The literature of change. After its European origins with the Industrial Revolution, American science fiction has flourished since Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars (1912). An American imagination was fired by the ideas of new frontiers and new possibilities, as well as social, economic and religious freedoms unimaginable in worlds left behind. Science fiction, in many ways, is a literature of hope and the human potential to rise above circumstances and adapt to change.

American science fiction began to grow in depth and breadth with the first sciencefiction magazine, Amazing Stories, edited by Hugo Gernsback (1926), followed in 1938 by Astounding Science Fiction, edited by John W. Campbell, Jr., who fostered science fiction’s golden age. Writers explored themes still pondered today including robots, computers, cheap energy overpopulation, world government, alternative social structures, particle transference, genetic engineering, alien encounters, faster-than-light travel, interplanetary travel, communication and settlement, galactic empires, telepathy immortality time travel, alternative histories and utopias/dystopias. In the 1940s and 1950s, Robert A. Heinlein, (Methuselah’s Children, 1941), Isaac Asimov (Foundation, 1942), Arthur C. Clarke (Childhood’s End, 1953) and others published stories of “hard” science fiction, using scientific or military knowledge to detail backgrounds for hightechnology futures. Science fiction was seen largely as escapist literature, until Hiroshima taught the world that the unimaginable was here already. After the war, science fiction competed with science fact in space and technology. Other important writers include Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451, 1951), Frank Herbert (Dune, 1966) and Theodore Sturgeon (More Than Human, 1953).

In the 1960s and 1970s, interest turned towards cognitive speculations. The New Wave brought in some darker stories (Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 1968), more humanoriented stories (Ursula LeGuin, Left Hand of Darkness, 1970) and experimental writing styles (Harlan Ellison, Repent Harlequin, Said the Ticktockman, 1965). A broader science fiction included more non-Americans, writers of color (Octavia Butler, Mind of My Mind, 1977) and authors of alternative sexualities (Samuel Delany, Dhalgren, 1975). Women (Kate Wilhelm, Margaret and I, 1971; Anne McCaffrey, Dragonflight, 1967; feminist Joanna Russ, The Female Man, 1975) found themselves slightly more welcome in science fiction, although Alice Sheldon wrote for decades as James Tiptree, Jr. Science fiction also expanded full-scale into television and film, as well as cartoons and comic books. Radio, film and other genres were established earlier, but blossomed with new technologies and audiences.

In the 1980s and 1990s, science fiction has matured. The quality of the writing increased and the genre speaks to a much wider audience. William Gibson (Neuromancer, 1984) ushered in the age of cyberpunk, while other notable writers include Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale, 1985), David Brin (The Postman, 1985), Orson Scott Card (Enders Game, 1986), Pat Murphy (The Falling Woman, 1988), C.J. Cherryh (Cyteen, 1989), Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, 1991), Vernor Vinge (A Fire Upon the Deep, 1994), Kim Stanley Robinson (Blue Mars, 1997) and Connie Willis (To Say Nothing of the Dog, 1999). Often impressionistic, these novels have texture and grace, and they create credible cultural paradigms—these worlds were built to last! Shorter-length stories common in science fiction reflect the tradition of magazine publication (hence many anthologies by author or theme as well). In the 1980s, the glossy science-fiction magazine Omni had a good run. Currently, the field is dominated by Asimov’s Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction and Fact (a descendant of Astounding), The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Science Fiction Age. Fantasy is a closely related genre, yet, while fantasy is characterized by mythic tradition and the supernatural, science fiction writes about the theoretically possible. In fact, science fiction has not only pre-dated scientific and social developments but has also influenced them.

Science fiction also inspires many related associations. The writings of science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard form the foundation of the high-profile Church of Scientology.

Science fiction also creates long-term relationships between the fan and finely nuanced worlds that grow with each installment. Hundreds of science-fiction conventions featuring various authors or themes are held all over the world. The yearly Hugo and Nebula Awards are also key events.

Science fiction provides an arena in which to imagine some of the possibilities, good and bad, that technological change might bring America and the world. Perhaps through this it is possible to make more intelligent decisions about the small planet on which we live…for now.