h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Classification of Science Fiction - A1011213
Author: R. Daneel Olivaw (User 201118) (Defender of Skepticism) (Member FFFF and ARS) - U201118

I've been told this doesn't meet the Peer Review guidelines because its too much opinion. I'm going to write a new version for the edited guide and keep this as an expression of my opinion. Any comments?

In all kindness, I think it is a little bumpy style-wise, also.
Have you tried reading it outloud or having someone read it to you?

The 2 quibbles that I have with your theses are:

1. You leave no room for science or speculative ficion of the present.

2. Some writers, notably Harlan Ellison, prefer the phrase "speculative fiction" to "science fiction" and froth at the mouth when the shorthand "sci-fi" is used.
Of course, he's been exposed to at least five generations of fanboys and he is understandably sick of it all. He was telling Trekkies to get a life back in '67.

There is an ancient sub-category that you seemed to have missed, or I missed it in reading your entry. It is Pulp Science Fiction. Where the action might have just as well as taken place in the Wild West or in the mean streets of L.A. These were known among the fandom of the forties and fifties as "space oaters" and "hardboiled with fins".

There is another genre that used to be the province of Heinlein and Doc Smith, but was later taken up by Keith Laumer and Jerry Pournelle. That is Fascist/Racist science fiction, with the heroes all tall Anglo-Saxon types, with a token Irishman thrown in for flavor, and the aliens were all meanies. These stories and books took up the old Yellow Peril of the Sax Rohmer books and the Flash Gordon strip and translated them into early version of the Romulans.

There is now also:
Feminist Speculative Fiction.

Lesbian Science Fiction

Science Fiction Romances.

Feminist Lesbian Science Fiction Romances.

Politically Correct Science Fiction.


Where did cyber-punk and steam-punk fit in your theses?