Blogger: Rachel Kent
Let’s talk Speculative today! There seems to often be confusion about the term in the queries we receive.
Speculative fiction is an umbrella term for the fantastical fiction genres. I think it’s common to think about Speculative as the genre for a project like The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger or House by Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti, where there’s an element of the supernatural in the story without the project being a true sci-fi or fantasy. But the term speculative fiction is much broader than that.
It includes all science fiction, fantasy, books with supernatural elements, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic, “weird” fiction (ghosts, vampires, witches, etc.), and books with fictional alternate history. I’ve even seen horror included in the definition of Speculative, but I’m not sure I would go that far.
Knowing that Speculative Fiction includes all of these types of books, which speculative books are your favorites? Which type of Speculative is your favorite?
If your favorite is Twilight, we will not judge. 🙂 Or maybe you love The Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia?
I don’t like sci-fi much at all, but I do enjoy fantasy and books with an element of the supernatural in them–not angels and demons–but something that takes me out of the way the normal world works–like the 7 Hours project that was my client James Andrew Wilson’s idea.
I look forward to your responses!
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I love Arena by Karen Hancock–although it’s been ages since I’ve read it. I love the movies The Lord of the Rings, but struggled to read the books. And I do love The Chronicles of Narnia.
I’m not into sci-fi either. I much prefer fantasy if I’m reading speculative fiction.
I really like that book too! And I am the same way with Lord of the Rings! We are reading twins.
Hi Rachel,
Thank you for this topic. My favorite speculative fiction is fantasy. I especially love fiction that has unicorns, dragons, faeries, wizards, castles, and medieval-type elements in it. I love fiction where good inevitably wins over evil especially if that outcome seems a nail-bitter throughout the novel {where you want good to win but you can’t see how it can). Tolkien’s three novels (Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and Lord of the Rings) are among my all-time favorite books. Narnia and the Harry Potter series are favorites as well. Arthurian legend is among my favorites as well. While it is not technically speculative fiction, it shares many elements (wizards, faeries, the supernatural) with fantasy. The thing I love the most about fantasy is that it is a safe way of exploring / discussing current real world issues by placing them in a safe, far away “fantasy” world.
I wish everyone a safe and blessed Fourth of July. 🙂
Ah, yes! Harry Potter! I do enjoy those!
Happy 4th, everyone!
Rachel, I’m like you in not being overly fond of sci-fi; however, I read “The Chronicles of Narnia” twice. The first time I read this series was before I had children. Reading them aloud to my three eagerly listening offspring was a blast. They also loved it when I read “The Hobbit” to them. Because they were so attentive, I also read “The Lord of the Rings” aloud. Our family adores J.R.R. Tolkien’s writing. 🙂
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The one sci-fi I can remember enjoying is Ender’s Game.
I like portal fantasy – someone from this world (or a similar one) who gets to experience all the vast depth and wonder of a different world for the first time. I love digging into alternate world mythology and language and cultures – if they’re done well. I know we can’t all be Tolkien-level, but recycled generic stock characters and creatures need to at least have individual personalities and a little bit of a native culture that isn’t just tacked on.
But I also read science fiction, science fantasy, space opera, supernatural, fairytale retellings, and other weird, hard-to-categorize fiction. I think it’s important to get out of the rut of what’s possible in the “real” world and stretch our minds to think “what if” more often.
Yes! I do love that Speculative involves the imagination so thoroughly. 🙂
Great post, Rachel.
* Spend enough time in the third world and you get to realize that a lot of what’s speculative to us is reality to ‘them.
* Favourites? Nevil Shute’s “Round The Bend” and “In The Wet”. He’s a master storyteller, and the speculative elements of his books are internally consist with the world he’s written.
* For what it’s worth, my “Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart” is speculative Christian romance. It was fun to write.
Andrew,
For you, it was fun to write; for me, it was fun to read.
C.S. Lewis wrote a little-known sci-fi trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. I read them in college and have reread them several times since them. Absolutely wonderful, and each one is better than the last. It’s called the Space Trilogy, and even non-science fiction fans will love them.
My brothers like this series!
I just re-read the first two in that series and am planning to start the third. Then I’ll probably re-read the Tolkien ones that have been sitting on my shelf for years since the last time I read them. It’s no wonder those books have become classics!
The Firebird Trilogy by Kathy Tyers would have to be my favorite. I think the author describes her idea as “what if” God’s timeline had been different (and in a alternate universe, of course) and people had developed space travel before the coming of Christ. So good!
Peace Like A River by Leif Enger has supernatural elements, and is a wonderful coming-of-age story. I’m writing a book right now with hints of magic realism. I wouldn’t have thought to call it Speculative Fiction, but using this definition, I guess it is!
Anything with magical realism like The Miniaturist!
I like all the old classics by Tolkien and Lewis, but there are newer fantasies out that are well done and enjoyable. Jill Williamson, for instance, is just finishing a series with Bethany that starts with The King’s Folly. Patrick Carr’s Staff & Sword series, also with Bethany, is very good. Then there is Andrew Peterson’s Wingfeather Saga. I could go on–Anne Elizabeth Stengl, Robert Treskillard (good especially for those who like Arthurian tales), so many. You can probably tell I’m also partial to fantasy, but there are a few sci-fi gems, too. It’s a wonderful way to sow the seed of God’s truth without being preachy or even seeming to be so.
Becky
Rachel, your question is an impossible one to answer. There are far too many wonderful books in that genre from the fairy tales I loved as a kid to new ones just getting published to choose one that’s best.
I love sci-fi in TV and movies, but I honestly haven’t read much. A few here and there. My favorite speculative would probably be time travel. Someday I want to try my hand at on of those.
Karen, you might like Stephen Lawhead’s recent series, then. It’s not time travel in the same way we usually think of it, though. He puts a twist on it. The series is called The Bright Empires and the first book is The Skin Map.
Becky
Hmmm…I like Stephen Lawhead’s “The Paradise WAr” series and I just finished “On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness” which was fabulous. Portal fantasy for the first one and a hilarious children’s fantasy for the second. I also find I enjoy steampunk. “The Aeronauts Windless” and “Etiquette and Espionage” were wonderful. I like fantasy or sci fi that doesn’t take itself too seriously, that has a droll and laid back humor. Like “Cinder” and “Cress” by Marissa Meyer.
Rachel, I’m a cross genre author writing western historical romance and romantic suspense, all with psychic characters. My Romancing the Guardians series (5 published books with #6 releasing on July 14 and 2 more to come) also contains secret prophesies with apocalyptic overtones.
I have always had trouble classifying my books by genre. After reading your explanation, I think they fall in the realm of speculative fiction. Thank you so much for clarifying this for me. Happy 4th of July!
I love Billy Coffey (for modern speculative), and just about had a heart-attack when he endorsed my debut, which I suppose is equally as “weird” as his books; Tolkien; Dune is one of my all-time favorites; some Orson Scott Card; and Ursula K Le Guin (the Earthsea cycle).
Rachel, I am working on ae genre you discussed here novel that I believe falls into the genre you discussed here. The idea for it comes from an old German novel, “Germelshausen”. I am still in the early stages of the book, with this being my first effort at a novel, though I have written poetry for sometime, with thoughts of putting together a book of my poetry.
Any help or advice toward this end would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
I failed to proof my message. My apologies. Hopefully you were able to decipher my meaning.
I am working on a novel that I believe falls into the genre you discussed.
I just re-read the first two in that series and am planning to start the third.