Hard science fiction
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Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific or technical detail, or on scientific accuracy, or on both.[1][2] The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell, Jr.'s Islands of Space in Astounding Science Fiction.[3][4][5] The complementary term soft science fiction (formed by analogy to "hard science fiction"[6]) first appeared in the late 1970s as a way of describing science fiction in which science is not featured, or violates the scientific understanding at the time of writing.
The term sometimes also contrasts the "hardness" of the sciences used in the story: the "hard" sciences are quantitative or material-based disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, biology, and astronomy; while the more "soft" sciences are social sciences, such as sociology, anthropology, or psychology. Stories featuring engineering tend to be categorized as hard SF, although technically engineering is not a science. Neither term is part of a rigorous taxonomy — instead they are rule-of-thumb ways of characterizing stories that reviewers and commentators have found useful. The categorization "hard SF" represents a position on a scale from "softer" to "harder", not a binary classification.
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[edit] Scientific rigor
The heart of the "hard SF" designation is the relationship of the science content and attitude to the rest of the narrative, and (for some readers, at least) the "hardness" or rigor of the science itself.[7] One requirement for hard SF is procedural or intentional: a story should be trying to be accurate and rigorous in its use of the scientific knowledge of its time, and later discoveries do not necessarily invalidate the label. For example, P. Schuyler Miller called Arthur C. Clarke's 1961 novel A Fall of Moondust hard SF [3], and the designation remains valid even though a crucial plot element, the existence of deep pockets of "moondust" in lunar craters, is now known to be incorrect. There is a degree of flexibility in how far from "real science" a story can stray before it leaves the realm of hard SF. Some authors scrupulously avoid such implausibilities as faster-than-light travel, while others accept such notions (sometimes called "enabling devices", since they allow the story to take place) but focus on realistically depicting the worlds that such a technology might make possible. In this view, a story's scientific "hardness" is less a matter of the absolute accuracy of the science content than of the rigor and consistency with which the various ideas and possibilities are worked out.
[edit] Representative works
Unless otherwise noted, as cited in The Ascent of Wonder: the Evolution of Hard SF[8] and The Hard SF Renaissance [9]:
- Poul Anderson, Kyrie[8]
- Arthur C. Clarke, A Fall of Moondust [5]
- James Blish, Surface Tension[8]
- Hal Clement, Mission of Gravity[8]
- Tom Godwin, The Cold Equations[8]
- James P. Hogan (writer), The Two Faces of Tomorrow [5]
- Nancy Kress, Beggars in Spain [9]
- Geoffrey A. Landis, A Walk in the Sun (story)[9]
- Larry Niven, The Hole Man and Inconstant Moon[8]
- Frederik Pohl, Day Million[8]
- Charles Sheffield, Between the Strokes of Night [5]
- Kim Stanley Robinson, The Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars)[10]
- Vernor Vinge, Fast Times at Fairmont High[9]
[edit] Miscellaneous
A fan organization that has grown up around Hard Science Fiction is General Technics, populated by scientists, technical folks, and others with a specific interest in this area. General Technics' name is taken from the organization that created a global-scale computer in John Brunner's novel, Stand on Zanzibar. General Technics, though concentrated in the American Midwest, has a global membership.
[edit] References
- ^ Nicholls, Peter (1993). "Hard SF", in John Clute, Peter Nicholls: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
- ^ Wolfe, Gary K. (1986). "Hard Science Fiction", Critical Terms for Science Fiction and Fantasy: A Glossary and Guide to Scholarship.
- ^ a b hard science fiction n.. Science fiction citations. Jesse's word (2005-07-25). Retrieved on 2007-10-07. “Earliest cite: P. Schuyler Miller in Astounding Science Fiction ... he called A Fall of Moondust "hard" science fiction”
- ^ Hartwell, David G.; Kathryn Cramer (2002). "Introduction: New People, New Places, New Politics", The Hard SF Renaissance. ISBN 0-312-87635-1.
- ^ a b c d Westfahl, Gary (1996-02-28). "Introduction", Cosmic Engineers: A Study of Hard Science Fiction (Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy). Greenwood Press, p. 2. ISBN 978-0313297274. Retrieved on 2007-10-07. “hard science fiction ... the term was first used by P. Schuyler Miller in 1957”
- ^ soft science fiction n.. Science fiction citations. Jesse's word (2005-07-25). Retrieved on 2007-10-07. “Soft science fiction, probably a back-formation from Hard Science Fiction”
- ^ Samuelson, David N. (July 1993). "Modes of Extrapolation: The Formulas of Hard Science Fiction". Science Fiction Studies 20 part 2 (60).
- ^ a b c d e f g in David G. Hartwell, Kathryn Cramer: The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF. ISBN 978-0312855093.
- ^ a b c d Hartwell, David G.; Kathryn Cramer (2002). The Hard SF Renaissance. ISBN 0-312-87635-1.
- ^ See Chris Alyott, "The Vanishing Martian" and Review by Rich Horton
[edit] Further reading
- On Hard Science Fiction: A Bibliography, originally published in Science Fiction Studies #60 (July 1993).
- David G. Hartwell, "Hard Science Fiction,", Introduction to The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard Science Fiction, 1994, ISBN 0-312-85509-5
- Kathryn Cramer's chapter on hard science fiction in The Cambridge Companion to SF, ed. Farah Mendlesohn & Edward James.
- Gary Westfahl (1996-02-28). Cosmic Engineers: A Study of Hard Science Fiction (Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy). Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29727-4.
- A Political History of SF by Eric Raymond
- The Science in Science Fiction by Brian Stableford, David Langford, & Peter Nicholls (1982)
[edit] External links
- HardSF.net : Hard Science Fiction
- Kheper Realism scale
- The Ascent of Wonder by David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer. Story notes and introductions.
