Why do we need “alternative reality fiction”?
As editor for a magazine on “speculative” fiction, I happen to need one1. Though, being a self-reflective sort of person, I found myself asking why. One person in our associate page discussions asked why not just call it a magazine for “fiction”? It’s a valid argument on a philosophical level. It’s a nightmare on a practical level. Without some way to modify the term “fiction” with greater specificity, readers will assume general fiction. Without putting some parameters on the types of fiction we publish and review, submissions would be a nightmare. One of the most common reasons we reject short stories for publication is simply that they don’t meet our basic themes. They are not science fiction, fantasy, horror or historical fiction.
If umbrella terms are so objectionable, then the next step is toward the more specific. Should we expand the scope of the genre Science Fiction and also include Fantasy, Horror and Historical? This is certainly a difficult task. Quite frankly, though, I read all of these genres, and I’m not keen on being in the role to separate them. What makes one book science fiction, and another fantasy? What makes one book horror, and another historical? These four genres of fiction cannot so efficiently be separated from one another2. Of course, these are not the only genres that get mixed up together in cross-genre works. For example, historical romances have long been a standard of the monolithic modern romance genre.
Science fiction, fantasy, horror and historical fiction share an essential common thread – they all attract readers who seek fiction that transports them to a milieu removed from everyday life. On the one hand, it’s an issue of setting, but more importantly, I believe, it’s an issue of approach. Readers of these genres seek to see and writers seek to show our own world through a radically different3 lens. They share an ambition to experience the eternal themes of life and humanity from new angles, in new forms, impossible in realistic fiction. They want their fiction to answer the question “what if”, not just the question “what is”4. They want to see how human, or human-like, characters react to and manipulate circumstances that are alien to our everyday lives.
I found my best solution to the “umbrella term” issue – the title “alternative reality fiction”. Whether all these genres are “speculative”, we will leave that question up to you5. But there is no doubt that they all aspire to create alternative realities for readers to experience. Is this term somewhat artificial and arbitrary? Do I expect it to catch on with readers? The answer is “of course not”. I expect “science fiction”, “fantasy” and “horror” to remain the staples of the common lexicon. What I am looking to accomplish with the term “alternative reality fiction” is simply to acknowledge that these non-realistic genres have more in common with one another than they do with other genres6. Above all, I think the term is useful, precisely because of the most important commonality among these genres: their readers.
S.K. Slevinski - www.arwz.com
There is a lot of controversy in relation to the classification of fictional genres. In his discussion about non-realistic genres, the author attemps to:
a) propose a generic term.
b) specify a typical readership.
c) describe a crucial difference.
d) illustrate a common characteristic.
