Fantasy and Science Fiction

The Fantasy and Science Fiction genres are about examining what is possible. The genres do not necessarily explore what is actually possible, sometimes they probe forward improbably and impossibly. All fantasy and science fiction stories are rooted and grounded in the factual and accepted past and present. While these stories explore what is possible, an insidious commentary can be delivered. The strange technology and the magical justifications of the universe lure readers into a suspension of disbelief. A position that allows even the most resistant minds to receive the author's perceived truths. No matter how outlandish or alien the stories get, human stories are about humans and are reaching out to the readers in the year the stories are published.

The fantastic world and the future world storylines are just another strategy of persuasion for those who would otherwise resist the message of an essay or a documentary.

Introductory Video

Fantasy Short Stories

Science Fiction Short Stories

Influential Pre-Radium and Radium Age Science Fiction (1904-1933) and Old School Fantasy Novels

This site kills it: http://hilobrow.com/radium-age-100/

Make Your Own Pulp Magazine Covers

    • Interactive: Pulp-O-Mizer from Cornelius Zeppencackler's Derange-O-Lab

Influential Golden Age Science Fiction (1934-1963) and Fantasy Novels of that Time

    • Isaac Asimov - Foundation (1942)

    • Ray Bradbury - The Martian Chronicles (1946), Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

    • Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange (1962)

    • Arthur C. Clarke - Childhood's End (1953), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Rendezvous with Rama (1973)

    • Philip K. Dick - The Man in the High Castle (1962), The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965), Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), Ubik (1969)

    • Robert Heinlein - The Puppet Masters (1951), Starship Troopers (1959), Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966)

    • Madeleine L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time (1963)

    • Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon (1966)

    • Richard Matheson - I Am Legend (1954)

    • George Orwell - Animal Farm (1945), Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

    • J. R. R. Tolkien - The Hobbit (1937), The Lord of the Rings (1954)

    • Kurt Vonnegut - Player Piano (1952), The Sirens of Titan (1959), Cat's Cradle (1963), Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)

This site kills it: http://hilobrow.com/golden-age-sci-fi/

Influential Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels of the Last 50some Years

    • Douglas Adams - The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (1979)

    • Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale (1985)

    • Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game (1985)

    • Neil Gaiman - The Sandman (1989), American Gods (2001)

    • William Gibson - Neuromancer (1984)

    • Frank Herbert - Dune (1965)

    • Stephen King - The Stand (1978), The Gunslinger (1982)

    • Ursula K. Le Guin - A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), The Lathe of Heaven (1971), The Dispossessed (1974)

    • George R. R. Martin - A Game of Thrones (1996)

    • Larry Niven - Ringworld (1970)

    • Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind (2007)

    • J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997)

New Wave?: http://hilobrow.com/new-wave-sci-fi/

Where Did That Come From?

Note: Every definition here is linked to a search on Google Ngrams so that you can see the spike in that word's use over time in published books.

    • Ansible - A contraction of the word "answerable", this word refers to a communications device that allows instantaneous communication despite great distances. Distances even beyond light speed transmission. This word first appeared in Ursula K. LeGuin's Rocannon's World in 1962.

    • Blast Off - This term refers to the take off or launch of a missile or rocket-propelled vehicle. This phrase first appeared in the 1937 story Galactic Patrol by E.E. "Doc" Smith with the question "How long do you figure it’ll be before it’s safe for us to blast off?”

    • Cyberspace - This word came from William Gibson's 1984 novel Neuromancer and was used to describe an interactive virtual reality dataspace. We now use the word and the root cyber- to describe anything on the Internet.

    • Robot - The term was first used in a 1920 play written by Czech writer Karel Čapek. The play was titled R.U.R. and the initials mean Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti which translates to Rossum's Universal Robots.

    • Taser - In 1974 a man named Jack Cover invented the taser. He named it after a favorite book of his: 1911's Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle was written by Stratemeyer Syndicate under the pen name Victor Appleton. The word comes from an acronym created from Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle.

    • Uncanny Valley - In 1970 a Japanese robotics professor wrote an article talking about empathy and emotional reaction to robots related to how lifelike they are. We love our non-lifelike toy robots, we have eerie discomfort and revulsion toward not-quite-lifelike robots such as artificial limbs and robotic dolls, and we have love and empathy again for when we truly reach lifelike robots that could pass for people. That curve represents the uncanny valley. Here is a translation of the original article: https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/the-uncanny-valley

    • Virus - The word virus was used far before 1970, but after the publication of Gregory Benford's short story "The Scarred Man", people and authors started using the word virus to describe hostile software in the computing world. The malevolent computer program in the story was named VIRUS.

    • Waldo - Robert A. Heinlein, under the pseudonym Anson MacDonald, published the short story "Waldo" in 1942. In the story, the main character invents the Waldo F. Jones Synchronous Reduplicating Pantograph. Through this device, Waldo who is extraordinarily weak, can operate much stronger and useful robotic hands by moving his own. Today any gadget that can manipulate objects by remote control is called a waldo. This story later inspired modern telepresence technology development.

Found a trove: http://io9.gizmodo.com/31-essential-science-fiction-terms-and-where-they-came-1594794250

Cinematic Chiasmus by Robert Lockard

"Chiasmus is a literary term that means a series of ideas that are listed in one order and then repeated in the opposite order, creating one giant symmetrical thought. It’s most common in written form, but did you know that some movies follow this same pattern, too? Prepare to be amazed as we discover examples of Cinematic Chiasmus!"--Robert Lockard - Cinematic Chiasmus @ Dejareviewer.com

Movies That Changed Things

So Many Movies Based on Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) Stories

    • Blade Runner (1982) based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)

    • Total Recall (1990) based on the short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" (1966)

    • Screamers (1995) based on the short story "Second Variety" (1953)

    • Impostor (2001) based on the short story "Impostor" (1953)

    • Minority Report (2002) based on the short story "The Minority Report" (1956)

    • Paycheck (2003) based on the short story "Paycheck" (1952)

    • A Scanner Darkly (2006) based on the novel A Scanner Darkly (1977)

    • Next (2007) based on the novella "The Golden Man" (1954)

    • The Adjustment Bureau (2011) based on the short story "Adjustment Team" (1954)

So Many Movies Based on Michael Crichton (1942-2008) Stories

So Many Movies Based on Richard Matheson (1926-2013) Stories

Short Films

Galaxy Science Fiction Made Public - 355 Issues Worth!

    • https://archive.org/details/galaxymagazine

      • The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester - Part 1 in October 1956, Part 2 in November 1956, Part 3 in December 1956, Part 4 in January 1957

      • The Fireman by Ray Bradbury (short story that led to Fahrenheit 451) - February 1951

      • The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov - Part 1 in October 1953, Part 2 in November 1953, Part 3 in December 1953.

Worlds of If Made Public - 176 Issues Worth!

Astounding Science Fiction

Concepts

Fermi Paradox/Drake Equation


Clarke's Three Laws

    1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

    2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

    3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics

    1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

    2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

    3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Niven's Laws

    • Never fire a laser at a mirror.

    • Giving up freedom for security is beginning to look naïve.

    • It is easier to destroy than to create.

    • Ethics change with technology.

    • The only universal message in science fiction: There exist minds that think as well as you do, but differently.

Note Dump and Playground


http://hilobrow.com/2010/05/26/sfs-best-year-ever-1912/

Ok so an argument about what is the best year for sci fi. I have to read these.

http://gizmodo.com/tag/the-best-year-in-scifi



AT IO9: Marc Bernardin argues for 1999 and 1954. No on 54. Kaiju isn't enough to play.

Charlie Jane Anders argues for 1977. Star Wars, Close Encounters, Enders Game.

Cyriaque Lamar argues for 1968. Night of the Living Dead.

Annalee Newitz argues for 1931. - Monster movie films argument.

Meredith Woerner argues for 1982. Blade Runner, Star Trek II, Tron, The Thing. Movie Centric.


All of them failed to really develop an argument. No winner declared.


Not for class but I think I'll have to track down the novella https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lifecycle_of_Software_Objects


Jules Verne's shelved 1863 novel "Paris in the Twentieth Century" predicted gas-powered cars, fax machines, electric street lighting, maglev trains, the record industry, the internet. His publisher deemed it pessimistic and lackluster. It was discovered in 1989 and published 5 years later.