There are several categories:
- Apocalyptic/Post Apocalyptic:
- Apocalyptic is happening during the end of civilization (traditionally because of catastrophe)
- post apocalyptic is happening several years after the catastrophe. It's many generations in and many people don't remember what it was like before the catastrophe.
- Steampunk, cyberpunk, biopunk:
- steampunk- steam powered machinery, generally takes place in Victorian England or somewhere similar, where steam power has revolutionized life. Has cool technology.
- cyberpunk- hacking and computer tech. Relationship between humans and computers. Futuristic and high tech, but kind of sinsiter feel too.
- biopunk- spin off of cyberpunk, but it's manipulating human DNA or putting things in your brain. Has dark atmosphere, but more about darker side of genetic engineering.
- Dystopia
- Hunger Games wasn't the first dystopia lit
- characteristics include: propaganda to control citizens, figurehead being worshiped, citizens under constant cirvalance, fear of an outside world, citizens being expected to conform, individuality is discouraged and/or prohibited, illusion of the perfect world but it's not. There is resistance to government where the main character becomes disillusioned and wants to fight back.
- There is a lot of bleedover to postapocalyptic
- Extra-Sensory Perception (ESP)
- Most commonly related to books about telepathy, clairvoyance, supernatural awareness of objects or events- precognition (knowledge of the future)
- Robots/Androids/Cyborgs/Artificial Intelligence
- Robots- machine
- Androids- atomaton, usually in the form of a human
- Cyborgs- person who is phsyiologyically funtioning, but aided by electornic or mechanical devices
- Artificial Intelligence- computer that's learning and making decisions (clones)
- Space/Aliens/Extra Terrestrial
- There's alien invasion, alien conspiracy, colonization, first contact, space opera
- Time Travel/ Parallel Universes
- paradoxes are common/circular problems
- a lot of time the characters are going back to alter events or escape disasters or save people
- sometimes characters go willingly, sometimes forced, sometimes accidental
- Virtual Reality/Gaming
- person is lost in virtual world or chip is implanted and the character is in the virtual world
- Miscellaneous
- many books that don't just fit in one category
Criteria for evaluating science fiction and fantasy:
- characters- are they consistent and believable?
- rules- there still must be rules, even in a different world
- believable- author's have to help readers still the believe the unbelievable
- theme- should explore universal truths
I can definitely say that I was one of those people that used to claim I was not a science fiction person... but that's because I thought science fiction had to be totally out there- which it doesn't. I think it's important to educate our patrons and open their eyes to the wide array of science fiction and fantasy books that are available.
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