This is another installment of my series of remarks and observations directed at the clouds, which is to say, just my opinions. I have resigned myself to the fact that I am never going to be king of the world, and be in a position to put things to right. Never the less, I feel it is my duty to at least spell out what the world is doing wrong. In this episode, I intend to spell what should be done with the genre of science fiction.
Using the term “science fiction” to describe what is a very broad genre of fiction is both misleading and often divisive. It needs to be replaced with a more accurate label. Calling a book “science fiction” is like labeling a can “food.” It doesn’t really tell you much of anything about it, and indeed, in the case of the can, it could be a can of dog food, baked beans, or little wieners. About all the term science fiction tells a reader, is that the book is genre rather than literary fiction, and that it is likely to be set either in the future, or in some make believe place and/or time. Actual science, as advertised on the label, even that of the hand waving, magic behind a “science” mask sort, may or may not be a feature of the story. It is entirely optional.
Compare this state to fantasy, or, for this comparison, “Fantasy Fiction.” (Fiction, in this case, being redundant, because fantasy is always fiction, science, is usually not.) One fantasy fan site on the web lists 64 different subgenres of fantasy, from allegorical fantasy to wuxia (Chinese or Chinese inspired) fantasy. But even with so many variations, most readers understand the type of story they can expect to find, since almost all fantasies share a set of common elements, though their importance and treatment will be vary by subgenre and author. The same can not be said of science fiction.
The fact that science fiction both lacks a set of common elements, and is a more diverse genre than fantasy, can not be blamed on the label “science fiction.” However, there should be some truth in labeling, and calling a whole genre “science” when stories using science in some way is not a requirement of the label, makes a lie of the label. If a genre, currently labeled “science fiction,” is going to be used by publishers as a catch-all for every sorts of unconventional, experimental, or weird story that does not comfortably fit other, more defined categories, like literary, horror, thriller, etc., then the label should be broad enough to reflect that fact. And if actual science has little or nothing to do with the vast majority of stories in the genre, then a better descriptive adjective should be found. And the thing is, you don’t have to look very far to find it. But I’ll get to that in a moment.
I should add that it is not just publishers who sow confusion in the genre. It’s its readers and scholars, as well. Not only can science fiction fans not agree on what is science fiction, but they bring into the genre all sorts of stories that were never intended to be science fiction, simply because they use some common science fiction motif or another. For example, science fiction claims as its own, at least some of the works of such authors as, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, L Frank Baum, Jack London, Mary Shelley, Jules Vern, H. G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Rudyard Kipling who were not, at the time, writing science fiction, if only because the term did not exist when they wrote their work. The term only came into use in the mid-1920’s, originally as “scientifiction” in Hugo Gernsback’s pulp magazine Amazing Stories. And yet, some fans and scholars will push the date of ‘science fiction” back even further, into ancient times. Looking in the opposite direction, we see the same thing happening. SF fans claiming George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Kurt Vonnegut, and other literary writers as science fiction writers, whether they like it or not.
There is nothing wrong with being inclusive, but this loosey-goosey description of what constituents, science fiction leads to disagreements and conflicts within the science fiction fandom. Everyone has their own definition of what constitutes the “true” or “real” science fiction. And what doesn’t. Often, especially in the silly season of science fiction, when the PR extravaganza of awards time rolls around, these arguments spring up, and complaints are aired about the lack of “true” science fiction being honored. And what actually is “true” science fiction. Plus the fact that it seems that, these days, fantasy dominates what were once science fiction awards, annoys science fiction purists as well.
As I see it, these problems arise out of the fact that “science” is used in the genre label, when it was never a requirement. It has always been quite optional since the invention of the term. Sixty years ago, Judith Merril wrote in a forward to one of her “SF: The Years Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy anthologies:
“SF is an abbreviation for Science Fiction (or Science Fantasy). Science Fiction (or Science Fantasy) is really an abbreviation too. Here are some of the things it stands for... S is for Science, Space, Satellites, Starships, and Solar exploring; also for Semantics and Sociology, Satire, Spoofing, Suspense and good old Serendipity… F is for Fantasy, Fiction, Fable, Folklore, Fairy-tale and Farce; also for Fission, and Fusion, for Firmament, Fireball, Future and Forecast; for Fate and Free-will, Figuring, Fact-seeking and Fancy-free. Mix well. The result is SF, or Speculative Fun.”
So it would seem that nothing much changes, even in a genre that is future focused. And back then, as today, this definition of science fiction would be challenged by a significant section of the science fiction community as being too broad, to be the “true” science fiction. Which is the second major problem with science fiction as a genre. The term brings with it too much baggage. Too much of the mythology of science fiction is tied up – at least in the minds of readers and writers of a certain age – in the short story, pulp era, gadget fiction, of 80 years ago. The genre has evolved, as any viable genre should. The genre name, however, has not, and simply cannot. And that must be fixed.
The solution as I see it, is to reduce the label, “science fiction,” to a description of its core meaning; fiction built around known science, or a reasonable extrapolation of known science. Replace it as the broader genre label with the far more inclusive, and accurate label: “Speculative Fiction.” “Science Fiction” would become one of Speculative Fiction’s subgenre, essentially replacing “Hard Science Fiction” on the list. In this way, science fiction would have a definite meaning and the old purest would have a safe haven for the stories they like, while writers of speculative fiction could continue to push the envelope, without some old guard grousing about how they don’t understand what science fiction is, even though it was never, ever, what they claim it to have been.
The beauty of just renaming the genre Speculative Fiction is that it would not involve a massive sea change in the field. The term “speculative fiction” is already commonly used to describe science fiction in its broadest sense, so that it simply makes sense to officially give the broad genre the label that more accurately describes it. And since the term is commonly used already, making the change would mostly involve getting used to using it as the formal label of the genre. Some organizations would have to change their names – but not their initials. And, finally, SF would always be SF, no matter what the “S” stands for in the mind of the reader.
Of course there is no governing body that can make this change. It must come from the grass roots up. Still, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. I, for one, have changed the genre label to speculative fiction. Going forward, I will only use “science fiction” when I am discussing the former subgenre of “Hard Science Fiction,” which I can’t imagine me needing to do, or when describing something with that label, to avoid confusion. So I say to you, join me in this crusade to free speculative fiction of its pulp origins. Speculative fiction existed before “science fiction,” so let’s free ourselves of that confusing and restrictive label. Let’s continue to read and write inclusive, imaginative stories.
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