About Yesteryear's Future
What is Yesteryear's Future all about?
SF Subgenres: Science Fantasy
Once upon a time, there was science fiction. But as the genre matured, the term was more tightly defined, leaving out many stories that no longer fit the bill. Thus the term science fantasy was born.
SF Subgenres: Magic Realism
Magic realism was first described in the world of art by a German art critic, Franz Roh, in 1925. Much of it is associated with Latin American and Caribbean artists.
Science Fiction and Fear
A lot of science fiction stories explore different aspects of fear, most especially the fear of loss: loss of self or identity, loss of autonomy or freedom, loss of values held dear, and more. One of the classics that has been reinterpreted numerous times, including last year’s Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig film, The Invasion, […]
A Link Between Future Thinking and Science Fiction
I recently read Mike Treder’s Aug. 14, 2007, post at ieet.org about “Post-Millennial Malaise in SF?” and it got me to thinking about the link between future thinking and science fiction. I can’t remember if I mentioned this before, but there is a pretty good theory about the rise of science fiction that says science […]
Is the Fight for Recognition Over?
“Because, to most people, it seemed lurid, fantastic and nonsensical trash, science fiction’s fans have tended to be a bit defensive in their attitude.” — John W. Campbell, Jr., “Concerning Science Fiction” I know that within my lifetime, the popular view of science fiction has changed for a lot of people. These days, TV Guide […]
The Great SF Debate
Back in 1941, Robert A. Heinlein proposed the initials “SF,” which at the time was a common abbreviation for “science fiction.” But he had another idea. He felt it should stand for the broader term “speculative fiction.” To this day, there are passionate debates about which term to use. Is it all semantics? Here’s what […]
Alien Thoughts
“The alien is the creation of a need — man’s need to designate something that is genuinely outside himself, something that is truly non-man, that has no initial relation to man except for the fact that it has no relation …. it is through learning to relate to the alien that man has learned to […]
Robots in Science Fiction
“One of Descartes’ students asked the master how he would know when an automaton had become a true man. “‘When he tells me so himself,’ Descartes said.” — “Cybernauts in Cyberspace: William Gibson’s Neuromancer” by David Porush Robots, androids (and gynoids), and other assorted automatons have been a staple of science fiction since before it […]
Shooting Off Into Space
Once upon a time — it was 1866 — Jules Verne wrote an adventure story in which a group of Americans build a large cannon to shoot the first men to the Moon. Later, Sir Isaac Newton developed a thought experiment that placed a cannon on a very high mountain that, with the right amount […]
