Spec-whaaat?

I first heard the term "speculative fiction" two years ago, from my writer-sister. What, I asked, is Speculative Fiction? She defined it for me, and I realized it was a perfect description of my very favourite types of stories (whether told in written form or through film and TV).

Wikipedia (my students would be furious to find me quoting Wikipedia, but I'm going to do it anyway) defines speculative fiction as: "an umbrella term encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, specifically science fiction, fantasy, horror, weird fiction, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalytpic fiction, and alternate history in literature as well as related static, motion, and visual arts." 

In other words, it describes the BEST genres EVER. 

I mean, I don't necessarily love all those genres. Not a horror fan, to be honest. And I'm not exactly sure what "weird fiction" means. And while I like some high-fantasy stuff, it's not ever my first choice. But give me a superhero story any day and I'm happy. And supernatural fiction? Awesome. Absolutely love dystopian, apocalyptic, and post-apocalyptic fiction too. I think my favourite, of course, would be fantasy or sci-fi set in our own time and place. Can't get enough of that stuff. 

Maybe it's the what-ifs that hook me. What IF someone could fly? What IF there were aliens living here, right now, passing as ordinary human beings? What IF a secret organization spliced human and animal DNA together and made a beast out of an ordinary soldier? What IF, what IF, what IF.

We have been given, as human beings, these amazing imaginations. I love seeing the things we can dream up. And no wonder we dream them up. After all, "there are more things in heaven and earth", as Hamlet tells Horatio in one of Shakespeare's classic speculative fiction plays, "than are dreamt of in your philosophy".  I believe he's right. There's so much here than what our minds and bodies comprehend. 

I also love how we can use these imaginary, fantastical worlds to ask real-world questions or to point to truths in humanity.  Stephen King, a master of speculative fiction, points out that "fiction is the truth inside the lie." I like that. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "fiction reveals the truth that reality obscures."  Again, I agree. And, although I don't share Orson Scott Card's world view, I do love a number of his works, and find myself nodding enthusiastically when he says, "we care about moral issues, nobility, decency, happiness, goodness - the issues that matter in the real world, but which can only be addressed, in their purity, in fiction."

I think speculative fiction also plays a role in just giving us freedom to imagine the what-ifs. Maybe that's what I love most about it. To simply enjoy the beautiful gifts of language, of expression, of storytelling, of imagination, all working together in harmony. 

J.R.R. Tolkien puts it beautifully: “Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape? If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”