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Portal:Speculative fiction

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Speculative fiction is an umbrella phrase encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, specifically science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history in literature as well as related static, motion, and virtual arts.

It has been around since humans began to speak. The earliest forms of speculative fiction were likely mythological tales told around the campfire. Speculative fiction deals with the "What if?" scenarios imagined by dreamers and thinkers worldwide. Journeys to other worlds through the vast reaches of distant space; magical quests to free worlds enslaved by terrible beings; malevolent supernatural powers seeking to increase their spheres of influence across multiple dimensions and times; all of these fall into the realm of speculative fiction.

Speculative fiction as a category ranges from ancient works to cutting edge, paradigm-changing, and neotraditional works of the 21st century. It can be recognized in works whose authors' intentions or the social contexts of the versions of stories they portrayed is now known. For example, Ancient Greek dramatists such as Euripides, whose play Medea (play) seemed to have offended Athenian audiences when he fictionally speculated that shamaness Medea killed her own children instead of their being killed by other Corinthians after her departure. The play Hippolytus, narratively introduced by Aphrodite, is suspected to have displeased contemporary audiences of the day because it portrayed Phaedra as too lusty.

In historiography, what is now called speculative fiction has previously been termed "historical invention", "historical fiction," and other similar names. It is extensively noted in the literary criticism of the works of William Shakespeare when he co-locates Athenian Duke Theseus and Amazonian Queen Hippolyta, English fairy Puck, and Roman god Cupid all together in the fairyland of its Merovingian Germanic sovereign Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In mythography it has been termed "mythopoesis" or mythopoeia, "fictional speculation", the creative design and generation of lore, regarding such works as J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Such supernatural, alternate history, and sexuality themes continue in works produced within the modern speculative fiction genre.

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Selected profile

Portrait by Jeremiah Gurney, c. 1867–1868

Charles John Huffam Dickens (/ˈdɪkɪnz/; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today.

Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school at age 12 to work in a boot-blacking factory when his father John was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. After three years, he returned to school before beginning his literary career as a journalist. Dickens edited a weekly journal for 20 years; wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and nonfiction articles; lectured and performed readings extensively; was an indefatigable letter writer; and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education and other social reforms. (Full article...)

Selected work

Aquaman is an American superhero unsold television pilot developed by Smallville creators Al Gough and Miles Millar for The WB Television Network, based on the DC Comics character of the same name. The pilot show was produced by both DC Comics and Warner Bros. Television Studios, with the exception of Tollin/Robbins Productions. Millar Gough Ink, who was also known from producing the Superman prequel hit series, Smallville, also produced the film. Gough and Millar wrote the pilot, which was directed by Greg Beeman. Justin Hartley starred as Arthur "A.C." Curry, a young man living in a beachside community in the Florida Keys who learns about his powers and destiny as the Prince of Atlantis.

The Aquaman pilot was expected to debut in the fall schedule of 2006, but following the merger of the WB and UPN, the resulting CW Network opted not to buy the series. After they passed on the pilot, it was made available online through iTunes in the United States on July 25, 2006 and became the number-one most downloaded television show on iTunes. It received generally favorable reviews, was later released on other online markets, and aired on Canadian television network and YTV. (Full article...)

Selected quote


Evan Harris Walker (1935-2006), The Physics of Consciousness: The Quantum Mind and the Meaning of Life (2000).
More quotes from Wikiquote: science fiction, fantasy, alternate history

Selected picture

William Wallace Denslow's illustration of the poem "The Queen of Hearts" from a 1901 issue of Mother Goose.
William Wallace Denslow's illustration of the poem "The Queen of Hearts" from a 1901 issue of Mother Goose.
Credit: Illustration: William Wallace Denslow. Restoration: Lise Broer

William Wallace Denslow's illustration of the poem "The Queen of Hearts" from a 1901 issue of Mother Goose. The poem was originally published in 1782 as part of a set of four playing card based poems, but proved to be far more popular than the others. By 1785 it had been set to music, and it forms the basis of the plot of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Chapter XI: "Who Stole the Tarts?" Although it was originally published in a magazine for adults, it is now best known as a nursery rhyme. (POTD)

Did you know...

A top and a ball (both with human facial features) lay among other toys in an illustration by Vilhelm Pedersen, Andersen's first illustrator.

  • ... that the 101 Dalmatians Musical has several performers working on 15" stilts to simulate a canine perspective, and uses 15 real Dalmatian dogs for several scenes?

Upcoming conventions

July:

August:

Dates can usually be found on the article page.


See also these convention lists: anime, comic book, furry, gaming, multigenre, and science fiction.

Selected article

The World Fantasy Awards are given each year by the World Fantasy Convention for the best fantasy fiction published in English during the previous calendar year. The awards have been described by book critics such as The Guardian as a "prestigious fantasy prize", and one of the three most prestigious speculative fiction awards, along with the Hugo and Nebula Awards (which cover both fantasy and science fiction). The World Fantasy Award—Collection is given each year for collections of fantasy stories by a single author published in English. A collection can have any number of editors, and works in the collection may have been previously published; awards are also given out for anthologies of works by multiple authors in the Anthology category. The Collection category has been awarded annually since 1975, though from 1977 through 1987 anthologies were admissible as nominees. Anthologies were split into a separate category beginning in 1988; during the 10 years they were admissible they won the award 7 times and were 38 of the 56 nominations. World Fantasy Award nominees and winners are decided by attendees and judges at the annual World Fantasy Convention. A ballot is posted in June for attendees of the current and previous two conferences to determine two of the finalists, and a panel of five judges adds three or more nominees before voting on the overall winner. The panel of judges is typically made up of fantasy authors and is chosen each year by the World Fantasy Awards Administration, which has the power to break ties. The final results are presented at the World Fantasy Convention at the end of October. Winners were presented with a statue in the form of a bust of H. P. Lovecraft through the 2015 awards; more recent winners receive a statuette of a tree. (Full article...)

On this day...

July 12:

Film releases

Television series

  • 1986 - Terrahawks, a British science fiction television series, finishes airing on ITV

Births

Deaths


Possible futures

Possible events in the future as suggested by science fiction:

  • Jenny, the daughter of the Doctor, is born on July 24, 6012 on the planet Messaline.
  • In the year 5,000,000,023, Humans have moved to a new planet in the galaxy M87.

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