This year, to help narrow down the hundreds of books on my TBR into more manageable sections, I have selected a theme for each month. This way, I can choose from a smaller selection of books instead of sitting on my bedroom floor for three hours surrounded by both my physical TBR and my digital one wrecked with decision paralysis at still not having picked a book to read next. Now, I do tend to be a bit of a mood reader, so I won't not read a book in a specific month just because it doesn't fit the theme, but I did try to choose themes that allowed for a bit of wiggle room. I have picked out two books per month from my current stack of unread books that I own that I have deemed mandatory reading for each month, but anything else I read that month is up to future me. With all that in mind, let me introduce you to January's theme: Speculative Fiction.
Textbook Definition
If you google "speculative fiction", you will get a quote pulled from a Wikipedia page defining the phrase as "a broad umbrella category of fiction that encompasses all the genres that deliberately depart from realism or from strictly imitating ordinary reality, instead presenting supernatural, futuristic, and other highly imaginative realms" (Speculative fiction - Wikipedia). This tends to be the most accepted -- and most basic -- definition. This is often accompanied by this graphic:
It is widely accepted that all fantasy novels are also categorized as speculative fiction in the same way that all squares are rectangles. With other genres, things get a little more complicated. A historical fiction novel in and of itself is not speculative, but if the novel focuses on an alternative timeline of events (say the US joins WWII before the bombing of Pearl Harbor) it now also falls under the speculative umbrella. With horror/thriller/mystery it's incredibly straight forward. If the story contains magical or supernatural elements, it is speculative.
Science Fiction is the hardest genre to categorize under the speculative umbrella. One would assume it would be like fantasy, where everything fits under the more generalized definition, but it is actually more complex than that. According to a research paper written on the subject by Marek Oziewicz at Oxford University, "[Speculative Fiction] has three historically located meanings: a subgenre of science fiction that deals with human rather than technological problems, a genre distinct from and opposite to science fiction in its exclusive focus on possible futures, and a super category of all genres that deliberately depart from imitating 'consensus reality' [and the] everyday experience" (Speculative Fiction - Marek Oziewicz). To simplify that a bit, Star Wars > strictly science fiction while Star Trek > speculative fiction. While both focus on human problems rather than technical ones, Star Wars is not a future version of our current civilization but rather an entirely different one.
My Definition
How do I categorize books into Speculative Fiction? Thanks for asking. Contrary to what every graphic, google result, and article out there says, I don't put fantasy under the heading of speculative fiction. To me, it is so distinctly in a circle all its own. If any extensive time was taken to build a unique world then you are doing more than just speculating on the "what-ifs" of our understanding of reality and what could be possible. Even if the world the author created is hidden under our mundane noses, if they took the time to create generations of backstory and history to that hidden side of society, that is more than merger musings. The genre that I do think of as the square to Speculative Fiction's rectangle is Magical Realism. As a genre that is grounded in our reality, but has one or two fantastical elements that the characters just accept as part of their reality, it perfectly fits the bill.
The novel I just finished, The Cat Who Saved Books by Sôsuke Natsukawa is the perfect example of a speculative novel that falls under the Magical Realism category. The story follows Rintaro, a young boy who, after inheriting his grandfather's used book store, is brought on adventures to save books by a talking tabby cat. The whole novel takes place in our known version of Japan, but talking cats that can bring you to different places through magical labyrinths are just a part of that reality. It is the nonchalance with which the magic is approached that pushes the story from fantasy to speculative fiction to the smaller circle of magical realism.
As for the other genres the textbook definition discusses, I agree with their categorization. Certain books from Historical Fiction, Horror/Thriller/Mystery, and Sci-fi fit into the larger grouping of speculative fiction. Like the article I quoted above, I believe that human problems as the narrative focus and elements of magic or the supernatural are what separates a book from others of those genres. The only other major distinction that I make is that the Sci-fi sub category of Dystopian Fiction falls completely inside of the crossover section of Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction. Dystopian novels are the blueprint for the human-focused "what if" stories. (Think George Orwell's 1984 or Susanne Collins' The Hunger Games.)
I have created my own version of the over-complicated venn-diagram for those of you who are visual learners and for those of you who work best off examples, I have named a book that fits into each crossover section (numbered 1-5 for your convenience).
The Shining by Stephen King
Babel by R.F. Kuang
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Dune by Frank Herbert
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The main thing to note is that although the term 'speculative fiction' has been around since 1947, it has never had a concrete definition nor a set style of books that fall under the category. The concept is ever changing and adjusting as new stories, terms, and scholars come along. Basically, Speculative Fiction is whatever your heart desires it to be.
If you want to join in my monthly theme reads, I would love to know what book(s) you are reading! What is your favorite speculative fiction book? Do you operate under a different definition of the category? Let me know! I would love to hear from you!
As always,
Keep wondering and stay wandering!
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