is this a Speculative Fiction.
By suspenseful
@suspenseful (40192)
Canada
December 6, 2007 10:55pm CST
I was wondering what is speculative fiction? I am writing a novel where the main character is a Christian and he lands some place (I will not tell whether it is someplace here on Earth or someplace on another planet) but all I will tell you that it was by some unusual method, and that he meets people there who came more or less the same way. However their culture developed by adding on what they wree when they landed there. So if they came from ancient Greece, they added onto that, if they came from 1200 BC IN China, they developed from that. None knew of the developments elsewhere like in America or Europe. There are no magical beasts or spells there, and they have to make do. I wonder if this is what they call Speculative Fiction where someone finds a strange land, such as The Lost World, or the old Tarzan stories where they discover that some where in Africa, they discover the descendants of a Roman legion who got lost and everyone is wearing togas.
The thing is there is no time travel involved. So is this what they call speculative fiction?
1 person likes this
4 responses
@newzealtralian (3930)
• Australia
7 Dec 07
Now you've got me wondering too. I wonder if I will remember this question when I start my literature studies in the next couple of years? You might have to remind me! lol.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
7 Dec 07
I will probably be thinking of other things, but I will try to remind you.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
17 Dec 07
And very confusing. I wonder if there is such a thing as Science Fiction/Fantasy. I guess that is where someone gets in a space ship in 2100 and lands in on a planet where there are beings with wings flying on large mushrooms and this beautiful lady with feathery hair making things appear by the swish of her fingers.
@newzealtralian (3930)
• Australia
8 Dec 07
LOL. Yeah, I'm not one to dwell too long either! It is an interesting question though.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
7 Dec 07
I have not read that one. Only a biography is not a novel, it is non-fiction, but my daughter-in=law is Catholic and she might like to read it.
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
7 Dec 07
I thought a Pope being a woman was the same as the president of the United States being either a woman or African American, wishful thinking. I really thought you had sort of meant to write Pope John. My mistake.
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
7 Dec 07
Wait a minute...the last time I checked the Catholic church's official list of Popes, there was no Joan. I'm pretty sure that at least 99.9% of the Catholics in the world would regard it as fiction. Biographical fiction is actually a pretty popular genre, which Britannica describes nicely here:
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-51203/biography
One of the reasons biographical fiction is so popular, I think, is that people can decide for themselves how much they think is sthe truth and how much is fiction. Irving Stone's 900 page best seller The Agony and the Ecstasy, which was later made into a movie starring Charlton Heston, is a good example of a well-known historical biography.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
7 Dec 07
It will take me some time, but as soon as it is on Amazon.com or one of the other bookstores, I will put a link. I will probably be using a pseudonym.
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
7 Dec 07
Thank you. So now I have to change my description of what I write, rather than wondering whether it is science fiction or fantasy.
@ElicBxn (64169)
• United States
7 Dec 07
Tarzan is considered both "adventure" and "speculative" fiction. If you decide to make it a "hollow planet" story like Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellucidar books or another world like his Mars books, you can still get by calling them adventure to an extent.
Science fiction is kind of a hazy concept that other plots are built on. Oh, it may be on another planet, but they are solving a mystery - maybe not a murder. Or, they are in another dimension but they are doing a journey & the adventures they meet on it (I'm personally getting to hate those.) Or, they are in a place with dragons, but its still a romance....
