The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion

I'm becoming more interested in the different sci-fi sub genres. I'm just wondering if anybody knows of any articles where where I can find details of when and why they developed (or maybe reached peak popularity). I know this is quite a broad thing as there are plenty of modern genres that have there antecedents in old books e.g. time-travel. There are plenty of articles on the different sub-genres but I was interested in some kind of time-line as well. Thanks.

I don't know much about Sci-fi sub-genres except for this listing which includes a description and example novels: https://www.worldswithoutend.com/reso...

Neuromancer byWilliam Gibson is widely credited with being the first cyberpunk novel. I read something recently (I don't know where, maybe here) that said Snow Crash (I think) was the last cyberpunk novel and the beginning of post-cyberpunk

Buck wrote: "I don't know much about Sci-fi sub-genres except for this listing which includes a description and example novels: https://www.worldswithoutend.com/reso...

[book:Neuromancer|22328..."

Thanks Buck i'll take a look. Example novels is good it will help me work out which categories I like best (or at least one which ones to avoid!).

Good work, Buck.

I did some thinking about which Web page might help. My best answer is the Wikipedia page on science fiction. It's not academically accepted, but it is a first shot and it does have external links which seem to be useful.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science...

Sorry I couldn't come up with something better. My own knowledge of science fiction genres is haphazard, picked up from decades of reading here and there. Um, that's not a boast. I'm middle-aged. :/

Thanks Peter and Buck

Well i've learnt something, I didn't know there were so many sub-genres. I've never hear of Space Western, cli-fi (climate) and maritime sci-fi let alone science-fiction opera which differs from space-opera :-)

The Worlds without end site is going to be good for tracking down books of a particular style. I just need to reads some of my backlog first.

You're welcome, Jo.

I plan to read the Wiki article in depth at some point, probably after I hunt down and reread a copy of Trillion Year Spree by Brian Aldiss, my touchstone for science fiction history and development.

I will take a look and bookmark the Worlds Without End site as soon as I finish posting this. Thanks Buck.

Thanks to all. That's way more sub-genres than I thought there were.

Wow. Impressive webpages. Wordlswithoutend also guides you to numerous novels at each genre. Feels like walking in the candy store!

You're welcome, Charles.

Leo, now I'm reluctant to go to Worldswithoutend any time soon. My Goodreads "to read" shelf is already over a hundred books long. ;)

I'm sorry Peter. Indeed, there is just too much out there. That's also why I like this group, rationing us with just one book a month.

I question the classification of all these types of sci-fi as subgenres. I view a subgenre as a major division of a genre.

I think sci fi has subgenres of horror and fantasy (possibly one or two others). The subgenres are sci-fi with strong elements of the horror or fantasy genres.

Beyond subgenres, there are thematic types that can fit into one or more subgenres or simply the overarching classification of sci-fi. Thematic types can be sliced, diced, and generated endlessly, and that certainly seems to be happening in the above lists. Frankly, the lists are cut so fine I don't think they're helpful in defining the structure of the sci-fi genre. The lists can be helpful, of course, as a kind of bibliography.

If you want to examine the development of the time travel novel, that's a recognizable theme you can track down and study regardless of how it's classified. Overall, you're asking about the development of the sci-fi novel, and that's a huge subject. I suggest that you narrow your focus to one or two themes, e.g., time travel, nuclear holocaust, and read those books on a timeline. Their correspondence to historical events and attitudes might tell you something. Sci-fi about nuclear holocaust was more prevalent in the 1980s as concerns about nuclear proliferation came to the fore with books like The Fate of the Earth by Jonathan Schell.

CS wrote: "I question the classification of all these types of sci-fi as subgenres. I view a subgenre as a major division of a genre.

I think sci fi has subgenres of horror and fantasy (possibly one or two others). The subgenres are sci-fi with strong elements of the horror or fantasy genres."

I take your point that the genre may be too finely divided, but on your second point I am of a completely different mind altogether, CS. Fantasy and Horror are not sub-genres of science fiction at all, but are separate genres. There often may be overlap, just as there might be in, say, romance and mystery, but science fiction is not fantasy and vice versa. The WWEnd website that lists so many science fiction sub-genres and sub-sub-genres also lists separately sub-genres for fantasy and horror. Swords and sorcery, for example, is a sub-genre of fantasy, but certainly not of science fiction.

Science fiction and fantasy are often clumped together. I, for one, would much prefer that they not be.

Buck wrote: "Fantasy and Horror are not sub-genres of science fiction at all, but are separate genres. There often may be overlap, just as there might be in, say, romance and mystery, but science fiction is not fantasy and vice versa. ..."

I was referring to books that are sci-fi but with strong elements of horror or fantasy, i.e., they are amalgams of the two genres. When the two genres overlap, as you say, I consider the combination to be a subgenre. E.g., sci-fi-fantasy and sci-fi-horror.

CS wrote: "I question the classification of all these types of sci-fi as subgenres. I view a subgenre as a major division of a genre.

I think sci fi has subgenres of horror and fantasy (possibly one or two o..."

To my mind, horror and a science Fiction would be sub-genres of Fantasy, if anything. Science Fiction could be considered fantasy that uses science as the rule book the fantasy world follows, where regular fantasy, the rules are posited by the author. Horror would be fantasy with a grotesque or horrific theme,

CS wrote: "Buck wrote: "Fantasy and Horror are not sub-genres of science fiction at all, but are separate genres. There often may be overlap, just as there might be in, say, romance and mystery, but science f..."

This is known as Slipstream.