date=29 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429165334/http://solaris.lem.pl/o-lemie/artykuly/60-artykuly/232-artykul-fialkowski|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Oramus|first=Marek|author-link=Marek Oramus|date=2006|title=Bogowie Lema|location=Przeźmierowo|publisher=Wydawnictwo Kurpisz|isbn=9788389738929}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://solaris.lem.pl/ksiazki/beletrystyka/niezwyciezony/96-poslowie-niezwyciezony|title=Cały ten złom|first=Jerzy|last=Jarzębski|publisher=Lem.pl|website=solaris.lem.pl|language=pl|access-date=2024-09-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/kultura/1655752,1,fantomowe-wszechswiaty-lema-staja-sie-rzeczywistoscia.read|title=Fantomowe wszechświaty Lema stają się rzeczywistością|first=Olaf|last=Szewczyk|publisher=[[Polityka]]|website=polityka.pl|language=pl|access-date=2024-09-28|date=2016-03-29}}</ref> 

In 1965, the novel ''[[Dune (novel)|Dune]]'' by [[Frank Herbert]] imagined a more complex and detailed future society than had most previous science fiction.<ref>{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Adam |title=Science Fiction |location= New York |publisher=Routledge |date=2000 |pages=85–90 |isbn=978-0-415-19204-0}}</ref> In 1967 [[Anne McCaffrey]], began a [[science fantasy]] series called ''[[Dragonriders of Pern]]'' .<ref>[[#isfdb-dop|Dragonriders of Pern, ISFDB]].</ref> Two novellas included in the series' first novel, ''[[Dragonflight (novel)|Dragonflight]]'', led McCaffrey to win the first [[Hugo Award|Hugo]] or [[Nebula Award|Nebula]] award given to a female author.<ref name="first">''Publishers Weekly'' review of Robin Roberts, ''Anne McCaffrey: A Life with Dragons'' (2007). [https://www.amazon.com/dp/157806998X Quoted by Amazon.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601043508/https://www.amazon.com/dp/157806998X |date=1 June 2021 }}. Retrieved 16 July 2011.</ref>  

In 1968, [[Philip K. Dick]]'s novel ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]'' was published. It is the literary source of the ''[[Blade Runner (franchise)|Blade Runner]]'' [[movie franchise]].<ref name="Sammon">Sammon, Paul M. (1996). Future Noir: the Making of Blade Runner. London: Orion Media. p. 49. {{ISBN|0-06-105314-7}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/books/ct-books-blade-runner-2049-philip-k-dick-20171019-story.html|title='Blade Runner 2049': How does Philip K. Dick's vision hold up?|last=Wolfe|first=Gary K.|website=chicagotribune.com|date=23 October 2017 |language=en-US|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330062247/https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/books/ct-books-blade-runner-2049-philip-k-dick-20171019-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Published in 1969, the novel ''[[The Left Hand of Darkness]]'' by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] is set on a planet where the inhabitants have no fixed gender. The novel is one of the most influential examples of [[social science fiction|social]], [[feminist science fiction|feminist]], or [[anthropological science fiction|anthropological]] science fiction.<ref>Stover, Leon E. "Anthropology and Science Fiction" ''Current Anthropology'', Vol. 14, No. 4 (Oct. 1973)</ref><ref>Reid, Suzanne Elizabeth (1997). Presenting Ursula Le Guin. New York, New York, USA: Twayne. {{ISBN|978-0-8057-4609-9}}, pp=9, 120</ref><ref>Spivack, Charlotte (1984). Ursula K. Le Guin (1st ed.). Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Twayne Publishers. {{ISBN|978-0-8057-7393-4}}., pp=44–50</ref>

In 1979, ''[[Science Fiction World]]'' magazine began publication in the People's Republic of China.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/40079.htm|title=Brave New World of Chinese Science Fiction|website=www.china.org.cn|access-date=26 April 2018|archive-date=21 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621155325/http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/40079.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> It dominates the Chinese [[science fiction magazine]] market, at one time claiming a circulation of 300,000 copies per issue and an estimated 3–5 readers per copy, giving it a total readership of at least 1&nbsp;million people—making it the world's most popular science fiction [[Periodical literature|periodical]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.concatenation.org/articles/sf~china.html|title=Science Fiction, Globalization, and the People's Republic of China|website=www.concatenation.org|access-date=26 April 2018|archive-date=27 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180427005238/http://www.concatenation.org/articles/sf~china.html|url-status=live}}</ref>  

In 1984, [[William Gibson]]'s first novel, ''[[Neuromancer]]'', helped to popularize [[cyberpunk]] and the word [[cyberspace|''cyberspace'']], a term he originally coined in the 1982 [[short story]] ''[[Burning Chrome]]''.<ref>Fitting, Peter (July 1991). "The Lessons of Cyberpunk". In Penley, C.; Ross, A. Technoculture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 295–315</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Schactman |first=Noah |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |title=26 Years After Gibson, Pentagon Defines 'Cyberspace' |url=http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/05/pentagon-define.html |date=23 May 2008 |access-date=28 February 2018 |archive-date=14 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080914151043/http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/05/pentagon-define.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="gibson cyber" /> In the same year, [[Octavia E. Butler|Octavia Butler]]'s short story "[[Speech Sounds]]" won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story. She went on to explore themes of racial injustice, global warming, women's rights, and political conflict.<ref>Pfeiffer, John R. "Butler, Octavia Estelle (b. 1947)." in Richard Bleiler (ed.), ''Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day'', 2nd edn. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999. 147–158.</ref> In 1995, she became the first science fiction author to receive a [[MacArthur Fellowship]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Octavia Butler |url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-1995/octavia-butler |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=www.macfound.org |language=en}}</ref> In 1986, the novel ''[[Shards of Honor]]'' by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]] began her [[Vorkosigan Saga]].<ref name="Tor Shards">{{cite web |url=http://www.tor.com/blogs/2009/03/weeping-for-her-enemies-lois-mcmaster-bujolds-shards-of-honor |title=Weeping for her enemies: Lois McMaster Bujold's ''Shards of Honor'' |first=Jo |last=Walton |author-link=Jo Walton |website=Tor.com |date=31 March 2009 |access-date=9 September 2014 |archive-date=11 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911001835/http://www.tor.com/blogs/2009/03/weeping-for-her-enemies-lois-mcmaster-bujolds-shards-of-honor |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Kelso">{{Cite web|title=Loud Achievements: Lois McMaster Bujold's Science Fiction|url=http://www.dendarii.com/reviews/kelso.html|access-date=29 December 2022|website=www.dendarii.com}}</ref> 1992's novel ''[[Snow Crash]]'' by [[Neal Stephenson]] predicted immense social upheaval due to the [[information revolution]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/review/neal-stephenson-anathem/ |quote=I'd had a similar reaction to yours when I'd first read The Origin of Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, and that, combined with the desire to use IT, were two elements from which Snow Crash grew. |title=Interviews – Neal Stephenson: Anathem – A Conversation with James Mustich, Editor-in-Chief of the Barnes & Noble Review |first=James |last=Mustich |date=13 October 2008 |access-date=6 August 2014 |publisher=[[Barnes & Noble|barnesandnoble.com]] |archive-date=11 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811203104/http://www.barnesandnoble.com/review/neal-stephenson-anathem/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2007, [[Liu Cixin]]'s novel ''[[The Three-Body Problem (novel)|The Three-Body Problem]]'' was published in China. It was translated into English by [[Ken Liu]] and published by [[Tor Books]] in 2014;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://kenliu.name/translations/three-body/|title=Three Body|date=23 January 2015|website=Ken Liu, Writer|language=en-US|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330064637/https://kenliu.name/translations/three-body/|url-status=live}}</ref> it won the [[Hugo Award for Best Novel]] in 2015,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2015-hugo-awards/|title=2015 Hugo Awards|first=Ed|last=Benson|date=31 March 2015|access-date=26 April 2018|archive-date=9 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200509050008/http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2015-hugo-awards/|url-status=live}}</ref> making Liu the first Asian writer to win the award.<ref>{{Cite web|date=24 August 2015|title=Out of this world: Chinese sci-fi author Liu Cixin is Asia's first writer to win Hugo award for best novel|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1851952/out-world-chinese-sci-fi-author-liu-cixin-asias-first-writer-win|access-date=29 December 2022|website=South China Morning Post|language=en}}</ref>

Emerging themes in late 20th- and early 21st-century science fiction include the following:

* [[List of environmental issues|environmental issues]]
* the implications of the [[Internet]] and the expanding information universe
* questions about [[biotechnology]]
* [[nanotechnology]]
* [[post-scarcity]] [[societies]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://io9.gizmodo.com/10-recent-science-fiction-books-that-are-about-big-idea-5929436|title=10 Recent Science Fiction Books That Are About Big Ideas|last=Anders|first=Charlie Jane|website=io9|date=27 July 2012 |language=en-US|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330064638/https://io9.gizmodo.com/10-recent-science-fiction-books-that-are-about-big-idea-5929436|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.studienet.dk/science-fiction/21st-century|title=Science fiction in the 21st century|website=www.studienet.dk|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330064635/https://www.studienet.dk/science-fiction/21st-century|url-status=live}}</ref>

Recent trends and [[subgenres]] include [[steampunk]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Bebergal|first=Peter|date=26 August 2007|title=The age of steampunk:Nostalgia meets the future, joined carefully with brass screws|work=[[The Boston Globe]]|url=https://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/08/26/the_age_of_steampunk/?page=full|access-date=20 February 2020|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305071134/http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/08/26/the_age_of_steampunk/?page=full|url-status=live}}</ref> [[biopunk]],<ref name="Pulver 1998">{{cite book| author = Pulver, David L. | title = GURPS Bio-Tech| publisher=[[Steve Jackson Games]] | year=1998 | isbn=978-1-55634-336-0| author-link= David L. Pulver| title-link = GURPS Bio-Tech}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0006/biopunk.php|title=Fleshing Out the Maelstrom: Biopunk and the Violence of Information|author=Paul Taylor|journal=M/C Journal|date=June 2000|volume=3|issue=3|publisher=Journal of Media and Culture|doi=10.5204/mcj.1853|access-date=28 February 2018|archive-date=17 June 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050617065150/http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0006/biopunk.php|url-status=live|doi-access=free| issn = 1441-2616}}</ref> and [[mundane science fiction|mundane]] science fiction.<ref>{{cite news | title=How sci-fi moves with the times | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/7948058.stm | date=18 March 2009 | newspaper=BBC News | access-date=28 February 2018 | archive-date=28 February 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180228164140/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/7948058.stm | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="dwalter">{{cite news |last=Walter |first=Damien |date=2 May 2008 |title=The really exciting science fiction is boring |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2008/may/02/thereallyexcitingsciencefi |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=28 February 2018 |archive-date=27 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127143301/https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2008/may/02/thereallyexcitingsciencefi |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Film===
{{Main|Science fiction film|Lists of science fiction films}}
[[File:Maria from the film Metropolis, on display at the Robot Hall of Fame.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|The [[Maschinenmensch]] (or machine-human) from ''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]'' (1927)]]

One of the first recorded science fiction [[film|films]] is ''[[A Trip to the Moon]]'' from 1902, directed by French [[filmmaker]] [[Georges Méliès]].<ref name=Dixon12>{{citation|last1=Dixon|first1=Wheeler Winston|last2=Foster|first2=Gwendolyn Audrey|title=A Short History of Film|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FP9w48VwwVUC&pg=PA12|year=2008|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-4475-5|page=12|access-date=19 December 2017|archive-date=22 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322195116/https://books.google.com/books?id=FP9w48VwwVUC&pg=PA12|url-status=live}}</ref> It influenced later filmmakers, offering a different kind of [[creativity]] and [[fantasy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://moviessilently.com/2015/03/29/a-trip-to-the-moon-1902-a-silent-film-review/|title=A Trip to the Moon (1902) A Silent Film Review|last=Kramer|first=Fritzi|date=29 March 2015|website=Movies Silently|language=en|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330070347/http://moviessilently.com/2015/03/29/a-trip-to-the-moon-1902-a-silent-film-review/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-trip-to-the-moon-as-youve-never-seen-it-before-68360402/|title=A Trip to the Moon as You've Never Seen it Before|last=Eagan|first=Daniel|website=Smithsonian|language=en|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330070344/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-trip-to-the-moon-as-youve-never-seen-it-before-68360402/|url-status=live}}</ref> Méliès's innovative [[editing]] and [[special effect]]s techniques were widely imitated, and they became important elements of the cinematic [[Media (communication)|medium]].<ref name=1001Movies>{{citation|last=Schneider|first=Steven Jay|title=1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die 2012|date=1 October 2012|publisher=Octopus Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-84403-733-9|page=20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FP9w48VwwVUC&pg=PA13|title=A Short History of Film|last1=Dixon|first1=Wheeler Winston|last2=Foster|first2=Gwendolyn Audrey|date=1 March 2008|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-4475-5|language=en|access-date=28 October 2020|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415235100/https://books.google.com/books?id=FP9w48VwwVUC&pg=PA13|url-status=live}}</ref>

The 1927 film ''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]'', directed by [[Fritz Lang]], is the first [[feature-length]] science fiction film.<ref>[http://www.scififilmhistory.com/index.php?pageID=metro SciFi Film History – Metropolis (1927)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010074916/http://www.scififilmhistory.com/index.php?pageID=metro |date=10 October 2017 }} – ''Though most agree that the first science fiction film was Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon (1902), Metropolis (1926) is the first feature length outing of the genre.'' (scififilmhistory.com, retrieved 15 May 2013)</ref> Though not well received in its time,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/25817|title=Metropolis|website=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=16 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140316012144/http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/25817%7C0/Metropolis.html|url-status=live}}</ref> it is now ranked as one of the best films ever made.<ref>{{cite web|title =The 100 Best Films of World Cinema|url = https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/100-greatest-world-cinema-films/ | publisher=empireonline.com |access-date =17 February 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151123004145/http://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/100-greatest-world-cinema-films/ |archive-date=23 November 2015|date = 11 June 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title =The Top 100 Silent Era Films|url = http://www.silentera.com/info/top100.html | publisher=silentera.com |access-date =17 February 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20000823024001/http://www.silentera.com/info/top100.html |archive-date=23 August 2000}}</ref><ref name="bfi">{{cite web| url= http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/50-greatest-films-all-time| title= The Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time| date= 1 August 2012| work= [[Sight & Sound]] September 2012 issue| publisher= [[British Film Institute]]| access-date= 19 December 2012| archive-date= 1 March 2017| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170301135739/http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/50-greatest-films-all-time}}</ref> 

In 1954, ''[[Godzilla (1954 film)|Godzilla]]'', directed by [[Ishirō Honda]], started the [[kaiju]] [[subgenre]] of science fiction film; this subgenre features large creatures in any form, usually attacking a major city or engaging other [[monster]]s in battle.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E6%80%AA%E7%8D%A3|title=Introduction to Kaiju [in Japanese]|publisher=dic-pixiv|access-date=9 March 2017|archive-date=18 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218180925/http://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E6%80%AA%E7%8D%A3|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110007480367|title=A Study of Chinese monster culture – Mysterious animals that proliferates in present age media [in Japanese]|journal=北海学園大学学園論集|volume=141|pages=91–121|publisher=Hokkai-Gakuen University|date=September 2009|access-date=9 March 2017|last1=中根|first1=研一|archive-date=12 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312035449/http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110007480367|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
The 1968 film ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'', was directed by [[Stanley Kubrick]] and based on a novel by [[Arthur C. Clarke]]. The film improved on the largely [[B-movie]] offerings to date in both scope and quality, and it influenced later science fiction films.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kazan |first=Casey |url=http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/07/ridley-scott-science-fiction-is-dead.html |title=Ridley Scott: "After 2001 -A Space Odyssey, Science Fiction is Dead" |publisher=Dailygalaxy.com |date=10 July 2009 |access-date= 22 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110321121445/http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/07/ridley-scott-science-fiction-is-dead.html |archive-date= 21 March 2011 }}</ref><ref>In ''Focus on the Science Fiction Film'', edited by William Johnson. Englewood Cliff, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972.</ref><ref>{{cite web|first = George D.|last = DeMet|url = http://www.palantir.net/2001/meanings/essay09.html|title = 2001: A Space Odyssey Internet Resource Archive: The Search for Meaning in 2001|work = Palantir.net (originally an undergrad honors thesis)|access-date = 22 August 2010|archive-date = 26 April 2011|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110426050647/http://www.palantir.net/2001/meanings/essay09.html|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/sciencenotfiction/2009/04/02/this-day-in-science-fiction-history-2001-a-space-odyssey/ |title=This Day in Science Fiction History&nbsp;– 2001: A Space Odyssey |website=Discover Magazine |date=2 April 2009 |first=Stephen |last=Cass |access-date=19 December 2017 |archive-date=28 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328142257/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/sciencenotfiction/2009/04/02/this-day-in-science-fiction-history-2001-a-space-odyssey/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 

The original ''[[Planet of the Apes (1968 film)|Planet of the Apes]]'' movie, directed by [[Franklin J. Schaffner]] and based on the 1963 French novel ''[[Planet of the Apes (novel)|La Planète des Singes]]'' by [[Pierre Boulle]], was also released in 1968. The film vividly depicts a [[Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction|post-apocalyptic]] world in which intelligent apes dominate humans.<ref>Russo, Joe; Landsman, Larry; Gross, Edward (2001). Planet of the Apes Revisited: The Behind-The Scenes Story of the Classic Science Fiction Saga (1st ed.). New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Griffin. {{ISBN|0-312-25239-0}}.</ref> The film received both popular and critical acclaim.

In 1977, [[George Lucas]] began the [[Star Wars|''Star Wars'']] series with the film later called "''[[Star Wars (film)|Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope]].''"<ref>{{Citation|title=Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) – IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/faq|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=9 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190409004826/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/faq|url-status=live}}</ref> The series, often called a space opera,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/04/24/the-best-space-operas-that-arent-star-wars|title=The Best Space Operas (That Aren't Star Wars)|last=Bibbiani|first=William|date=24 April 2018|website=IGN|language=en-US|access-date=5 April 2019|archive-date=13 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813213353/https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/04/24/the-best-space-operas-that-arent-star-wars|url-status=live}}</ref> became a worldwide [[popular culture]] phenomenon<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/series/StarWars.php | title = Star Wars – Box Office History | publisher = The Numbers | access-date = 17 June 2010 | archive-date = 22 August 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130822054739/http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Star-Wars | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lucasfilm.com/productions/episode-iv/|title=Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope {{!}} Lucasfilm.com|website=Lucasfilm|language=en-US|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330072220/https://www.lucasfilm.com/productions/episode-iv/|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[List of highest-grossing franchises and film series|third-highest-grossing]] film series of all time.<ref name="boxofficemojo.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/?view=Franchise&sort=sumgross&order=DESC&p=.htm|title=Movie Franchises and Brands Index|website=www.boxofficemojo.com|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=20 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130720054339/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/?view=Franchise&sort=sumgross&order=DESC&p=.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Since the 1980s, [[science fiction film|science fiction]] films, along with [[fantasy]], [[horror film|horror]], and [[superhero]] films, have dominated [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood's]] big-budget productions.<ref>
Escape Velocity: American Science Fiction Film, 1950–1982, Bradley Schauer, Wesleyan University Press, 3 January 2017, page 7</ref><ref name="boxofficemojo.com" /> Science fiction films often [[Cross-genre|''cross ove''r]] with other genres. Some examples include [[film noir]] (''[[Blade Runner]]'', 1982), [[Children's film|family]] (''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial]]'', 1982), [[war film|war]] (''[[Enemy Mine (film)|Enemy Mine]]'', 1985), [[comedy]] (''[[Spaceballs]] , 1987; ''[[Galaxy Quest]], 1999), [[animation]] ''([[WALL-E]]'', 2008; ''[[Big Hero 6 (film)|Big Hero 6]]'', 2014), [[Western (genre)|Western]] (''[[Serenity (2005 film)|Serenity]]'', 2005), [[Action film|action]] (''[[Edge of Tomorrow]]'', 2014; ''[[The Matrix]]'', 1999), [[Adventure film|adventure]] (''[[Jupiter Ascending]]'', 2015; ''[[Interstellar (film)|Interstellar]]'', 2014), [[Mystery film|mystery]] (''[[Minority Report (film)|Minority Report]]'', 2002), [[Thriller film|thriller]] (''[[Ex Machina (film)|Ex Machina]]'', 2014), [[Drama (film and television)|drama]] (''[[Melancholia (2011 film)|Melancholia]]'', 2011; ''[[Predestination (film)|Predestination]]'', 2014), and [[Romance film|romance]] (''[[Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind]]'', 2004; ''[[Her (2013 film)|Her]]'', 2013).<ref name="JohnsonSFF">Science Fiction Film: A Critical Introduction, Keith M. Johnston, Berg, 9 May 2013, pages 24–25. Some of the examples are given by this book.</ref>

===Television===
{{Main|Science fiction on television|List of science fiction television programs}}
[[File:Al Hodge Don Hastings Captain Video.JPG|thumb|upright=0.75|Don Hastings (left) and Al Hodge (right) in ''[[Captain Video and His Video Rangers]]''|left]]

Science fiction and [[television]] have consistently had a close relationship. Television or similar [[technology]] often appeared in science fiction long before television itself became widely available in the late 1940s and early 1950s.<ref name = Telotte>
Science Fiction TV, J. P. Telotte, Routledge, 26 March 2014, pages 112, 179</ref>

The first known science fiction television program was a 35-minute [[Film adaptation|adapted]] excerpt of the play ''[[R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)|RUR]]'', written by the Czech playwright [[Karel Čapek]], broadcast live from the BBC's [[Alexandra Palace]] studios on 11 February 1938.<ref name="r.u.r.">{{cite book |last=Telotte |first=J. P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cFQicvXd5bwC&q=RUR+BBC+first+television+science+fiction&pg=PA210 |title=The essential science fiction television reader |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8131-2492-6 |page=210 |author-link=Jay Telotte |access-date=28 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601043522/https://books.google.com/books?id=cFQicvXd5bwC&q=RUR+BBC+first+television+science+fiction&pg=PA210 |archive-date=1 June 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> The first popular science fiction program on [[Television in the United States|American television]] was the [[Children's television series|children's]] adventure [[Serial (radio and television)|serial]] ''[[Captain Video and His Video Rangers]]'', which ran from June 1949 to April 1955.<ref name="cpt video">{{cite web
|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/captainvideo/captainvideo.htm
|title=Captain Video and His Video Rangers
|publisher=The Museum of Broadcast Communications
|author=Suzanne Williams-Rautiolla
|date=2 April 2005
|access-date=17 January 2007
|archive-date=30 March 2009
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090330104139/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/captainvideo/captainvideo.htm
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

The original ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]'' series, produced and narrated by [[Rod Serling]], ran from 1959 to 1964. (Serling also wrote or co-wrote most of the episodes.) The series featured [[fantasy]], [[Suspense (genre)|suspense]], and [[Horror film|horror]] as well as science fiction, with each episode being a complete story.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-twilight-zone-tv-series-1959-1964-v133223|title=The Twilight Zone [TV Series] [1959–1964]|work=AllMovie|access-date=19 November 2012|archive-date=20 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620180846/https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-twilight-zone-tv-series-1959-1964-v133223|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Stanyard|first1=Stewart T.|title=Dimensions Behind the Twilight Zone: A Backstage Tribute to Television's Groundbreaking Series|date=2007|publisher=ECW press|location=Toronto|isbn=978-1-55022-744-4|page=18|edition=[Online-Ausg.]}}</ref> [[Critic]]s have ranked it as one of the best [[TV programs]] of any [[genre]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tv-guide-names-top-50-shows/|title=TV Guide Names Top 50 Shows|work=[[CBS News]]|publisher=[[CBS Interactive]]|date=26 April 2002|access-date=13 April 2016|archive-date=4 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904061715/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/26/entertainment/main507388.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=4925|title=101 Best Written TV Series List|access-date=13 April 2016|archive-date=7 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607080758/http://www.wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=5246}}</ref>

The [[Animation|animated]] series ''[[The Jetsons]]'', while intended as [[Comedy film|comedy]] and only running for one [[Season (television)|season]] (1962–1963), predicted many inventions now in common use: [[Flat panel display|flat-screen]] [[television]]s, newspapers on a [[computer]]-like [[computer monitor|screen]], [[computer virus]]es, [[Videotelephony|video chat]], [[tanning bed]]s, home [[treadmill]]s, and more.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=21st Century Brands |url=http://www.cbc.ca/undertheinfluence/season-3/2014/05/24/21st-century-brands-1/ |access-date=7 June 2014 |series=Under the Influence |series-link=Under the Influence (radio documentary series) |first=Terry |last=O'Reilly |network=CBC Radio One |date=24 May 2014 |season=3 |number=21 |time=time 2:07 |transcript=Transcript of the original source |transcript-url=http://www.cbc.ca/undertheinfluence/season-3/2014/05/24/21st-century-brands-1/ |quote=The series had lots of interesting devices that marveled us back in the 1960s. In episode one, we see wife Jane doing exercises in front of a flatscreen television. In another episode, we see George Jetson reading the newspaper on a screen. Can anyone say tablet? In another, Boss Spacely tells George to fix something called a "computer virus". Everyone on the show uses video chat, foreshadowing Skype and Face Time. There is a robot vacuum cleaner, foretelling the 2002 arrival of the iRobot Roomba vacuum. There was also a tanning bed used in an episode, a product that wasn't introduced to North America until 1979. And while flying space cars that have yet to land in our lives, the Jetsons show had moving sidewalks like we now have in airports, treadmills that didn't hit the consumer market until 1969, and they had a repairman who had a piece of technology called... Mac. |archive-date=8 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140608190711/http://www.cbc.ca/undertheinfluence/season-3/2014/05/24/21st-century-brands-1/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 

In 1963, the series ''[[Doctor Who]]'' premiered on BBC Television with a time-travel theme.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/unearthlychild/detail.shtml|website= BBC|title= Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide – An Unearthly Child – Details|access-date= 30 March 2019|archive-date= 25 October 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161025112652/http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/unearthlychild/detail.shtml|url-status= live}}</ref> The original series ran until 1989 and was revived in 2005.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/jun/21/broadcasting.bbc|title=Doctor Who finally makes the Grade|last=Deans|first=Jason|date=21 June 2005|work=The Guardian|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330075434/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/jun/21/broadcasting.bbc|url-status=live}}</ref> It has been popular globally and has significantly influenced later science fiction TV.<ref>{{cite news |date=14 September 2006 |title=The end of Olde Englande: A lament for Blighty |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |url=http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7912946 |access-date=18 September 2006 |archive-date=17 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090617180057/http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7912946 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=ICONS. A Portrait of England |url=http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/doctor-who |access-date=10 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071103085551/http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/doctor-who |archive-date=3 November 2007 }}</ref><ref name="Moran">{{cite news|first=Caitlin|last=Moran|author-link=Caitlin Moran|title=Doctor Who is simply masterful|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article1989181.ece|work=The Times|location=London|date=30 June 2007|access-date=1 July 2007|quote=[''Doctor Who''] is as thrilling and as loved as ''Jolene'', or bread and cheese, or honeysuckle, or Friday. It's quintessential to being British.|archive-date=17 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617002012/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article1989181.ece|url-status=dead}}</ref> 

Other notable programs during the 1960s included ''[[The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)|The Outer Limits]]'' (1963–1965),<ref>{{cite journal|year=1997|title=Special Collectors' Issue: 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time|journal=[[TV Guide]]|issue=28 June – 4 July}}</ref> ''[[Lost in Space]]'' (1965–1968), and ''[[The Prisoner]]'' (1967).<ref>British Science Fiction Television: A Hitchhiker's Guide, John R. Cook, Peter Wright, I.B.Tauris, 6 January 2006, page 9</ref><ref>Gowran, Clay. "Nielsen Ratings Are Dim on New Shows". Chicago Tribune. 11 October 1966: B10.</ref><ref>Gould, Jack. "How Does Your Favorite Rate? Maybe Higher Than You Think." ''New York Times''. 16 October 1966: 129.</ref>

The original ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' series, created by [[Gene Roddenberry]], premiered in 1966 on [[NBC Television]] and ran for three seasons.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lhmw637JRgUC&pg=PA209|title=NBC: America's Network|last1=Hilmes|first1=Michele|last2=Henry|first2=Michael Lowell|date=1 August 2007|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-25079-6|language=en|access-date=28 October 2020|archive-date=4 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160704184438/https://books.google.com/books?id=lhmw637JRgUC&pg=PA209|url-status=live}}</ref> It combined elements of [[space opera]] and [[Space Western]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/22/arts/a-first-showing-for-star-trek-pilot.html|title=A First Showing for 'Star Trek' Pilot|date=22 July 1986|work=The New York Times|access-date=30 March 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=27 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327185925/http://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/22/arts/a-first-showing-for-star-trek-pilot.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Only mildly successful at first, the series gained popularity through [[Broadcast syndication|syndication]] and strong [[Cultural influence of Star Trek#Fandom|fan interest]]. It became a popular and influential [[Star Trek franchise|franchise]] with many [[List of Star Trek films|films]], [[List of Star Trek television series|television shows]], [[List of Star Trek novels|novels]], and other works and products.<ref name="STPitch1">Roddenberry, Gene (11 March 1964). [http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Star_Trek/1_Original_Series/Star_Trek_Pitch.pdf ''Star Trek'' Pitch] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512162509/http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Star_Trek/1_Original_Series/Star_Trek_Pitch.pdf |date=12 May 2016 }}, first draft.  Accessed at ''LeeThomson.myzen.co.uk''.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.startrek.com/custom/include/feature/intro/timeline_future.html |title=STARTREK.COM: Universe Timeline |publisher=Startrek.com |access-date=14 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090703073608/http://www.startrek.com/custom/include/feature/intro/timeline_future.html |archive-date=3 July 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future |last1=Okada |first1=Michael |author-link1=Michael Okuda |first2=Denise|last2=Okadu|author-link2=Denise Okuda|date=1 November 1996 |publisher=Pocket Books |isbn=978-0-671-53610-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rx0eAAAAIBAJ&dq=star-trek%20syndication%20%7C%20rerun&pg=6303,2206524|title=The Milwaukee Journal - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com|access-date=30 March 2019}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The series ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' (1987–1994) led to six additional live action ''Star Trek'' shows: ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Deep Space Nine]]'' (1993–1999), ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager]]'' (1995–2001)'','' ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise]]'' (2001–2005), ''[[Star Trek: Discovery|Discovery]]'' (2017–2024), ''[[Star Trek: Picard|Picard]]'' (2020–2023), and ''[[Star Trek: Strange New Worlds|Strange New Worlds]]'' (2022–present); additional shows are in some stage of development.<ref>{{Citation|title=Star Trek: The Next Generation|date=26 September 1987|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092455/|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=25 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325034605/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092455/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/star-trek-picard-series-release-date-discovery-season-2-tng-next-generation-1245510|title='Star Trek' Picard series won't premiere until late 2019, after 'Discovery' Season 2|first=Andrew |last=Whalen|date=5 December 2018|website=Newsweek|language=en|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330093825/https://www.newsweek.com/star-trek-picard-series-release-date-discovery-season-2-tng-next-generation-1245510|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.startrek.com/article/new-trek-animated-series-announced|title=New Trek Animated Series Announced|website=www.startrek.com|language=en|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330084323/https://www.startrek.com/article/new-trek-animated-series-announced|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/patrick-stewart-reprise-star-trek-role-new-cbs-all-access-series-1132262|title=Patrick Stewart to Reprise 'Star Trek' Role in New CBS All Access Series|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=4 August 2018|language=en|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=4 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804224352/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/patrick-stewart-reprise-star-trek-role-new-cbs-all-access-series-1132262|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[miniseries]] [[V (1983 miniseries)|''V'']] premiered in 1983 on NBC.<ref>Bedell, Sally (4 May 1983). "'V' SERIES AN NBC HIT". The New York Times. p. 27</ref> It depicted an attempted conquest of Earth by [[reptilian aliens]].<ref name="EW 2005">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1073590_6,00.html|title=Mini Splendored Things|last=Susman|first=Gary|date=17 November 2005|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|publisher=EW.com|access-date=7 January 2010|archive-date=25 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225052201/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1073590_6,00.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''[[Red Dwarf]]'', a [[comic science fiction|comic]] science fiction series, aired on [[BBC Two]] between 1988 and 1999, and on [[Dave (TV channel)|Dave]] since 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2002/10_october/reddwarf.shtml |title=Worldwide Press Office – Red Dwarf on DVD |publisher=BBC |access-date=28 November 2009 |archive-date=27 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100227022348/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2002/10_october/reddwarf.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[The X-Files]]'', which featured [[UFO]]s and [[conspiracy theories]], was created by [[Chris Carter (screenwriter)|Chris Carter]] and broadcast by [[Fox Broadcasting Company]] from 1993 to 2002,<ref name="BehindTheXFiles">{{cite journal|title=Opening the X-Files: Behind the Scenes of TV's Hottest Show|first=David|last=Bischoff|date=December 1994|journal=[[Omni (magazine)|Omni]]|volume=17|issue=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | author=Goodman, Tim | url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/01/18/DD209382.DTL&type=printable | title='X-Files' Creator Ends Fox Series | newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] | date=18 January 2002 | access-date=27 July 2009 | archive-date=15 June 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615061412/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2002%2F01%2F18%2FDD209382.DTL&type=printable | url-status=live }}</ref> and again from 2016 to 2018.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/news/gillian-anderson-confirms-the-x-files-exit/|title=Gillian Anderson Confirms She's Leaving The X-Files {{!}} TV Guide|date=10 January 2018|website=TVGuide.com|language=en|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200430215457/https://www.tvguide.com/news/gillian-anderson-confirms-the-x-files-exit/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2015/03/x-files-returns-fox-event-series-david-duchovny-gillian-anderson-chris-carter-1201397721/|title='The X-Files' Returns As Fox Event Series With Creator Chris Carter And Stars David Duchovny & Gillian Anderson|last1=Andreeva|first1=Nellie|date=24 March 2015|website=Deadline|language=en|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330075436/https://deadline.com/2015/03/x-files-returns-fox-event-series-david-duchovny-gillian-anderson-chris-carter-1201397721/|url-status=live}}</ref> 

''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'', a film about [[ancient astronauts]] and interstellar [[teleportation]], was released in 1994. The series ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' premiered in 1997 and ran for 10 seasons (1997–2007). Spin-off series included ''[[Stargate Infinity]]'' (2002–2003), ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' (2004–2009), and ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' (2009–2011).<ref>{{cite news |first=Darren |last=Sumner |url=http://www.gateworld.net/news/2011/05/smallville-bows-this-week-with-stargates-world-record/ |title=''Smallville'' bows this week&nbsp;– with ''Stargate''{{'}}s world record |publisher=[[GateWorld]] |date=10 May 2011 |access-date=23 February 2014 |archive-date=1 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301025644/http://www.gateworld.net/news/2011/05/smallville-bows-this-week-with-stargates-world-record/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 

Other 1990s series included ''[[Quantum Leap (1989 TV series)|Quantum Leap]]'' (1989–1993) and ''[[Babylon 5]]'' (1994–1999).<ref>{{Cite web|title=CultT797.html|url=http://www.maestravida.com/weinwalk/CultT797.html|access-date=29 December 2022|website=www.maestravida.com|archive-date=28 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928181155/http://www.maestravida.com/weinwalk/CultT797.html}}</ref> The [[Syfy]] channel, launched in 1992 as The Sci-Fi Channel,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/03/the-best-syfy-tv-shows-of-all-time.html|title=The 20 Best SyFy TV Shows of All Time|website=pastemagazine.com|language=en|access-date=30 March 2019|date=9 March 2018|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330082034/https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/03/the-best-syfy-tv-shows-of-all-time.html|url-status=live}}</ref> specializes in science fiction, [[supernatural horror]], and [[fantasy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.syfy.com/contributors|title=About Us|website=SYFY|language=en|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330095407/https://www.syfy.com/contributors|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.today.com/news/so-long-nerds-syfy-doesn-t-need-you-wbna36698985|title=So long, nerds! Syfy doesn't need you|website=TODAY.com|language=en|first=Ree|last=Hines|date=27 April 2010|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=27 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327123001/https://www.today.com/news/so-long-nerds-syfy-doesn-t-need-you-wbna36698985|url-status=live}}</ref>

The space-Western series ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'' premiered in 2002 on Fox. It is set in the year 2517, after humans arrive in a new star system, and it follows the adventures of the renegade crew of ''[[Serenity (fictional spacecraft)|Serenity]]'', a "''Firefly''-class" spaceship.<ref name="torontosun">{{Cite web |url=http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/TV_Shows/F/Firefly/2002/07/22/734323.html |title=Firefly series ready for liftoff |last=Brioux |first=Bill |publisher=jam.canoe.ca |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715154524/http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/TV_Shows/F/Firefly/2002/07/22/734323.html |archive-date=15 July 2012 |access-date=10 December 2006 }}</ref> The series ''[[Orphan Black]]'' began a five-season run in 2013, focusing on a woman who takes on the identity of one of her genetically identical clones. In late 2015, Syfy premiered the series ''[[The Expanse (TV series)|The Expanse]]'' to great critical acclaim—an American show about humanity's colonization of the Solar System. Its later seasons were aired through [[Amazon Prime Video]].

==Social influence==
[[File:Imagination 195808.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|[[Space exploration]] was predicted in August 1958 by the [[science fiction magazine]] ''[[Imagination (magazine)|Imagination]]''.]]

Science fiction's rapid increase in popularity during the first half of the 20th century was closely tied to public respect for science during that era, as well as the rapid pace of [[technological innovation]] and new [[invention]]s.<ref name = "AWonder">Astounding Wonder: Imagining Science and Science Fiction in Interwar America, John Cheng, University of Pennsylvania Press, 19 March 2012 pages 1–12.</ref> Science fiction has often predicted scientific and technological progress.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/2018/11/01/patenting-the-spectacular-when-science-fiction-predicts-the-future/|title=When Science Fiction Predicts the Future|date=1 November 2018|website=Escapist Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404020220/https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/2018/11/01/patenting-the-spectacular-when-science-fiction-predicts-the-future/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/fictional-predictions-about-the-future-that-came-true-2019-1|title=15 wild fictional predictions about future technology that came true|last=Kotecki|first=Peter|website=Business Insider|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404020218/https://www.businessinsider.com/fictional-predictions-about-the-future-that-came-true-2019-1|url-status=live}}</ref> Some works imagine that this progress will tend to improve human life and society, for instance, the stories of [[Arthur C. Clarke]] and ''[[Star Trek]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sanvada.com/2017/10/23/eight-ground-breaking-inventions-that-science-fiction-predicted/|title=Eight Ground-Breaking Inventions That Science Fiction Predicted|last=Munene|first=Alvin|date=23 October 2017|website=Sanvada|access-date=3 April 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404020224/https://sanvada.com/2017/10/23/eight-ground-breaking-inventions-that-science-fiction-predicted/|url-status=live}}</ref> Other works, such as [[H. G. Wells|H.G. Wells's]] ''[[The Time Machine]]'' and [[Aldous Huxley]]'s ''[[Brave New World]]'', warn of possible negative consequences.<ref name="Greenwood">The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders, Volume 2, Gary Westfahl, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/many-futuristic-predictions-hg-wells-came-true-180960546/|title=The Many Futuristic Predictions of H.G. Wells That Came True|last=Handwerk|first=Brian|website=Smithsonian|language=en|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404020218/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/many-futuristic-predictions-hg-wells-came-true-180960546/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2001 the [[National Science Foundation]] conducted a [[Survey (human research)|survey]] of "Public Attitudes and Public Understanding: Science Fiction and [[Pseudoscience]]".<ref name="NSF"/> The survey found that people who read or prefer science fiction may think about or relate to science differently than other people. Such people also tend to support the [[space program]] and efforts to contact [[Extraterrestrial life|extraterrestrial civilizations]].<ref name="NSF" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Bainbridge|first=William Sims|chapter=The Impact of Science Fiction on Attitudes Toward Technology|editor-last=Emme|editor-first=Eugene Morlock|editor-link=Eugene M. Emme|title=Science fiction and space futures: past and present|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MvpoAAAAIAAJ|year=1982|publisher=Univelt|isbn=978-0-87703-173-4|access-date=7 November 2015|archive-date=1 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101123522/https://books.google.com/books?id=MvpoAAAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Carl Sagan]] wrote that "Many scientists deeply involved in the exploration of the [[Solar System|solar system]] (myself among them) were first turned in that direction by science fiction."<ref name = growing>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/28/archives/growing-up-with.html|title=Growing up with Science Fiction|last=Sagan|first=Carl|date=28 May 1978|work=The New York Times|access-date=4 April 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=11 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211180058/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/28/archives/growing-up-with.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Science fiction has [[List of existing technologies predicted in science fiction|predicted several existing inventions]], such as the [[atomic bomb]],<ref>{{cite web | url =https://www.businessinsider.com/books-predicted-future-sci-fi-2018-11 |title=These 15 sci-fi books actually predicted the future|work=[[Business Insider]]| date=8 November 2018| access-date =20 July 2022}}</ref> [[robots]],<ref>{{cite web | url =https://www.micron.com/insight/future-shock-11-real-life-technologies-that-science-fiction-predicted|title=Future Shock: 11 Real-Life Technologies That Science Fiction Predicted|publisher=[[Micron Technology|Micron]]| date=| access-date =20 July 2022}}</ref> and [[borazon]].<ref>{{cite web | url =https://biography.wikireading.ru/44625|title=Предвидения и предсказания|work=Иван Ефремов|author=Ерёмина Ольга Александровна| language=Russian| access-date =20 July 2022}}</ref> In the 2020 TV series ''[[Away (TV series)|Away]],'' astronauts use a Mars rover called [[InSight]] to listen intently for a landing on [[Mars]]. In 2022, scientists actually used InSight to listen for the landing of a [[spacecraft]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fernando |first1=Benjamin |last2=Wójcicka |first2=Natalia |last3=Marouchka |first3=Froment |last4=Maguire |first4=Ross |last5=Stähler |first5=Simon |last6=Rolland |first6=Lucie |last7=Collins |first7= Gareth |last8=Karatekin |first8=Ozgur |last9=Larmat |first9=Carene |last10=Sansom |first10=Eleanor |last11=Teanby |first11=Nicholas |last12=Spiga |first12=Aymeric |last13=Karakostas |first13=Foivos |last14=Leng |first14=Kuangdai |last15=Nissen-Meyer |first15= Tarje |last16=Kawamura |first16=Taichi |last17=Giardini |first17=Domenico |last18=Lognonné |first18=Philippe |last19=Banerdt |first19=Bruce |last20=Daubar |first20=Ingrid |date=April 2021 |title= Listening for the landing: Seismic detections of Perseverance's arrival at Mars with InSight |journal=Earth and Space Science |language=en |volume=8 |issue=4 |doi=10.1029/2020EA001585 |bibcode=2021E&SS....801585F |s2cid=233672783 |issn=2333-5084|doi-access=free |hdl=20.500.11937/90005 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> 

Science fiction can act as a vehicle for analyzing and recognizing a society's past, present, and potential future social relationships with the [[Other (philosophy)|other]]. Science fiction offers a medium for and a representation of [[alterity]] and differences in [[Identity (social science)|social identity]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kilgore |first=De Witt Douglas |date=March 2010 |title=Difference Engine: Aliens, Robots, and Other Racial Matters in the History of Science Fiction |journal=Science Fiction Studies |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=16–22 |doi=10.1525/sfs.37.1.0016 |jstor=40649582 }}</ref> [[Brian Aldiss]] described science fiction as "cultural wallpaper".<ref>{{Cite book|title=[[Trillion Year Spree]]|last1=Aldiss|first1=Brian|last2=Wingrove|first2=David|publisher=Victor Gollancz|year=1986|isbn=978-0-575-03943-8|location=London|page=14}}</ref> This broad influence can be seen in the trend for writers to use science fiction as a tool for advocacy and generating cultural insights, as well as for educators who teach across a range of academic disciplines beyond the natural sciences.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Menadue|first1=Christopher Benjamin|last2=Cheer|first2=Karen Diane|date=2017|title=Human Culture and Science Fiction: A Review of the Literature, 1980–2016|journal=SAGE Open|language=en|volume=7|issue=3|page=215824401772369|doi=10.1177/2158244017723690|s2cid=149043845|issn=2158-2440|url=https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/49764/1/2158244017723690.pdf|doi-access=free|access-date=3 September 2019|archive-date=21 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721043605/https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/49764/1/2158244017723690.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> 

Scholar and science fiction critic [[George Edgar Slusser]] said that science fiction "is the one real international [[literary form]] we have today, and as such has branched out to [[visual media]], [[interactive media]] and on to whatever new media the world will invent in the 21st century. Crossover issues between the [[science]]s and the [[humanities]] are crucial for the century to come."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/25704|title=George Slusser, Co-founder of Renowned Eaton Collection, Dies|date=6 November 2014|first=Bettye|last=Miller|website=UCR Today|language=en-US|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404025026/https://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/25704|url-status=live}}</ref>

===As protest literature===
{{Further|Social novel|}}
[[File:Feliz 1984.JPG|thumb|upright=0.75|"Happy 1984" in Spanish or Portuguese, referencing [[George Orwell]]'s novel ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', on a standing piece of the [[Berlin Wall]] (sometime after 1998)]]

Science fiction has sometimes been used as a means of [[social protest]]. [[George Orwell]]'s novel ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' (1949) is an important work of [[Dystopian fiction|dystopian]] science fiction.<ref name="BenetReader">{{Cite book|title=Benét's reader's encyclopedia|last=Murphy|first=Bruce|date=1996|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=978-0-06-181088-6|location=New York|language=en|page=734|oclc = 35572906}}</ref><ref name="aaron">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21337504|title=1984: George Orwell's road to dystopia|last=Aaronovitch|first=David|date=8 February 2013|work=BBC News|access-date=8 February 2013|language=en-GB|archive-date=24 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124202714/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21337504|url-status=live}}</ref> The novel is often invoked in protests against governments and leaders who are seen as [[totalitarianism|totalitarian]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-1984-protest-screenings-20170326-story.html|title=As a Trump protest, theaters worldwide will screen the film version of Orwell's '1984'|last=Kelley|first=Sonaiya|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=4 April 2019|date=28 March 2017|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404034529/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-1984-protest-screenings-20170326-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/nineteen-eighty-four-and-the-politics-of-dystopia|title=Nineteen Eighty-Four and the politics of dystopia|website=The British Library|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308004754/https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/nineteen-eighty-four-and-the-politics-of-dystopia|url-status=live}}</ref> [[James Cameron]]'s film ''[[Avatar (2009 film)|Avatar]]'' (2009) was intended as a protest against [[imperialism]], specifically the [[European colonization of the Americas]].<ref name=npr>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123810319|last=Gross|first=Terry|date=18 February 2010|title=James Cameron: Pushing the limits of imagination|access-date=27 February 2010|work=[[National Public Radio]]|archive-date=21 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221092225/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123810319|url-status=live}}</ref> Science fiction in Latin America and Spain explores the concept of [[authoritarianism]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dziubinskyj |first1=Aaron |date=November 2004 |title=Review: Science Fiction in Latin America and Spain |journal=Science Fiction Studies |volume=31 |issue=3 Soviet Science Fiction: The Thaw and After |doi=10.1525/sfs.31.3.428 |jstor=4241289}}</ref>

[[Robot]]s, [[Artificial intelligence|artificial humans]], human [[cloning|clones]], intelligent [[computers]], and their possible conflicts with human society have all been major themes of science fiction since the publication of Shelly's novel ''[[Frankenstein]]'' (or earlier). Some critics have seen this tendency as reflecting authors' concerns over the [[social alienation]] seen in modern society.<ref name = "Schelde1994">Androids, Humanoids, and Other Science Fiction Monsters: Science and Soul in Science Fiction Films, Per Schelde, NYU Press, 1994, pages 1–10</ref>

[[Feminist science fiction|Feminist]] science fiction poses questions about social issues such as how society constructs [[gender role]]s, the role reproduction plays in defining [[gender]], and the inequitable political or personal power of one gender over others. Some works have illustrated these themes using [[utopia]]s in which gender differences or gender power imbalances do not exist, or [[dystopia]]s in which [[Gender inequality|gender inequalities]] are intensified, thus asserting a need for feminist work to continue.<ref name="encyclopedia3"/><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Palgrave handbook of posthumanism in film and television |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-43032-8|location=Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire|oclc=918873873|last1 = Hauskeller|first1 = Michael|last2 = Carbonell|first2 = Curtis D.|last3 = Philbeck|first3 = Thomas D.|date = 13 January 2016}}</ref>

[[Climate fiction|Climate]] fiction (or ''cli-fi'') deals with issues of [[Climate variability and change|climate change]] and [[global warming]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=31 May 2013|title=Global warning: the rise of 'cli-fi'|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/31/global-warning-rise-cli-fi|access-date=29 December 2022|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref><ref name="DanBloom">{{cite news|last1=Bloom|first1=Dan|title='Cli-Fi' Reaches into Literature Classrooms Worldwide|url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/03/cli-fi-reaches-into-literature-classrooms-worldwide/|work=Inter Press Service News Agency|date=10 March 2015|access-date=23 March 2015|archive-date=17 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317030221/http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/03/cli-fi-reaches-into-literature-classrooms-worldwide/|url-status=live}}</ref> University courses on [[literature]] and [[environmental issue]]s may include climate change fiction in their [[Syllabus|syllabi]],<ref>{{cite news|last1=Pérez-Peña|first1=Richard|title=College Classes Use Arts to Brace for Climate Change|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/education/using-the-arts-to-teach-how-to-prepare-for-climate-crisis.html|access-date=31 March 2015|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=31 March 2014 |issue=1 April 2014 pg A12|archive-date=13 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413230931/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/education/using-the-arts-to-teach-how-to-prepare-for-climate-crisis.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and these issues are often discussed by other [[media (communication)|media]] beyond science fiction [[science fiction fandom|fandom]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Tuhus-Dubrow|first1=Rebecca|title=Cli-Fi: Birth of a Genre|url=http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/cli-fi-birth-of-a-genre|access-date=23 March 2015|work=[[Dissent (American magazine)|Dissent]]|date=Summer 2013|archive-date=22 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322021514/http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/cli-fi-birth-of-a-genre|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Libertarian science fiction|Libertarian]] science fiction focuses on the [[politics]] and [[social order]] implied by [[right libertarian]] philosophies with an emphasis on [[individualism]] and [[private property]], and in some cases [[anti-statism]].<ref name="Raymond">{{cite web
|title=A Political History of SF
|last=Raymond
|first=Eric
|url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/sf-history.html
|access-date=4 December 2007
|archive-date=20 December 2015
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151220012359/http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/sf-history.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref> [[Robert A. Heinlein]] is one of the most popular authors of this subgenre, including his novels ''[[The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress|The Moon is a Harsh Mistress]]'' and ''[[Stranger in a Strange Land]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 4, 2000 |title=OUT OF THIS WORLD: A BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT HEINLEIN |url=https://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/out-world-biography-robert-heinlein |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=www.libertarianism.org}}</ref>

Science fiction [[Science fiction comedy|comedy]] often [[Satire|satirizes]] and [[Criticism|criticizes]] present-day society, and it sometimes makes fun of the [[Convention (norm)|conventions]] and [[cliché]]s of more serious science fiction.<ref name="Fantasy, Bruce Shaw 2010, page 19">The Animal Fable in Science Fiction and Fantasy, Bruce Shaw, McFarland, 2010, page 19</ref><ref name="Comedy Science Fiction">{{cite web |url=https://sfbook.com/comedy-science-fiction.htm |title=Comedy Science Fiction |publisher=Sfbook.com |access-date=2 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304105108/https://sfbook.com/comedy-science-fiction.htm |archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>

===Sense of wonder===
{{Main|Sense of wonder}}
{{Further|Wonder (emotion)}}
[[File:William Strang spider battle in 1894 True History.jpg|thumb|1894 illustration by [[Aubrey Beardsley]] for [[Lucian]]'s novel ''[[A True Story]]'' |upright=0.75]]
Science fiction is often said to inspire a [[sense of wonder|''sense of wonder'']]. Science fiction editor, publisher, and critic [[David Hartwell]] wrote that "Science fiction's appeal lies in combination of the rational, the believable, with the miraculous. It is an appeal to the sense of wonder."<ref>Hartwell, David. ''Age of Wonders'' (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1985, page 42)</ref>

Carl Sagan wrote about growing up with science fiction:<ref name = growing/>
{{quote|One of the great benefits of science fiction is that it can convey bits and pieces, hints, and phrases, of knowledge unknown or inaccessible to the reader . . . works you ponder over as the water is running out of the bathtub or as you walk through the woods in an early winter snowfall.}}

In 1967, Isaac Asimov commented on changes occurring in the science fiction community:<ref>Asimov, Isaac. 'Forward 1 – The Second Revolution' in Ellison, Harlan (ed.). ''Dangerous Visions'' (London: Victor Gollancz, 1987)</ref>
{{quote|And because today's real life so resembles day-before-yesterday's fantasy, the old-time fans are restless. Deep within, whether they admit it or not, is a feeling of disappointment and even outrage that the outer world has invaded their private domain. They feel the loss of a 'sense of wonder' because what was once truly confined to 'wonder' has now become prosaic and mundane.}}

==Study==
{{Main|Science fiction studies}}
[[File:Victoria Building, University of Liverpool 2019.jpg|thumb|left|The centrepiece of the university estate, the [[Victoria Building, University of Liverpool]], as a science fiction degree-granting program.]]
 
The field of science fiction [[science fiction studies|studies]] involves the [[Criticism|critical]] assessment, [[Aesthetic interpretation|interpretation]], and [[Conversation|discussion]] of science fiction [[literature]], [[film]], [[TV shows]], [[new media]], [[fandom]], and [[fan fiction]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://christopher-mckitterick.com/SF-LitCrit/SF-litcrit.htm|title=Critical Approaches to Science Fiction|website=christopher-mckitterick.com/|access-date=22 April 2023}}</ref> Science fiction [[scholar]]s study the genre to better understand it and its relationship to science, technology, politics, other genres, and culture at large.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hieroglyph.asu.edu/2016/04/what-is-the-purpose-of-science-fiction-stories/|title=What Is The Purpose of Science Fiction Stories? {{!}} Project Hieroglyph|website=hieroglyph.asu.edu|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404025032/https://hieroglyph.asu.edu/2016/04/what-is-the-purpose-of-science-fiction-stories/|url-status=live}}</ref> 

Science fiction studies began around 1900, and the field later solidified as a discipline through publications and organizations:

* Publication of the academic journals ''[[Extrapolation (journal)|Extrapolation]]'' (1959), ''[[Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction]]'' (1972), and ''[[Science Fiction Studies]]'' (1973)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/index.htm|title=Index|website=www.depauw.edu|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=24 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324161713/https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/index.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jstor.org/journal/sciefictstud|title=Science Fiction Studies on JSTOR|language=en|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404044515/https://www.jstor.org/journal/sciefictstud|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Establishment in 1970 of the first organizations devoted to the study of science fiction, the [[Science Fiction Research Association]] and the [[Science Fiction Foundation]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sfra.org/about|title=Science Fiction Research Association – About|website=www.sfra.org|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404025040/http://www.sfra.org/about|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sf-foundation.org/about/index.html|title=About: Science Fiction Foundation|website=Science Fiction Foundation|access-date=3 April 2019|archive-date=24 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024032919/http://www.sf-foundation.org/about/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> 

The field has grown considerably since the 1970s with the establishment of additional [[Academic journal|journals]], [[organization]]s, and [[Academic conference|conference]]s, as well as science fiction degree-granting programs such as those offered by the [[University of Liverpool]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/taught/sfs-english-ma/overview/|title=English: Science Fiction Studies MA – Overview – Postgraduate Taught Courses – University of Liverpool|website=www.liverpool.ac.uk|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404025029/https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/taught/sfs-english-ma/overview/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Classification===
{{Further|Hard science fiction|Soft science fiction}}
Science fiction has historically been subdivided into [[hard science fiction|''hard'']] and [[soft science fiction|''soft'']] categories, with the division centering on the feasibility of the science.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bcls.lib.nj.us/genre-science-fiction | title=BCLS: Hard Versus Soft Science Fiction | access-date=23 August 2018 | archive-date=23 August 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823210402/https://www.bcls.lib.nj.us/genre-science-fiction | url-status=live }}</ref> However, this distinction has come under increased scrutiny in the 21st century. Some [[author]]s, such as [[Tade Thompson]] and [[Jeff VanderMeer]], have observed that stories focusing explicitly on [[physics]], [[astronomy]], [[mathematics]], and [[engineering]] tend to be considered hard science fiction, while stories focusing on [[botany]], [[mycology]], [[zoology]], and the [[social science]]s tend to be considered soft science fiction (regardless of the relative rigor of the science).<ref name="tor.com">{{cite web| url=https://www.tor.com/2017/02/20/ten-authors-on-the-hard-vs-soft-science-fiction-debate/| title=Ten Authors on the 'Hard' vs. 'Soft' Science Fiction Debate| date=20 February 2017| access-date=23 August 2018| archive-date=29 December 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229124015/https://www.tor.com/2017/02/20/ten-authors-on-the-hard-vs-soft-science-fiction-debate/| url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Max Gladstone]] defined hard science fiction as stories "where the [[Mathematics|math]] works", but he pointed out that this definition identifies stories that often seem "weirdly dated", as scientific [[paradigm]]s shift over time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tor.com/2016/01/21/how-do-you-like-your-science-fiction-ten-authors-weigh-in-on-hard-vs-soft-sf/|title=How Do You Like Your Science Fiction? Ten Authors Weigh In On 'Hard' vs. 'Soft' SF|last=Wilde|first=Fran|date=21 January 2016|website=Tor.com|language=en-US|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404025029/https://www.tor.com/2016/01/21/how-do-you-like-your-science-fiction-ten-authors-weigh-in-on-hard-vs-soft-sf/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Michael Swanwick]] dismissed the traditional definition of hard science fiction altogether, instead stating that it was defined by characters striving to solve problems "in the right way–with determination, a touch of stoicism, and the consciousness that the [[universe]] is not on his or her side."<ref name="tor.com"/>

[[Ursula K. Le Guin]] also criticized the traditional contrast between hard and soft science fiction: "The 'hard' science fiction writers dismiss everything except, well, physics, astronomy, and maybe [[chemistry]]. [[Biology]], [[sociology]], [[anthropology]]—that's not [[science]] to them, that's soft stuff. They're not that interested in what human beings do, really. But I am. I draw on the social sciences a great deal."<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/a15871082/ursula-k-le-guin-life/| title=Ursula K. Le Guin Proved That Sci-Fi is for Everyone| date=24 January 2018| access-date=23 August 2018| archive-date=23 August 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823210602/https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/a15871082/ursula-k-le-guin-life/| url-status=live}}</ref>

===Literary merit===
{{Further|Literature|Literary fiction}}
[[File:Frontispiece to Frankenstein 1831.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|alt=Engraving showing a naked man awaking on the floor and another man fleeing in horror. A skull and a book are next to the naked man and a window, with the moon shining through it, is in the background |Illustration by [[Theodor von Holst]] for the 1831 edition of [[Mary Shelley]]'s novel ''Frankenstein''<ref>{{cite ODNB |last=Browne |first=Max |title=Holst, Theodor Richard Edward von (1810–1844) |id=28353}}</ref>]]

Many critics remain skeptical of the [[literary value]] of science fiction and other forms of [[genre fiction]], though some mainstream authors have written works claimed by opponents to be science fiction. [[Mary Shelley]] wrote a number of [[scientific romance]] novels in the [[Gothic literature]] tradition, including ''[[Frankenstein|Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus]]'' (1818).<ref name="introduction"/> [[Kurt Vonnegut]] was a respected American author whose works have been argued by some to contain science fiction premises or themes.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Allen|first1=William R.|title=Understanding Kurt Vonnegut|url=https://archive.org/details/understandingkur0000alle|url-access=registration|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|isbn=978-0-87249-722-1|year=1991}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Banach|first1=Je|title=Laughing in the Face of Death: A Vonnegut Roundtable|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/04/11/laughing-in-the-face-of-death-a-vonnegut-roundtable/|work=[[The Paris Review]]|date=11 April 2013|access-date=13 August 2015|archive-date=3 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150903042710/http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/04/11/laughing-in-the-face-of-death-a-vonnegut-roundtable/|url-status=live}}</ref> 

Other science fiction authors whose works are widely considered to be "serious" literature include [[Ray Bradbury]] (especially ''[[Fahrenheit 451]]'' and ''[[The Martian Chronicles]]''),<ref name="NYT-20120606">{{cite news|last=Jonas|first=Gerald|title=Ray Bradbury, Master of Science Fiction, Dies at 91|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/books/ray-bradbury-popularizer-of-science-fiction-dies-at-91.html|date=6 June 2012|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=5 June 2012|archive-date=5 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405014134/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/books/ray-bradbury-popularizer-of-science-fiction-dies-at-91.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Arthur C. Clarke]] (especially ''[[Childhood's End]]''),<ref>Barlowe, Wayne Douglas (1987). Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials. Workman Publishing Company. {{ISBN|0-89480-500-2}}.</ref><ref>Baxter, John (1997). "Kubrick Beyond the Infinite". Stanley Kubrick: A Biography. Basic Books. pp. 199–230. {{ISBN|0-7867-0485-3}}.</ref> and Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger (using the pseudonym [[Cordwainer Smith]]).<ref>Gary K. Wolfe and Carol T. Williams, "The Majesty of Kindness: The Dialectic of Cordwainer Smith", ''Voices for the Future: Essays on Major Science Fiction Writers'', Volume 3, Thomas D. Clareson editor, Popular Press, 1983, pages 53–72.</ref> [[Doris Lessing]], who was later awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]], wrote a series of five science fiction novels, ''[[Canopus in Argos|Canopus in Argos: Archives]]'' (1979–1983); these novels depict the efforts of more advanced species and civilizations to influence less advanced ones, including humans on Earth.<ref name="Hazelton">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/01/10/specials/lessing-space.html?_r=1 |title=Doris Lessing on Feminism, Communism and 'Space Fiction' |work=[[The New York Times]] |first=Lesley |last=Hazelton |author-link=Lesley Hazleton |date=25 July 1982 |access-date=25 March 2011 |archive-date=23 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131123172701/http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/01/10/specials/lessing-space.html?_r=1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Galin">{{cite book | last = Galin | first = Müge | title = Between East and West: Sufism in the Novels of Doris Lessing | publisher = [[State University of New York Press]] | year = 1997 | location = [[Albany, New York]] | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EbHys4CzN0YC&pg=PP1 | page = 21 | isbn = 978-0-7914-3383-6 | access-date = 28 October 2020 | archive-date = 23 November 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201123214754/https://books.google.com/books?id=EbHys4CzN0YC&pg=PP1 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Lessing | first = Doris | author-link = Doris Lessing | title = The Sirian Experiments | year = 1994 | orig-date = 1980 | publisher = Flamingo | location = London | isbn = 978-0-00-654721-1 |chapter= Preface | page= 11}}</ref><ref name="Donoghue">{{cite news | last = Donoghue | first = Denis | author-link = Denis Donoghue (academic) | title = Alice, The Radical Homemaker | work = [[The New York Times]] | date = 22 September 1985 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/01/10/specials/lessing-terrorist.html | access-date = 4 July 2014 | archive-date = 15 July 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140715175028/http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/01/10/specials/lessing-terrorist.html | url-status = live }}</ref>

[[David Barnett (writer)|David Barnett]] has indicated that some novels use recognizable science fiction [[Trope (literature)|tropes]], but they are not classified by their authors and publishers as science fiction; such novels include ''[[The Road]]'' (2006) by [[Cormac McCarthy]], ''[[Cloud Atlas (novel)|Cloud Atlas]]'' (2004) by [[David Mitchell (author)|David Mitchell]], ''[[The Gone-Away World]]'' (2008) by [[Nick Harkaway]], ''[[The Stone Gods (novel)|The Stone Gods]]'' (2007) by [[Jeanette Winterson]], and ''[[Oryx and Crake]]'' (2003) by [[Margaret Atwood]].<ref name="guardian4"/> Atwood in particular argued against categorizing works such as ''[[the Handmaid's Tale]]'' as science fiction; instead she labeled this novel, ''Oryx and Crake'', and ''[[The Testaments]]'' as [[speculative fiction]],<ref name=Wilderness>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/apr/26/fiction.margaretatwood|title=Light in the wilderness|last=Potts|first=Robert|date=26 April 2003|work=The Guardian|access-date=30 May 2013|archive-date=5 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005061502/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/apr/26/fiction.margaretatwood|url-status=live}}</ref> and she criticized science fiction as "talking squids in outer space."<ref name="langford">[[David Langford|Langford, David]], [http://www.ansible.co.uk/sfx/sfx107.html "Bits and Pieces"], [[SFX (magazine)|''SFX'' magazine]] No.&nbsp;107, August 2003.  {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090820072020/http://www.ansible.co.uk/sfx/sfx107.html |date=20 August 2009 }}</ref> 

In his book ''[[The Western Canon]]'', literary critic [[Harold Bloom]] includes the novels ''[[Brave New World]]'', [[Stanisław Lem]]'s ''[[Solaris (novel)|Solaris]]'', [[Kurt Vonnegut]]'s ''[[Cat's Cradle]]'', and ''[[The Left Hand of Darkness]]'' as culturally and aesthetically significant works of Western literature, though Lem actively spurned the label ''science fiction''.<ref name="SFWA">{{cite web |url=http://www.sfwa.org/faq/lem.htm |title=Lem and SFWA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080111142618/http://www.sfwa.org/faq/lem.htm |archive-date=11 January 2008}} in [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America]] FAQ, "paraphrasing [[Jerry Pournelle]]" who was SFWA President 1973–74</ref>

In her 1976 essay "Science Fiction and Mrs Brown", [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] was asked, "Can a science fiction writer write a novel?" She answered that "I believe that all novels ... deal with [[Character (arts)|character]]... The great novelists have brought us to see whatever they wish us to see through some character. Otherwise, they would not be novelists, but poets, historians, or pamphleteers."<ref name="harpercollins"/>

[[Orson Scott Card]] is best known for his 1985 science fiction novel ''[[Ender's Game]]''; he has postulated that in science fiction, the message and intellectual significance of the work are contained within the story itself—therefore the genre can omit accepted literary devices and techniques that he characterized as [[gimmick]]s or literary games.<ref name="google" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://us.macmillan.com/author/|title=Orson Scott Card {{!}} Authors {{!}} Macmillan|website=US Macmillan|language=en-US|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=5 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105025352/https://us.macmillan.com/author/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1998, [[Jonathan Lethem]] wrote an [[essay]] titled "Close Encounters: The Squandered Promise of Science Fiction" in the ''[[Village Voice]]''. In this essay, he recalled the time in 1973 when [[Thomas Pynchon]]'s novel ''[[Gravity's Rainbow]]'' was nominated for the [[Nebula Award]] and was passed over in favor of Arthur C. Clarke's novel ''[[Rendezvous with Rama]]''; Lethem suggests that this point stands as "a hidden tombstone marking the death of the hope that SF was about to merge with the mainstream."<ref name="encounters"/> In the same year, science fiction author and physicist [[Gregory Benford]] wrote that "SF is perhaps the defining genre of the twentieth century, although its conquering armies are still camped outside the [[Roman Empire|Rome]] of the literary citadels."<ref name="september"/>

==Community==
===Authors===
{{See also|List of science fiction authors}}
Science fiction has been written by authors from diverse [[Cultural diversity|cultural]] and geographical backgrounds. Among submissions to the science fiction publisher [[Tor Books]], men account for 78% and women account for 22% (according to 2013 statistics from the publisher).<ref>{{cite web|last1=Crisp|first1=Julie|title=Sexism in Genre Publishing: A Publisher's Perspective|url=http://www.torbooks.co.uk/blog/2013/07/10/sexism-in-genre-publishing-a-publishers-perspective|website=[[Tor Books]]|date=10 July 2013|access-date=29 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430072612/http://www.torbooks.co.uk/blog/2013/07/10/sexism-in-genre-publishing-a-publishers-perspective|archive-date=30 April 2015}} ([[Speculative fiction#Author demographics|See full statistics]])</ref> A [[2015 Hugo Awards controversy|controversy]] about voting slates for the 2015 [[Hugo Award]]s highlighted a tension in the science fiction community between two things: a trend toward increasingly diverse works and authors being honored by awards, and a reaction by groups of authors and fans who preferred more "traditional" science fiction.<ref name="The A.V. Club 6 April 2015">{{cite web |last=McCown |first=Alex |title=This year's Hugo Award nominees are a messy political controversy |url=http://www.avclub.com/article/years-hugo-award-nominees-are-messy-political-cont-217574 |access-date=11 April 2015 |work=[[The A.V. Club]] |publisher=[[The Onion]] |date=6 April 2015 |archive-date=10 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150410075152/http://www.avclub.com/article/years-hugo-award-nominees-are-messy-political-cont-217574 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

===Awards===
{{Main|List of science fiction awards}}
The most important awards for science fiction include the following:

* The [[Hugo Award]] for [[literature]], presented by the [[World Science Fiction Society]] at [[Worldcon]], and voted on by fans<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wsfs.org/awards/|title=Awards|date=10 May 2016|website=The World Science Fiction Society|language=en-US|access-date=4 April 2019}}</ref>
* The [[Nebula Award]] for literature, presented by the [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America]], and voted on by the community of authors<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fantasticfiction.com/awards/nebula.htm|title=Nebula Awards|website=www.fantasticfiction.com|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=31 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531161944/https://www.fantasticfiction.com/awards/nebula.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
* The [[John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel]], presented by a jury of writers<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sfcenter.ku.edu/about|title=The John W. Campbell Award}}</ref>
* The [[Theodore Sturgeon Award|Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award]] for [[Short story|short fiction]], presented by a jury<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/sturgeon.htm|title=The Theodore Sturgeon Award|access-date=18 March 2023|archive-date=1 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001134242/http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/sturgeon.htm}}</ref>

A notable award for science fiction films and TV programs is the [[Saturn Award]], which is presented annually by [[Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films|The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.saturnawards.org/|title=The Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy and Horror Films|website=www.saturnawards.org|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=25 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825193629/http://www.saturnawards.org/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Other awards include the following:

* National awards, such as Canada's [[Prix Aurora Awards]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://prixaurorawards.ca/|title=Aurora Awards {{!}} Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association|language=en|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404033950/https://prixaurorawards.ca/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Regional awards, such as the [[Endeavour Award]] presented at [[OryCon|Orycon]] for works from the U.S. Pacific Northwest<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://osfci.org/endeavour/|title=The Endeavour Award Home Page|website=osfci.org|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330174626/https://osfci.org/endeavour/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Special interest or [[subgenre]] awards, such as the [[Chesley Award]] for art, presented by the Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy Artists,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.asfa-art.org/?page=chesley|title=ASFA|website=www.asfa-art.org|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404072516/http://www.asfa-art.org/?page=chesley|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[World Fantasy Award]] for fantasy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/|title=Awards {{!}} World Fantasy Convention|language=en-US|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=27 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121027005155/http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Awards through magazine reader polls, notably the [[Locus Award]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://locusmag.com/category/news/awards/|title=Awards – Locus Online|language=en-US|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404033301/http://locusmag.com/category/news/awards/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Conventions===
{{Main|Science fiction convention}}
[[File:Sfcon-reading-ddb.jpg|thumb|Writer [[Pamela Dean]] reading at the Minneapolis convention known as [[Minicon]] in 2006]]

[[Convention (meeting)|Conventions]] (often abbreviated by fans as ''cons'', such as [[Comic-con]]) are held in [[City|cities]] around the [[world]]; these cater to a local, regional, national, or international membership.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://locusmag.com/conventions/|title=Conventions|date=29 August 2017|website=Locus Online|language=en-US|access-date=5 April 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330195143/https://locusmag.com/conventions/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://io9.gizmodo.com/a-history-of-the-science-fiction-convention-359238|title=A History Of The Science Fiction Convention|last=Kelly|first=Kevin|website=io9|date=21 February 2008 |language=en-US|access-date=5 April 2019|archive-date=3 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603154840/https://io9.gizmodo.com/a-history-of-the-science-fiction-convention-359238|url-status=live}}</ref> General-interest conventions cover all aspects of science fiction, while others focus on a particular interest such as [[media fandom]] or [[filking|filk music]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scificonventions.com/html/aboutcons.php|title=ScifiConventions.com – Worldwide SciFi and Fantasy Conventions Directory – About Cons|website=www.scificonventions.com|access-date=5 April 2019|archive-date=8 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408045937/http://www.scificonventions.com/html/aboutcons.php|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fencon.org/|title=FenCon XVI – September 20–22, 2019 {{!}}|website=www.fencon.org|language=en|access-date=5 April 2019|archive-date=2 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402110559/http://www.fencon.org/|url-status=live}}</ref> Most science fiction conventions are organized by volunteers in non-profit groups, though most media-oriented events are organized by commercial promoters.<ref>Mark A. Mandel (7–9 January 2010). [https://www.ldc.upenn.edu/sites/www.ldc.upenn.edu/files/ads2010-conomastics.pdf ''Conomastics: The Naming of Science Fiction Conventions'']. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413160549/https://www.ldc.upenn.edu/sites/www.ldc.upenn.edu/files/ads2010-conomastics.pdf |date=13 April 2018 }}</ref>

===Fandom and fanzines===
{{Main|Science fiction fandom|Science-fiction fanzine}}

Science fiction [[Science fiction fandom|fandom]] emerged from the letters column in ''[[Amazing Stories]]'' magazine. Fans began writing letters to each other, and then assembling their comments in informal publications that became known as [[Fanzine|''fanzines'']].<ref name="fanzine history"/> Once in regular communication, these fans wanted to meet in person, so they organized local clubs.<ref name="fanzine history" /><ref name="fancyclopedia con" /> During the 1930s, the first science fiction [[science fiction conventions|conventions]] gathered fans from a larger area.<ref name="fancyclopedia con"/>

The earliest organized online fandom was the SF Lovers Community, originally a [[mailing list]] in the late 1970s, with a text [[File archiver|archive file]] that was updated regularly.<ref name="sf-lovers hist" /> In the 1980s, [[Usenet]] groups greatly expanded the circle of fans [[Online and offline|online]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dcinthe80s.com/2016/03/usenet-fandom-crisis-on-infinite-earths.html|title=Usenet Fandom – Crisis on Infinite Earths|access-date=5 April 2019|archive-date=25 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025092801/http://www.dcinthe80s.com/2016/03/usenet-fandom-crisis-on-infinite-earths.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 1990s, the development of the [[World-Wide Web]] increased online fandom through [[website]]s devoted to science fiction and related [[genre]]s in all media.<ref name="fan clubhouse" />{{not in source|date=January 2025}}

The first science fiction fanzine, ''[[The Comet (fanzine)|The Comet]]'', was published in 1930 by the Science Correspondence Club in Chicago, Illinois.<ref name="first fanzine" /><ref>{{Citation|last1=Latham|first1=Rob|title=Fandom|date=1 November 2014|work=The Oxford Handbook of Science Fiction|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-983884-4|last2=Mendlesohn|first2=Farah|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199838844.013.0006}}</ref> As of 2025, one of the best known fanzines is ''[[Ansible (magazine)|Ansible]]'', edited by [[David Langford]], winner of numerous [[Hugo Award|Hugo awards]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.ansible.uk/|title=Ansible Home/Links|website=news.ansible.uk|access-date=5 April 2019|archive-date=29 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329164219/https://news.ansible.uk/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/fanzine|title=Culture : Fanzine : SFE: Science Fiction Encyclopedia|website=www.sf-encyclopedia.com|access-date=5 April 2019|archive-date=26 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190326213435/http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/fanzine|url-status=live}}</ref> Other notable fanzines to win one or more Hugo awards include ''[[File 770]]'', ''[[Mimosa (magazine)|Mimosa]]'', and ''[[Plokta]]''.<ref name="The Hugo Awards-2007">{{Cite web|url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/|title=Hugo Awards by Year|date=19 July 2007|website=The Hugo Awards|language=en-US|access-date=5 April 2019|archive-date=2 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402221314/http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/|url-status=live}}</ref> Artists working for fanzines have often risen to prominence in the field, including [[Brad W. Foster]], [[Teddy Harvia]], and Joe Mayhew; the Hugo Awards include a category for [[Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist|Best Fan Artists]].<ref name="The Hugo Awards-2007" />{{clear}}

==Elements==
[[File:Future_Birthplace_of_Captain_James_T_Kirk.jpg|thumb|Plaque in [[Riverside, Iowa]], to honor the "future birth" of ''[[Star Trek]]''{{'}}s character [[James T. Kirk]]]]

Science fiction elements can include the following:
*Temporal settings in the future or in [[alternative histories]];<ref name=counterfact>{{cite journal|first=Martin |last=Bunzl |author-link=Martin Bunzl |title=Counterfactual History: A User's Guide |url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/109.3/bunzl.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041013011910/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/109.3/bunzl.html |archive-date=13 October 2004 |journal=American Historical Review |date=June 2004 |volume=109 |issue=3 |pages=845–858 |doi=10.1086/530560 |access-date=2 June 2009 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* Predicted or speculative technology such as [[brain-computer interface]], [[bio-engineering]], [[superintelligent]] [[computer]]s, [[robot]]s, [[ray guns]], and other [[Weapons in science fiction|advanced weapons]];<ref name="GW"/><ref name="How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy"/>
*[[Space travel in science fiction|Space travel]], or settings in [[outer space]], on other worlds, in [[Hollow Earth|subterranean earth]],<ref name="DK-2015">{{Cite book |title=The Sherlock Holmes Book |publisher=[[DK (publisher)|DK]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-4654-3849-2 |editor-last=Davies |editor-first=David Stuart |editor-link=David Stuart Davies |edition=First American |location=New York |page=259 |editor-last2=Forshaw |editor-first2=Barry |editor-link2=Barry Forshaw}}</ref> or in [[Parallel universe (fiction)#Science fiction|parallel universes]];<ref name="britannica"/>
* [[biology in fiction|Fictional concepts in biology]] such as [[Extraterrestrial life|aliens]], [[Mutants in fiction|mutants]], and [[enhanced human]]s;<ref name="GW">{{cite book |last= Westfahl |first= Gary |author-link= Gary Westfahl |chapter= Aliens in Space |title= The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders |editor= [[Gary Westfahl]] |location= Westport, Conn. |publisher= [[Greenwood Press]] |year= 2005 |volume=1 |pages= 14–16 |isbn= 978-0-313-32951-7}}</ref><ref name=Parker>{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=Helen N. |title=Biological Themes in Modern Science Fiction |date=1977 |publisher=UMI Research Press}}</ref>
* Undiscovered scientific possibilities such as [[teleportation]], [[time travel]], and [[faster-than-light]] travel or [[Ansible|communication]];<ref>{{citation|title=The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature|chapter=Utopia, dystopia, and science fiction|author=Peter Fitting|editor=Gregory Claeys|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2010|pages=138–139}}</ref>
* Social/political systems and situations that are new and different, including [[utopian]],<ref name="DK-2015" /> [[dystopia]]n, [[post-apocalyptic]], or [[post-scarcity]];<ref>{{cite book | last = Hartwell | first = David G. | title = Age of Wonders: Exploring the World of Science Fiction| publisher = Tor Books | year =1996 | pages = 109–131 | isbn = 978-0-312-86235-0 }}</ref>
* [[Future history]] and [[speculative evolution]] of humans on Earth or other planets;<ref name="Ashley">Ashley, M. (April 1989). The Immortal Professor, Astro Adventures No.7, p.6.</ref>
* [[Paranormal]] abilities such as [[Mind control in popular culture|mind control]], [[telepathy]], and [[telekinesis]].<ref>{{cite book|author=H. G. Stratmann|title=Using Medicine in Science Fiction: The SF Writer's Guide to Human Biology|page=227|publisher=Springer, 2015|isbn=978-3-319-16015-3|date=14 September 2015}}</ref>

==International examples==
{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|
<!--List only SF associated with countries or regions here, please.-->
*[[Africanfuturism]]
*[[Australian science fiction]]
*[[Bengali science fiction]]
*[[Brazilian science fiction]]
*[[Canadian science fiction]]
*[[Chinese science fiction]]
*[[Croatian science fiction]]
*[[Czech science fiction and fantasy]]
*[[French science fiction]]
*[[Japanese science fiction]]
*[[Norwegian science fiction]]
*[[Science fiction in Poland]]
*[[Romanian science fiction]]
*[[Russian science fiction and fantasy]]
*[[Serbian science fiction]]
*[[Spanish science fiction]]
*[[Yugoslav science fiction]]}}

==Subgenres==
{{For outline|Outline of science fiction}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|
* [[Afrofuturism]]
* [[Anthropological science fiction]]
* [[Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction]]
* [[Biopunk]]
* [[Black science fiction]]
* [[Christian science fiction]]
* [[Climate fiction]]
* [[Science fiction comedy|Comic science fiction]]
* [[Cyberpunk]]
* [[Dieselpunk]]
* [[Dying Earth (subgenre)|Dying Earth]]
* [[Far future in fiction]]
* [[Feminist science fiction]]
* [[Gothic science fiction]]
* [[Indigenous Futurism]]
* [[Libertarian science fiction]]
* [[Military science fiction]]
* [[Mundane science fiction]]
* [[Pastoral science fiction]]
* [[Planetary romance]]
* [[Social science fiction]]
* [[Solarpunk]]
* [[Space opera]]
* [[Space Western]]
* [[Steampunk]]
}}

==Related genres==
{{main|Speculative fiction}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|
* [[Alternate history]]
* [[Fantasy]]
* [[Historical fiction]]
* [[Horror fiction]]
* [[Mystery fiction]]
* [[Science fantasy]]
* [[Space horror]]
* [[Spy fiction]]
* [[Spy-fi (subgenre)|Spy-fi]]
* [[Superhero fiction]]
* [[Supernatural fiction]]
* [[Utopian and dystopian fiction]]
}}

==See also==
{{portal|Science fiction}}
{{Div col |colwidth=22em}}
* [[Outline of science fiction]]
* [[History of science fiction]]
* [[Timeline of science fiction]]
* [[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]
* [[Extrasolar planets in fiction]]
* [[Fantastic art]]
* [[Fictional worlds]]
* [[Futures studies]]
* [[Hard science fiction]]
* [[List of fictional robots and androids]]
* [[List of science fiction comedy works]]
* [[List of science fiction and fantasy artists]]
* [[List of science fiction authors]]
* [[List of science fiction films]]
* [[List of science fiction literature with Messiah figures]]
* [[List of science fiction novels]]
* [[List of science fiction television programs]]
* [[List of science fiction themes]]
* [[List of science fiction universes]]
* [[Retrofuturism]]
* [[Science fiction comics]]
* [[Science fiction libraries and museums]]
* [[Science in science fiction]]
* [[Soft science fiction]]
* [[Time travel in fiction]]
* [[Transhumanism]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|last = Sterling|first = Bruce|title = Science Fiction|encyclopedia = [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|date = 17 January 2019|url = https://www.britannica.com/art/science-fiction|access-date = 5 April 2019|archive-date = 29 January 2012|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120129110126/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/528857/science-fiction/235713/The-evolution-of-science-fiction|url-status = live}}</ref>

<!-- <ref name="con activities">{{cite web |url=http://www.watt-evans.com/whataresfconventionslike.html |title=What Are Science Fiction Conventions Like? |author=Lawrence Watt-Evans |date=15 March 1988 |access-date=17 January 2007 |archive-date=25 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150425040114/http://www.watt-evans.com/whataresfconventionslike.html |url-status=live }}</ref> -->

<ref name="encounters">[[Jonathan Lethem|Lethem, Jonathan]] (1998), "Close Encounters: The Squandered Promise of Science Fiction", ''Village Voice'', June. Also reprinted in a slightly expanded version under the title "Why Can't We All Live Together?: A Vision of Genre Paradise Lost" in the ''[[New York Review of Science Fiction]]'', September 1998, Number 121, Vol 11, No. 1.</ref>

<ref name="encyclopedia3">Elyce Rae Helford, in Westfahl, Gary. ''The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy'': Greenwood Press, 2005: 289–290.</ref>

<!--<ref name="fan awards">{{cite web |url=http://www.wsfs.org/hc.html |title=Hugo Awards by Category |publisher=World Science Fiction Society |date=26 July 2006 |access-date=17 January 2007 }}</ref>-->

<ref name="fan clubhouse">{{cite journal |title=Is Your Club Dead Yet? |first=Mike |last=Glyer |journal=File 770 |date=November 1998 |url=https://file770.com/is-your-club-dead-yet/ }}</ref>

<ref name="fancyclopedia con">{{cite web |url=http://fanac.org/Fannish_Reference_Works/Fancyclopedia/Fancyclopedia_I/c.html |title=Fancyclopedia I: C&nbsp;– Cosmic Circle |publisher=fanac.org |date=12 August 1999 |access-date=17 January 2007 |archive-date=12 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912074341/http://www.fanac.org/Fannish_Reference_Works/Fancyclopedia/Fancyclopedia_I/c.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

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<ref name="fandom def">{{cite web |author = von Thorn, Alexander |title = Aurora Award acceptance speech |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO7p4geRW6k |location = Calgary, Alberta |date=August 2002 |via=[[YouTube]]}}</ref>
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<ref name="fanzine history">{{cite book |last=Wertham |first=Fredric|author-link=Fredric Wertham |title=The World of Fanzines |publisher=Carbondale & Evanston: Southern Illinois University Press |year=1973 }}</ref>

<ref name="first fanzine">{{cite web |url=http://www.fiawol.demon.co.uk/biblio/ |title=British Fanzine Bibliography |first=Rob |last=Hansen |date=13 August 2003 |access-date=17 January 2007 |archive-date=22 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322132834/http://www.fiawol.demon.co.uk/biblio/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="gibson cyber">{{cite book |url=http://www.stanford.edu/class/history34q/readings/Cyberspace/HaywardSituatingCyberspace.html |title=Future Visions: New Technologies of the Screen |first=Philip |last=Hayward |pages=180–204 |publisher=British Film Institute |year=1993 |access-date=17 January 2007 |archive-date=21 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221203216/http://www.stanford.edu/class/history34q/readings/Cyberspace/HaywardSituatingCyberspace.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="google">{{cite book|last = Card|first = O.|title = Ender's Game|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5QtUpmbcDwC&pg=PR11|chapter = Introduction|publisher = Macmillan|date = 2006|isbn = 978-0-7653-1738-4|url-access = registration|url = https://archive.org/details/endersgame00card}}</ref>

<ref name="guardian4">{{cite web|last = Barnett|first = David|url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/jan/28/science-fiction-genre|title = Science fiction: the genre that dare not speak its name|work = The Guardian|location = London|date = 28 January 2009|access-date = 13 December 2016|archive-date = 12 August 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160812022313/https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/jan/28/science-fiction-genre|url-status = live}}</ref>

<ref name="harpercollins">[[Ursula K. Le Guin|Le Guin, Ursula K.]] (1976) "Science Fiction and Mrs Brown", in ''The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction'', Perennial HarperCollins, Revised edition 1993; in ''Science Fiction at Large'' (ed. Peter Nicholls), Gollancz, London, 1976; in ''Explorations of the Marvellous'' (ed. Peter Nicholls), Fontana, London, 1978; in ''Speculations on Speculation. Theories of Science Fiction'' (eds. [[James Gunn (author)|James Gunn]] and Matthew Candelaria), The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Maryland, 2005.</ref>

<!--<ref name="hartwell soft def">{{cite book |url=http://www.tor.com/sampleAgeofWonders.html |title=Age of Wonders |last=Hartwell |first=David G. |publisher=Tor Books |date=August 1996 |access-date=17 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070321144608/http://www.tor.com/sampleAgeofWonders.html |archive-date=21 March 2007}}</ref>-->

<ref name="heinlein def">{{cite conference |chapter=Science Fiction: Its Nature, Faults and Virtues |book-title=The Science Fiction Novel: Imagination and Social Criticism |publisher=Advent Publishers |last=Heinlein |first=Robert A. |author2=Cyril Kornbluth |author3=Alfred Bester |author4=Robert Bloch |year=1959 |location=University of Chicago }}</ref>

<ref name="How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy">{{cite book | last = Card | first = Orson Scott | title = How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy | publisher = Writer's Digest Books | year = 1990 | page = [https://archive.org/details/howtowritescienc00card/page/17 17] | isbn = 978-0-89879-416-8 | url = https://archive.org/details/howtowritescienc00card/page/17 }}</ref>

<ref name="In Search of Wonder: Essays on Modern Science Fiction">{{cite book | last = Knight | first =Damon Francis | title = In Search of Wonder: Essays on Modern Science Fiction | url = https://archive.org/details/insearchofwonder00knig | url-access = registration | publisher = Advent Publishing | year =1967 | page = xiii | isbn = 978-0-911682-31-1 }}</ref>

<ref name="introduction">Bennett, An Introduction, ix–xi, 120–21; Schor, Introduction to ''Cambridge Companion'', 1–5; Seymour, 548–61.</ref>

<ref name="nicholls sf">{{cite encyclopedia |title="SF" (article by Peter Nicholls) |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |first=John | last=Clute | editor=Nicholls, Peter |publisher=Orbit/Time Warner Book Group UK |year=1993}}</ref>

<ref name="NSF">{{cite report|publisher=[[National Science Foundation]], Division of Science Resources Statistics |chapter-url=https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind02/c7/c7s5.htm |chapter=Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding. Science Fiction and Pseudoscience |title=Science and Engineering Indicators–2002 |location=Arlington, VA |id=NSB 02-01 |date=April 2002 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616181809/http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind02/c7/c7s5.htm |archive-date=16 June 2016 }}</ref>

<ref name="poe moon">{{cite book |url=http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/horror/TheWorksofEdgarAllenPoeVolume1/chap3.html |last=Poe |first=Edgar Allan |title=The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Volume 1, "The Unparalleled Adventures of One Hans Pfaal" |access-date=17 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060627190020/http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/horror/TheWorksofEdgarAllenPoeVolume1/chap3.html |archive-date=27 June 2006}}</ref>

<ref name="Richardson">{{Cite book|title=The Halstead Treasury of Ancient Science Fiction|first=Matthew|last=Richardson|publisher=Halstead Press|location=Rushcutters Bay, New South Wales|year=2001|isbn=978-1-875684-64-9}} ([[cf.]] {{Cite journal|title=Once Upon a Time|journal=Emerald City|issue=85|date=September 2002|url=http://www.emcit.com/emcit085.shtml#Once|access-date=17 September 2008|archive-date=11 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911095946/http://www.emcit.com/emcit085.shtml#Once|url-status=live}})</ref>

<ref name="Roubi">{{Cite web|date=6 February 2008|title=Islamset-Muslim Scientists-Ibn Al Nafis as a Philosopher|url=http://www.islamset.com/isc/nafis/drroubi.html|access-date=29 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080206072116/http://www.islamset.com/isc/nafis/drroubi.html |archive-date=6 February 2008 }}</ref>

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<ref name="Science Fiction: The Literature of Ideas">{{cite web |author1=Marg Gilks |author2=Paula Fleming |author3=Moira Allen |name-list-style=amp |title=Science Fiction: The Literature of Ideas |publisher=WritingWorld.com |year=2003 |url=http://www.writing-world.com/sf/sf.shtml |access-date=22 December 2006 |archive-date=15 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150515083550/http://www.writing-world.com/sf/sf.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>
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<ref name="september">Benford, Gregory (1998) "Meaning-Stuffed Dreams:Thomas Disch and the future of SF", ''New York Review of Science Fiction'', September, Number 121, Vol. 11, No. 1</ref>

<ref name="sf history nvcc">{{cite web |url=http://www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/scifi/history/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040326191128/http://nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/scifi/history/ |archive-date=26 March 2004 |title=A History of Science Fiction |first=Agatha |last=Taormina |publisher=Northern Virginia Community College |date=19 January 2005 |access-date=16 January 2007 }}</ref>

<ref name="sf-lovers hist">{{cite web |url=http://keithlynch.net/history.net.html |title=History of the Net is Important |first=Keith |last=Lynch |date=14 July 1994 |access-date=17 January 2007 |archive-date=14 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814084811/http://keithlynch.net/history.net.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

<!--<ref name="sfsite">{{Cite web|title=Fantasy and Science Fiction: Editorials & Editor's Recommendations|url=http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/1998/gvg9810.htm|access-date=29 December 2022|website=www.sfsite.com}}</ref>-->

<!-- <ref name="SFWA info">{{cite web |url=http://www.sfwa.org/org/sfwa_info.htm |title=Information About SFWA |publisher=Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. |access-date=16 January 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051224090923/http://sfwa.org/org/sfwa_info.htm |archive-date = 24 December 2005}}</ref> -->

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<!--<ref name="The Biology of Science Fiction Cinema">{{cite book |title=The Biology of Science Fiction Cinema |last=Glassy |first=Mark C. |year=2001 |publisher=McFarland |location=Jefferson, N.C. |isbn=978-0-7864-0998-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/biologyofscience00glas }}</ref>-->

<ref name="The Harmony of the Worlds">{{cite episode|title=The Harmony of the Worlds|episode-link=Cosmos: A Personal Voyage#Episodes|series=Cosmos: A Personal Voyage|series-link=Cosmos: A Personal Voyage|credits=Creator and presenter: [[Carl Sagan]]|network=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]|air-date=12 October 1980}}</ref>

<ref name="The World of Science Fiction 1926–1976">{{cite book |title=The World of Science Fiction 1926–1976 |year=1980 |last=Del Rey |first=Lester |publisher=Ballantine Books |isbn=978-0-345-25452-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/worldofsciencefi00delr }}</ref>

<ref name="wood skiffy">{{cite encyclopedia |title="Sci fi" (article by Peter Nicholls) |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |first=John | last=Clute | editor=Nicholls, Peter |publisher=Orbit/Time Warner Book Group UK |year=1993}}</ref>

<!--<ref name="baen mil">{{cite web |url=http://www.baen.com/intweis.htm |title=Website Interview with Toni Weisskopf on SF Canada |publisher=Baen Books |date=12 September 2005 |access-date=16 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202075121/https://www.baen.com/intweis.htm |archive-date=2 February 2007 }}</ref> -->

<!--<ref name="bradbury master">{{cite book |title=Ray Bradbury: Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy |last=Maas |first=Wendy |date=July 2004 |publisher=Enslow Publishers }}</ref>-->
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<!--<ref name="dictionary">''The American Heritage College Dictionary'' (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1993), 494.</ref> -->

<!-- <ref name="Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep?  A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation">{{Cite book|title=Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep?  A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation|first=Seo-Young|last=Chu|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|year=2011|isbn=0-674-05517-9}}</ref> -->
<!--<ref name="fanfic def">{{cite book |url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fanfic |title=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |year=2003 |access-date=17 January 2007 }}</ref> -->

<!--<ref name="fantasy hugos">{{cite web |url=http://www.worldcon.org/hc.html |title=The Hugo Awards By Category |publisher=World Science Fiction Society |date=26 July 2006 |access-date=16 January 2006 }}</ref> -->
<!--<ref name="forever war">{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/m-I-t/science_fiction/profiles/haldeman.html |title=Joe Haldeman, 1943– |first=Henry | last=Jenkins |date=23 July 1999 |access-date=16 January 2007 }}</ref> -->

<!--<ref name="futurians">{{cite journal |url=http://jophan.org/mimosa/m21/resnick.htm |title=The Literature of Fandom |last=Resnick |first=Mike |journal=Mimosa |issue=#21 |year=1997 |access-date=17 January 2007 }}</ref> -->
<!--<ref name="grandfather">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/time-travel-phys/ |title=Time Travel and Modern Physics |author1=Frank Artzenius |author2=Tim Maudlin |name-list-style=amp |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |date=17 February 2000 |access-date=16 January 2007 }}</ref> -->
<!--<ref name="hard sf def">{{cite web |url=http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/timeline1970.html |title=SF TIMELINE 1960–1970 |publisher=Magic Dragon Multimedia |date=24 December 2003 |access-date=17 January 2007 }}</ref> -->
<!--<ref name="horror orig">{{cite journal |url=http://www.tabula-rasa.info/DarkAges/Timeline1.html |title=The Horror Timeline, "Part I: Pre-20th Century" |author1=David Carroll |author2=Kyla Ward |name-list-style=amp |journal=Burnt Toast |issue=#13 |date=May 1993 |access-date=16 January 2001 }}</ref> -->

<!--<ref name="horror pop">{{cite web |url=http://news.ncsu.edu/features/103106_HorrorFilms.htm |title=Horror Films Still Scaring&nbsp;– and Delighting&nbsp;– Audiences |first=Chad |last=Austin |publisher=North Carolina State University News |access-date=16 January 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070108195901/http://news.ncsu.edu/features/103106_HorrorFilms.htm |archive-date = 8 January 2007}}</ref> -->
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<!--<ref name="magic realism">{{cite web |url=http://www.aeonmagazine.com/writersguidelines.html |title=Aeon Magazine Writer's Guidelines |publisher=Aeon Magazine |date=26 April 2006 |access-date=16 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070115234313/https://www.aeonmagazine.com/writersguidelines.html |archive-date=15 January 2007 }}</ref> -->

<!--<ref name="mainstream">{{cite web |url=http://www.falsepositives.com/index.php/2005/11/22/utopian-ideas-hidden-inside-dystopian-sf/ |title=Utopian ideas hidden inside Dystopian sf |publisher=False Positives |date=November 2006 |access-date=16 January 2007}}</ref> -->

<!--<ref name="mccaffrey sf fantasy">{{cite web |url=http://www.tor.com/sites/legends/mccaffrey_bio.html |title=Anne McCaffrey |publisher=tor.com |date=16 August 1999 |access-date=24 January 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061109201854/http://www.tor.com/sites/legends/mccaffrey_bio.html |archive-date = 9 November 2006}}</ref> -->
<!--<ref name="modernism">{{cite journal |url=http://www.hermenaut.com/a4.shtml |title=Philip K. Dick (1928–1982) |last=Glenn |first=Joshua |journal=Hermenaut |issue=#13 |date=22 December 2000 |access-date=16 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061031110802/https://www.hermenaut.com/a4.shtml |archive-date=31 October 2006}}</ref> -->

<!--<ref name="mohammed">Jean Déjeux, ''Mohammed Dib'', CELFAN Editions, 1987 (p. 15).</ref> -->

<!--<ref name="mystery">{{cite journal |url=http://www.sfwriter.com/arcwc.htm |title=Spotlight On... Robert J. Sawyer |last=McBride |first=Jim |journal=Fingerprints |issue=November 1997 |date=November 1997 |publisher=Crime Writes of Canada |access-date=8 January 2007 }}</ref> -->

<!--<ref name="mythology">{{cite journal |url=http://home.istar.ca/~delric/Myth.htm |title=On Incorporating Mythology into Fantasy, or How to Write Mythical Fantasy in 752 Easy Steps |author=Robert B. Marks |date=May 1997 |journal=Story and Myth |access-date=16 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070619211005/https://home.istar.ca/~delric/Myth.htm |archive-date=19 June 2007 }}</ref> -->
<!--<ref name="Perry Rhodan 35th anniversary">{{cite press release |url=http://www.perry-rhodan-usa.com/web1998/rdnpres.htm |title=Perry Rhodan 35th anniversary |publisher=Perry-Rhodan-USA.com |date=8 September 1996 |access-date=26 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430072534/http://www.perry-rhodan-usa.com/web1998/rdnpres.htm |archive-date=30 April 2008 }}</ref> -->
<!--<ref name="reawakenings">Bell, Andrea (1999), "Science Fiction in Latin America: Reawakenings", ''[[Science Fiction Studies]]'', November, Number 26, No. 3, pp. 441–46.</ref> -->
<!--<ref name="sci fant def">{{cite journal |url=http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/review_essays/elkins22.htm |journal=Science Fiction Studies |date=November 1980 |title=Recent Bibliographies of Science Fiction and Fantasy |author=Elkins, Charles |access-date=16 January 2007 }}</ref> -->

<!--<ref name="Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia">{{cite book | last = Stableford | first = Brian | title = Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia | publisher = Taylor & Francis Group| year = 2006 | page = 113 }}</ref> -->

<!--<ref name="Science Fiction: Bridge between the Two Cultures">{{cite journal |jstor=814025|title=Science Fiction: Bridge between the Two Cultures|journal=The English Journal|volume=60|issue=8|pages=1043–1051|last1=Schwartz|first1=Sheila|year=1971|doi=10.2307/814025}}</ref>-->
<!--<ref name="Serling def">{{cite video |people=Rod Serling |title=The Twilight Zone, "The Fugitive" |date=9 March 1962 }}</ref> -->
<!--<ref name="soft sf period">{{cite journal |url=http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~tonya/Tonya/sf/history.html |title=A brief historical survey of women writers of science fiction |last=Browning |first=Tonya |location=University of Texas in Austin |year=1993 |access-date=19 January 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061208140352/http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~tonya/Tonya/sf/history.html |archive-date = 8 December 2006}}</ref> -->

<!--<ref name="spec fic">{{cite web |url=http://www.jessesword.com/sf/view/438 |title=Science Fiction Citations |access-date=8 January 2007 }}</ref> -->
}}

== General and cited sources ==
{{Div col}}
{{refbegin}}
* [[Brian Aldiss|Aldiss, Brian]]. ''Billion Year Spree: The True History of Science Fiction'', 1973.
* Aldiss, Brian, and [[David Wingrove|Wingrove, David]]. ''[[Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction]]'', revised and updated edition, 1986.
* [[Kingsley Amis|Amis, Kingsley]]. ''New Maps of Hell: A Survey of Science Fiction'', 1958.
* Barron, Neil, ed. ''[[Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction]]'' (5th ed.). Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2004. {{ISBN|1-59158-171-0}}.
* [[Damien Broderick|Broderick, Damien]]. ''Reading by Starlight: Postmodern Science Fiction''. London: Routledge, 1995. Print.
* [[John Clute|Clute, John]] ''Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia''. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1995. {{ISBN|0-7513-0202-3}}.
* [[John Clute|Clute, John]] and [[Peter Nicholls (writer)|Peter Nicholls]], eds., ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]''. St Albans, Herts, UK: Granada Publishing, 1979. {{ISBN|0-586-05380-8}}.
* [[John Clute|Clute, John]] and [[Peter Nicholls (writer)|Peter Nicholls]], eds., ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]''. New York: St Martin's Press, 1995. {{ISBN|0-312-13486-X}}.
* [[Thomas M. Disch|Disch, Thomas M.]] ''The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of''. New York: The Free Press, 1998. {{ISBN|978-0-684-82405-5}}.
* [[Fredric Jameson|Jameson, Fredric]]. ''Archaeologies of the Future: This Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions''. London and New York: Verso, 2005.
* [[Andrew Milner|Milner, Andrew]]. ''[[Locating Science Fiction]]''. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2012.
* [[Masood Ashraf Raja|Raja, Masood Ashraf]], Jason W. Ellis and Swaralipi Nandi. eds., ''The Postnational Fantasy: Essays on Postcolonialism, Cosmopolitics and Science Fiction''. McFarland 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-6141-7}}.
* Reginald, Robert. ''Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, 1975–1991''. Detroit, MI/Washington, D.C./London: Gale Research, 1992. {{ISBN|0-8103-1825-3}}.
* Roy, Pinaki. "Science Fiction: ''Some Reflections''". ''Shodh Sanchar Bulletin'', 10.39 (July–September 2020): 138–42.
* {{cite book|last1=Scholes|first1=Robert E.|author-link1=Robert Scholes|last2=Rabkin|first2=Eric S.|title=Science fiction: history, science, vision|url=https://archive.org/details/sciencefictionhi00scho|url-access=registration|year=1977|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-502174-5}}
* [[Darko Suvin|Suvin, Darko]]. ''Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: on the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre'', New Haven : Yale University Press, 1979.
* Weldes, Jutta, ed. ''To Seek Out New Worlds: Exploring Links between Science Fiction and World Politics''. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. {{ISBN|0-312-29557-X}}.
* Westfahl, Gary, ed. ''[[The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders]]'' (three volumes). Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2005.
* Wolfe, Gary K. ''Critical Terms for Science Fiction and Fantasy: A Glossary and Guide to Scholarship''. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986. {{ISBN|0-313-22981-3}}.
{{refend}}
{{div col end}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|s=Category:Science fiction|voy=Science-fiction tourism}}
{{Library resources box|by=no|onlinebooks=no|about=yes|wikititle=science fiction}}
<!-- NOTE: Wikipedia is NOT a collection of links. DO NOT ADD your personal favorite website here. Place a request on the Science Fiction Talk page describing why you think the external source meets the External Link guidelines (To find the guidelines type the following into Wikipedia search without the quotes "WP:EL" ). If community consensus is that the site meets or exceeds one or more of the current links, it will be added. Thank you! -->
* [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/bookshelf/68 Science Fiction Bookshelf] at Project Gutenberg
* [https://efanzines.com Science fiction fanzines (current and historical) online]
* [https://www.sfwa.org/forum/reading/1-novel/ SFWA "Suggested Reading" list]
* [https://standardebooks.org/ebooks?tags%5B%5D=science+fiction Science fiction at standardebooks.org]
* [https://sfra.org Science Fiction Research Association]
* [http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/themes/visions-of-the-future A selection of articles written by Mike Ashley, Iain Sinclair and others, exploring 19th-century visions of the future.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230618115843/http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/themes/visions-of-the-future |date=18 June 2023 }} from the British Library's Discovering Literature website.
* [https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/merril/ Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy] at [[Toronto Public Library]]
* [https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/biblio.htm Science Fiction Studies' Chronological Bibliography of Science Fiction History, Theory, and Criticism]
* [https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/g39358054/best-sci-fi-books/ Best 50 sci-fi novels of all time] (''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]''; 21 March 2022)

{{Science fiction}}
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[[Category:Science fiction| ]]
[[Category:Speculative fiction|Speculative fiction]]