Sience Fiction??

The broadest definition of "Science Fiction" is any writing in which science--real, hypothetical or imaginary--determines the course of the plot.

Many folks prefer the moniker "SF" for speculative fiction. It can refer to both science fiction and fantasy.

Speculation can include "what if" scenarios for different physical rules (e.g., magic), different histories, time travel, etc.

ok thanks personaly i think science fiction should be somthing like Jul Vern

My husband has been a sci-fi fan for many, many years. Often, when something happens, he points out to me that he read of a similar concept in science fiction years ago.

I used to read a great deal of SF in my younger days. I loved it. For one reason and another, have gotten away from it recently. It's true, of course, that many SF books of the past have been prophetic in a sense. Jules Verne created a very futuristic submarine in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea years before primitive prototype subs came into use, for example. But that sort of prognostication is not the main aim or use of SF today. A good book in the genre today is far more likely to set up a "what if" scenario. Suppose, for example, that upon landing on an unexplored planet we discover a life form that defies any expectations we have of what "life" is on Earth? What are the ramifications? For the astronauts and for humanity as a whole? What if, in some distant future, religion (and its practice) is outlawed as very dangerous superstition? And so on and on.

The very best SF transcends the old, trite conventions of science fiction. What was called "science fiction" in the first half of the 20th Century was, more properly, "technology fiction." It is the innovations of these stories that your husband is probably referring to, Phoenix. Today's SF is far less likely to even try and be predictive (with the exception of such mainstream writers as Michael Crichton). Its aim is, primarily, to tell a story and to tell it well. The story will always have an elemtn of what, for want of a better word, might be termed fantasy. For sheer descriptieness, it is possibly some of the best writing being done today.

But, again, it's been a while since I've read much of it and don't really know who the new up-and-coming writers are. My favorites all date back to the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Theodore Sturgeon, Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Fred Pohl, Isaac Asimov, Harlan Ellison, a few others.

ok but i tink that if you dont give an explenation which is iven remotly conected to some theory about the life forms then in my vew it is no science fiction

Well, as DrewDad has already said, Spawn, the preferred expression today is Speculative Fiction. The "science" is secondary to a good story well told. Sure, you have to give an explanation of what is going on, but whether or not that explanation is hard, scientific fact is immaterial to the work of fiction. Stephen King has published a few short stories which qualify as SF; and he himself has said that the science in these stories "is pretty wonky." (Direct quote.)

o lord not him again i despice stiven king he cant structure a story well at all

Yes, but he can spell.

I started the Dark Tower and it really sounds oki. I just can't wait to see how it ends.

Smooth

Science fiction is speculative, like 'speculative fiction' suggests, but usually it's based off of some existing technology, with enhancements added to increase interest and diversity in each story. For example, the 'time machine' plot is widely used today, and it's loosely based off of technology that's existed for centuries: all the character does is go from point A to point B. That's transportation. It's just got a twist, which is the science fiction part, in this case that instead of traveling through space it's through time.

I do the same thing!

I consider science fiction to be just that and fantasy to be quite different.