Science Fiction, we can now see, is fiction connected to science. We've already seen how both these terms are more complicated, and contain more possible responses, than we may have thought.

So we need a more definite definition.

Science Fiction is a literature that starts with a premise which is clearly untrue. Often that premise has to do with some technological advance or achievement, and the consequences of that premise have to always follow the known laws of science at the time of the writing. At least, if the author is going to violate the laws of science, he has to give a scientific explanation. Most Science Fiction writers (and fans) make a distinction between "AM" ("Actual Machines") and "FM" ("F*ing Magic"). If it's FM, unless it's operating by the rules of AM, it's not Science Fiction! (For more on this, and other rules or identifiers of bad Science Fiction, see the Turkey City Lexicon)

Science Fiction is often (but not always) about an imagined future world, the times that are yet to come. It may take place here on Earth (or under the Earth, or under the sea, or in an unexplored region of the Earth). Or it may not.

Science fiction is a literature of "What if...?" (it's also often been called "speculative fiction")

• What if we met aliens?
• What if we could travel to other planets?
• What if humans could read minds?
• What if robots and computers could think and feel?
• What if we could travel through time?
• What if...?
• Go to the discussion board and post your own "What if? "

The science fiction we'll be reading in this class falls into the category of "hard" science fiction. This means that there is a minimum of "handwaving," and a maximum of internal scientific and reasonable consistency. There are other kinds of science fiction, and there are other categories within hard science fiction. But this what we're starting with.

Go back to the first discussion board , and see if you can add anything to your original definition of science fiction. Can you fit your definition into my "what if...?" idea? Do you want to come up with another definition?