Speculative Fiction

by Colden Sapir

When we talk about Fantasy, ideas of daydreams, indulgent imagination and fickle escapism tend to accompany the term. And we all either know or have been that person who declares there is more fiction than science in logic-and-physics-defying tales such as Star Wars or Ender’s Game. Fantasy and Sci-fi are often perceived as pure entertainment, perhaps with illusions of intelligent material, but ultimately considered irrelevant to our lives.

However, it is often the opposite. The inquisitive reader will be able to derive relevance from even the most outlandish of these high fiction texts. The metaphysics, systems and logic of our world frequently serve only as limitations to those intelligent enough to think beyond them, and many great authors have introduced and precisely engineered novelties of reality in order to provide profound exploration of how human or human-like societies and individuals would respond.

Think of it like a science experiment. The control variable of a familiar (usually at least quasi-human) society is exposed to a supernatural and imaginative circumstance. Having set these parameters, the author and reader can then run the simulation together through literature, with the narrative unfolding as a series of reasonable speculations based on the fantastical circumstance of the text’s exposition.

Books of this type, which use elements of fantasy or sci-fi as a vessel for deeper meaning, fall under the sub-genre of speculative fiction. Speculative fiction is an enjoyable way for fiction-lovers to elevate their reading to more philosophical texts, or for non-fiction readers to extend their reading experience into the emotional narratives of fiction.

Here are some speculative fiction titles to try:

Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card): A stunningly trenchant demonstration of speculative fiction storytelling, this modern classic of science fiction follows the precocious boy Ender as he is accepted into an off-world advanced military strategy training program. Along with several other strategically prodigious youths, Ender’s training progresses from playful, abstract games to advanced, realistic simulations of interstellar combat; until ultimately, Ender must face up to the consequences of his actions in a real war. Political but also humanitarian, the themes of this novel are deeply ingrained in its gripping narrative as Card explores the contrast between the natural human morality, and the atrocities we are capable of.

The Running Man (Stephen King): Dystopian as opposed to his usual horror, King’s fast-paced and impactful style remains in this flowing and brief novella; it is relatively quick and easy reading so is a great place to start in the genre. In the near future, a dystopian United States provides a backdrop for Ben Richards, a struggling proletariat man, to participate in ‘The Running Man’, a game show in which a volunteer must evade the hunters, lead by the ruthless McCone, for 100 days in order to win prize money. If caught, the contestant will be killed. During his journey of flight, King explores what such a society can teach us about hierarchy, morality and desperation.

Dune (Frank Herbert): In one of the greatest original icons of the genre, a complex space-age universe is dominated by whoever controls the trade of ‘spice’, a mystical substance found only on the planet Arrakis. In a plotline spanning almost a decade, protagonist, protagonist Paul Atreiedes grapples with his duties to his noble house, the Arakeen natives, his family, his religion, his personal desires and his own identity in a richly multi-faceted novel that explores beyond the constructs of society to question as far as the nature of consciousness itself.

Gone (Michael Grant): The first installment in an intriguing and exciting series, Gone follows teenager Sam Temple as all people over 15-years-old within a 20-mile radius of his home town disappear, and an ethereal wall traps the remaining children. Along with the natural chaos of survival and developing a new society seen before in classics such as Lord of the Flies, Gone introduces an element of fantasy as animals and even some humans begin to mutate into monsters, while others gain supernatural powers that are used for good, evil, or the intricate grey between.