Border Disputes: The Boundaries of Science Fiction

See what I did there?

By Péter MARTON
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More reviews will ultimately follow -- Sam Miller's Calved and Transmissions by John Bonello are in the pipe. For now, just a brief mission statement.

I am reviewing here mostly either pure science fiction or works that contain pure science fiction as a key element beside other things. I am aware of the term "speculative fiction" and how it conveniently encompasses both fantasy and science fiction; very conveniently indeed from a publisher's perspective, given that audiences of the two genres significantly overlap. To me, however, vampires, demons, dragons and fairies being involved is fantasy but not necessarily speculative fiction to any extent. I like to read speculative fiction, rather than just pure science fiction, exactly for the reason that there is not necessarily a major difference between the two.

What I mean by this is that the concept of "science," unnoticed to some but certainly not to a social scientist like me, actually includes the social sciences, too. Not just physics, biology or chemistry -- i.e., the natural sciences. George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire is a fantastic modeling of social processes and conflict dynamics. It is no secret that the Wars of the Roses was used as a key reference point by Martin in this respect. Add to this the twist that in the world of ASOIAF big changes are looming, and the rival actors are all foolish to some extent in ignoring this, or in insufficiently taking this into account, which is a fascinating analogy to how climate change and disruptive technological change is approached (similarly ignorantly) by many these days.

So I welcome a discussion of works of fantasy here, too, possibly. I will, possibly, offer such discussions myself. This just comes with the caveat that the works concerned shall say something meaningful from the point of view of the social sciences, at least. 

With these parametres in mind, one should actually realise that some works of fantasy may be more relevant for this blogzine than some works of so-called science-fiction where one just finds fairies and dragons on another planet for a difference, or perhaps a western, or just good old drama placed in space. In other words, this closes as well as opens some doors, at the same time. Through the doors that open, political fiction, surrealism and potentially much else may walk in, eventually.

Previously reviewed in EUtopias and Other Futures: Alkonyörzők (Guardians of Twilight), a novel by Zsuzsa Bartos