by: Ken https://flic.kr/p/6qvVZn
Do you know what vampires, fairies, ghosts, and robots have in common? They all fall under the umbrella of speculative
fiction. Speculative fiction is any
literature that contains elements based on human imagination that does not
appear in the natural world or everyday life.
Speculative fiction may contain supernatural elements like: people coming
back to life, talking plants or animals, werewolves, witches, angels and demons,
elves, elementals, dragons, unicorns, or hybrids of them all. Speculative fiction may also embody things
that are currently scientifically impossible like: interplanetary travel, alien
invasions, artificial intelligence, robot-human/animal amalgamations or extreme
mutant evolution (i.e. X-men). The surroundings of a story can also contain
speculative fiction elements like an inhabited planet with three suns or a
magical forest that change landscapes daily.
According to GreenTentacles.com, “Speculative fiction is a term,
attributed to Robert Heinlein in 1941, that has come to be used to collectively
describe works in the genres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.” Wikipedia says that Heinlein coined it in 1947
in an editorial essay. Today speculative fiction also includes paranormal,
alternate history, mysteries, and magical literature. Almost anything with a little dash of whimsy
and weirdness could be called speculative fiction.
Not surprisingly, speculative fiction is one of the most popular
genres of literature. Who doesn’t want
to escape this world every now and then?
J.K Rowling’s magical Harry Potter,
J. R. R. Tolkien’s hobbits, Anne Rice’s
vampire Lestat, Isaac Asimov’s robots, and even my fallen angel Turiel in my
books Angel Crush and Son of the Rock and my demonic alien Zayashariya in Out of Night all bring to life numinous characters.
Comic books are a huge part of
speculative fiction. There isn’t an
American alive who hasn’t heard of Spiderman, Superman, Batman, or Wonder
Woman.
Speculative fiction has proven to make some the most famous
box office hits and beloved movies like The
Terminator series, Avatar, The Matrix series, Spiderman, The Lord of the
Rings trilogy, The Exorcist, Paranormal Activity, Blade, Maleficent, The Wiz, Star Wars, and a host of others. Hollywood is always bursting at the seams with
fantasy, horror, sci-fi, and comic book films.
There is no better entertainment than to be visually drawn into another
world.
Most of the video games that children and adults play are based
off of speculative fiction. The plethora of characters battle demons, defy gods, rescue princesses
from dragons, or find magical items in a mystical world. From Super
Mario to Halo or Batman: Arkham Knight to Mortal Kombat X video games are filled
with speculative fiction.
Speculative fiction is everywhere and we all have been
engaged in a little of it ourselves. We’ve told ghost stories or picked up a
love potion while visiting New Orleans or played Dungeons and Dragons. So, the next time you go to the bookstore or
visit Amazon.com, don’t be afraid to walk on the wild side. Pick out a
speculative fiction novel, preferably one by yours truly. J It’s good to have a little thrill in your
life!
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