Speculative Fiction:

A Discussion of Definitions
by J. Brian Clarke
 

To further confuse the issue, yesterday's science fiction can easily become today's fantasy. A classic example is the story of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun with wings constructed from feathers and beeswax. The wax melted, and the poor fellow ended up making a hole in the sea. In J. Atterley's 1827 novel Voyage to the Moon, the space vehicle used a metal which "pushed" against gravity. A century or so later, H.G. Wells borrowed that unscientific principle for his "Cavorite" in First Men in the Moon.

In 1936, presumably after he took a few lessons in physics, Wells got his characters to the moon (in his script for the SF movie The Shape of Things to Come) by firing them out of a cannon. But scientists Robert Goddard and Herman Oberth had, from 1914 onward, already established the potential of rocket propulsion. So Mr. Wells should have known better, especially considering his characters were propelled to escape velocity in a standing position (how would you like to be compressed down into your socks?!!). With a much better excuse was Jules Verne, who cannon-fired his characters to the moon way back in the 1870's. 

In 1919, H. Rider Haggard of King Solomon's Mines fame published his "SF" novel When the Earth Shook, in which Earth is kept on an even keel by a whopping gyroscope which wobbles along through a circum-planet tunnel. Like Mr. Wells, Mr. Haggard should have known better. 

Let's look at fantasy. 

Many young writers attempt this genre with the misguided notion that because it is fantasy, they can get away with anything. Then they wonder why no publisher will buy it. 

Dragons, demons, witches, magic; the whole paraphernalia of fantasy must operate according to a consistent set of rules which the writer may invent, or borrow from masters ranging from the Brothers Grimm to Lovecraft. He or she may even improve on what has been done before. But because readers live in the real world, everything within the pages of even the most outrageous fantasy must somehow reflect that reality. Fictional dragons fly and breath fire only because real-world dragons such as alligators and iguanas do not, and it is fun to imagine the consequences if they did. A real world tornado is a terrible thing, but Frank Baum knew exactly what he was doing when he used a tornado in his classic fantasy The Wizard of Oz. 

As any sorcerer will tell you, magic also has rules. He cannot turn the prince into a frog by simply wishing it so. He must consult the proper tome, mix the proper ingredients and voice an appropriate incantation. Like any scientist he is bound by those rules, so it is not by accident a good scientist is sometimes described as a "wizard." 

Add a little pseudo-science to fantasy, and you end up with 'science fantasy.' The Star Wars movies are perfect examples of that sub-genre; in which star ships, mythical creatures, heroes, heroines, and the ancient conflict between good and evil, are all stirred into a mad stew of highly entertaining flavour. The creators of such works are genuine illusionists, convincing their audiences that for an hour or two they have escaped humdrum reality. 

But it is not really escape, you know. 

Speculative fiction is merely the reflection of reality in a funhouse mirror.