A Magical Mystery Tour: Science Fiction v. Fiction v. Horror

Lesson #2 | From Fantasies to Futures: Lessons from Speculative Fiction

Ok Mariam Chagelishvili this is so damn cute

Miss lesson 1? It’s right here(:

In the previous lesson, we (very quickly) summed up the definitions and origins

of speculative fiction. 

A hundred years ago, there weren't clear divisions between science fiction, fantasy, and horror (which is probably why they are still grouped together when people talk about them). But these days, we have a lot more specialized venues and specialized bookstore sections. 

In this lesson, we are going to read examples of recent short fiction, which will allow us to explore and discuss the differences and commonalities between each genre. I will also provide a few award-winning short fiction venues for you to do your own additional research (note, I’ll provide even more venues in our future lesson on submissions, so hang in there!). With this primer, you should gain a sense of what the current landscape looks like and have a better idea of where your work would fit.

Given the genres are all equally awesome (to me, anyway), we will just start in SFFH order (refresher from last lesson: that’s shorthand for “sci-fi + fantasy + horror”).