Sci-Fi Feature Science fiction is, without any doubt, the broadest genre there is. Sci-Fi stories can be set at any time, past, present or future; and in any location, from your own back yard to the other side of the universe, or in another or several universes. It can be a story about romance, crime, horror, action or adventure. It can be astounding, deep, thought provoking, or it can be B-Movie slop. But even the later has a certain appeal and charm, at least for me. Given that its 'science fiction', the driving force you would think would be science. But lets face it, long discussions about warp nacelles and dilithium crystals are for most people about as interesting as staying home and watching paint dry. So, the driving force behind science fiction is the same as in all other fiction; drama. Only here the drama is driven by ideas; ideas about the future, or the past or what might be or anything really. But the science does matter. In whatever genre of fiction you write, there is never an excuse for not doing research. It certainly wouldn't hurt for people who write crime dramas for television to pop down the library just once and find out where the heart is located (not on the left side of the chest). Sometimes it can be a little excessive, reading more like a technical manual or physics text book than fiction. Making sci-fi stories accessible to everone whilst keeping enough sciencey bits to keep nerds happy can be a difficult balancing act. Of course, since it is such a broad genre its hard to say when the first science fiction story was written. Speculative story telling at least goes back to ancient times. So here on the site we'll just look at all of it; from Ancient works such as Plato's Timaeus and Critias, through to Francis Bacon's New Atlantis, through Verne and Wells all the way up to modern sci-fi TV series and movies. Make sure you bring a thermos flask and packed lunch, since its a lot to get through.
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