Science Fiction Genre

1. Origins

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with the impact of imagined innovations in science or technology, often in a futuristic setting. Exploring the consequences of such innovations is the traditional purpose of science fiction, making it a "literature of ideas". Science fiction was invented as a means of understanding the world through speculation and storytelling. Science fiction goes as far back as the 2nd century in cases such as 'Lucian's True Story'. With the invention of technologies such as electricity and telegraph and new forms of powered transportation writers caught up and started to elaborate on possibilities, setting their sights higher and to new places. 

2. Categories

There are many categories in science fiction some include:

Hard Science Fiction: is when the books describes the possibility of different scenarios using science such as physics, biology and chemistry. Many accurate predictions of the future come from the hard science fiction sub genre.

Soft/ social science fiction: The description "soft" science fiction may describe works based on social sciences such as psychology, economics, political science, sociology, and anthropology. Some writers blur the line between soft and hard science fiction.

Cyberpunk: The time frame for cyberpunk is usually near-future and the settings are often dystopian (characterized by misery). Common themes in cyberpunk include advances in information technology and especially the Internet (visually abstracted as cyberspace)

Time travel: this genre is quite self explanatory time travel uses the idea of gliding through different time periods by means of machine or other ways. These types of books are very popular. 

Superhuman: These stories usually are based on beings that have powers and abilities beyond the normal. These powers are usually amazing and abilities people wish they had. These stories usually focus on the alienation that these beings feel as well as society's reaction to them. These stories have played a role in the real life discussion of human enhancement.

Apocalyptic:  Apocalyptic fiction is concerned with the end of the civilization through war, pandemic, astronomic impact, ecological disaster, or mankind's self-destruction, or some other general disaster or with a world or civilization after such a disaster. Apocalyptic fiction generally concerns the disaster itself and the direct aftermath, while post-apocalyptic can deal with anything from the near aftermath to 375 years in the future to hundreds or thousands of years in the future.

Space Opera: is adventure science fiction set in outer space or on distant planets, where the emphasis is on action rather than either science or characterization. The conflict is heroic, and typically on a large scale. The immensely popular series 'Star Wars' falls into this category.

Space Western: could be considered a sub-genre of space opera that transposes themes of the American books and film to a backdrop of futuristic space frontiers. These stories typically involve "frontier" colony worlds (colonies that have only recently been terraformed and settled) serving as stand-ins for the backdrop of lawlessness and economic expansion that were predominant in the American west

3. Conventions 

Almost all science fiction books are based in space or the future. These books are what makes sci-fi sci-fi. Many good series have both put into their books. Sci-fi also uses aliens and some sort of superhuman or other being as the enemy of the book. Things that fit into the genres of sci-fi are also techniques that are used for example in the Apocalyptic genre the plot of the book is the 'end of the world'. Sci-fi books also are mostly based around different science subjects. As mentioned above hard science uses sciences such as physics, biology and chemistry, whereas soft science uses sciences such as psychology and economy. These are also techniques that are used and are a big influence on sci-fi and the things that make these books stand out. The genre is very popular as seen with the book and now movie star wars. No one on earth hasn't heard of this series, showing that science fiction is quite popular. Many science fiction genres mentioned above are in many of the books read today. Science fiction uses space travel, aliens, ufo's, superhumans, time travel, speed travel and other things to captivate it's audience and maintain an alternate reality. These books all have one thing in common. The whole purpose of the book is a big ' what if?' which makes them very popular. In these books yes we can time travel, yes we can fly and yes there are other beings in outer space. The sky is the limit with the things used in these books.