What Is Speculative Fiction?

The phrase, popularised by science-fiction author Robert Heinlein in his 1947 essay “On the Writing of Speculative Fiction,” has varying meanings.

One definition describes the genre as “what if” possibilities that could exist within our reality. Dystopian futures, alternate history. What if the dinosaurs never went extinct? What if we could eventually clone people?

Another perceives the genre as an umbrella term for any and all genres that explore and test the parameters of what we do and do not know about our world, deviating from realism to the point of the surreal, fantastical, or impossible.

This post (and handy diagram) by Annie Neugebauer illustrates how the different speculative fiction subgenres can intermingle, as well as stand individually. As you will see, there are four main genres that are categorised as speculative fiction.

Science fiction

Of the four, science fiction can remain speculative even if its speculative element does not diverge too far from reality. For example, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, deceptively unassuming with its quaint village setting, can still fall under the umbrella for its dystopian society of selecting who would next be stoned to death.

Fantasy

The most speculative genre, no doubt. Magic, creatures, politics; whether sprawling secondary worlds or a contemporary London, they fall under the same banner.

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Horror

On the other side of the spectrum, perhaps the least speculative without venturing into something strange and otherworldly. Psychological horror on its own would not warrant the label, but if it were to be blended with other genres, say, manifesting as an ancient entity? Now you’re talking that speculative language.

Historical

In a similar vein to horror, implementing other genres lends credence to making a historical story more speculative. Envisioning the classic question of what would happen if the allies had not won WWII aligns with science fiction, whereas embodying a narrative with myth and magic makes fantasy. One example that comes to mind being Sistersong by Lucy Holland, which reimagines ninth-century Britain with folklore.

By no means are these definitions of speculative fiction mutually exclusive. There are no constraints, much like the genre itself.