Science Fiction, Fantasy, Alternate History and everything in between.
The term Speculative Fiction was originally a backronym for the initials SF; at the time, during the New Wave Science Fiction movement of the 1960's, some writers felt that science fiction, or 'sci-fi,' was equated to flying saucers and rubber monsters, and wanted to distinguish themselves with a new genre label. The desire for a separate category became even greater when people began to apply the sci-fi label to horror films containing blatantly supernatural elements (such as various immortals), but few if any science based elements whatsoever. Over time, however, the term 'Speculative Fiction' grew to become a Super-Trope, covering not only what self described Speculative Fiction authors wrote, but also the Sci Fi and Horror B-movies they were trying to distinguish themselves from. Nevertheless, Speculative Fiction can be applied to a work — correctly or incorrectly — in order to help it avoid the Sci Fi Ghetto; it can allow the more pretentious to believe that their favorite work is a proper 'literary' work with no connection to, and thus obvious superiority over that geeky science fiction or fantasy.
Today Speculative Fiction covers practically the entire fantastic end of the Sliding Scale of Realistic vs. Fantastic, including Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, and other, less well known genres. (In this genre, Just Here for Godzilla is in full effect.) However, there are many speculative fiction stories that fall on the border between genres, and others that may be completely unclassifiable. Furthermore, many of these genres can be either used to terrify or Played for Laughs, with the latter producing such genres as comic sci-fi and comedy horror.
See the Analysis page for why the boundary between Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror is fuzzy, and why a broad term like Speculative Fiction is necessary.
The individual tropes are listed on Speculative Fiction Tropes. See the Speculative Fiction Creator Index for a list of pages for Speculative Fiction creators.
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Works
Science Fiction
- Science Fiction: The fiction of technology, the future, and the question "What If?..."
- Alien Works: Stories centered around creatures from other planets.
- Military Science Fiction
- Mundane Dogmatic
- Planetary Romance: Heroic Fantasy/Sword & Sorcery-like stories set on alien planets or in the distant future.
- Robot and A.I. Works: Stories about robots and/or artificial intelligences.
- Space Opera: Epic-scale action/adventure stories set in space (often visiting several alien planets along the way).
- Space Western: Sci-fi stories inspired by old Westerns, with outer space and alien worlds as the 'new frontier'.
- Speculative Biology
- Speculative Documentary
- Tesla Tech Timeline
- 20 Minutes into the Future: Sci-fi stories that are set only a few years/decades from the present day, as opposed to centuries in the future.
Fantasy
- Fantasy: The fiction of magic and mythology.
- Comic Fantasy: Fantasy blended with comedy (often lighthearted and parodic).
- Dark Fantasy: Fantasy blended with horror.
- Deity Fiction: Stories centered around gods and/or demigods.
- Fable: Short stories that teach a moral, often through anthropomorphized animals and other beings.
- Fairy Tale: Short fantasy stories, often with some kind of message or aesop, and heavy on symbolism.
- Ghost Fiction: Stories centered around ghosts.
- Heroic Fantasy: Fantasy with a High Fantasy-type setting but smaller-scale conflicts and more personal stakes.
- High Fantasy: Fantasy with epic-scale action/adventure, the epitome of which is The Lord of the Rings.
- Historical Fantasy: Fantasy set during periods of history from our own world.
- Low Fantasy: Fantasy that downplays and/or deconstructs the more fantastical elements of the genre.
- Magic Realism: "Hey! You got magic in my whimsical literary epic!"
- Medieval European Fantasy: Fantasy stories with settings that closely resemble Medieval Europe.
- Mermaid Media: Stories about mermaids.
- Mummy Media: Stories about living/undead mummies (as in mummified corpses, not mothers).
- Mundane Fantastic: Fantasy elements intrude on mundane everyday life.
- Paranormal Romance: Romance stories with elements of fantasy, science fiction, and occasionally horror.
- Supernatural Soap Opera: A soap opera where fantasy elements and beings are commonplace.
- Sword and Sandal: Epic action/adventure stories set in ancient times (particularly Ancient Greece or Rome); the ones that delve into mythology especially count while others aim to be more grounded.
- Sword and Sorcery: Heroic Fantasy, only much Darker and Edgier in terms of characters and settings (often Bloodier and Gorier too).
- Unicorn Works: Stories about unicorns.
- Urban Fantasy: Fantasy set in modern times (or modern for when it was released), including often being set in actual urban environments.
- Vampire Fiction: Stories about vampires.
- Vampire Detective Series: Vampires solve mysteries and fight crime.
- Werebeast Works: Stories about werebeasts.
- Werewolf Works: Stories about werewolves.
- Witch Works: Stories about witches.
- Zombie Stories: Stories about zombies.
Horror
- Horror: The fiction of fear and terror. note
- Cosmic Horror: Horror fiction in which the threat comes from mysterious, powerful and malevolent entities that are difficult (if not impossible) to fully understand.
- Gothic Horror: Horror stories with heavy emphasis on Romanticism (sometimes including an actual romance arc), and often focusing on mystery and symbolism; had a great deal of influence upon many modern Speculative Fiction genres/sub-genres.
- Explorer Horror: Video game genre in which the player goes through a horror story with emphasis on exploration, puzzle-solving and atmosphere over fighting enemies.
- Psychological Horror: Horror stories centered around how the events impact the characters' psyches and vice versa.
- Religious Horror: Horror stories inspired by or based around organized religions.
- Folk Horror: Horror stories inspired or based around folklore (particularly those outside or predating Abrahamic religions).
- Survival Horror: Video game genre where the player has to survive a horror story against overwhelming odds and with limited resources. Very frequently feature supernatural or fantastical threats and scenarios.
Punk
- Punk Punk: When speculative elements meet social commentary, philosophy, action, and intrigue.
- The Apunkalypse: Sci-fi stories set After the End (or Just Before the End) with emphasis on societal collapse, rising anarchy and tribalism, and cool punk-inspired outfits.
- Bio Punk: Sci-fi stories that focus on the issues and dangers of biological-based technology.
- Capepunk: Stories that deconstruct and/or present superheroes in a more grounded manner.
- Cattle Punk: Steam Punk meets the Western.
- Clock Punk: Sci-fi stories set in/inspired by the Renaissance era (14th century to 17th century).
- Cyberpunk: Punk fiction's firstborn child; often focusing on the dangers of misusing technology and corporate greed.
- Cyberpunk for Flavor: Stories where cyberpunk elements and aesthetics are included, but they don't strictly fall under the cyberpunk banner.
- Post-Cyberpunk: Reconstruction of and/or more idealistic take on cyberpunk.
- Desert Punk: Sci-fi stories with a desert setting and appropriate technology.
- Diesel Punk: Sci-fi with settings and technology inspired by the early-20th century (usually no later than the 1940s).
- Ocean Punk: Sci-fi stories with ocean settings and appropriate technology.
- Raygun Gothic: Sci-fi based around/inspired by what people in the mid-twentieth century thought the future would be like.
- Sandal Punk: Sci-fi/fantasy stories set in/inspired by ancient cultures/civilizations (Bronze Age at earliest, anything just before the Middle Ages at latest).
- Scavenged Punk: Stories featuring settings and cultures based around scavenging and repurposing things, especially technology.
- Solar Punk: Sci-fi with an emphasis on eco-friendly technology and living in harmony with the natural world.
- Steampunk: Sci-fi stories with settings and technology inspired by the 19th century, especially the Victorian Era.
- Stone Punk: Sci-fi taking place in prehistoric-inspired settings, with primitive Stone-Age technology.
Other Genres
- Hybrid sub-genres that straddle category boundaries, and other major sub-genres of speculative fiction.
- Action Horror: Horror stories in which the human protagonists are action heroes who fight back against the monsters.
- Afrofuturism: Fantasy and science fiction with a Black/African aesthetic.
- Alternate History: What If? stories about radical changes to world history. Can often (though not always) involve fantasy or sci-fi elements.
- Beast Fable: A story presents an aesop or allegory about a real-world issue using animal characters.
- Bizarro Fiction: Literature's equivalent to the cult section at the video store.
- Dungeon Punk: An adventure friendly smashup of Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Punk, and Two Fisted Tale; heavy on the grit.
- Fantastic Comedy: A comic work, usually a sitcom, with minor but central fantastical elements.
- Fantastic Noir: A story with the plot structure of a Film Noir mystery story with the more colorful elements of fantasy and sci-fi.
- Feminist Fantasy: Fantasy and sci-fi stories with strong female protagonists, often exploring themes around female empowerment and equality, etc.
- Gaslamp Fantasy: Whimsical hybrid of punk and fantasy, generally lighthearted or dramatic.
- Gothic Punk: Hybrid of Gothic Horror and punk with a predominantly dark flavor.
- New Weird: Non-derivative horror, sci-fi, and fantasy mostly blended together.
- Paranormal Investigation: A mix of the supernatural and the scientific, with a variable level of the fantastic to the mundane.
- Post Apocalyptic: Stories set After the End.
- Psychic Stories: Fictional works about those with Psychic Powers.
- Science Fantasy: Mix and matched sci-fi and fantasy elements.
- Sci-Fi Horror: Science-fiction played for horror.
- Space Isolation Horror: Sci-fi horror stories where the horror is primarily sourced from being trapped in the vastness of space.
- Slipstream Genre: Weird next-door neighbor to realism, who may or may not be an alien wizard.
- Speculative Fiction LGBT: Sci-fi and fantasy with prominent LGBT themes.
- Superhero Stories: Sci-fi/fantasy stories about people with superhuman powers/abilities, who use them to fight (or commit) crime.
- Supernatural Fiction: It's all about ghosts, witches, suspense, and mystery.
- Two-Fisted Tales: Works inspired by the pulp magazines of the early 20th century.
- Xenofiction: Stories that try to realistically/believably present the narrative from the perspective of non-human characters (especially animals); they sometimes overlap with other genres by including more fantastical elements.
