Naming a Genre

How “Science Fiction” Got Its Name

f you were going to write a story about time travel or teleportation or a new invention, how would you describe it to your friends? Science fiction? Sci-fi? Speculative Fiction? Geek Fantasy?

Names influence us deeply. Very often, a writer will use a character’s name to hint at how we should feel about that character. In Barn Burning, William Faulkner introduces us to a violent, horse-stealing arsonist named Abner Snopes. It’s an awkward name that doesn’t roll off the tongue very well, a very unlikable name for an awfully unpleasant character.

Harlan Ellison wrote a marvelous story called Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman. The title paints vivid images in the minds of the readers. From just the names of these two characters, we know that this is going to be a battle between an uptight, rule-bound antagonist and an untamed, freedom-loving hero.

If the names of characters are so important, so much so the name of the genre! Where did the names originate?

The first recorded use of the term “science fiction” seems to be in A Little Earnest Book Upon a Great Old Subject by William Wilson:

“Science-Fiction, in which the revealed truths of Science may be given interwoven with a pleasing story which may itself be poetical and true.”¹

This was in 1851. Unfortunately for Mr. Wilson, his term didn’t catch on.

The popular technical magazine Science and Invention ran from 1920 to 1931. In 1925, publisher Hugo Gernsback announced to his subscribers that he was beginning a new magazine. This new publication would be filled with tales of fantastic gadgets, space travel, and the future. Mr. Gernsback gave the new magazine the name Sciencefiction.²

(Mr. Gernsback’s original name for the new genre was actually “scientificion.” Fortunately, he realized the word was all but unpronounceable, and quickly rethought his marketing strategy.)

The magazine was later re-titled Amazing Stories, but it was still referred to as “the magazine of sciencefiction.” This time, the term would spread to popular culture.²

Science fiction author and fan Forrest J. Ackerman is listed in numerous sources as the inventor of the term “sci-fi.” He invented the term in 1954, after hearing a radio DJ use the word “hi-fi.”³

(In articles about Mr. Akerman, his coming up with this term is mentioned as if it was a great accomplishment. I would liken it to inventing the word “blog.” It’s an immensely annoying word that has become a curse to anyone working in the field. Was there something wrong with “website” or “online journal”? But I digress.)

The term “sci-fi” caught on soon after Mr. Akerman coined the phrase, but it was intensely disliked by many fans and authors. However, with the introduction of the Sci-Fi Channel television network, “Sci-fi” is not as hated as it once was.

And then there is the term “speculative fiction,” popularized by Harlan Ellison. “Speculative Fiction” is not so much a new term for SF, but rather an umbrella term for several genres: science fiction, alternate history fiction, fantasy, and horror. According to Orson Scott Card, speculative fiction is any story that describes a world other than reality as we know it.⁴

Writers like Ellison advocate this term because it avoids pigeonholing their work as strictly “science fiction.”⁵

Personally, I write science fiction, horror, fantasy, and combinations of the three. But I can’t stand the term “speculative fiction.” Who uses the term “speculative” in conversation? “Do you really think Billy will date you? That’s pretty speculative.”

So, my suggestion for an umbrella term would be “spectacular fiction.”

“Spectacular Fiction” uses the standard initials “SF.” “Spectacular” is a commonly-used word. And, in my opinion, it does a better job of creating an impression in readers’ minds, especially the minds of folks who do not read the genre.

“Regular” fiction is stories about the known world. People have adventures, sure, but they take place in the ordinary, mostly dull world we experience every day. “Spectacular” fiction presents stories of new, fantastic worlds. Science fiction, horror, alternate history, they are more than just fiction. Spectacular fiction encourages us to imagine, to create, to reinvent the world.

Who knows, maybe enough people will read this that the term will catch on. Just remember, you heard it here first.

1. “A Little Earnest Book Upon a Great Old Subject”, Chapter 10, William Wilson, 1851

2. “How Science Fiction Got Its Name,” Sam Moskowitz, the February 1957 issue of the magazine Fantasy and Science Fiction

3. I have read that Robert Heinlein used the term first, in a letter to his agent, but I have yet to find written confirmation of this.

4. How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, Writer’s Digest Books, 1990, p. 17

5. The Essential Ellison: A 50 Year Retrospective. It’s in there somewhere. I’m not going to look. Have you seen that book? You could choke a camel with it!

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