PrintSF

105 readers

1 users here now

All things written speculative fiction - books, short stories, poems, etc. As always, please tag spoilers and follow the instance rules.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

Arthur

What’s the difference between speculative fiction and science fiction? (self.printsf)

submitted 1 year ago by Eq0 to c/printsf

6 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I’ve rarely seen the term “speculative fiction” being used, so I don’t really have an idea of what it encompasses. Would someone care to explain? I remember “Anathem” being described as such - and by the way: what an amazing book! I recommend it to all nerds, in particular those into history/philosophy/scifi.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Eq0 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks! This seems like a very broad but workable definition. Would you say all sci-fi is speculative fiction?

[–] Arthur 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Great question! I wish I could give you a satisfying binary yes or no answer, but unfortunately like most of our world, it just depends. I would say most sci-fi could be considered speculative fiction, but there might be exceptions. I found this cool chart that I think might help out.

Safe to say most sci-fi is considered speculative though!

Source: https://annieneugebauer.com/2014/03/24/what-is-speculative-fiction/

[–] Eq0 3 points 1 year ago

I live Venn diagrams! Thanks for sharing this!